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Hi! Honestly I think that what you're doing is the way to do it. Start small, take time to learn what each plant wants, and then slowly build things up. The biggest thing to learn is how to watch the plant. What does it look like when it's thirsty? When it wants more light? Less light? When it's overwatered? What does the soil feel like when it needs to be watered?

When I get a new kind of plant, I sometimes kill it before I figure out what to do. It sometimes takes me a few tries until I get it right. Don't beat yourself up if it's not all going perfectly. Just keep staying conscious, growing and learning.

Plants often need to be repotted when you get them - look underneath the pot and see if you can see roots sticking out. If they're sticking out it wants a slightly bigger home. Rule of thumb I've always heard is to go with a pot 2" larger than the one it's in. I personally like terra cotta pots (the simplest) but other people will have other opinions.

People have lots of different ways of caring for plants so I'm sure people will chime in with other (and possibly conflicting) ideas.

A few resources that might help you out:

ASPCA has a great website for looking up what's poisonous to cats

When I'm googling each plant for care instructions I try to stick to websites ending in .edu. These are often ag extensions with amazing information that I can trust.

IF you prefer books to webpages, I've found these to be helpful:

• Crockett's Indoor Garden
  
• Reader's Digest Success With Houseplants
  
  They're both quite old, but the info is solid.

That one would look better but it still has UV so it still is a safety risk.

I don’t know what brand of bulbs I use but I’ve used bulbs similar to these with great success

https://www.amazon.com/LOHAS-150W-200W-Incandescent-Equivalent-Not-Dimmable/dp/B07D8VP91V

Most normal led bulbs for human use will work for plants too.

The only difference is that the spectrum of grow lights is distorted in an attempt to be more efficient but the science behind that is not good.

To get technical. The main light absorbing molecule in plants is chlorophyll which absorbs red and blue light really well. These companies tune their grow lights to that to avoid wasting energy on light that the plan won’t consume as easily. But... there are other light absorbing molecules in plants as well and it looks like broad spectrum white light has benefits for overall plant health.

Edit: I don’t want to imply that those purple lights don’t work. I have/use a few different brands of them just not in a living space. I have also noticed improvements in plant health once I started supplementing them with white light.

Here is a thread from a different gardening sub with some good info

https://www.reddit.com/r/GardeningIndoors/comments/ag1hw3/when_im_asked_why_i_like_white_led_growlights/

What a great window of plants you have there!

For optimal coverage, a lamp shaped like a classic T8/T5 fixture with the same length as your window would be suiting (shape-wise).

Although, classic T8/T5 fluorescents are very inefficient at both producing light and directing it where we want it, which is why I recommend LED. Also, having plants in different heights makes this a little impractical as the distance between lamp and plant will affect light intensity a lot.

A square-shaped lamp performs best in a square-shaped area. A longer lamp fixture might give you better coverage but may not be very fun to have hanging all across your window.

Another way to work around this can be to have a couple of smaller light sources spread out. A popular option in the DIY culture is bulbs + splitter. I do not necessarily recommend these two specific options, I just want to show them as an example.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VFFB3PY
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076S6927J

If it were my window, I'd aim for bulbs that are a little bigger and only use three of them. Instead of a lamp splitter, I would hang each lamp individually in its own cable at a desired height, something like this: https://i.imgur.com/DpL1H6o.png

Optics or focusing lenses will confine the light and produce a more narrow light footprint. This allows for greater distances between lamp and canopy compared to a LED lamp with no optics. Depending on your desired look and how you want to hang your light sources, you could use either type.

I can't really recommend a good T8 (LED) lamp from the top of my head, neither can I recommend a good E27 lamp (on Amazon). I have seen that the SANSI bulbs are quite popular but it is difficult for us to know how they perform as there is very little information shared about this by SANSI. Other than that, I have no personal opinion about them.

I made a video recently about e27 bulbs with focusing lenses. This video might be interesting if you choose to go for the bulb-option.

Hope this was somewhat helpful :-)

Personally, I would find more appeal in something that offers less in the unit. I'd say look for something that has a light and stand, that looks decent enough, and lets you sort out your pots and seeds yourself. I'm thinking of something like this (though I'm not recommending specifically this product). Make sure the product you choose offers strong enough light for the plants you want to grow.

I'd suggest this because it still gives a neat appearance and added light (in case your office does not have a lot of natural light on its own - most herbs and like light won't grow with just indoor lighting). But this allows you to use any pots and plants you want. Want to grow purple basil? Go for it. Want a small jade plant in some of the space instead of herbs? Buy one and put it there. The flexibility is worth the little bit of extra effort finding your own plants creates. These can still be very easy/simple to do.

If what you want is "some plants" rather than "edible plants", consider a grow light (on a stand or not), with a timer (built in or separate), instead. This gives you even greater flexibility in the variety of plants you can grow, and you can buy more grow lights if you want. The downside of this is there's a lot more research to do to figure out just which plants need what light and other care.

>The one thing to remember with Java ferns, is that they require a regular fertilizer. Because they have no “true” roots, they get most of their fertilizer from the water column. If you want your Java fern to truly thrive, you should add a liquid fertilizer after every weekly water change. Tab fertilizers are useless with Java ferns, since they don’t have a proper root system to utilize them.

from here

>Java Fern should be placed on driftwood, rocks or directly onto the gravel (but make sure not to bury it in the substrate) that's why they don't need any fertilizer or root tabs
Any fertilizer design for aquarium won't hurt any live things however longest you using correct dose and maintain your regular water change..

source

Someone in that thread recommended Thrive. It seems normal, liquid aquarium fertilizer works, if necessary.



/r/aquariums would probably be more helpful with this specific plant. Hope this helps!

Also, nice plant. Didn't know these were a thing and they are super neat. Thanks!

Hi - it looks good to be honest. Depending on what you will be growing, and from what stage you will be growing (ie. seeds vs seedlings vs mature plants) you will want to be able to move the lights closer to the plants, since T8 bulbs are not particularly strong.


Instead of those pink strings, look into something like these from amazon:


https://www.amazon.com/iPower-GLROPE-Adjustable-Improved-Resistant/dp/B005CY100I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496247379&sr=8-1&keywords=ratchet+light+hanger


That way you can easily adjust the level the lights hang at.


The lights really don't generate much heat, so it's not going to light your wall on fire. If you want to increase efficiency of the light, you could put something reflective on the wall. The previous poster is correct in that it would be a bit more effective if it was sitting centered over your plants instead of against the wall.

Man thanks so much /u/ceruleanXLII . Shoutout to you for all the amazing and incredibly informative stuff you post. Im really interested in that Alibaba one you linked to. Also stumbled across this on Amazon's site while going down the rabbit hole for LED grow lights. For tomatoes, would something like this cut it? Or would I be better off going with something else?

https://www.amazon.com/GE-Lighting-93101226-Horticultural-Balanced/dp/B07NNR9DLX/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2PWU5K4O38E1T&keywords=ge%2Bgrow%2Blight&qid=1563726358&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=ge%2Bgrow%2Bli%2Clawngarden%2C206&sr=1-1-spons&th=1

Thanks tons.

>Bonchi (Bonsai Chiles)

Nice. My friend wants something a bit more traditional, but I love chilis. Will have to look into that for myself. Can you actually grow them like bonsai, which is to say can you arrange, clip, and mold them like bonsai? May have found a new hobby. Also, any thoughts on this type of lamp?

Those definitely need a lot of light, and basil likes heat. I'm sure it could work in a cabinet if you have reflective material (mylar is great) on all sides but one for viewing. It would work better if it was on all sides, but it'll still work.

The lights I recommended (COB) tend to have a pinkish tint. If you want something that looks closer to regular sunlight for the sake of aesthetics, T5's are great. You could probably light the whole thing with 4 of these. Maybe add a COB or two.

Without seeing pictures of your setup, I'd make a wild guess that they needed a ton more light. As an example, here's a popular light - https://www.amazon.com/MarsHydro-Spectrum-Hydroponic-Indoor-Growing/dp/B00XC3LBI2 - and it is advertised as being for a 2' x 2' growing area (though I think you could get more out of it than that, especially if you made some sort of grow tent equivalent. It's easy to underestimate just how much light plants need.

Growing from seeds will be more difficult and create lots of new hurdles to overcome, if you're still getting comfortable with plants I'd just pick up some seedlings.

However, you mention that you'll be a homeowner, so you might just consider growing your herbs outdoors. Not all of those herbs are perennial (basil is an annual, it will set seed which you can harvest but then it's gonna die), but you could also harvest and dry the herbs so you could have them in the off season if you cannot keep your cats away.

Another or additional option is to grow cat grass and catnip to distract the cats and give them something else to be excited about, and also give them vertical shelves away from your plants to play on or even a catio. Lots of times cats get into indoor plants because they are bored and need more stimulation. Plants and soil are full of interesting smells. Hope this helps.

Trying to figure out what under-cabinet lighting would work best for growing herbs in the pictured planter. I clearly don't need anything extremely high-powered and I was wondering if simple LED rope lights like these would work. Thanks!

I got the plant bug back in the summer when I decided to buy an aloe, and then some succulents and cacti for my office desk.

I had purchased a 6w LED desk lamp from Amazon but wanted to try something bigger.

The box I've built was made using a cheap white plastic rack from the hardware store, a 5m LED strip, black white polymer, and industrial Velcro tape (15 feet)

LED Strip ($29)
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B004WI44LM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Black-white polymer ($14)
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B004WI44LM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Velcro tape ($50)
http://canada.michaels.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-MichaelsCanada-Site/en_CA/Product-Show?pid=M10354418


After I assembled the rack I put zip ties along under side of each shelf and then looped the LED strip from the plug end, up the side, over the top to the other side - and had enough so that each level (except for the bottom) has light shining from the sides and above.

This took some gentle twisting and securing with zip ties through the plastic cover to get the strip facing inward on all sides.

To cover the rack, i measured out enough polymer sheet to cover the sides and back while remaining somewhat taught. A 10 x 10 sheet of plastic is annoying to work with, and was shipped folded, so there are still some creases. and I didn't do a precise job of cutting.
The plastic however is quite durable and won't tear when you're unfolding it and stretching it out.

I chose the black-white polymer or "panda plastic" after reading recommended low cost options for reflecting light.

A top and door flap were cut as separate pieces . I was left with plenty of sheet left over after cutting what I needed.


As I wanted the plastic to last and be able to easily deconstruct the box, I bought Velcro tape for applying it to the rack. This was the most expensive item, but I feel it was worth it. Still some left over after using what was needed to make the box light proof. There is a small spot along the bottom and side where some light escapes.

The light strip is connected to a timer so it runs 14 hours a day. From what I could find out, the strip is 72 watts , so the cost of running it is minimal. The strip does get quite warm , but not alarmingly hot.

After a week it appears to be maintaining my succulents and cacti, - especially with a sempervivum that had begun to bloom in my window (which I thought was cool because it's winter and the light is minimal).

I'm hoping that a kalanchoe cutting I have in there on the middle shelf will start to grow more evenly than it has at my desk. It really leaned towards the desk lamp.

The tray in the second shelf has recycled k cups with cucumber and cherry tomato seeds. I thought I would try to use them as seed pots. Today it appeared that a few of the seeds have sprouted.

The bottom shelf is a tomato and basil kit I got from the grocery store.

One of my plans is to swap the plants in the taller ceramic pots into smaller clay ones. It would make more sense to have the pots around the same height. Since planting them in those, I've learned that size isn't really necessary.


I've also considered making a carbon generator (saw a tutorial using yeast and sugar), but I'm not sure what benefit it would have given that the box is not airtight.

Were I to change something , I would re cut the polymer and make it one piece that goes over the rack, then cut out a door flap.

Alright, thanks very much!

What is real plant food though? Could you recommend a good brand? I've never actually fed any of my plants before, but would like to start. I also got Humbolt's Secret Golden Tree; is that an actual food?

Do you think a tent would help with the light requirement for things like tomatoes? Kind of like this?

I got this Pure Humidifier from TJ Maxx, but here’s the Amazon link. It lasts almost all day - or most of the work day - since my apartment is also very dry. It gets the air around my plants to about 50-60% humidity, and my plants seem to like it.

... also it changes colors. Not gonna lie; that was half the reason I got it lol

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M6SR1JM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Put one in a lamp OP and consider it done. I've had great success with these.

For grow lights I use 2 of these fixtures. Super good experience.


GE Lighting 93101226 40-Watt LED... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NNR9DLX?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

>grow light

I bought this one and am very happy with it - it's a 100 watt white light so it's very bright so you could use it for multiple plants and it screws into a regular bulb socket:

​

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R8P91CY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1