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The Indoor Vegetable Garden - Series 2
Click here > to Watch the Video on YouTube coming soon
An Indoor Herb Garden based on a modular, highly flexible Plant stand. (Patent Pending)
Used next to a sunny window or with low-power LED grow lights.
So What Can I Grow?
Well anything that will fit into the space e.g.
- Vertical Sprouts (Snow pea, Radish, Mustard, Broccoli, Buckwheat, Wheatgrass etc). – Optional lights (1x 60/30cm 3cmW) LED light per shelf (blue dominant white).
- Green leaf Herbs (Basil, Mint, Lettuce, Marjoram, Spring Onions etc) – Optional lights (1x 60cm 11cmW) or (2x 60/30cm 3cmW) LED lights per shelf (blue dominant white).
- Fruiting Plants (Tomato, Peppers, Zucchini, Cucumber etc) – Optional lights (60cm 11cmW) or (60/30cm 3cmW) LED lights per stand (red dominant).
The Base Kits.
The base kits consist of the Perspex pieces, stainless steel connections and a spanner. If you want to add to any of the base systems e.g. you may not have enough sun and would like to add some LED grow lights, you may need some trays and pots, i.e. if you haven't purchased them as part of one of the other sprouting systems, then please see the add-on category. IVG-S2-Stand-Add-ons
Base Kit 1a - is the simplest configuration, it consists of the Perspex pieces, stainless steel connections and a spanner, this is a great combination when combined with one of our micro-greens sprouting kits, (Sprouting-in-475mm-Rectangular-Trays) for growing 3 trays of micro-greens next to a sunny window.
Base Kit 1b - this is basically 1a combined with 2x18 W LED grow lights + the 475mm micro-greens sprouting kit plus some Radish and Snowpea seeds. A great solution for the kitchen bench or a bookshelf.
Base Kit 1c - this is basically 1a, minus 2 shelf arms, combined with 1x45w LED grow lights + a 575mm tray + 3 pots potting mix and fertiliser, all you need to grow 3 pots of herbs. A great solution for the kitchen bench or a bookshelf. If you have enough ambient light you could also grow a tray of micro-greens on top.
Base Kit 2 - this is basically 1a combined with an extra 3 shelf arms, it can be used to grow 6 trays of micro-greens next to a sunny window or with the addition of 4x18w LED grow lights, grow 4 trays of micro-greens under lights (or you could just use 2 if you had one side next to a sunny window). Likewise you could combine it with 2 or 4 x45w LED grow lights and grow 6 pots of herbs or you can mix and match and do one of each i.e. A pot of herbs on one side and micro-greens on the other.
Base Kit 3 - this is the basic box shape which supplies the strength for building multiple levels of potted herbs. By itself it can be used to grow 2 levels each with 3 pots of herbs or with the addition of 1x45w LED grow lights once tray with 3 pots of herbs under lights.
Base Kit 4 - this is the basic double box shape which supplies the strength for building multiple levels of potted herbs. By itself it can be used to grow 2 levels each with 6 pots of herbs or with the addition of 1 or 2x 45w LED grow lights, 3 or 6 pots of herbs under lights.
Pics.1-13 - for an explanation of these pictures see these pop-up graphic coming soon
Growing summary
1. If you want to grow herbs you will need one rectangular tray per shelf generally the 575 mm long tray is chosen for this as it will support 3 potted plants per shelf.
2. If you want to grow micro-greens e.g. Snowpea Wheatgrass Radish then see our vertical sprouting kit, we suggest the 475mm long tray system as they are more convenient to handle. Sprouting-in-475mm-Rectangular-Trays
3. If you need extra light then the choice is pretty simple i.e. the narrower 3 cm wide for micro-greens 1 per shelf 18w or the wider 11cm light for potted plants 45 W per shelf. You will also need to select the appropriate bracket that supports the lights. All the extra options are found in the Add-on category. IVG-S2-Stand-Add-ons
The height of each vertical section is either 60cm/24” or 48cm/19”.
The rectangular trays, used to bridge the shelves have 2 possible functions
1. They can be used to grow short-term micro-greens, - this is where you grow seeds to an early stage and then harvest them e.g. Broccoli, Radish, Cress, Buckwheat, Snow Pea, Wheatgrass etc these are ready to eat in 1-2.5 weeks (the 3 that I do on a regular basis are Snowpea Radish and Wheatgrass). As you can see from the pictures and diagrams above, a large amount of greens can be grown this way. We use a fine textured coconut fibre mixed with Azomite and Dolomite as the growing medium, we add a mix of liquid seaweed and magnesium chloride, all organic substances. We also supply a clear Perspex germination cover, to further simplify the growing process. There are actually 3 types of trays to choose from - 575mm and 475mm rectangular trays and a 200mm/8” diameter round tray, the round trays need the addition of extra cross pieces to support them.
2. Or the rectangular trays can be used as a reservoir for herb pots. If you turn the rectangular trays upside down then you can use it to support the round trays, 2 for the 475mm and 3 for the 575mm one, the reason to do this is if you have different types of plants growing next to each other which require different amounts of water. The system comes with clips which allow you to secure the trays to the stand and in the case of the round trays secure the round trays to the rectangular tray.
How the System Works
The system consists of a series of clear Perspex stands that can be connected together and also mounted on top of one another to a maximum height of 1.8m/5.9ft. As you will see from the pictures above there are many possible configurations of which there are basically 2 shapes one is the box shape i.e. verticals, on either side, this has more strength and is designed for pot plants eg Base Kits 3 & 4, the 2nd shape is an open shape with just verticals on one side only, this is designed for the Micro-Green sprouts, as it makes moving the trays around extremely easy and as these are very light, they do not have enough weight to over balance the stand, eg Base Kits 1 & 2.
Note you can have any combination that you want, to which you can change and add as required. A common one is having potted herbs growing next to the wall or a sunny window, in the box section and then having horizontal arms ie open sections at the front growing the Micro-Green eg Pic.5, another version of this is Pic.4 where you have 2 stands of potted herbs and one stand at the top with 2 open arms growing micro-green sprouts, again under lights or next to a tall sunny window.
The box shape is 330 x 280mm/13 x 11”; the open shape is 250x 280mm/10 x 11”. When you add the lights then the width i.e. 280mm/11” will be the length of the lights used, which are either 60cm/24” or 30cm/12”. Each shelf supports the LED grow lights for the plants on the shelf below.
Different light types
Pic.8- shows the different types of lights that can be used with this stand. Note these lights do not use a fan, therefore no noise. There are 3 types of lights which all have the option of being Blue dominant White, tailored for growing leafy greens and micro-green sprouts, and a Red dominant tailored for growing flower and fruit e.g. Tomato, Strawberries etc. Note:- the blue dominant White light gives a lovely ambience to the room i.e. it's nice to look at and most plants will still flower and fruit under this light however heavy fruiting crops e.g. tomato would definitely grow better under the red dominant light. The top picture shows 2x 30cm Long 3cm Wide bar lights each light is 9x 1W LEDs. The middle picture shows 2x 60cm Long 3cm Wide bar lights each light is 18x 1w LEDs. The bottom picture shows 1x 60cm Long 11cm Wide bar lights each light is 27x 3w LEDs (equivalent of 3 groups of 15x 1w LEDs).
The advantage of the thinner 3cm Wide bar lights is that they can be used singularly to grow micro-greens or in a group of 2 or 4 to grow herbs, they can also be attached vertically which is very useful when you're growing tall plants that require extra light at the lower levels.
The advantage of the wider 11cm Wide bar lights is that the LEDs are grouped into 3 circles and come with extra lenses which creates greater intensity for the 3 pots of herbs below. You can also add lenses to the 3 cmW bar lights, but it adds to the expense, but the option is there if you choose.
So there are 4 basic configurations which you can start with and then build on now or later. For different options and add-ons see this category directly below. IVG-S2 - Stand Add-ons
Note lights are purchased separately.
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