How to Grow Food Indoors Under LED Lighting
Growing food indoors has many benefits, which include the ability to grow plants year-round and the chance to grow a larger number of plants in a small space. LED lights, or light emitting diodes, help in this process and are small and energy-efficient when compared with alternative light sources such as metal halide lamps. LED lights also do not give off much heat, so they will not easily burn the tips of your plants. These lights additionally can last for as long as three years before you have to change their bulbs. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Chains
- Soil-less potting mix
- Watering can
- Vermiculite
- Tape measure
- Grow light timer
- Fertilizer
- Spray bottle
Instructions
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Purchase seed packets for the types of edibles you want to grow indoors. You can find these packets in local garden centers, building supply stores and even mail-order catalogs. In addition, buy plastic sheets of small containers, called "cell flats," as well as a solid planting tray.
Look at the timing requirements listed on the seed packages to determine when to begin planting the seeds. For example, peppers and eggplants should be started indoors in mid-March, while the best time for cabbage and cauliflower is early March, and the ideal time for tomatoes is early April.
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Buy two or three LED grow lights at a gardening center. Hang them from chains above your planting area so that you will be able to easily raise them as your plants grow.
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Set the cell flats into the solid tray, and fill the cells completely full with a soil-less seed starting mix. The mix should not have any true soil and likely will contain peat and vermiculite, which will help the seeds to retain water. Water the mix in the cell flats, which will allow the mix to settle down in their containers and become moist for planting. Continue to add more potting mix and water to the cell flats until the containers are nearly full.
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Sow the fresh seeds individually into each cell, placing them four times as deep as their width. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of fine vermiculite, which will keep the seeds moist enough for germination while still allowing enough LED lighting to strike the seeds.
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Keep your LED lights between 2 inches and 4 inches above the tops of your seedlings. Leave the lights on for only 12 hours to 16 hours each day, using a timer if necessary. Although plants need an adequate amount of light to grow effectively, they also require a period of darkness for proper development.
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Water the seeds with a spray bottle whenever the soil-less mix becomes dry. Mix a weak general purpose fertilizer to one-fourth of the strength following the manufacturer's directions, and apply the fertilizer once a week to your plants once they grow several leaves.
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References
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