So now that I have a greenhouse, how can I get warning if temperatures in there drop near freezing? What if I wanted to have supplementary heat kick in if it nis getting close?
Enter the Xiaomi Aqara Intelligent Smart Home Temperature Humidity Sensor at Can$10 these little guys tell temperature, humidity and barometric pressure Paired with smarthome gateway, I can set alerts when temperature, humidity or barometric pressure hits certs levels (not got alerts for barometric working).
Whats more with a bit more effort, I could use a smart plug to turn on the heat or fan!
I bought 2 sensors and a gateway and after a week, I love it. One sensor is outside and the other inside the greenhouse. The afternoon spike were the heat in the greenhouse kicks in aside, I can now look at the past week temps for both. Generally its 8 degrees warmer in the greenhouse.
With this week being the first with positive nighttime temperatures, I moved some of my pepper and tomato plants to the greenhouse to make some space for new plantings.
Update: the sensor in the greenhouse stopped working, on investigation it was water / humidity issues and a period on the heater vent, had it back working in a day. I am hoping some careful positioning can address this.
Sunday, 25 March 2018
Wednesday, 14 March 2018
Grow light test
Ok not a very fair test... But then its more about my obsession to grow different varieties than anything. This year, I planted 3 cells of each type of pepper and each type of Tomato seed I had (well maybe I skipped a few). I then pot these up once most show first set of true leaves into pots I hope to grow in till I plant them out.
When I first started growing from seed in the basement, I started with 1 x 4' shop light and 2 x 20" x 10" trays under the cold white tubes. The next year I found shop lights on sale for $16 and bought 2 more. These I then attached to each other with a metal strip. 4 trays fit comfortably and I had 6 x 32watt a few inches above the plants on and Ikea stainless steal table. 192watts of growing power and my tomatoes and peppers loved them.
Here are 4 trays each with 18 dollar store (larger ones fit 18 perfectly in a standard tray) square pots for 72 tomato and pepper plants. Whats unique this year is every one of those 72 plants is different variety of tomato or pepper. I hope I have the garden space. Because of the greenhouse, I started things a bit earlier this year in hopes of extending the season and usually these will just be started.
So what happened to the other 2 plants if I planted 3 cells of each before potting up? Well another 4 trays is on a second table. This table has some new LED lights I bought on ebay from china for $20 a piece (sure he priced them wrong as they $40 on amazon.ca. I cant remember the claim, but they draw 30 watts each for a mega 60 watts or a third of the power the shop light. These "pink" lights don't distribute the light as well, and I have to move the plants around a bit to give them time in the "sweat spot". I only finished potting up this weekend and its still a bit early to tell, but there does not seem to be much of a notable difference. A few more weeks should tell. Can one third of the power grow them just as well? Are LED's really that much better than 6500k cold white shop lights for seedlings?
The 3rd cell had a few duds, and I have less than a 4 full trays, but these I have scattered about in windowsills and in the greenhouse. Its a bit cold for them to flourish, but the seem to be happy, although noticeably leggier.
7 weeks till I usually can consider planting out here in the city.
Update:
After 3 weeks, the plants under the LED's are a little more stretched than those under the fluorescents. Both are lush and green, but the stems are thinner and the space between nodes a bit longer. Noticeably though, their are small unopened flowers on the LED plants - more than the fluorescents. Probably 1 addition 30 watt LED light would make them equal, but use less power (half) and more flowers (possibly earlier fruit?). At $20 the LEDs are clearly the way to go. At Amazon prices (twice if not on sale) perhaps not.
 |
| 192 watts of Shop lights |
When I first started growing from seed in the basement, I started with 1 x 4' shop light and 2 x 20" x 10" trays under the cold white tubes. The next year I found shop lights on sale for $16 and bought 2 more. These I then attached to each other with a metal strip. 4 trays fit comfortably and I had 6 x 32watt a few inches above the plants on and Ikea stainless steal table. 192watts of growing power and my tomatoes and peppers loved them.
Here are 4 trays each with 18 dollar store (larger ones fit 18 perfectly in a standard tray) square pots for 72 tomato and pepper plants. Whats unique this year is every one of those 72 plants is different variety of tomato or pepper. I hope I have the garden space. Because of the greenhouse, I started things a bit earlier this year in hopes of extending the season and usually these will just be started.
 |
| 60 Watts LED Grow lights |
So what happened to the other 2 plants if I planted 3 cells of each before potting up? Well another 4 trays is on a second table. This table has some new LED lights I bought on ebay from china for $20 a piece (sure he priced them wrong as they $40 on amazon.ca. I cant remember the claim, but they draw 30 watts each for a mega 60 watts or a third of the power the shop light. These "pink" lights don't distribute the light as well, and I have to move the plants around a bit to give them time in the "sweat spot". I only finished potting up this weekend and its still a bit early to tell, but there does not seem to be much of a notable difference. A few more weeks should tell. Can one third of the power grow them just as well? Are LED's really that much better than 6500k cold white shop lights for seedlings?
The 3rd cell had a few duds, and I have less than a 4 full trays, but these I have scattered about in windowsills and in the greenhouse. Its a bit cold for them to flourish, but the seem to be happy, although noticeably leggier.
7 weeks till I usually can consider planting out here in the city.
Update:
After 3 weeks, the plants under the LED's are a little more stretched than those under the fluorescents. Both are lush and green, but the stems are thinner and the space between nodes a bit longer. Noticeably though, their are small unopened flowers on the LED plants - more than the fluorescents. Probably 1 addition 30 watt LED light would make them equal, but use less power (half) and more flowers (possibly earlier fruit?). At $20 the LEDs are clearly the way to go. At Amazon prices (twice if not on sale) perhaps not.
Sunday, 4 March 2018
Blog Maintenance
Well, I have not being as active on my blog as I should and was doing a little reading and clean-up when I took a look at the stats. 13,173 hits!
Wow, I have no adds, only a couple other gardeners blogs that linked to me and no really never intended this to be a popular site. This was more for my own record and to share with a few remote friends and family the nutty endeavours of a amateur gardener here in Toronto Canada. Surprised given how few comments or questions I have had.
That said, I am humbled and perhaps should run the spell checker again if I could work out how to get it to check Canadian English.
Wow, I have no adds, only a couple other gardeners blogs that linked to me and no really never intended this to be a popular site. This was more for my own record and to share with a few remote friends and family the nutty endeavours of a amateur gardener here in Toronto Canada. Surprised given how few comments or questions I have had.
That said, I am humbled and perhaps should run the spell checker again if I could work out how to get it to check Canadian English.
Greenhouse update
Wow, am I impressed with my little Ghetto greenhouse. Its early March and 2 degrees Celsius outdoors as our high today. The greenhouse automatic window is slightly open and its 26 degrees Celsius in side. I planted some kale, lettuce, mustard, peas and green onions in there and have even left one of my early mini tomato plants out there since I am short of space in my seeding area inside. At -6c low last night, it recorded a low of only 2c and the plants are established and although small seem to be growing well.
More impressive is my test kale planting has actually sprouted and showing signs of growth. Thats before I would usually plant kale indoors! This is a full month earlier than I hoped or expected. That said, this week coming has high of 4c degrees and a low of -9, a bit colder than the past week and we will see how well it does when the average temp is below 0 outside.
I spent some time this morning researching bluetooth temperature sensors to see if I could put one in the greenhouse and alert me if it gets close to freezing. This would give me confidence to move some frost sensitive plants out there. Then I realized I dont even own a heater to switch on if it did drop below zero... so perhaps I need to think this though a bit more.
With luck though, I should have a salad by the end of March a full month or more earlier than usual.
More impressive is my test kale planting has actually sprouted and showing signs of growth. Thats before I would usually plant kale indoors! This is a full month earlier than I hoped or expected. That said, this week coming has high of 4c degrees and a low of -9, a bit colder than the past week and we will see how well it does when the average temp is below 0 outside.
I spent some time this morning researching bluetooth temperature sensors to see if I could put one in the greenhouse and alert me if it gets close to freezing. This would give me confidence to move some frost sensitive plants out there. Then I realized I dont even own a heater to switch on if it did drop below zero... so perhaps I need to think this though a bit more.
With luck though, I should have a salad by the end of March a full month or more earlier than usual.
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