I am going away for 5 days. I have several citrus trees, mandevilla, jasmine, and orchids under grow lights. I'm trying to decide if I should leave the lights on, since I don't have a timer.
What do you think I should do?
Tamberlin
What would you do....
get a timer?? LOL
Are your choices 24 hours/day grow light or none? I think I would go with none for 5 days. (timers are pretty cheap though)
My safe advice/bet is to go indirect/unfiltered or just without if you absolutley can't buy a timer. 24/7 light gives no break and will probably kill from the limited experience I have with 24 hour lighting.
Timers (less than a few hundred watt) go for less than $20.
I just bought a new 1500watt timer for use with some great 400W energy efficient full-spectrum flourescent lights for about $29.00 I now have so much light that neighbors are starting to stop and stare!
(on the bright side though...it's averaging about 20 degrees outside, yet I currently have more than 6 different plants in bloom from Buddleias (butterfly bushes) to Morning Glory's to Jasmines...both fragrance and looks in a Maryland window in January...a good thing...and reason to consider supplemental light (or finish the greenhouse)...and in the meantime use timers and energy efficient lights
Get the timer...go filtered indirect...or go dark...just one mans humble opinion.
Ray
I would hire a plant sitter!
Sue
Chances are you'll be in this predicament again so I'd vote for a timer.
Thanks for the input! I think I will opt for a timer next time. This time I thought of it too late to get one. Of course, next time I go away for any length of time, it will probably be in the summer and the citrus will be outside.
Thank you again!
Tamberlin
I would just stay home!!! LOL Yeah right!
Gotta make money somehow - so off to craft shows and art festivals I go!
Tamberlin
Have a good time! :)
Run to Home Depot or the local hardware store. The law of averages dictates that no one in Massachusetts lives more than 8 minutes from a Home Depot or Lowes and timers cost about $5.00.
So true! for the first three years we lived in Springfield, we related all driving instructions in terms of how close/far from Lowes or Home Depot - we practically lived at these places as we restored our heritage home and simply did not know how to get to other areas of the city or suburbs :-) currently DH is doing the dining room - plaster dust everywhere.
It makes me wonder how we even lived before HD came along!
We had a good relationship with our local family run hardware store before HD.....
And now I'll step off the soapbox and go back to packing...
Tam
So did most of us, I'd guess. HD and the others just make it so easy to buy such a wide variety that the typical hardware store doesn't/can't carry. We still use our two hardware stores since HD is 25 miles away.
Some things I can't find at Home depot - like fuses for my ancient fuse boxes....
Ha good thing I live only a few minutes drive from HomeDepot. I love that store!
My local hardware store is open Monday-Friday 11-5 and Saturday 11-1. If they at least stayed open for more than 2 hours on the weekend and were open once in a while when I wasn't at work, I might actually frequent them. While I don't like HD, it's open until 10 every day, so I usually end up going there out of convenience.
We have a great local hardware store here that even competes with the big boys for selling appliances.People love it because someone will actually come out to your house and fix a broken appliance. Nothing I like better than being able to walk in and ask someone for a bolt or some other doohickey that matches the one in my hand.
How very true, Dave. Try it at some places and you'll hear "Aisle 6 on the right" and then you can spend ten minutes trying to find it only to find out you have to buy a container of 10 though you only need one.