LED results

The plants in the photo above are the offspring of the seeds I began germinating and featured on my November 10, 2010 post. Today, I drained the nutrients and added a clearing solution to the system, and I will harvest and replant this system within a few days. The only light these plants have received, since germination, has been from the red/blue LED, and it should be evident that they are very well developed for plants being grown indoors.

The plants on the right side of the system are Jerico romaine lettuce grown from seed I purchased from High Mowing Seeds.

"Organic Jericho Lettuce - Heat tolerant romaine for summer harvests. Bright green leaves, unique silky texture and sweet flavor even in the heat of the summer. Good selection for indoor or outdoor cultivation. Jericho has some tolerance to powdery mildew and downy mildew as well as excellent resistance to heat stress and tip burn.(Lactuca sativa)"

I am adding more romaine types to each planting, as cos types are very high in vitamins A, C and calcium.

Visiting various forums I see a continuing debate regarding LEDs. I will not participate in the debates, however, I posted a photo on a forum of the spacemaster cucumber to illustrate what is possible using LEDs. One resident "expert" replied that I should add a few 23 watt CFLs to get some vegetative growth so the plant will flower! Moving the bottom leaves aside, I can already see flowers, in great profusion, beginning to form. So much for visiting forums, and resident "experts".

Simply having the plant produce flowers satisfies one of my objectives for this project: will this type of lighting support flowering?

I have removed the growing tip of the main shoot, four nodes above the plant's surface, to redirect the plant's energy outward. My experience with this variety has been: that although it is supposed to only grow 2' wide and 8" high, I have had it grow 8' wide, and 6' high! That is not an option indoors.