will my cucumbers and peas produce cucumbers and peas :)

10 years ago

I am growing peas, cucumbers and lettuce. I am running the light in a vegetative setting not fully knowing what I am doing. DO the peas or cucumbers need a "bloom" type of cycle to produce the actual vegetables (I know the lettuce is fine) OR are they going to produce peas and cucumbers, simply in a vegetative phase of nutrients and lighting?

I'd REALLY like to avoid switching lighting (like a tomato requires) and when I first mentally planned this this seemed to be ideal HOWEVER, I am so new to this that I'm questioning if I'm thinking this clearly.

Any confirmation on what I am doing? Thanks.

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Comments (6)

hyrdoboy
10 years ago
Switching the light over to a HPS will help the plants to turn over but I don't think you can grow lettuce in with them because you will be switching your nutrients over to bloom.
jackblasto
Original Author
10 years ago
Well, I have two flood tables... One with lettuce at a much lower nutrient solution tds and the other with the other stuff.

What I'm curious about though is DO I need to change the bulb? Right now I'm using a 1,000 watt, 4200K Metal Halide Natural White bulb.

For the sake of growing a variety of veggies, like lettuce, I really didn't want to have to change my growing cycle to a bloom. What I'm asking is DO I have to change my bulb to a bloom bulb for the plants to produce peas and cucumbers OR will they produce just fine under the bulb I'm using?

Thank you for any advice here.
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jackblasto
Original Author
10 years ago
For the record and to hopefully explain better here. I do NOT want to change the bulb if I can produce vegetables the way it is. I'm asking if this is possible?
jackblasto
Original Author
10 years ago
So, doing some reading on MH and HPS bulbs I'm starting to realize my oversight possibly. I'm still a little confused as what I'm reading says that some people actually grow vegetative stages under an HPS bulb and some ONLY bloom under one. Well, I'm trying to go the most conservative method at this point and TRYING to avoid a two stage system as far as running TWO lights. I mean I can live with two stages of nutrient reservoirs BUT I really want to figure out a solution for lighting that isn't going to cost me a fortune running two fixtures. So, I guess my real question now is, CAN I grow EVERYTHING I want, bloom, vegetative, etc under one particular bulb? Like I said earlier, I can live mixing two different stages of nutrients but PLEASE help me with the possibilities of what can be done under one bulb. I'm really trying to keep a rotation of new plants and established plants and am trying to do this under one 1000 watt bulb if possible.

Thanks so much for any input.
cole_robbie
10 years ago
CAN I grow EVERYTHING I want, bloom, vegetative, etc under one particular bulb?

Yes. Yields will just be lower.
centexan254 zone 8 Temple, Tx
10 years ago
Not sure about the debate over if you can do it all with one. I will chime in with a reminder that if you do get blooms on the cucumbers you will need to hand pollenate them as I doubt that you will have bees inside to do that for you. A sable makeup brush works great for it. I do it with all of my squash, cucumbers, and melons to be sure I get fruit off of them.