Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Chatting => Frugal Living => Topic started by: jay001 on January 31, 2014, 22:18

Title: homemade lightbox
Post by: jay001 on January 31, 2014, 22:18

i had a old spare kitchen wall unit left over from our kitchen renovation so decided to have a go at a daylight grow unit,i have lined it with foil,put ventilation holes in both sides and the back at the top i have drilled a hole central in the top so that i can move the bulb up higher as the plant growth increases ( hopefully ) at the moment i have opted to use just the one bulb,but i have another couple plus the bulb holders if i think it requires more heat/light.
The bulbs that i have purchased ( amazon ) are " minisun 20w es e27 energy saving daylight cfl spiral bulbs " with a colour temp of 6500k i was intending to start off jalapenos,mini bell tomatoes and a few other assorted peppers . . . . any helpful advice or constructive criticism would be greatly apreciated as i have found this subject quite confusing where the light bulb wattage is concerned . . . . will the one do the job in that space . . i dont know can someone help ?   

Title: Re: homemade lightbox
Post by: gavinjconway on February 20, 2014, 17:05

Just seen your post... Here is mine. just a bit more to it but similar to yours in theory. I used 3 x 30 W spiral 6400 as well. You need the 6400k as its the correct daylight spectrum. I have show onions and peppers in mine.

Title: Re: homemade lightbox
Post by: jay001 on February 20, 2014, 18:06

thank you for your reply Gavin mine has been on the go now since feb 1st and my parsley and minibell tomatoes are going great guns ,I am still only using the one bulb but feel in hindsight I probably should have used 3 like yourself my chilli and sweet peppers have still to show but I am not too worried as they do tend to take a wee bit longer to germinate, overall I am very pleased with my first attempt and look forward to designing the " mark 2 ) version  :lol:

Title: Re: homemade lightbox
Post by: gavinjconway on February 21, 2014, 19:14

Hi Jay - I get them to germinate in the propagator then move into the light box. I have various ages in the box now so all sorts of sizes.  I'm having fun with my DIY grow box (Mk II version) ... first time I've grown with one... But Oh boy what I'd give for some African sun for my allotment!!

Potted on a few more tiny onions into small pots and put into the light grow box. It seems to be working as the chillies, peppers, onions and leeks are really doing well. One new leaf every 7-10 ten days are growing from the onions. leeks a bit slow but seem to be growing well now.

Chillies/peppers are still in their original modules and not potted on yet.