Fertilizing by number

There are many fertilizers on the market today. Some have wild promises of unprecedented growth. Some assure they will provide the largest blooms. The real question is: "Which one is right for me?"

In answering this question I'd like to start by saying the right fertilizer will always be organic. Products such as "Miracle Grow" should never be used for an indoor garden for many reasons. The most important of which is the health of everyone living in your house. By using chemical fertilizers on your plants you're also introducing them to the environment in which you live. These are also plants that you will one day be eating, so it's kind of a double whammy. There is also nothing synthetic fertilizers can do that organics can't. Remember that everything you're growing has grown wild at some point through natural fertilization.

When looking at fertilizers you will notice that they all have a number. This number is three digits usually separated by dashes (example 6-4-4). The first number is going to be the ratio of Nitrogen. The second is Phosphorous. The final number is Potassium.

Nitrogen:
Nitrogen helps in the production of leafy, green growth. This is good for early development growth, but there are down sides. Too much nitrogen and your plants will struggle to flower and hence produce. Too much nitrogen can lead to extreme "burns" on our plants. These "burns" will appear as brown colorizations appearing on the leaves of the plant.

Phosphorous:
Phosphorous is used for root development and to promote healthy flowering and fruiting. Once your plants have started to produce flower you should be considering a higher dosage of Phosphorous. Too much phosphorous can prevent the plant from absorbing other essential micro nutrients.

Potassium:
Potassium is what will give your plants more girth. Its used to strength the stalks and also increase resistances to heat and disease. Don't neglect your potassium, as it can lead to plants that are too weak to support their full growth. However if you use too much it will result in a "burn".

As you can see it's a delicate line that you must follow when fertilizing your plants. Too much and you'll have burns. Too little and your plant won't be getting the nutrients that it needs. Being as fertilizing your indoor garden is a must I recommend that you start off with low levels in order to see how your plants react. Then slowly increase one of the nutrients to see how they respond. This can easily be achieved by using products that are nutrient specific as opposed to a premixed formula. Once you find the appropriate ratios you can then look for a mixture that will suit your needs.

Let there be light

One of the most important things about indoor gardening is the light source. Unless you live in a climate with a lot of sun year round and in place with lots of windows to allow the natural light in, you're going to need to create your own light. There are a variety of lighting type you can use.


Incandescent:
These are similar to the most common light bulbs that you see. They work in any standard light socket and provide a spectrum of light more suited to your plants needs than everyday house lights. These would be useful if you are keeping a very small garden mostly comprised of herb and plants you intend to move outside. However I must advise against incandescent bulbs. They are extremely energy inefficient (costly) and do not provide the best light spectrum or intensity needed for plant growth.

Fluorescent:
These lights are commonly used in office building. They require a fixture, but the ballast is built in. There are a couple of different bulb types that you can buy. The regular bulbs will get the job done, but there are manufacturers who are making bulbs that attempt to duplicate natural sun light as much as possible. Fluorescents are much more energy efficient than incandescents. The down side is that they do not provide the intensity needed for full mature growth. This is the type of lighting that I currently use for my seedlings and leafy greens.

Compact Fluorescent:
These are a sort of hybrid between the first two. Take cautious when buying this type of bulb. The warm white will not benefit your plants. You must get the full spectrum bulbs. These would be ideal for use in apartment where space is an issue and a large bulb may interfere too much with the rest of the space. You get the ease of an incandescent with the increased energy efficiency of a fluorescent.

Metal Halide:
Part of the High Intensity Discharge (HID) group, these lights are good for larger operations. These provide a better growing environment during the vegetive phase as they produce the necessary spectrum for growth. They are able to closely replicate natural sunlight while still being fairly efficient. The down side is you will need a separate ballast.

High Pressure Sodium:
Another option of HID lighting. The benefits and disadvantages are similar to Metal Halides. HPS lights are more suited for the flowering and fruit producing plants of your garden. I use a HPS light for the bulk of my garden.

LED:
LED's a fairly new technology. They are the most energy efficient mode of lighting. You can also get LED lights that produce the exact spectrum of lighting needed for plants to grow, making them theoretically more impactful than natural sunlight. However, they lack the intensity to support larger plants, such as tomatoes.

This is just a quick little blurb about the main types of lighting. I hope to get back in here and expand in the future.

Where should I start my indoor garden?

Once you've decided that you would like to enter the world of indoor gardening, there are a few things that you'll have to do before you can sow your first seeds.

Location! Location! Location!

You are going to want to think about a location that works within your home without being in the way. Tucking your garden away in a room that you never use could possibly lead to neglect. I have found that if you place your garden in the middle of your living room it may disrupt your everyday life and potentially place your plants in harms way. If you have pets or children you may want to consider places they are less likely to interfere with them (my cats loved to sleep on my tobacco when it was still young).

When I placed my garden I ended up using a portion of the dining room (as we usually eat in the bar). There are large west facing windows which help it to get a little natural light. The majority of the garden is over a heat vent, helping to maintain the proper temperature. I also positioned it so that it focuses on a side of the room that receives less traffic, while I still walk past it many times a day.

Climate

But most importantly is finding a place with the correct climate.

When you're growing tomatoes and peppers they enjoy a warmer climate. I tend to keep mine around 68 degrees minimum. When summer comes around that temperature may swell to close to 80 degrees, but they can still tolerate that heat. The last thing that you want is for them to get too cold and freeze to death.

Now with other plants such as lettuces, arugula, and many herbs, the temperature does not need to be so intense. And in some cases too hot can lead to negative effects. An example of this would be the arugula that I started in the same environment as the peppers and tomatoes. They seemed to be doing great, growing more and more every day, only to find that the warm climate and too much lighting causes the plant to become excessively bitter. In the end, make sure that you investigate the natural growing climate and duplicate as much as possible.

Welcome to Indoor Sprout

So as this is the first blog post here I'm going to give you all a little background as to what it is that I do. In the end of 2008 I started an indoor organic vegetable garden. All of the plants that I have I started from seed and have had fairly good success all around.

Right now it's all set up in my dining room. There is a 250 watt HPS for the main garden and a bank of 4 compact fluorescents for the starts and leafy greens. The majority of the plants are in soil, but I am also experimenting with some hydroponic operations.

Here's a quick run down of what I'm growing right now (I'm sure I'll forget something):
Roma Tomato
Oregon Spring Bush Tomato
Martian Giant Tomato
Yellow Cherry Pear Tomato
Green Bell Pepper
Orange Bell Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
Peruvian Purple Pepper
Cheyenne Pepper
Hopi Ceremonial Tobacco
Schrezi Tobacco
Arugula
Cilantro
Chives
Cascadian Snap Pea
Celery
Broccoli
Turkish Orange Eggplant
Spinach
Snap Bean
Mideastern Cucumber
Radish
Various Lettuce
Thai Basil
Red Basil

I encourage anyone with questions to either post them in the comments or just shoot me an email. I intend to answer any question that's thrown my way, and if I don't the answer now I will shortly so please be patient.

And to wrap up this introduction, here are some pictures of the operation: