Everyone's indoors... is one halide enough?

Looks like my own little indoor jungle, the result of too many plants that are too large to take upstairs to my "plant room" anymore. Opted for a 1000W halide this year and a greenhouse (humidity). Had planned on two halide's but stuck with one to see how it would go. Now that every thing's in - can't help but feel like it's crowded and a lot of bigger (high light) items are on the edge of the primary growing area.

I did take the suggestion of putting one of my smaller GH's outside, but it's been hard to regulate the temperature and I can only put so much in it to begin with. The larger GH (seen in the photo) I've kept inside bc I think it'd be too large to put in the backyard given our neighbor rules, even with our fence (gotta love those rules).

I do have to put my other 8' Christmas palm out here in the garge from Nov 26-Dec 27th, as our foyer will be home to our more traditional Christmas tree. LOL, could just decorate the palm I guess. So it'll be a lot more crowded then in the garage than now.

So what do you all think? Invest in another halide or try and work with this out with the one?

Closeup of the larger plants.

The greenhouse (which unfortunately is only partly in the halide range)

This message was edited Oct 29, 2007 6:55 PM

LOL ... I love it, a Plant Garage!

How long do you have to leave plants inside like that? I really am not sure about 1 light vs 2 ... we can keep things outside year round down here. Well, I do have a few that I have to bring in if we have real cold weather. But, our cold snaps don't usually last more than a day or two at a time. I drag stuff in and out during January and February!

Hopefully someone will come along shortly with an answer for you!

It's usually from about this time of year (sometimes a few weeks later) until near Easter. Although last Easter hit us with a last freeze and got a lot of folks by surprise. All said and done it can be 4-5 months.

Right after I took the photo I actually had to bring in 5 more potted banana's I'd forgotten about. They looked smaller in the yard. I think we'll have to get the second light now - making my original question somewhat rhetorical.

Wow! I had no idea your area would be that cold for that long! I've been in Florida for 40 years (originally from the coast of Virginia). We are spoiled down here. I know I wouldn't have nearly as many plants if I lived farther north cause I can't imagine having to dig up huge plants and move them indoors like some people do! It sure must be a lot of work, especially with the number of plants you have to move!

It's just the night time temps that are usually the problem, in the 20's - 40's most of the winter, 20's are rare, but we did see the teens a few nights last year. I just grow all tropicals - total zone denial.

Looking to save a few bucks... was considering this one instead:
http://www.specialty-lights.com/1000mhyield10.html

Looks like the cost difference is the hood. Not sure if it's a deal or not. The more expensive one I already own does have better reflectivity.

Whew! that's expensive! I have three plant stands inside where I grow Gesneriads (African Violets, Episcia's and Chirita's) and I just too the advice from people on the African Violet/Gesneriad forum and went to wal-mart and bought those shop lights that I wired up to the plant stands! Works great! They are on timers and stay on about 14 hours a day! Do your Tropical plants require a higher intensity light?

Lin, I think when you are attempting to light a garage size, the halides are superior in every way. I am excited thinking about next winter and putting in a halide in my storage building for the one month out of the year. This is way too exciting.

Remember, my storage unit, Lin? I have it organized now.
Let me find a picture of it. I could do exactly what he did with a halide during the month of January.
*******I barely recognize it when it was first built. Now I have so many plants climbing up the walls and hanging baskets I can't believe this is the first picture.

Thanks for all your good information and sorry I am not helping at all.

I was going to get someone to make poly shades for the southern exposure front screened in porch in winter, but I like this thread idea of the halide.

This was taken in early spring. Now you can't even walk from one end to the other without hitting your head on a hanging basket or another pot full of something.

If I could use the building like he has done to overwinter plants, I could still enjoy the front porch all winter long with the hardy plants like hoyas, etc. We don't get below freezing...just nasty cold weather for about 6 weeks.

Photo's Gail .... Photo's! I want to see all those gorgeous plants of yours! I remember that picture of your building ... it was supposed to be a supply/storage building, wasn't it? I bet it didn't take long to get filled with plants! I would love a "Plant" Garage! Wonder if I could talk hubby into leaving his new pickup truck out side and I could move my car out too .... and use the garage for a plant room?! Fat chance! He doesn't want his new truck out in the driveway getting dirt on it! LOL.

I love your porch!

We won't hijack your thread but we are very excited to see what you have come up with for over wintering and we want to copy you!

Tomorrow I will take pictures, Lin but I promise my front porch is a wreck because there are waaaay too many plants . I will try tomorrow or Wednesday to catch all the planting around the building, too.

My friend from Houston is coming in next Sunday before our state av convention and she and I are going to bring to big shelves in from the front porch for more gro lights inside.

Gail: By the end of 2008 I'm afraid you won't have any furniture left inside your house except plant stands with grow lights! LOL.

Love the porch too. We almost screened our small deck in, but now looking back - we wouldn't have had nearly enough room.

I think we've definitely decided on the second light. I have been watching the temp out in my small greenhouse (the outside one) and it's very hard to keep the temp above 50. Granted most things in it are fine, but one bad cold snap and I'd have to turn on the heater out there. I already have a heatlamp on. At this point I'm sure the costs are close, but I'd rather just put all my plants in one location where I can keep a close eye on them and fight spider mites together, argh - hate those things.

I'll have to post new pics... and hopefully the neighbors don't ask questions about the light emitted from the garage all night, LOL.

LOL ... You may have neighbor's calling the police if they don't know what you grow! The lady who is the president of our local African Violet club related a story of an incident that happened to her a couple of years ago. We were having one of those stifling hot, hot summers (like we are having this year) Anyway, she decided to leave her plant stand lights on at night, all night instead of the daytime because it was a bit cooler at night. One night about 3 a.m. she got a phone call .... saying it was the police department and that her house was surrounded and she should come out her front door with her hands up! She asked if it was some kind of a joke and the dispatcher told her absolutely not, that she needed to comply with those orders! They all laughed about it later, after the police officers came in and checked out her house and saw all those plant stands with African Violets! She said they hung around awhile asking about her pretty plants! Now, I would probably have a heart attack if that happened to me! Apparently the regular patrol cars would be driving during their night shift and saw bright lights on all night through her windows ... they thought she was growing marijuana! LOL.

I just peeked outside and it seems the garage door blocks the light pretty well. I did tell most of the neighbors already, especially since one of them did joke with me last winter when I left the smaller incandescent plant-light bulbs on all night up in the plant room.

What's ironic is that hardy hibiscus looks just like marijuana at first glance. I saw it at a large local garden center in the spring and was like - is that what I think it is? That's when I learned there were two types of hibiscus. I've decided to just keep my woody stemmed type. LOL

Well, LOL ... I've never seen a marijuana plant so I am not real sure what they look like. I think I saw a photo one time and I remember seeing someone with a t-shirt once and it showed a marijuana leaf. I was thinking I remembered it sorta looked like a maple leaf. I had a plant called false aralia many years ago and I remember someone asking me if it was a marijuana plant!

I've never seen one in person, but I've seen plenty of photos of them. Google it, LOL Plenty of "enthusiasts."

My wife and I discussed it more and I think we'll stick with what we have:
http://www.specialty-lights.com/901091.html

It's $50 more (including the 7000K bulb) - but the cooling of the hood is what we need for the enclosed area. It's going to look like an airport landing strip in our garage with all this light.

I just had to jump back in on this thread! Many many years ago I was living at the base of a ski mountain with my children. The winters were so long that the only way to endure them was to put gro lights all over my little cabin on the river.

We could barely get through the house to do routine things. This cabin sat on the side of a hill so it had a bedroom down where a basement would normally be. My son quickly chose that room has his own. The girls wanted the two bedrooms upstairs while I slept on the main floor (sounds big but it was a tiny cabin).

The short of the longer story is that my son began to take a big interest in all my plants. On sunny days in the late spring he would help me take them out on the deck every morning and bring them in each night very willingly. Next he asked if he could have gro lights downstairs as he had these big built in storage bins with doors on them.

I was so excited that I helped him install many more gro lights for HIS plants. As time went on I noticed that he kept his plants locked in the big bins with the lights on. (he was going into high school at the time) After several months of me opening the doors telling him that his plants needed good circulation, one of his sisters called me in to say: "Mother, we have a pact that we never tell on one another, but you need to have a talk with your son."

I had no idea what she was talking about and she didn't give any hints. You and I both know what I found out when I pried the truth out of him. When I asked him how he knew where to get the stuff and how to grow it, he replied that his best friend at school had a big greenhouse at home full of the plant. His parents grew it!!!!!!! They were ski instructors and I liked them very much. Thank goodness the child's parents got caught by the police before they visited my house.

Funny how a green plant is worth so much. I never will understand it. I have better things to spend my money on - like plant lights, and ultimately, more plants I'm sure. LOL

You have to remember that he was only 14. I am not talking about adults (LOL)

Oh Gail ... he was 14?? ... and I bet you were bragging about your son enjoying growing houseplants! His kind of houseplants was just different than what his mom grew! LOL.

I have a sister who always bragged about her and her husband growing pot back in the early 70's. They grew it and smoked it and probably sold it too. Out of the 6 kids in my family I was the "Miss Goody Two Shoes" and always followed the rules. My husband was in the military and we didn't live near family at the time but I used to tell her she was crazy ... it was against the law ... she could go to jail! She just laughed. I've seen so much with one of my sisters and two of my brothers. A lot of their life long problems began with marijuana. I know I can't blame their problems all on that ... they just made bad choices in life and chose a different path than I did. I still worry about them, they are now in their 50's and still having many problems and troubles.

Lin, you know why God gave me this son? I finally figured out. When I moved out to New Mexico I had to be the most self righteous mother in the world. After all, all my kids made straight A's and were just about perfect I thought. So God decided I needed to learn humility and gratitude to him for their successes.

At the time he pulled this stunt for the whole town to know about, I was sitting on a hospital board and in charge of the gifted student programs in the public schools. I did learn a great deal about humility big time! (LOL)

Just an update now that it's been almost a month... I will have to post more photos too.

We brought everything in around the end of October, right before we had our first hard freeze around the 7th of November. That nuked my yard, so I'm glad I got everything in. We ended up taking down the large greenhouse in the garage because it just felt like it was taking up space. I'm still glad we remove it, bc it made arranging the taller Christmas palms a lot easier... one tree per halide and now they don't quite block as much light from the plants under them. All in all my grow area with the two 1000W MH lights is 16x8 ft primary and 24x12 supplementary (though my garage isn't even that wide). Needless to say, it's pretty darn bright in there. The lights are both hung from the garage door (near the ceiling at about 11-13' in height over the floor (just above the top spears of the palms).

So far everything is doing great - and in some cases a few plants seem even happier inside under the grow lights than they did up in my plant room in the house. My hibiscus have continued to bloom thus far, my Ti's have bloomed (which has never happened before, and I'm sure they sun they got all summer was a big factor), and I am ever so close to having my FIRST ever Bird of Paradise blooms. I keep hoping before winter is done I'll see some plumeria blooms as well.

Humidity is a bit of a concern... it stays higher than I'd like considering the dry wall, but so far it seems like everything's alright. We installed a water spicket in the garage so I can just water directly from within it - and not have to port water into the garage for 60+ plants. Heat hasn't been an issue really... even when in the 30's it stays a min of 65 or so. I have a new large electric heater as well, which I'm sure will help me out on those really cold nights in the 20's or teens. The problem is just keeping everything from tripping my circuit breakers, LOL.

Speaking of which, the power bill has definitely shifted UP since the lights came on. It looks to be around $34 a month per light at this point running 14 hrs a day. Soon as the BOP blooms I'm going to cut that back to 12 hours (which will save us $8 or so a light per month). I run them at night to use the heat they produce in my favor (plus I like being home when they are on).

Will post some photos of the now packed garage next chance I get. I love walking around everything, it's like my own indoor tropical garden, especially after I've misted and you can hear the water dropping from the tall plants down to the small ones. I just need a stream and I'm set.

Can't wait to see photo's of your Plant Garage! I love it! Sounds like the garage would make a great permanent plant oasis .... great size for a garden room. LOL, we don't have the extreme cold winters down here but I love that idea! hmmmm .... wonder what hubby would say if I asked him to keep our vehicles out in the drive way from now on because I needed a Plant Room? Or, maybe I can ask him to build a garage over the side of the current one ..... he could use the current garage door and put some nice French Doors on the plant garage!

Now see what you've done? Got me thinking and planning of a way to have even more plants. :)


Really look forward to seeing your pic's!

I had to work on the DW to convince her about the cars. The scraping of frost has already gotten old, and the morning dew makes driving out of the neighborhood in the glaring sun 'fun' - but without a GH... what can you do? As others have mentioned, these are my "green" investments.

Here's some photos I took tonight. Three of the garage and one of the blooming Ti. If (and let's hope it's a When) the Bird blooms I'll post some photos of that too.

The two Christmas Palms are how this idea got started. They are too tall for the 8' house ceilings, and we wanted a Christmas tree in the foyer. One of these guys goes back inside after Christmas.

Another shot...

And my blooming Ti plant. I just took this as a cutting in 2005. Incredible how fast it's grown from a log to a 4' plant in a 24" pot (and the tap root it pushing it up already again).

Here's how I keep all these things alive. The halides are larger than they look... about 3'x3' or so for the hood. Lightbulbs were the largest I'd ever seen. 5 or 6 times the size of regular bulbs. The hoods weigh 18 lbs each.

That is one Amazing plant collection you have there! A Tropical Jungle in S.C.! I love it! Yep, without a green house you have to do something! The garage with all those lights is the perfect solution. Your Christmas Palms are really great! Beautifull plants!

Thanks. Hopefully I can keep the spider mites off them this winter and keep them looking good. Luckily I can mist and I've used predator mites (it seemed to work, even though they are expen$ive).

hmmmm ... expensive predator mites? Maybe you should invest in an inexpensive humidifier. I've heard a couple of folks on one of the threads a couople of months ago saying someone had one that was pretty inexpensive and that it worked real well. Don't remember if it was Home Depot or Wal-Mart but it wouldn't hurt to check it out.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

I probably need a DE-humidifier, LOL. It stays between 60-70% currently, which isn't good for my drywall I'm sure.

I have several warm-mist humidifiers (no filters) and I love them. They put out warm wapor so it builds humidity quick and keeps the air warm. I don't use any of them in the garage though - the plants seem to keep it humid enough all by themselves.