My Basement Greenhouse

[WaterWitchin]

Gotta love LEDs! Great invention. What about heating? (I’m not as polite as DC... but am very familiar with being told nunya.) Curious, as I had an unfinished basement, and had to use electric heater in winter.

[Clawhammer]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Gotta love LEDs! Great invention. What about heating? (I’m not as polite as DC... but am very familiar with being told nunya.) Curious, as I had an unfinished basement, and had to use electric heater in winter.

100% of the heat in my setup comes from the lights. I am just reaching 82 now so I may need to add a heater in to keep it at this point as winter continues, but I probably wont as long as the high reaches >78.

A few months in the summer I need to control the highs with an a/c a few hours a day, and to bring the temp down to 66 at night. Definitely a small additional cost in the summer.

Fall, winter, and spring (tbd) I just use the inline fan at night to bring the temp down.

[WaterWitchin]

My lights didn’t appear to generate heat. Hmmm

[MisterGuy]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

My lights didn’t appear to generate heat. Hmmm

How many watts were you running and what was your ventilation and humidity like? T5 tubes, for example, don't seem like they generate much heat until you contain it, but when I had 6 tubes in a small tent, the little orchids and seedlings for my garden were toasty and warm. Before I had the tents, I had open metal racks and that room wasn't any noticeably warmer than the rest of the house. I also suspect his humidifier is going a long way to trap residual heat from his lighting. 2000 watts is a lot no matter how you cut it, with most of that lighting it sounds like.

[Clawhammer]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

My lights didn’t appear to generate heat. Hmmm

I'd prefer to have to use a heater over an A/c unit so I wish that was the case for me.

The 200w unit gets quite hot by itself. Each 65w panel feels a lot like an extra warm seedling heating pad to the touch. There is very little uncontrolled airflow in this room so with the door closed behind 26 of those panels the heat starts building rather quickly.

---------- Post added at 10:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:24 AM ----------

I added the platform in the middle two weeks ago, everything was a little crowded before then. Of course I've gone and ordered and dozen plants now that I have additional space.

I didn't want to drop $150 on a 4' x 4' drainage tray or spend a week making one out of plywood so I figured out a way to spend $0 with materials I already had.

[IMG]unnamed (18) by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]unnamed (19) by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]
[IMG]unnamed (21) by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]

Also, this restrepia has been in bloom like this for 15 months straight. What an amazing little plant with such classy little blooms.

[IMG]unnamed (20) by Eric, on Flickr[/IMG]

[DirtyCoconuts]

a buck a day!?!

that is incredible! that drainage stand is brilliant. watch for the plastic to sag and stretch which will change the pitch over time

[rymor]

How did you make that humidifier? Filling once a month sounds like a dream.

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by rymor

How did you make that humidifier? Filling once a month sounds like a dream.

Here ya go rymor...

50 Gallon Humidifier

[My Green Pets]

I don't understand how mist coming out of a bucket will humidify a whole room. Are there any photos of it with the lid off?

[Clawhammer]

Originally Posted by My Green Pets

I don't understand how mist coming out of a bucket will humidify a whole room. Are there any photos of it with the lid off?

The pond fogger puts out about twice as much cool vapor as a normal ultrasonic humidifier. Its like running two humidifiers (which is what I used to do). Inside the tote its just a pond fogger on a float.