Microcosmic Greens Urban Farm: A Look Inside The New Indoor Microgreen Grow Tent!
When a good friend of mine saw that I was growing microgreens and had plans to scale, he brought out an unassuming and unopened box and said, “I’m not using this, but think you might be able to use what’s in there...”
...and boy, was he right. This marvel has really revolutionized what I can do and, more importantly, how much I can produce at one time. While it is meant to be essentially a single shelf growing space, I am modifying it with things around the house as I continue to figure out the best way of going about arranging everything and maximizing the space. I love this thing, and really couldn’t wait to share it with you, along with some of what it’s been producing for us lately, and quite quickly.
So here is what it looks like from the outside. We are in the process of moving a lot of things around in our music room/ former guest room, and as you can see, it is a great little display for my flatbill hat collection, as well as being very contained in to light. I have been using it for about a week now and have had no ventilation issues either. I’ve been running a fan on it for about an hour a day, and i’m Still not using fancy grow lights. In fact, the top light bar I almost fell and busted my ass getting it dismounted from my garage for repurpose. I can move lamps into the garage later when I’m using it for practice.
Here’s the inside. You can see the that material is covered with reflectors which reflect the light inside the tent to everything in its path, which is also why I’m trying some different methods to germinate “partial sun” plants with the shelving units and various tiers.
These are the top-most shelves in the tent. The garage light is more white than yellow and i’ve been experimenting between the contrast of the obviously more yellow light hung under the utility shelf. I’m getting great results either way. Here are some of the “top shelf” veggies up close:
Here are some snap peas (located in the background, and some I will be harvesting this evening and some I actually harvested yesterday...so it’s looking a little puny), as well as some little Microcosmic Kale & Mustard Salad Micro Blends and a little flat of the same. I love seeing the little tiny root hairs that one has to be careful to confuse with mold. I’ve been doing well so far! Additionally, I’ve been experimenting if the extra aluminum foil I wrapped on their shelf actually helps or confuses the plants. If anyone has any expertise in that field, please let me know. Look at the difference soaking your peas makes in their quick growth. The flat on the left has already produced a harvest, and was soaked. The flat on the right is just now starting to prouduce, and they were germinated the same way except for the soak. Very interesting.
On this shelf I am keeping container plants of two kinds of basil and cilantro that hopefully we can enjoy in our kitchen. This shelf if purely for selfish reasons at this point. LOL
This unit is at the bottom-right corner of the tent, and is another experiment with using a white light on the plants as soon as they come out of their germination and to keep them as close to the light as possible until they green up.
...and here we have the “cool plants” and partial sunlight plants germination station. This is the place where the least light is received in the tent, although some light obviously is received. It also is the closest to the fan when it’s being run, so i’m Experimenting with that process, as well as continuing to run the heating pad as a germination station for the quick sprouters who really love that heat.
As always, thank you so much to the Steemit community for sticking it out with me as I pursue various endeavors from microgreens to music. It truly means the world to me, and I appreciate all the support I’ve received from these posts in the forms of your upvotes and great comments. I hope you enjoy following along the journey.
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Really cool! I'm liking this whole set up. Good idea to put the "shade" plants in, well, the shade! Our greenhouse is doing awesomely as well. Keep on growing! Also, there is a tag you might use. It's #doyougrow. It isn't a big one, but I've seen quite a few gardeners use it. :)
So cool @jessamynorchard:) Love your little tent, wow! You have done so much with it. That is a big variety of micros, they are so tasty! I look forward to seeing more, thank you for sharing <3
Glad I stopped by! Very inspiring, I'm in the process of trying to grow more food and I've been failing. So this is a nice boost to get me going again :D
Also, I found you cause I recognized your name on the ftlob Spotify playlist. I'm pretty sure we've played at the same open mic way way back in the day and good to see your still playing tunes. I just joined steemit and I'm loving it so far! Thanks for the planting inspiration boost!!