# My Growing Room



## Shiva (Oct 4, 2012)

Pictures of my growing room. Each bench is 3' deep and 8' wide. There are two 1000 W lamps for lighting and the windows are facing east, which means lots of sunshine in the morning in summer and just light in winter. The room is 18' x 9'.

Thanks for looking in!


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## John Boy (Oct 4, 2012)

2x 1000W for (you'll forgive me I hope!?) such a few plants, seems a bit over the top, don't you think? Other than that...I have nothing to winge about. ;0)


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## Shiva (Oct 4, 2012)

John Boy said:


> 2x 1000W for (you'll forgive me I hope!?) such a few plants, seems a bit over the top, don't you think? Other than that...I have nothing to winge about. ;0)



Well, the plants seem to like it and several are actually spiking. What's more, they help heat the whole second floor in winter. I change to two 400 Watts in summer. They will be on 12 hours a day in winter. I also should mention the ceiling is 9' high. Oh! And such a few plants are nearly 250, some of them quite big.


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## ehanes7612 (Oct 4, 2012)

2 1000 watt lamps seem right for the size of the growing room...i had the same thing when i grew under lights (100 square feet for every 1000 watt light)


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## Justin (Oct 4, 2012)

nice-plants look good!


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## John Boy (Oct 4, 2012)

Holy cow, that's so much energy. I'm basically just thinking cost to run this show. I'm quite sure the plants will love it, but it just stikes me from an energy-perspective. Can I ask: did you work out the numbers before you started this set-up? 
I've been running one 400W Bulb in the conservatory over the last 2 winters, and was thinking about another one, but I just didn't yet... The electrical bill (running my little lab...plusplusplus...) is mad enough as it is.


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## Shiva (Oct 4, 2012)

The cost of electricity is much less than the cost of heating the greenhouse I used before. And part of the heat loss helps heat the house. In fact, the heat loss of the old house in which I live is probably much more than the energy spent for lighting the plants. That said, the cost of electricity here in Quebec is much lower than anywhere else in the world. Less than 10 cents a kW, or less than 0.08 Euro. Now if I could build a new, energy efficient house, that would be very interesting.
So, using 10 cents a kW hour for 13 hours in winter will cost me $1.30 a day and double that plus tax for two 1 kW lamps.


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## Paph_LdyMacBeth (Oct 4, 2012)

>>>lost of room for more plants


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## Erythrone (Oct 4, 2012)

Do you run the 2 lamps in summer? If so do you have air conditioning?


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## Shiva (Oct 4, 2012)

With the sun shining in through the East windows for part of the day in summer, I switch to two 400 watts lamps. I hope to switch to LED panels next spring, but the most performing ones are very expansive. And yes I use air conditioning in summer with the maximum set at 25°C.


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## likespaphs (Oct 4, 2012)

i am probably going to be moving my collection under lights (gonna move soon and the place has a big basement)
thanks for the tips in this thread....


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## SlipperFan (Oct 5, 2012)

Almost as good as a greenhouse...


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## chrismende (Oct 5, 2012)

One wonderful thing about indoor growing areas is that the lights bask one in very helpful antidepressant light during the winter. I miss my lights for that reason - I loved to be in that room when I had many lights going.


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## Shiva (Oct 6, 2012)

How true! In retrospect, that greenhouse I bought was a mistake. It's definitely too cold where I live in winter to go with such a structure. Lesson learned!


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## Susie11 (Oct 6, 2012)

I am glad that you have said that you are using this as a means to heat your grow room. I have a small collection of paphs that I grow in my bedroom. They grow on top of a chest of drawers. The problem that I have is that I have no way to heat my bedroom apart from the storage heater that is very expensive to run and also sucks out all of the humidity when it is on. So, I was thinking of getting a tall reading lamp and putting an ES bulb in it and placing it above my small paph grow area to heat them during the day. In your opinion do you think that this is a good way to heat them or do you think that it might cause problems for some reason?


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## Shiva (Oct 6, 2012)

Susie
Since you don't say, I must assume that you put your plants on a humidity tray and that you use natural light to grow them. If that light is enough for them to grow well, I would propose putting a heating mat under the plants, either in or under the tray(s). You should also put something underneath the heating mat to protect the top of your desk. In that concept, the heating mat would warm the water and help increase the humidity around your plants. A standing light would probably also work but it would tend to dry up the air. If you look at the pictures I put in the post, you can see large galvanized trays under the plants and wire shelves on top. Every time I water the plants, the surplus water collects in the trays, providing a higher humidity level for the plants.
You can find where to buy heating mats in plant magazines or catalogs, plant stores and ebay. They use very little electricity and raise the heat a few degrees. I hope this helps.


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## Dido (Oct 6, 2012)

Nice set up. 
Energie is killing us here. 
oil for heating is close to 1€ per liter. 
Power is with thax around 0,27€ KW so nearly 4 times as yours. 

I heat more and more with the sun. 
Nearly 9 months a year now. 

now I planing another Photovoltaik that I can use my energie self and dont pay anymore....
Only a little amount for 8 years and then it should be over....


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## Shiva (Oct 6, 2012)

It's about the same here for oil. I filled the gas tank in my car yesterday and I actually thought there must be a hole in it when the total reached well over $70. (about 55 Euros)


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## Dido (Oct 6, 2012)

Diesel is at 1,55€ and gasoline is for the low one around 1,65 and the high grade with low natural in it 1,75€. 

A filling of my ford cost me over 100€ at the moment. 

heating oil has not so much taxes one but we can not use it in cars.....


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## Clark (Oct 6, 2012)

Nice setup Michel!
I was under the impression, that you took the plants to greenhouse for the summer months.

Your avatar looks tack sharp btw. Nice image.


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## Shiva (Oct 6, 2012)

That's what I used to do, Clark, but since I reduced my collection to mainly phrags and paphs, I didn't need all the light the greenhouse provides, not to mention the trouble and cost of cooling it.
I updated the image of the cat yesterday. Her mouth is slightly open. She was probably meowing about the bad performance of Obama on the first debate. She's a very smart puss.


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## Paph_LdyMacBeth (Oct 6, 2012)

Do you by chance have a basement?
I know they aren't as common in rural Que. I have had great success with my masdies there in the summer!

Sent from my BlackBerry 9300 using Tapatalk


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## Shiva (Oct 6, 2012)

Nope! No basement! That's where the plants would be if I had one.


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## Susie11 (Oct 6, 2012)

Shiva said:


> Susie
> Since you don't say, I must assume that you put your plants on a humidity tray and that you use natural light to grow them. If that light is enough for them to grow well, I would propose putting a heating mat under the plants, either in or under the tray(s). You should also put something underneath the heating mat to protect the top of your desk. In that concept, the heating mat would warm the water and help increase the humidity around your plants. A standing light would probably also work but it would tend to dry up the air. If you look at the pictures I put in the post, you can see large galvanized trays under the plants and wire shelves on top. Every time I water the plants, the surplus water collects in the trays, providing a higher humidity level for the plants.
> You can find where to buy heating mats in plant magazines or catalogs, plant stores and ebay. They use very little electricity and raise the heat a few degrees. I hope this helps.


Thanks Shiva,
I have my orchids in the bedroom and they get natural sunlight to grow them. I don't actually have a humidity tray. I just have them in pots with a little water collected at the base after I water them. They do not stand in the water as they have a foam peanut to sit on inside the pot. 

I will look into the heat mats but my initial thought were that they were expensive to run. Now that you have said otherwise maybe I shall have another think about them.


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## SlipperFan (Oct 6, 2012)

Shiva said:


> ...
> I updated the image of the cat yesterday. Her mouth is slightly open. She was probably meowing about the bad performance of Obama on the first debate. She's a very smart puss.


That cat sure has blue eyes!


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## Ruth (Oct 7, 2012)

Nice setup! Do you use heat mats?


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## Shiva (Oct 7, 2012)

Ruth said:


> Nice setup! Do you use heat mats?



Only for starting seedlings in spring.


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