Growing plants inside instead of outside?

dipat2005

If you remember I had so much trouble with my raised bed garden last year and so I have been reading about growing plants inside.

I am also wondering if I can using regular heating pads (like you would buy in a store) and not heating mats for plants?

Also is it possible to raise things like Kale, Spinach, and Swiss Chard inside? I really do not want to have to chance someone poisoning my soil outside again.

Would I need different lights for seedlings and for growing plants as they get larger?

kbmbillups1

I've been looking online and there are all kinds of vegetables that people grown indoors. I've never done it before but I'm thinking of trying to grow cucumbers indoors this year. For the past couple of years my cucumbers have been attacked by green caterpillars. It was so disappointing to find them inside each one.

heirlooms777

@dipat2005 @kbmbillups1

You only need the grow pads to germinate the seeds. Once you see green you can take them off the grow mat and take off the plastic covering if you have one. Some people keep it warm in the room for the seedlings, I have even heard of plugging a crock pot filled with water and a little oil and connecting it to a sensor so that when it is the correct humidity it turns off — but really, get some grow lamps, put them on some cheap chains, and just grow! Greens do well indoors (not so much cucumbers)

Torey

@dipat2005 If you have the space, I encourage you to try growing as many things as possible inside.

However, I wouldn't use a regular heating pad. They aren't rated to be around any sort of dampness.

Michelle D

@dipat2005 I use the same grow lights that I have for starting my seedling too keep indoor plants. I haven't grow anything large like cucumbers indoors, but I have successfully used them for things like a variety of greens, radishes, and pepper plants.

kbmbillups1

@heirlooms777 I have a lot of seedlings that I started inside waiting for next month so I can plant them outside. I figured cucumbers inside would be a stretch. 😁 Just thinking out loud... would be a hoot for my daughter to come home from college to a cucumber vine growing in her room. (That's where I have my seedlings.)😂

VermontCathy

haven't tried it, but I think almost any heating pad would work as long as it didn't get the plant excessively hot.

I put my tomato seed planting on top of my oil furnace, and that's all they need to sprout. The same thing would happen if you put them next to a running wood stove. Do you have a warm spot on top of your heating system that could hold some seed plantings? (You don't need to use seed flats. I start tomatoes in small, recyclable aluminum bread pans.)

I agree with @Torey that you want to be careful of dampness around a standard heating pad, but I put my seed plantings in ziploc bags anyway to keep them from drying out, and that would trap the moisture inside.

You do not need different lighting systems for seedlings and growing plant larger, but the "growing plants larger" phase definitely requires brighter lights. So grow lights are sufficient for seedlings, but lights sufficient for seedlings are not necesssarily bright enough to be general grow lights. I learned this the hard way.

You do need to be able to adjust the height of the lights. For some plants, such as tomatoes, you need to put the light right above the tiny seedlings, then gradually raise the light as the plant grows. If you leaving the light well above the seedlings, they will get "leggy", meaning tall and mostly stem with not enough leaves and very weak stems. Leggy tomatoes will not survive being transplanted outside.

SuperC

You can grow tomatoes inside as long as the plant/s is/are put in a sunny window.

Marjory Wildcraft

@Ruth Ann Reyes has a really slick indoor growing system and she is producing lots of greens. There are several different indoor grow systems on the market.

VermontCathy

@SuperC It depends on your climate and the type of plant. If I were to put my tomatoes on a sunny windowsill in early April, they would probably die quickly from exposure to the cold.

It's always going to be colder close to a window, even a south-facing window. And tomatoes really, really don't like cold.

Geraldine Christmas

I'm also trying new ways to grow inside. I'm in a 2b growing zone with about 90 growing days. I've been growing microgreens, which have been a great success, Tiny Tim and Red Robin tomatoes. They both grow well under lights. Something l did learn lately from trial an error was the lighting. I was using one sunblaster light, and found things were getting leggy. One light didn't give enough lumens, so l added a second sunblaster and l can not believe the difference. I started tomatoes and peppers March 1st, and l have flower buds coming already on the tomatoes. So my recommendation would be to have full spectrum lights close to your plants and raise them as they grow. I use hard cover books to raise them, and just remove them as needed. I also tried growing in dish pans and yesterday l picked my radishes and Swiss chard. I got the idea from a video on YouTube. Next experiment is lettuce hydroponicly in mason jars.

VermontCathy

If you have enough grow lights to get tomatoes growing well without them getting leggy, you can probably use those lights to raise nearly any vegetable or fruit.

(Pineapple may be an exception. I've read that they require several times the amount of light that most other fruits and vegetables do.)

Torey

Welcome to TGN's forum @Geraldine Christmas.

Please check out our Introductions section when you have time, and let us know where in the world you are from. I am curious as to where you are with a zone 2b garden. I'm in central BC (Canada) in 3b/4a.

Geraldine Christmas

I'm at the top of Lake Superior in Ontario. Very short summers here, so I'm trying to grow inside to get fresh food during the cold winter. Been experimenting with different methods. I have grown Red Robin tomatoes in mason jars under lights using hydroponics with success. I was living in BC a couple of years ago and let all my hydroponic stuff go when I relocated to Ontario. Just waiting on my order to arrive and I plan to try it on lettuce, and tomatoes again. I'm also wondering if I placed a pot of cucumbers on the second shelf down from the top if I could let them fall down behind my grow light stand to get the light from each shelf as they grow and tie them to the shelves for support. If anyone has tried this please let me know. Thanks in advance.

kbmbillups1

@Geraldine Christmas I have a hydroponics unit and started peppers in it that I let sprout in a moist paper towel inside a baggie. I'm wondering when you say you have tomatoes in mason jars using hydroponics do you mean in the solution you use in your unit? I'm a long way from you in Georgia but I've had great success with starting my plants in the hydroponics unit and then transplanting them into dirt and then moving them outside which is what I eventually want to do with my peppers. They are growing much more slowly than everything else I've grown hydroponically (but much faster than the ones I started in dirt) which is why I was asking how you grow in the mason jars. If I can move some of these to an individual home before their roots get too long that would be great. Then, I could start some more as well.

Funny you should ask about cucumbers. I was thinking of trying to grow them inside this summer because mine always attract green caterpillars outside. I hope yours grow well!

marjstratton

I've grown tomatoes on my enclosed back porch for several years. I still need to work out the best way to get a good yield though. I do think I get better yield with the cherry tomato types. I have never used a heating pad.

ig

Hi, I actually don't have an outdoor space and have been experimenting with growing vegies indoors (apartment not a greenhouse) for a few years. Zone 7b, so hot in the summer and dry heat in the winter.

One of biggest things that I have learned is to have a plan for pest control. There is no rain indoors and there are no natural predators. If pests come from store bought soil or are attracted through a window, they are difficult to get rid of after the fact. So start with a pest control plan from day one.

Also, I learned to go with plants and planters that fit my needs. So having the freedom to travel for 2 weeks in the middle of the summer necessarily means certain types of planters and/or plants.

I have tried swiss chard in a pot. Don't know why but it had a putrid amount of oxalic acid that made it inedible. After that I began experimenting with other types of greens. I have not tried kale or spinach. Unless your space is very sunny, I'd recommend plants that thrive outdoors with part sun or shade.

Lastly, I'd say keep experimenting with new types of vegies, new varieties and vegies that you already know that you would like to grow. See how you can do it in the space that you have indoors. Personally, I am still trying to figure out how to grow sweet potatoes well indoors.

Hope this helps.

dipat2005

I just got my computer back from the shop. As I was reading your comments it occurred to me that the (wall heater was on and it puts out a lot of heat!) I really appreciate all of the great comments. I was thinking about using some of the fencing wire and putting in thicker round poles to somehow protect the carrots and other vegetables from adult feet. (The adult feet like to kill things by sticking them where they don't belong. I need to do more studying. Keep the comments coming! Thanks for all of the great ideas!

VermontCathy

@Geraldine Christmas The easiest plants to grow inside in the winter are sprouts and shoots, such as peas (you will eat the leaves and stems, not get actual peas), buckwheat, daikon radish, broccoli, and sunflowers.

All of these produce excellent greens for use in salads or on sandwiches, and they will grow in cool, low-light conditions. After they are a few inches high, you can clip the tops with scissors, eat the tops, and leave the bottom of the plant to produce more leaves and stems.

After a few rounds of cutting back and regrowing, the plants will get week, so you discard them and plant more seeds.

Owl

I pieced together this setup and start most of my veggies that move to the garden or greenhouse but I also use it to grow sprouts for us and the chickens and ducks all year round. It’s not pretty but it’s pretty effective. Our house stays around 68ish in winter and 73-4 in summer and the most I ever use any extra heat is for germinating tomatoes and peppers during the coldest part of the winter. After the sprouts are well out of the dirt, they get no more heat. I have a small grow light that I use for the most critical plants but I’ve not had any problems just growing under LED bulbs that cover the spectrum. I use the grow lights for my tomatoes and start them very close to the light but they always seem to get leggy anyway. I always bury all the stem when I pot them up or plant them so they don’t seem to suffer too much.

My biggest headache with growing indoors is fruit flies! Invariably, they end up getting in on some fruit or veggies and very quickly try to take over the house! Since I’m always fermenting several different things, they drive me crazy! If anyone has any great advice for wiping them out without nasty chemicals, I’d sure love to hear it! I’ve tried traps with kombucha, vinegar and honey and nothing works. I do have a couple of different kinds of traps coming on Monday and I just pray that the high rating others have given them translates well into our house. Apparently, the yellow, sticky papers lose their effectiveness over time since the ones I’ve been using for a couple of years, even though they have been sealed, have lost their attractiveness.

My heart hurts at the very thought of someone poisoning my garden! I can’t imagine how heartbreaking that must have been but I bet it would sour me on the whole process, I admire your tenacity. I think, if I were looking at moving everything indoors, I would explore using a hydroponic system just to escape from the mess and bugs that are constants around my shelves. Best of luck and keep us updated on what ends up working for you!

LaurieLovesLearning

@Ruth Ann Reyes Marjory spilled the beans about your grow system. Would you be willing to feature it in a new discussion post?

@Marjory Wildcraft Maybe Ruth could do a blog post AND a discussion here all about her grow system! That sounds fantastic.

LaurieLovesLearning

@VermontCathy  I've grown tomatoes indoors here! You don't get many tomatoes doing it, however. I found that they also only started flowering/fruiting in January/February.

I also have a pineapple growing in front of a window. I don't have any fruit yet and my plant is old, however, I just transplanted it and hope that helps. My aunt actually was able to get hers to fruit. She has large old windows...nothing special so it's possible.

LaurieLovesLearning

@Owl What bottles are you using for your watering?

@dipat2005 I never thought about using our infrared heater for germinating. That's an interesting idea.

VermontCathy

@LaurieLovesLearning My tomato starts look great right now, but I won't let them flower until they are outside. If necessary, I will pick off the blossoms. I want the plants to focus on strong leaf, stem, and root systems until they are out in the warm weather.

dipat2005

@LaurieLovesLearning I have raised tomatoes in the house before after taking from the ground in late summer when there were blossoms on it. The plant itself ran out of steam after January. I brought it in during September of that year!

VermontCathy

@dipat2005 That's impressive! You certainly got your money's worth out of that tomato plant.

Owl

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/921235#Comment_921235

Laurie, I don’t understand your question. I water my indoor plants that are going out with seaweed water once they’re big enough that the spray bottle is not required and they need something more than water.

LaurieLovesLearning

@Owl Ahaha! 🤣 Those are spray bottles hanging! I was thinking that you had some type of other bottle hanging there that helped with automatic watering or something.

Owl

Haha! I just run out of room on the shelves and hang them there. One for water and one for seaweed water.

dipat2005

@Owl I have never heard of using seaweed water but I can see the benefits.

Lisa K

With all of the rain and cold weather we have gotten in Calif. I bought a Basil plant then trimmed it and rooted the cuttings. I just planted two of the cuttings outside this morning. Other than, the only other thing I have been growing indoors are Oyster Mushrooms using kits (they were on clearance and less than what they cost to buy).