Home Lab Thread

File: DSCN8631a.jpg (1MB, 2736x3648px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 2736x3648px

>>8783719
Does this count?

I'm hoping to build a greenhouse sometime soon. I'll have a section in it for creating/developing specific hybrids and cultivars.

>>8783719
Lurking for interest.

>>8783787
Thats an awesome set up! Did you get fancy grow lights or the normal full spectrum ones?

For anyone lurking I've been using this dudes videos as an outdated guide to home science. I managed to create dragendorff's reagent using pepto-bismol with these videos.
https://youtu.be/hSPaKThmWbA

>>8784483
>Did you get fancy grow lights or the normal full spectrum ones?

Normal lights. I bought these 4' long, LED, shop lights:

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/4ft-led-shoplight-wt-in-club-item-712371/prod20070899.ip

I have some standard flouroscent bulb shop lights too, but the LED ones are far better for energy and heat output. The plant leaves can grow right against them and not harm them. The flouro bulbs burn the leaves up if they touch and make the place super hot. I've read that the LEDs are also a bit better spectrum-wise than the flouro. I can't afford grow-light expense and I really really hate their light colors.

That top shelf has legit grow lights, but they are old and don't output very well along their length.

>dragendorff's reagent

I made that one time and used wine diamonds from my homemade wine to help create it; with lackluster results. Seems wine diamonds are best use is in baking.

>>8784483
>>8783787
There's a guy who posts in the Homegrowmen threads in /out/, >>>/out/974435 who has a really good setup for growing all types of algae as a hobby. He even has those glow in the dark ones. He hasn't posted in a few threads though.

File: 2015-06-09 12.23.32.jpg (2MB, 2688x1520px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 2688x1520px

>>8783787
Looks like a nice setup, but you might want to change up how you make your pots. You can get bulk pots for cheap, same with watertight flats. It makes watering and reusing pots a lot easier, you can just bottom water the pots.

Here's an example taken in my lab's greenhouse space.

>>8785206
>I've read that the LEDs are also a bit better spectrum-wise than the flouro.
It can really depend. Normal fluorescent lights are shit for plants, but you can get fluorescents that put out the right mix of reds and blues that plants need. We have some LED setups at work for growing tobacco and rice, but to be honest we had a bunch of trouble getting them off the ground. LEDs in general put out a single peak wavelength so for a proper setup you need to drive a mix of colored LEDs, but getting the mix of light and intensity right can be tricky. We went through a couple tries before we landed on something we liked.

File: DSCN8626a.jpg (541KB, 1024x1536px) Image search: [Google]

541KB, 1024x1536px

>>8785444
I use a flushing system to water the pots. The water goes top down and flushes out to prevent salt buildup. Though, these are only indoors for a short time and that usually isn't a problem. Still, seedlings can be sensitive and my well water is pretty loaded.

The best part is that these "pots" are free, have the height I want for the roots, and are narrow enough to place many of them together. Later on I'm planning to make my own terracotta pots and potting system. My largest problem is the shelving unit. It is too narrow and small for the lights and drip trays.

I actually threw out a ton of pots like this ones in your image. I kept the trays. That looks like a great setup. I like the "tables" especially.

>>8785451
I was referring only to shop lights, not specialty grow lights of either kind. If I were doing year-to-year indoor growing, I'd most likely need to get something more expensive in the right ranges. Though, overwintered pepper plants did very well using only the flouro shop lights. The bloomed and fruited with them then had lots of new growth I had to keep trimming back.

If I can ever find a good enough deal on a DIC/Fluorescence microscope to bother, I am going to begin assembling a microbiology lab and start isolating model organisms.

>>8785677
You really don't need a microscope for that. Just some glassware and chemicals.

>>8785683
I eventually intend to start performing experiment with them which will require a microscope.

Also, working with bacterial cultures is enough of a pain without having no visual reference.