Archive for the ‘Indoor Growing Lights’ Category

Whether to use HID or T5 Growlights

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Many Indoors Gardeners are now using T5 grow-lights in their indoor Gardens. The reasons are numerous, the T5s run on less power and much less heat than HID lamps, they are relatively inexpensive and will last 18 months or so before they need to be replaced, and they can be placed at any level where the light will be easier on the eyes than HID lights.

Even with all of the advantages of T5 fluorescents, HID lights aren’t without their own advantages. They are able to cover a much larger area than a t5 light while still producing a very high lumen output. Even still, the T5s are usually your more more economic solution and do not take up nearly as much space. Because of this most growers have slowly been switching over to them in the last few years.

At Garden Indoors we stock the latest supply of both HID and T5 Grow Lights, please browse our selection and feel free to call or email us with any questions!

Correctly Spacing Plants in Your Indoor Garden

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

If you’re setting up an indoor garden, the spacing of plants can be a critical factor underlying how much your garden yields. We have prepared this article to outline some of the basic ways that plant spacing effects light absorption, and some tips to optimize your garden’s success.

When light shines on a garden, the leaves near the top of the plants get more intense light than the leaves at the bottom. The top leaves shade the bottom leaves and absorb energy, making less light available to lower leaves. If the lower leaves do not receive enough light, they will yellow and die. Tall six-foot plants take longer to grow and have higher overall yields than shorter four-foot plants, but the yield will be about the same.

Atleast 99 two-week-old seedlings or cuttings can be huddled directly under a singele 400-watt HID. The young plants will need more space as they grow. If packed too closely together, plants sense the shortage of space and do not grow to their maximum potential. Leaves from one plant shade another plant’s foliage and slow overall plant growth. it is very important to space young plants just far enough apart so their leaves do not touch or touch very litlle. This will keep the shading to a minimum and growth to a maximum. Check and alter the spacing every few days. Eight to sixteen mature tomato plants three to four months old will completely fill the space under one 1000-watt HID. Plants can absorb light only if it falls on their leaves. Plants must be spaced so their leaves do not overlap too much. Yield increases very little when plants are crowded. Plants also stretch for light which makes less efficient use of intense light.

Best number of plants per square foot is often a matter of experimenting to find the magic number for your garden. In general each 40-inch square of space will hold from 16 to 32 plants.

Common Problems Facing Indoor Gardens

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Is something going wrong in your indoor garden despite all of your hard work? Take a look at this list of the most common problems that can arise when gardening indoors.

  1. Lack of Ventilation: Leaves cannot function correctly without a steady supply of fresh air; Poor ventilation causes slow growth and poor absorption of water and nutrients.
  2. Inadequate Lighting: This can slow down photosynthesis which leads to poor use of nutrients, and give the plants a scrawny appearance.
  3. Too High / Too Low Humidity: Either one of these conditions will causeĀ  stress to the plants from over-consumption or under-consumption of water.
  4. Temparature: A low or high temperature can slow a plant’s growth, and wide temperature fluctuations of more than 15 to 20 degrees can retard growth altogether.
  5. Overwaterting / Underwatering: Overwatering prevents the roots from taking in air, severely limiting nutrient intake and possibly causing them to rot. Underwatering slows the transport of nutrients, ultimately leading to sickly / dying roots.
  6. Light Burns: Foliage burned by HID Lamps is at an increased risk of attack from pests and disease.
  7. Indoor Air Pollution: This can slow plant growth to a crawl. Make an effort to check for vaporization from building materials and other chemical air leaks.
  8. Hot Soil: Soil over 90 degrees can cause harm to a plant’s roots.
  9. Roots Receving Direct Light: Roots require a dark environment; Light shining through to them can turn them green and their function will slow significantly.

Setting up Your Indoor Garden

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Before you can begin growing your indoor plants, the garden itself must be properly constructed. Here are some step-by-step instructions to follow for getting your garden ready to use.

  1. Step 1: Location - The best locations for your indoor garden will be areas that are out-of-the-way, and see little to no traffic on a day to day basis. TheĀ  corner of the basement, or spare bedroom are both ideal. Ceilings lower than 5 feet should be avoided if possible, as sufficient space for plants to grow may not exist. However, routine pruning and/or using smaller wattage lamps can compensate for this is there is no other alternative
  2. Step 2: Enclose the Room & Paint it White - If the room is not already enclosed, make it so. Furniture, drapery or anything that does not pertain to the garden should be removed, as they may harbor plant-killing fungi. Erecting makeshift walls out of plywood or plastic is also an option. After this is accomplished, every reflective surface should be painted white to maximize the light energy reflected in the room. When done correctly, HID lamp effectiveness can increase by as much as 20%.
  3. Step 3: Air Ventilation and Water Supply - A constant supply of fresh air from the outdoors is essential; This can be accomplished by ducting in air from the outside through a door or window. A Garden also will also require a large supply of water, so running a water hose to the indoor garden is usually much more efficient than carrying it in manually.
  4. Installing HID Lamps - Hooks must be mounted on the walls / ceilings for each HID Lamp fixture that will be used. Each of these hooks must be able to support at least 30 lbs. It also is a good idea to hook up an adjustable chain or pulley to the system to allow for easy adjustments to the light fixtures.

And that’s it, Your Garden is now ready to house your seedlings and plants!

High Intensity Discharge (HID) Lights

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

HID lamps can be used by indoor gardeners to emulate natural sunlight indoors and grow a wide variety of successful plants. Compared with all other forms of Lamps, they are the extremely efficient and are the most balanced across the EM spectrum.

HID Lamps create light by passing electricity through a mixture of chemical gasses that determine its color.

HID Lamps can be broken down into a few different varieties

  • Mercury Vapor
  • Metal Halide
  • High Pressure Sodium
  • Conversion Bulbs

Popular wattages for HID Bulbs include:

  • 150
  • 175
  • 250
  • 400
  • 430
  • 600
  • 1000
  • 1100

In order to regulate the voltage of an HID Lamp, you need an HID Ballast, which acts a transformer for specific voltages.

Click here to Buy HID Lamps from Garden Indoors

Click here to Buy HID Ballasts from Garden Indoors

The Garden Indoors Hydroponic Blog is Now Live

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Welcome to the Garden Indoors Blog!

We plan on posting all sorts of articles about indoor gardening and hydroponic solutions!

If you are looking buy hydroponic supplies, please click here to return to the main site.

Thanks for visiting the site!

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