natural” natural environment also demanded looking at issues of heat
and light.
While it crossed my mind to get very ambi
tious and try my hand at cultivating the likes
of bananas and pineapple, I quickly dispensed
with that notion, given the cost of heating even my
modest-size greenhouse to tropical levels. It isn’t
worth it unless you are growing vanilla as a cash
crop!
So we settled for cool, but not below 40ºF.
The standard low-cost domestic indoor heaters are not
designed or built for these adverse conditions. Charley had a robust fan-driven
heater that was controlled by a good thermostat and designed to be used in damp
greenhouse conditions.
Taking due regard for what I choose to call minimal electronics, I had our
electrician install three power sources: one overhead for lighting and two at
waist height for bench operations, with ground fault interrupters (GFIs) all
round for safety. Now I had a place for the radio/CD player, a boiling kettle, a
toaster, a romantic Tiffany-style overhead light . . . oh yeah—and outlets for the
plants, too!
Of course, one assumes that living in a glass house will mean plenty of light,
but that’s relative when it comes to seeding, germinating, and growing.
I quickly discovered that my vegetables needed somewhere between 700
and 1,000 foot-candles (a measure of illuminance). And that was where the sim
plicity ended! Nowhere in all my diggings and siftings have I encountered such
complexity—so many choices and such apparent cost diff erentials.
The whole business of light may be very important for commercial grow
ers, but really, I asked myself, do I need an HID bulb or an MH or the latest
fluorescent . . . or simply move into the new neutron 16 that uses microwave
technolog y?
Time again for local knowledge and my pal Charley because I knew this was
another choice I couldn’t make on my own!
MY NEED-TO-KNOW LIST • 45