Do any of you gardeners sell your produce?

RC K9 · December 2, 2015

For what I am doing, way too much electricity. I am actually building some DIY COB lights to reduce energy usage.

Each one of those hydrogrow LED lights draws 500w. So thats 2000W just for those lights. At 18 on/6 off, that's about $100/mo. And they create a lot of heat in the summer, so they will overrun the a/c. That's one of the hard lessons learned. So like I said, those LED's are way overkill. Highest bill was like $160. I have two over the NFT system where I have my herbs, and am using 1000W to do what I think I can do in the 300w area. Don't get me wrong...the results are GREAT! But when I am growing legal herbs and veggies that go for $1-$3/lb, and not pot that would net $2000-$3000/lb, its hard to justify that energy usage. If I can cut the nft system down to 350w instead of 1000w, that would take the monthly cost from $50/mo just for those two lights down to $17/mo. With what I have learned and what I am going to revise, this winter I should be around $100/mo. Summer a little more down here because I have to run an A/C. The good thing about the lights is they act as a heater as well, so I get two benefits from them. (This room is in a steel frame barn, not a house). That being said, someone may say, wow, $100/mo is still way too high. Well, that depends who you are and what you eat. I can't remember the last time we bought leafy greens, basil, cucumbers, etc. And I have several tomato plants that are starting to produce fruit now, and several more on their way. We can eat one of those big $5/container organic salads 5 times a week. That alone is $100/mo. Organic cukes are $1.00-$3.00 each depending on season and where you get them. Lets run with $1.50ea. I have pulled 26 off one plant so far and am hoping to get at least 30 off just one plant. That's about $45 worth of cukes from one plant. I have 3 new young cukes growing at one time right now on a new trellis I built. I just went out and got $4 worth of basil last night, and probable have about $40 worth of basil total just chillin' out there. That's not to mention my stuff is being consumed when it is at it's peak in regards to health benefits, which is within an hour after harvesting. Most people don't understand that stuff like broccoli, kale, etc lose 80% of their cancer fighting properties 24hrs after being harvested. How do you put a price on that? The pumps/nutrients/water costs are negligible. $60ish worth of nutrients lasts me about 5-6mo.

That 5 shelf lettuce system would probably be one of the easiest and cheapest things to do in regards to energy usage. It's just a 60"x24"x72" shelving system that I built some boxes for and lined with 6mil polyethylene and as a cover use some 8th styrofoam insulation. Fill the boxes with nutrient water, put the seedlings in, turn the lights on, and go. I am using 3 phillips lights per level at about 40w each. That's 15 total for a total of 600w. I can do up to 120 heads of lettuce at once in that system. The lights are the only energy it uses. At $.10/kwh which is about what we pay, it's about $30/mo. I eat that in a week. No pumps, no water lines, so it's a very low maintenance system. I am going to see how herbs do in that system as well. Now, those lights retail for like $150/ea, but I am cool with a the guys here that run one location for an international distributor. I think they are based in Sweden. Anyway, I got the lights for $50each as they are used from a dismantled European greenhouse. If I had to pay the new retail prices, I would just build my own for half that. Good quality LED's will last a very long time. The Cree and Bridgelux COB's I am using have something like 50,000-100,000hrs of life under ideal conditions.

If someone just wanted to got like a tomato plant, you could build a good quality COB light for about $150 in parts, get a 5gal bucket and lid for $5, some net cups and expanded clay pellets for a few cents, and grow a tomato plant indoors that would produce pretty much any time of year indoors. Electricity would cost you $6-$7/mo and would be a cool project with your kids.

It wouldn't cost anyone anywhere near what I spend to do something smaller scale in their home. You could grow lettuces on a much smaller shelving system, like 36", build you own LED grow lights on the cheap with quality items, and product some of you own food small scale. You don't have to do what I am doing and go balls to the wall and try to grow as much as you can in 90sqft. I mean, I am talking about growing 185 different plants at one time in a 9.5'x9.5' room which is totally not necessary for most people. One other think I do in there that most people could do stupid cheap is clone plants so they are read to go for outdoor gardening in the spring and they aren't waiting on seedlings. I cut clones from a tomato plants, stick it them my $40 cloner, and in two weeks I have 5 new tomato plants with roots ready to start producing fruit.

Whew...that was a lot of typing.

RC K9 · March 17, 2016

Recent harvest for dinner.

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2895_zpsryblju1b.jpg

RC K9 · April 14, 2016

Going to give outdoor hydro and semi-hydro growing a shot before it gets too hot down here.

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2977_zpso5q2hfy7.jpg

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2975_zpsukyzroww.jpg

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2976_zpsdfd0e1uv.jpg

And just a random pic of some Iko Iko peppers in my grow room.

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG2946_zpsz9gfoont.jpg

mrs.cos · April 14, 2016

What will you do when it gets texas hot? Move them indoors?

RC K9 · April 14, 2016

i still have the grow room, so when it gets too hot to grow anything stuff, (I think my peppers will be fine in the heat, but tomatoes, lettuce, etc not so much), i'll just let them die and continue growing indoors. while the weather is mild though, I figured i'd let the electricity bill take a rest and use the natural light.

the lettuce in that raft will be ready in 3wks. I should get a few rounds of lettuce in before it's too hot. then pick up again when it cools off. the chard and kale will take a little longer. May get 2 runs out of those before it's hot.

This is mainly for experimentation. I want to see how far I can go in regards to heat and the ability to still grow plants as the downside to hydro is root/water temps. Roots stay cooler in soil. If they get too warm, they rot. This is why strawberries are very hard to grow in hydro. Their roots are VERY susceptible to root rot if you don't have constant flowing cold water.

RC K9 · May 6, 2016

Hydroponic raft doing very well.

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG3055_zpsdekgx9vb.jpg

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG3054_zpsbn1jutqg.jpg

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG3053_zpskbzgmzrx.jpg

Zx2guy19 · May 6, 2016

You ever have any issues with rabbits or anything eating your vegetation?

RC K9 · May 6, 2016

Nope. The lettuce raft is about 3ft off the ground. If a rabbit can make it up that high to get some lettuce, it deserves all it can eat, ha ha.

I am actually going to be putting 3-4 more up. sunlight is free, and once we get out of early spring, we are usually in no short supply of it, and stuff grows so much faster in hydro than soil, so for me, this is a no brainer.

Tindall2006 · May 7, 2016

So I got a general hydroponics kit from amazon.

Started some tomato seeds and transferred them over but they really didn't take. Did it transfer them too early maybe? What size do you take tomatos from soil to the hydroponic setup?

RC K9 · May 7, 2016

Link to the setup you are talking about? I have usually gone the opposite direction...taken plants from soil, washed off the roots, and put them in a hydro system.

How big were the plants when you moved them to hydro? Do you have pics?

Tindall2006 · May 10, 2016

They were newly sprouted seedlings. I can try to get pics when I get home of them now but they basically wilted up and died. Stayed green though.

this is my kit.

http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-GH4120-WaterFarm-Complete/dp/B001ID8CMG/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&qid=1462908364&sr=8-25&keywords=general+hydroponic

RC K9 · June 13, 2016

They were newly sprouted seedlings. I can try to get pics when I get home of them now but they basically wilted up and died. Stayed green though.

this is my kit.

http://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-GH4120-WaterFarm-Complete/dp/B001ID8CMG/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&qid=1462908364&sr=8-25&keywords=general+hydroponic

Looks like a decent kit. Did the tomatoes have their first real leaves when you put them into this system? Were they inside or out, and what kind of light were they receiving?