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karen_pease

Followup to grow chamber experiments

Karen Pease
14 years ago

When I left off covering my LED grow chambers, I had concluded that the UFO grow light was better than the LED grow light, had been very satisfied with my results, and had just had a pumpkin bloom in my grow chamber. I shortly thereafter moved my plants outdoors to harden before planting in the garden. However, one person suggested that perhaps I should leave a couple plants indoors and compare them to the outdoors plants.

So, I took two of my worst-looking outdoor plants -- my smallest eggplant and a pepper that had taken some cold damage and was laying on its side. Neither had gotten much sun, as they were only one day into the hardening, so they were still pretty much in full shade. They went indoors, and the rest of the plants, after hardening, went into the garden.

I just got a second UFO light installed this evening, so before it starts influencing the growth of my plants, I figured I'd do a status report. First, here's my outdoor peppers:

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Here's my smallest outdoor pepper (all pepper photos have a measuring stick next to them, touched loosely on the surface of the ground (below the mulch)):

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Here's my largest outdoor pepper:

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Now, for my indoor pepper:

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It's seriously like three times taller than the outdoor peppers. Notice the blossoms:

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I was too lazy to photograph my outdoor eggplants, but the comparison is similar. Here's my indoor eggplant:

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As for the peppers: I think the main difference between the indoor and outdoor peppers has less to do with the lighting and more to do with nighttime temperatures. Our daytime temps have largely been in the 70s, but our nighttime temps have mostly been in the 40s and lower 50s. Only in the past couple days have the day and night temperatures warmed up beyond that. On the other hand... pretty hard to say that you can't grow plants well under LEDs, eh? :)

Here's the new two-light setup:

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One thing to note about the UFOs. I just got my new UFO and was surprised to see that it's different. The red LEDs are deeper red (less orange), its fans are a little louder, and it doesn't look as bright. I don't know if it's putting out less light or if it's just that, as a deeper red color, my eyes aren't as sensitive to it. I got this latest one for $125 incl. shipping -- my previous one cost me ~$150 incl. shipping, if I recall correctly.

I hope to acquire three more UFOs -- then I can fill my entire library floor with plants and seed trays and not worry about that foil backdrop! :) I'll be able to grow all the tropical dwarf trees I want :)

Another thing about the UFOs: one thing is I've discovered that they're very gentle on the plants. Hence, apart from the plants that are part of the indoor growth experiment, I'm using it as a "hospital" for injured plants. I have half a dozen cuttings that I'm rooting and 1 1/3 trays of badly frost-burned coffee plants that are healing up nicely.

Comments (8)

  • barbaraincalif
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Good stuff! Please keep us posted as to how the cuttings do. I am very interested in vegetative propagation under lights My aluminum T5's were too expensive to simply replace. When more lights are needed I'll certainly be looking into these UFOs. Do they come in different color combinations?

    Thanks for all the work you have done posting pictures and documenting your results,

    Barbara

  • Karen Pease
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes, they do. All of them have red and blue (of slightly different wavelengths), since plants love red and blue and because it just so happens that those are the most efficient LED colors. The next most common color to see is orange, as orange can stimulate carotenoid/antioxidant production (although it doesn't provide the growth efficiency of red and blue). A couple UFOs throw in some random other stuff like white or yellow or green, but from the research I've read, that seems really counterproductive. Yellow and green, for example, are not only extremely inefficient colors for LEDs, and for photosynthesis, but one study I ran into showed that they actually retard lettuce growth. And white LEDs are just blue LEDs with a phosphor, so you're wasting energy (the phosphor) to make frequencies that are generally less useful to your plants.

    My okra cutting -- the one that went into the "hospital" first -- has proven that it's fully healed. Its leaves are growing and I don't need to keep its pot in standing water anymore. I'm trying to decide whether to go ahead and plant it or just grow it as indoor okra ;) One of my geranium cuttings is flowering, but I'm not willing to give them a clean bill of health until I see new leaf development. The sorriest thing I put in the "hospital" was a muskmelon, which I think most people would have called dead -- leaves completely limp after sitting out in the sun after its stalk broke, perhaps an hour away from having them sticking to the stalk. They've really filled back out in their humidity bag, so tomorrow or so I'll probably remove their bag. I also have two rubber tree cuttings in there. They're no real challenge, though, since they store lots of water and energy.

  • barbaraincalif
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Your a wealth of information Karen...this is great!
    My sister, an orchid enthusiast, would love these lights as they obviously promote blooming. Is it my imagination, or are you getting some really early flowering with these UFOs?

    I'm propagating conifers, so green growth (and roots!) are wanted. Do you feel the UFOs provide a good light quality for cutting propagation? What kind of light distribution are you finding, as in "growable" square feet?

    Thanks!

    Barbara

  • Karen Pease
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sure seems early to me. My pumpkin bloomed crazy early, and the pepper seems pretty young, too.

    I haven't lost a cutting indoors so far, although I've only been propagating cuttings with them for a couple weeks now. But, as I mentioned, the okra has my seal of approval as "fully recovered", since it's leaves are very clearly growing again and it doesn't need standing water any more, and the others all seem to be doing quite well.

    In case it matters, I'm rooting them with rooting hormone powder (although the okra didn't have it), leaf-bagging in the early stages (for humidity), standing water at the bottom of the pot only (so the pot stays constantly moist but not flooded); and a custom potting mix (I'm experimenting with using nothing but insulation vermiculite -- not horticultural -- and osmacote)

  • barbaraincalif
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Checking back, hoping for an update...How is the experiment progressing?

    Barbara

    PS one of my t5's bit the dust so it may be time to start watching eBay!

  • Karen Pease
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here's an update on the chamber.

    * Pepper plant: They got infested with some kind of white bug that eats roots :P Right after they started setting fruit, too! Oh, and to top it off, somehow a caterpillar got into its leaves and was eating one. :P I ended up pyrethrin'ing the root bugs and I picked off the caterpillar, but not after the plant had lost all its lower leaves due to water stress. I transplanted it into a bigger pot -- I want it to have all the room it could want for reestablishing a good root system. But all in all, that probably set me back a week or two. Oh well... It has about two dozen buds/flowers in various stages of opening and two or three set peppers.

    * My coffee seedlings, which all nearly died outdoors and I expected a very low survival rate on (their seed leaves had turned about 80% brown and crisp), have had literally a 100% rate of putting out true leaves under the grow lights, and most are working on their second set. Yeay! So I still own a veritable plantation, perhaps 50 plants. (anyone want to trade something for kona coffee seedlings? ;) )

    * Okra plant is getting ready to flower. I've decided not to transplant it outdoors, but to just keep growing it in the grow room to see how it compares to my outdoor okra.

    * Two more plants have come out of the cutting tray: both of my geraniums have started putting on true leaves, meaning that they're no longer in damage-control mode, but have moved on to regrowth. So I now have two clones of my geranium. :)

    * My nearly-dead muskmelon (it was outdoors and snapped in half from strong winds, and then exposed to the sun for several hours before I found it) that I tried to save via rooting never did root, so I took it out. The same goes with two cutworm-cut corn seedlings I tried to save. Oh well. If I had gotten to them sooner, the results probably would have been different.

    * My rubber plant cuttings are still in the cutting tray -- no signs of dying but no signs of new growth yet either. I imagine they're still working on those roots.

    * My eggplant is getting ready to flower. I moved it to a larger pot. It's such a beautiful plant; I'm just so proud of it! :) I should do a photo shoot of it. I love the leaf spines.

    * I started a tray of lettuce seedlings for a challenge. They're looking great, at least so far. :) Also new is some cat grass and oriental poppies.

    * Because I wanted some indoors, I potted up some broccoli and cinnamon basil and moved them under the grow lights. I also took some tomato cuttings to root, but that's just too easy; tomato cuttings will root if you look at them funny ;)

    * I'm going to be getting some Thuja plicata seeds soon, so it should be interesting to see how a conifer likes my LED grow setup.

  • gringojay
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    HI karenrei,
    Since you are having so much fun with LED's it might be challenging to try stretched out "pulsing" of the light exposure.
    Light on & light off apparently make the leaves' renewed photon response more dramatic, instead of steady passive adaptation to wavelengths.
    Make 'em work at photosynthesis & apparently it's for their own good.

  • keshka
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    dude try this site
    college agriculture information on pest in garden and house plants

    http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef406.asp

    now it says use soapy water on broad leaf, my grandma always had me periodically runaround soaping all her plants even the garden and house plants, broad leaves or not.