Growing Food Indoors

Why Grow Your Food Indoors?

· Fresher - produce is only a few steps away instead of traveling maybe hundreds of miles

· Tastes better

· Fun! Get your kids or grandkids involved with hands on science

What does a plant need?

Light

- Most food producing plants need 6+ hours of light a day

- A south facing window may provide 8-9 hours of light in the January if everyday was sunny

Jan 1 : 8 hr 50 min from sunrise to sunset to

Jan 31 : 9 hr 43 min from sunrise to sunset

- Minnesota averages 15 cloudy days in January or about 157 hours of sun in the month which averages 5 hours per day

Supplemental Light Options

Grow lights come in many styles, sizes and prices.

Find at home stores, garden centers and online.

Find a model that you can adjust the height of the light.

24 hours timer and extension cord are good additions

Advantages – can be setup anywhere even in out of the way places like a basement or a room with no windows.

An older article, but still relevant, by Jeff Gillman who used to be a professor at the University of MN.is still useful.

https://www.finegardening.com/article/get-the-right-light

The Heliospectra lights mentioned in the article are like the Rolerdo or Unifun and other lights sold at Amazon. They have both red and blue light which would be beneficial to many types and stages of plants.

Here is a more recent review on grow lights

https://www.thespruce.com/best-grow-lights-4158720

Support and Nutrients

Plants need a support for their root structure

Plants also need nutrients taken up through their roots to grow leaves, stems and fruit

Methods of Support and Nutrients

Traditional pots or trays with potting mix to support the plant and provide nutrients.

Use fresh potting soil to reduce disease.

Use any type of container that has sufficient drainage. Reuse plastic food containers!

Fertilize regularly as food plants need food to make food.

Hydroponic systems which use pods or similar structure to hold the plant and the water and nutrients.

Water

Outdoor growing plants get their needs fulfilled naturally.

Indoor plants depend on humans to fulfill their needs.

What to Grow?

• Crops where we eat the leaves – lettuce, kale, spinach, chard, scallions, herbs. Need less light except herbs.

• Crops where we eat the roots – carrots (small varieties), radish, ginger, turmeric. Need a long growing period.

• Crops where we eat the fruit – small peppers, cherry tomatoes. Need high amounts of light and long and warm growing period.

• Crops where we eat the seeds, stems and leaves – sprouts, shoots, and microgreens. These are some of the quickest crops.

Crops Where we Eat the Leaves

Grow as you would outdoors making sure the container has room for about 4” of root

Scallions can be grown from another scallion bottom in a glass of water

Look for shorter day varieties.

Averages: lettuce – 30-60 days

spinach – 25-30 days

kale – 50-70 days

basil – 50-70 days

Crops Where we Eat the Roots

Make sure container is deep enough to hold the length of the root.

Plastic rectangular tubs may work better than traditional pots as their sides are vertical. Poke holes in bottom for drainage.

Ginger and turmeric are perennials. They can be grown inside and then placed outside for the summer.

Radish – 20-30 days, Carrots – 50-70 days

Crops Where we Eat the Fruits

These plants need 14-16 hours of light per day!

They also need warm temps to germinate (65ºF+), and then for growth they need temps 75º-85ºF.

Longer growing time

cherry tomatoes ~ 60 days from transplants

peppers ~ 60-80 days from transplants

Hand pollinate as no insects indoors

Try smaller sized peppers or cherry tomatoes

Need regular fertilizer

Crops Where we eat the Seeds, Stems and Leaves

This includes sprouts, shoots and microgreens.

The main difference between all these is the length of time the plant is grown before harvesting.

Cleanliness is important!

Sprouts

• Sprouts are the first stage of germination. They take from 3 to 7 days to produce and are sprouted using a rinse of water over that time (either in a jar or sprouting tray). Sprouting requires very little supplemental light, as they do very little growing beyond the germination stage. Supplemental nutrition is not needed; the tiny seeds have all they need for this stage and period of growth, and you eat both the sprout and the seed.

• Typical crops include: alfalfa, radish, bean, broccoli, wheat

• Since you eat the seeds and the sprouts you may want to consider organic sources

Shoots

• Shoots require a longer period of growth. They are usually sown in a growing medium and take 7 to 14 days to grow to the point of harvest. The result is a larger and sturdier shoot, since the seeds are able to create a more mature and elaborate root system in the soil. The shoots require some form of supplemental light to grow.

• Typical crops include: peas, sunflowers, buckwheat, nasturtiums

Microgreens

• The term Microgreen is used a couple of different ways. One is to describe the greens that reach the next stage of maturity after ‘shoots’. These are the greens grown from 14-21 days, which tend to have a greater leaf mass than shoots but less than ‘baby’ greens (baby greens is the stage from 21 days onward). Because of the longer growing period, these greens require a greater source of light and nutritional supplementation. Microgreens is also used as a general term to describe everything grown to a lesser stage than ‘baby’ sized (21 days or less).

• Typical microgreens includes: chard, kale, beet, radish, cilantro, collards, onion, basil

Notes

Keep your plants healthy - use very clean containers, fresh potting soil, plenty of light, not too much water.

Consider running a small fan to help move the air near your plants.

Indoor plants frequently are smaller and produce smaller yields than the same plants grown outdoors.

Days to Maturity – Average number of days from seeding date to harvest. If a transplanted crop: average number of days from transplant date.

Keep records so you’ll know what worked for next winter.

Enjoy your harvest!

References:

https ://www.wunderground.com/calendar/us/mn/fort-snelling/KMSP/date/2021-1

https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/Minnesota/average-sunshine-january.php

http://www.sunriseorganicgardens.ca/microgreen-shoot-or-sprout/

Monday, January 18, 2021