The growing large plants, outdoors, thread...

[humboldtlocal]

I bought construction extension cords that have sockets for five bulbs. They are fifty feet long and have a socket every ten feet. They even have a little plastic cage around the bulb to protect it. Got em at Home Depot. Heavy duty and should last for years. A bit pricier than what Tom is doing but they should last and I can use them elsewhere when they are not in the garden. I think they were $50 a piece.

 

[theJointedOne]

nice humbolt, you scored! those are awesome and they will last!

Anybody have any source for super cheapr smart pots pm me, thanks!

 

[planty]

Call them direct and place your order give your property a name and tell them you have a tree farm.....

 

[theJointedOne]

well ten minutes later i sourced out the stuff to make my own haha . i think im going with 200 gallon size but only filling up 2/3rd at first and adding as the season goes with mulch,compost,ammends ect....

now i just it to dry out for the trucks to come

 

[planty]

you're just so crafty.

 

[ROOTWISE]

Thanks for the "heads-up" H-Local. I'm heading to the depot for a few of those tomorrow!! Saved me a day's worth of work....which is very valuable at the moment

Otherwise, Spring is going great here on the ranch. Lots happening and I love all of it....

Best Wishes to all my Tree Brothers who are busy, busy, busy right now....

 

[Hash Man]

nice tip HL... im gonna check that out tmmrw.

 

[BotanicalBill]

I'm curious, does anyone know of a way to rig a timer to a generator to automatically turn it on for a couple hours at dusk? I don't need to do this myself but it's this light rigging you guys are doing is a neat idea but most folks probably can't just run power to their grows.. Maybe some kind of digital relay/timer plugged into a solar panel? and it's goal is simply to make/break the generator circuit for a couple hours a night? That way you might be able to have a very small generator running each night that wouldnt need to be refilled with gas but once a week or so.. I suppose you could just go pure solar somehow too since a digital timer probably needs very little power except for when it needs to make the relay every 24 hours.. Or even easier you could probably just have the generator re-charging a battery that powers the digital timer for those couple of hours it's running.. Anyway, just wondering if anyone has ever done something like this..

Thinking about this some more, this would have to be used with a generator that has some kind of electric start circuit to make/break. I don't know a ton about generators, I don't know if something like that even exists.

BB

 

[nomaad]

my understanding: you would use a generator with a bank of batteries or a built in battery. the generator would kick on when battery charge reaches a certain charge level. u'd just use a regular timer assuming you were inverting to 120AC (most modern gennies do this as their purpose is to power tools and such at remote sites). if you are using 12vDC like what you get from batteries hooked up to solar panels without an inverter, you'll need 12v lights.

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

I'm curious, does anyone know of a way to rig a timer to a generator to automatically turn it on for a couple hours at dusk? I don't need to do this myself but it's this light rigging you guys are doing is a neat idea but most folks probably can't just run power to their grows.. Maybe some kind of digital relay/timer plugged into a solar panel? and it's goal is simply to make/break the generator circuit for a couple hours a night? That way you might be able to have a very small generator running each night that wouldnt need to be refilled with gas but once a week or so.. I suppose you could just go pure solar somehow too since a digital timer probably needs very little power except for when it needs to make the relay every 24 hours.. Or even easier you could probably just have the generator re-charging a battery that powers the digital timer for those couple of hours it's running.. Anyway, just wondering if anyone has ever done something like this..

Thinking about this some more, this would have to be used with a generator that has some kind of electric start circuit to make/break. I don't know a ton about generators, I don't know if something like that even exists.

BB

Like nomaad says, fancy inverters that govern your batteries, will then switch on the gennie when it is needed.

As an experiment, I think 4 E20 LED Solar Garden lanterns I bought have kept some seedlings from going into flower, nice and cheap, easy solution.

 

[nomaad]

As an experiment, I think 4 E20 LED Solar Garden lanterns I bought have kept some seedlings from going into flower, nice and cheap, easy solution.

cool. LED's would be, hands down, the best solution for remote off-the-grid grows.

these lanterns charge with the sun and then glow all night?

 

[CityOfTrees530]

humboldt local funny thing you mentioned that I was reading a magazine yesterday and came across that 50' cord and took the article out.
This is perfect for the supp lighting
http://www.amazon.com/Prime-LSUG2830-50-Feet-Outdoor-Temporary/dp/B000BBOGLC


Times coming quick

 

[nomaad]

wow. those are perfect. fukn home depot in ukiah will be sold out by tomorrow. thanks for the amazon link. 50' with five lights couldn't be better for me... my plants are on 10ft centers.

 

[nomaad]

I am interested in everybody's plan to step down the supplemental light. currently in the dome, i am running the extra light from 2:30 am... Less likelihood of annoying my neighbors. Also less likelihoodof attracting dangerous moths in the colder, humid morning hours. I know the moths we're really worried about come later in the season, but I still don't like having any kind of moth's in my plants at any time.

 

[Butte]

I know everyone is psyched about those lines, but unless you have extra money you are just wanting to burn up, you can do the entire garden for the cost of one stringer. Twist lock lights and two strands of 10 (even 12) gauge wire and you're good to go.

I'll go shoot a picture...

 

[nomaad]

I think that for some of us, you couldn't put a price on the half a day it would take to put it together from scratch. Especially with all the rain we've been having. I appreciate the DIY method and would always go that route if time were not an issue...

 

[Butte]

Can't remember how much these were apiece, but it's like $2 or so at Lowe's. You can position them anywhere on the string, which is useful for irregular spaced gardens. When not in use, dismantle them and toss them in a bucket and roll up the wire. I've used the same sockets, wire and bulbs for three seasons and will do the same this year. They've been through rain and snow as well. Plug them into a GFI and you're good to go.

Happy gardening - Butte

 

[Butte]

Nomaad - unless you have lobster claws for hands the time is negligible. Figure out where you want them and twist them on the wire. Either way you have to string something (wire or the string of lights), with the ready made string you'll need to get that cage open to put in a bulb so I would say the time to install would be the same if not faster with the twist-locks...

 

[nomaad]

Butte: i take it back. Those sockets are awesome. And since the spacing is not fixed they really are perfect. what I am not sure i understand is... you don't have to strip the wire where u connect the socket?

 

[kushking20]

Icant waIT TO TRY THIS MIXURE should be interesting to see the results where I'm from.