Indoor Greenhouse

In order to get a jump on the season, one can get an indoor greenhouse started.

Today, there are any number of these on the market and all work pretty much the same.

To start one inside, find a place that gets good sun and is in a warm spot in your house.

The seeds will usually germinate quickly in a warm, protected environment.

One thing to keep in mind is the sunlight. They need a lot of sunlight to grow. If they do not get enough light, then they grow tall and spindly. This is not a good thing.

Plants need energy to grow. Without the energy they will grow tall but will have a thin hungry look to them. This will make them weak and eventually they will grow too tall, fall over and die without good stem support.

You may have to move them out in the sun in the day light or put them under fluorescent lighting. There are special growing lights that can be used. These need to be set about 12" to 18" inches above the plants.

2-04-2010

In the pictures below is my indoor greenhouse plants for 2010. I have changed my process from 2009 which was a disaster for me when it came to transplanting.

Also I am using peat moss in my Dot pots. The peat moss seems to hold the right amout of moisture for germinating seeds compared to the potting soil.

The peat moss is in the next picture.

Plants have the ability to make food by using carbon dioxide, water, and other nutrients. A substance called chlorophyll, the chemical that makes the plants green, is needed to convert nutrients into plant energy.

Chlorophyll only exists in light. Plants need light energy so that chlorophyll is available to feed the plants.

Seeds can germinate and grow without sunlight for a short period of time. Some seeds have their own food bank to supply them with nutrition while they are germinating.

This internal food supply will only last a few days depending on the size of the seed.

A small pepper seed has little storage room, but a bean plant is larger and has more food supply available for growing.

Plants have the ability to make food by using carbon dioxide, water, and other nutrients. A substance called chlorophyll, the chemical that makes the plants green, is needed to convert nutrients into plant energy.

Date: 2-13-08

In this video below we see an example of what happens when the plants do not get enough sunlight. I have been busy and not paying attention to my plants.

These need to be put outside or moved to an area to get more sunlight. Or I could use grow lights, but I do not want to do this.

After putting them outside for a day, they have gotten back on track. However, it is cold and cloudy today.

2-21-09

In the indoor greenhouse squash and cucumber plants were getting so large that they were crushing the tomato and broccoli plants. I decided to transplant them to the garden.

But I must say I was disappointed in the results. I could not get the plants out of their pods. I used a spoon. I even cut the pods open but it was still hard to get the whole plant out of the pod without damaging it.

I think in retrospect I should have done several things.

One is to plant only one type of seed for each greenhouse. This might have helped with some of the problems.

Or even better, plant them in some sort of biodegradable paper cup. Then I could have just put the whole cup in the garden without messing with the roots.

I was not too worried since the day was cloudy, but then we had a cold front that moved, gave about ten drops of rain and cleared out the clouds so that the sun came on bright.

They seem to be doing OK at this point.

I doubt I will be getting any of the tomatoes or peppers out of the greenhouse.

We will learn many things as we go along. Maybe something else I could have done was take the plants off their water supply and let the pod dry up some. This would have allowed the to come out of the indoor green house a lot easier.

Or I could have taken one seed pellet and planted it in a cup. Then when I got ready to plant them just cut the paper cup away from the plant.

What I will do next time is use the tray I have and use biodegrade pots. Of course the best thing I could do is just plant them straight in the ground and not worry about the rest. This would be the easiest. I would not get produce as early as I did this year, though.

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