Tell us about the lighting rig and the framework behind the plants!
- Lights: 4ft - https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B086BWPBHL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
- Cable system - https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B09BZ9L9C1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
- Netting - https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00P7RUI3U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I just bolted the anchors from the cable system into some ceiling studs, and then attached the lights using their mounting clips + some zip ties. It was a temporary thing that just never got updated since it works well. I thought I might need to add weights at the bottom, but the leds are heavy enough on their own.
Wall has a bunch of screws put into the studs and then the net is just spread over them. I zip tied the net in a few spots to start if off, then just wrapped the netting around the screws to pull it tight.
I've started letting it climb onto the ceiling / off the net by using some thumb tacks, but I don't think this is going to work. I'll probably put a few screws in and then run some fishing line between them.
I keep trying to convince my mother to let me build her a little wall herb garden for the kitchen.
Hello, it is I, your mother
Shit, I'd hire you to do that for me.
I can tell you have a lot of passion
I am certain you could sneak a pot plant in there. No one would know.
Looks sick. What all you got there, friend?
Main vine on the wall is a passionflower. It consumes about 2L of water a day so I'm starting to think of ways to automate it.
From left to right: Grapefruit tree, Basil, Aloe, Jade, Drosera Capensi, Aloe. The big pot on the right hosts the passionflower.
How much does it cost to run the lights?
Let's do some math together!
- 6 lights rated at 42w each = 252w which I run for 10 hours a day, so we're looking at 2100wh per day AKA 2.5kwh per day.
- 2.5 kwh * 30 = 75kwh per month.
- 75kwh * my residential rate of $0.0959 per kwh = $7.20 per month
Given they also make my office nice and bright when I'm working in here, that's a reasonable cost in my mind.
That's my first question. I estimate that light would cost me about $30-40 a month to run with current electricity prices but I've wanted to do this with sugar snap peas for so long. I want flowers and things to eat in the winter!
Closeup of one of the flowers
Really cool.
