Chainlink Gardeners

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Comment by h' Zerocats on March 22, 2010 at 12:15am

Todd, thanks for the response-- would be interested in any answers you might find in your travels. I started a thread at Candlepower forums but that forum is seriously hobbled by overmoderation and almost non-functional captchas.

Comment by h' Zerocats on March 22, 2010 at 12:13am

Chuck, maybe we can team up there. I need a quantity of compost, enough to cover my lawn. A commercial service that can drop off a truckload would be the best place to go. I researched a year or two ago but hit a dead end because amy info was from a professional landscaper and the services wouldn't deal directly with a consumer.

Comment by Todd Allen on March 22, 2010 at 12:00am

Laura, there have been guerrilla gardening rides for ornamentals but not that I'm aware of for food. I'm more interested in food but have become hesitant to go guerrilla because of the risks of contaminated soil.

Comment by Todd Allen on March 21, 2010 at 11:50pm

A florescent with a good electronic ballast will do 100+ lumens per watt. The very best leds will do about 150, but most of what is sold is only doing about 50. Just because it has leds doesn't automatically mean its going to be efficient.

The dimming of leds with age does represent a loss of efficiency. The power consumed doesn't drop much.

As for the number of hours to run artificial lights for plants, it depends on the plant. There are plants that are ok with continuous light and some that aren't. Plants which use day length cues to time their life stage functions are going to be trouble. In general constant light won't kill plants, but it may prevent or force things like flowering, setting seed, etc.

I only use artificial lighting for seed starting vegetables and herbs, etc. and for most all of them 12 to 18 hours a day of light is recommended.

Comment by Chuck a Muck on March 21, 2010 at 10:56pm

I would prefer to avoid craigslist due to the flakes and time wasters that seem to be in the majority over there...

Comment by igz on March 21, 2010 at 10:42pm

chuck, i would craigslist that and see if any local composters would share...

Comment by Chuck a Muck on March 21, 2010 at 10:24pm

I need lots of cheap or free clean top soil. Anyone got any suggestions? By lots, I mean about 32 square feet...

Comment by h' Zerocats on March 21, 2010 at 5:12pm

Hey Todd, or anyone, two questions--
1) Is it OK to leave the light on 24 hours or does the plant physiologically "need" some kind of rest?

2) I've just retrieved a second set of lights from the attic and started them u, and they are noticably brighter than the set that's been in steady use. It's well known that LEDs dim with age, but do you know of any tips for slowing the process or is it just a straight formula, dimming by so much per number of hours used?
Also, and more importantly-- as they dim, does the power consumption decrease accordingly?
Got to get me one of them Kill-a-watts one of these days.

Comment by h' Zerocats on March 16, 2010 at 7:22pm

It's 13.8 watts, so at best about 1300 lumens, probably more like 1000. A single decent 4 foot florescent tube will put out at least twice as much light. Also, you don't want the red light for seed starting.

As for the jiffy pots, they tend to be pretty small and only plants with extremely aggressive roots can penetrate through them. You'll need to cut the peat pots open for many plants.

It's my second year with the lights and they worked wonderfully last year. A single flourescent tube may put out twice as much light, but it uses more than twice as much electricity. I had a flourescent double hood hanging where the LEDs are now for my first 3-4 years living here (over a 60 gallon tank originally) and they were ugly and attracted filth.

I agree about peat pots- had exactly that experience last year and will probably not be using them again. My post here is specific to the pellets-- they have a thin membrane on the outside and are pre-perforated on the bottom.
So far all of my tomatoes, and a few Cypress Vine and Cardinal Climber have sprouted.

Comment by Laura on March 16, 2010 at 6:04pm

I saw that last year you guys were talking about guerrilla gardening rides. did anything ever come of this?
If you guys think about doing it this year I would love to join! I am not claiming that I can garden or that i own any tools but it sounds like a fun idea!

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