General Gardening

[headcase]

My and a few friends were thinking of splitting the price of a hydroponics kit for the summer, to keep our gardening skills fresh. I was wondering, apart from the obvious cabbage, radishes, cannabis sativa - what else can I plant? Is growing San Pedro cactus plausible? What about some Amanita's? Kratom? Hawaiian Baby Woodrose? Is there any point in using hydroponics for mushrooms? I could just get some soil and a bucket and put it in my window.

Any advice is appreciated. I'd be more specific but horticulture was never my thing (...or is that the one with the birds?).

[Stone]

I know a guy in Cork who's not growing anymore and was thinking of lending his lights to somebody who will give him a little bit of the harvest in return. You interested?

Also, iirc, mushrooms grow much better in the dark.

[headcase]

What sort of lights?

Second thoughts, it's not me, it's for a friend. He can't promise any harvest until he's more confident of success. They've also scrapped the hydroponics because more money needed to be spent on housing, but they still plan on going ahead with a soil based system. I'll get back to you in a few months. If the first batch is successful with flourescent lights, then they might upgrade. I'll ask for some "teh Rorta garden" pics too.

[Nox (ADVANCED)]

Mushes need a dim light to grow don't they just for directional purposes though in a growkit.

[Eulux]

generally, you wouldn't want to grow cactus and reefer near each other due to their inherent climate differences. as for shrooms...hydro shrooms...hmmm...uh huh. shrooms can be grown in light (hence why you find them in cow shit), but I have no idea if it would actually increase the potency, or if you would want to. /end thoughtful yet bullshit post.

[Nox (ADVANCED)]

"HYDRO" set up i guess 4 mushies. (http://www.freshmushrooms.nl/frameFotos.html)

[osha7677]

Hydro would be overkill for any cactus, since the rockwool medium pretty much stays soaked at all times.

Mushrooms grow VERY different from plants, and therefore hydro wouldn't work. All things considered though, mushrooms are actually the best drug to grow for many reasons relating to concealment, reliablity, and market.

As far as pot indoors, forget soil. Chance of either insects or desease wiping out your whole crop is higher. Hydro is much better.

Best advice i could give is get a couple good books on the topic, study them, then buy the equipment to suit your exact situation. Trying to just wing it without reading up on it WILL lead to failure.

[Heavy_'TalMeMan]

If you're going to go hydro, then you need lights.

Compact Flourescents(CFLs) are weak if you're going for a large-scale grow.
High Pressure Sodium(HPS) and Metal Halide(MH) are lights that indoor growers swear by,
but will run your electricity bill through the roof, aside from their high initial cost.

HPS provides a high rate of red light, good for flowering plants. (Cannabis!!!!!)
MH is good for vegetation, as vegetating plants need large amounts of blue light, which MH supplies in abundance.

Cactii is a no-no for hydro.
Just use a home-made grow chamber for mushrooms. It's quite easy.

I would grow anything non illegal in an outdoor garden.