I love peppers and own a community garden. Because my appartement living room is north facing there is not much heat and light from the sun. So I decided to build a growing box with some scrap materials I had laying around. The specifications:

  • Transparent plastic box with lid
  • 72 watt 12 volt power supply
  • 54 watt led strips mix of white, blue and red
  • Cardboard
  • Thin rope
  • 12V PC fan
  • Duc/transparent tape
  • Plug tray for planting
  • Thermometer
  • Philips Hue smart plug as timer. Scheduled from 7h-18h so 11h of light.

For sprouting I used:

  • Heating mat 5W
  • Plastic petri dishes 55mm
  • Kitchen paper towel
  • Cotton pads
  • Tweezers

It took approximate 7-10 days for sprouting. The best sprouted seedlings where transplanted as soon as possible.

I control the grow box humidity by leaving the lid with a small airgap by moving the grips up. The heat of the led strips is contained within the box and heats the box between 20-25 degrees celsius. No external heat is applied.

Images

Led panel taped on cardboard with fan

Led panel on cardboard with fan

Growbox closed with Nero the cat inspecting Growbox closed with cat

Philips Hue smartplug as timer

Philips hue smartplug timer

Petri dishes on heatmat

Petri dishes heatmat

Petri dish sprouts

Petri dishes sprouts

Planting the seedlings in a tray at 30 januari

Planting plugs at 30 januari

Growbox light at 5 februari

Growbox light 5 februari

Planting plugs at 19 februari

Planting plugs with small pepper plants 19 februari

Planting plugs at 26 februari

Planting plugs with small pepper plants 26 februari

Transplanting seedlings at 16 march

Rooted seedling

Tray of seedlings

Potting seedlings

Potted seedlings

Growing progress 8 april

Growing progress 8 april

Growing progress 21 april

Growing progress 21 april

Grow light 27 april

Growing progress 27 april