Designing Outdoor Veg Space with Supplemental Lighting... Questions about Lighting & Sunlight

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newguy41410

Well-Known Member
I want to start vegging plants in my back yard because my indoor veg room is too small. I have a good 50 square feet that is currently shaded by a Patio Overhang. You can see the space in the photo where the Bowflex machine and the yellow and black storage totes are:



Along the right side of the photo, about ten feet away from the Patio Overhang are my no-till fabric containers where I flower my outdoor plants at.

Questions:
1) The patio overhang has a giant slab of aluminum to shade the patio and keep things from getting wet in the rain. I could remove the slab of aluminum to allow sunlight to come in and it would basically look like this: https://i.imgur.com/kyTtc1A.jpg But then I would need to place something transparent over the overhang to shield out rain and protect my supplemental light. Should I replace the aluminum with something transparent to allow sunlight in? And if so, what is the most cost-efficient material for doing that?

2) what kind of supplemental lighting should I use? I have seen GC member brassNwood's post where he uses solar LED fixtures he got from Home Depot. I'm wondering if those are my best bet if I want to be cost-efficient while keeping plants perfectly healthy? Are there better options? Is Metal Halide or T5 Lighting overkill since I already would have sunlight? I'm thinking the lower end of the spectrum is home depot CFL or LED fixtures and the upper end of the spectrum would be HID lighting... pros vs. cons in my situation?

3) Will I be able to flower my plants in the fabric pots seen on the right side of the photo if I have a veg lighting going on ten feet away under the patio overhang? Is it too close?? Or would I need to use a tarp or something to prevent light from reaching my flowering pots?

I'm in Southern California, 15 minute drive from the ocean by the way.
 
Last edited:
CanadianJim

CanadianJim

Well-Known Member
1. The thickest possible plastic sheeting might work, especially if you add in some supports between the rafters. You'd have to be careful about sealing the seams for waterproofing.
2. Solar LEDs would be cost effective, and if they're the right spectrum and intensity you shouldn't need to worry, especially since they're just supplemental. It also depends on how tall you want the plants, HID lights might be too hot to get too close to any sort of plastic you might use as a roof.
3. It's definitely too close to flower without blocking the lights, if you do this. Anything brighter than a full moon would be risky. If you can read a book, it's way too bright.
Other than that this is looking pretty interesting. If you don't like the idea of plastic you might be able to find some sheets of glass for a good price, you also wouldn't have to worry about the heat of the lights that way, I just don't know what kind of storms you get there, whether the glass could be broken by the weather. I hear greenhouses sometimes have problems with that.
 
hellmutt bones

hellmutt bones

Well-Known Member
newguy41410 said:
I want to start vegging plants in my back yard because my indoor veg room is too small. I have a good 50 square feet that is currently shaded by a Patio Overhang. You can see the space in the photo where the Bowflex machine and the yellow and black storage totes are:



Along the right side of the photo, about ten feet away from the Patio Overhang are my no-till fabric containers where I flower my outdoor plants at.

Questions:
1) The patio overhang has a giant slab of aluminum to shade the patio and keep things from getting wet in the rain. I could remove the slab of aluminum to allow sunlight to come in and it would basically look like this: https://i.imgur.com/kyTtc1A.jpg But then I would need to place something transparent over the overhang to shield out rain and protect my supplemental light. Should I replace the aluminum with something transparent to allow sunlight in? And if so, what is the most cost-efficient material for doing that?

2) what kind of supplemental lighting should I use? I have seen GC member brassNwood's post where he uses solar LED fixtures he got from Home Depot. I'm wondering if those are my best bet if I want to be cost-efficient while keeping plants perfectly healthy? Are there better options? Is Metal Halide or T5 Lighting overkill since I already would have sunlight? I'm thinking the lower end of the spectrum is home depot CFL or LED fixtures and the upper end of the spectrum would be HID lighting... pros vs. cons in my situation?

3) Will I be able to flower my plants in the fabric pots seen on the right side of the photo if I have a veg lighting going on ten feet away under the patio overhang? Is it too close?? Or would I need to use a tarp or something to prevent light from reaching my flowering pots?

I'm in Southern California, 15 minute drive from the ocean by the way.
Click to expand...
Screenshot_20190628-201654_Samsung Internet.jpg
Before you do that you need to figure out if this is a cabbage plant or just you being you. Signature claw.lol :lol:
 
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