Have a great invention to help with gardening? Are you the self-reliant type that prefers Building It Yourself vs. buying it? Share and discuss your ideas and projects with other members.
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January 1, 2012 | #61 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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I had excess seedlings in unheated clear vinyl mini-greenhouses last
spring with a trouble light in the bottom to keep them from freezing at night where day and night temperatures were below the temperatures used by commercial growers described in that thread. The seedlings still inside under flourescent lights were healthier and faster growing, despite having considerably less light. Both had the same seedling mix, etc.
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January 1, 2012 | #62 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Whidbey Island, WA Zone 7, Sunset 5
Posts: 931
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Thanks, dice. That's just what I that's not the answer I was hoping for, though it's just the information I was seeking. Darn. I guess I'll just have to find some lights and rig up a system inside. I sure would like not to have that hassle, since my space is so small. But I'm willing to just about anything to get ripe tomatoes before the blight hits in September.
I didn't even get what was sold to me as Bloody Butcher to ripen last summer in the very cool weather we had here. This was my first garden at this house, in the fog belt. |
January 1, 2012 | #63 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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If you can get the temperature up to around 65F days and 45F at night
they will do ok. My trouble lights were 75W max, so one incandescent bulb was their limit. (I did not want to risk melting the vinyl coating on the racks, catching the paint or vinyl shell on fire, etc, by using infrared heat lamps.) The outside seedlings had the cold weather purples (cold temperature induced intereference with phosphorous uptake) until mid-April. It was a fairly cold spring and early summer in 2011, and seedlings outside in unheated greenhouses were suffering more than most years as a result. Any year can be like that, even if most are not, so having more heat available to the seedlings just in case, especially in March to early April, is a wise precaution.
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January 1, 2012 | #64 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Whidbey Island, WA Zone 7, Sunset 5
Posts: 931
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I was thinking that keeping their feet warm might be enough to keep them happy. The little 4x6 cold house I'm building could house my utility light with a 150W bulb for heat. When they're big enough, I'm planning on planting them out in low tunnels with old style Christmas lights, 9C-7 bulbs) strung from the pipes. I want to keep those babies warm enough to set fruit earlier. What do you think?
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January 1, 2012 | #65 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Maine (northeastern) USA
Posts: 53
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January 2, 2012 | #66 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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Quote:
grow, even if you get the air temperature up? You can adjust that a little by cultivating some grass clippings, alfalfa, clover, etc into the top six inches a couple of weeks before transplanting. That will provide some heat of decomposition in the soil around the seedlings.)
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January 2, 2012 | #67 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Whidbey Island, WA Zone 7, Sunset 5
Posts: 931
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I will be planting in raised beds with mostly mushroom compost, and some peat moss and perlite, which heats up remarkably fast. I was just out Wednesday, and it was 55* outside, and the soil was 54*. I figure if I can get the soil temp up using clear plastic on the tunnels before I plant out, I can keep them warmer with the lights on. I can also add a taller tunnel for extra warmth, like Eliot Coleman recommends. Actually, today I was thinking of how much lighting I can put in the cold house to keep it warm in there, too. I'll also have a 30 gallon black trash can of water in there for heat mass, if I can get it warm and keep it warm. It's been fairly moderate for winter here, so far. (knocking on wood) Not as cloudy as usual, either.
I just got a remote thermometer today, to keep tabs on the cloches that are up now. One has double plastic on it, the other is single. I'll be checking on that daily for the next month or two, before I make any decisions. |
February 26, 2012 | #68 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: beech grove, tn
Posts: 45
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homemade bottom heat that works
I made this using some rope lights I had in my RV , and a plastic tub which I already had.. I wanted this for growing my sweet potato slips..
this is with the potatos in and 5 days afterward, slips coming up! |
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