growing without the sun, and other questions.

Discussion in 'HortForum' started by tgarden28, Dec 3, 2005.

  1. tgarden28

    tgarden28 Member

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    Location:
    ohio, USA
    A few quick questions for all of you, but first an intro.

    I recently received an herbal garden kit, including; a mix of basil, agrimony, anise, german chamomile, wild bergamot, peppermint, lavender, and a few other cooking herbs. now that there is nearly a foot of snow outside, along with the fact that i have no southern facing windows other than the one above my bed, i am stuck growing with artificial lights. so far i have had 4 chamomile and 6 basil germinated and i snipped 3 chamomile and 2 basil for showing poor growth. im using Coco fiber as my medium and they all seem to be doing all right on filtered water and compact flourecent bulbs (about 10000 lumens) on 18/6 lighting (ill be stepping up to a larger grow light when i figure out what to do with them), temperatures... i would say are ~70 lights on 55-60 lights off would be less if i moved them out into the living room, where they would get the most natural light.
    ok so that about does it for the intro, on to the questions as i have never grown any of these plants

    first, will i need to change the lighting schedule to see flowering?
    second, should i seperate the plants or leave them in the same room together?
    third, the basil are showing a deep purple leaf, well 3 are. one is a light green, when rubbed smells slightly of citrus... am i safe to assume this is lemon basil?
    fourth, is there some trick to getting the search feature to work? i searched for all these questions but no luck finding anyone with a "grow cabinet" related posting...

    thanks in advance
    tg28
     
  2. Dee M.

    Dee M. Active Member 10 Years

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    I really don't know about growing under lights except that is complicated and it probably would be best to get a book on it. I do know about basil and I think the citrus smelling one is lemon basil. Basil is an annual so if it flowers and sets seeds it will die so you don't want it to flower, if it does pinch them off to prolong it's life.
     
  3. tgarden28

    tgarden28 Member

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    thanks Dee M. the basil is doing well and the same for the chamomile.

    tg28
     
  4. tgarden28,
    Growing with grow lights can be complicated. Some main things to remmber is you are playing the sun, so the light needs to be on the same amount of time. 12/12, 12 hours light, 12 hour dark
     
  5. In addition to my last massage, the 12/12 schedule is the best wat to maximize flowering. also, their is no need to separate the plants a long as their is enough fresh air. I use a grow cabinet.
     
  6. Eric La Fountaine

    Eric La Fountaine Contributor Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Hey tgarden28, there is no trick to the Search function, there just were no posts containing those words until now. Try searching for "under lights" or "grow lights".

    Tomato is right about the importance of stable day length for proper growth. Erratic daylength can cause strange growth in some plants. Plants vary in their responses to daylength however. Some plants are stimulated to bloom by short days, others by long days and some are day neutral. So inducing bloom by adjusting daylength depends on what you are growing. This is very important to greenhouse growers. There are lists on the web of the daylength responses of many plants.

    More info:
    http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/hortihints/0012b.html
    http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/Photoperiodism.html
     

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