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Oct 28, 2016 7:12 AM CST
Name: Eric
North Georgia, USA (Zone 7b)
Region: Georgia Garden Ideas: Level 1
Anything can be grown indoors with enough effort and enough (and the right) equipment.

You basically have two possible approaches to choose from. You could try to make a "very long early spring" environment, and try to preserve your seedlings to set out in the spring next year. Or you could just try to grow a full cycle, get them to bloom and collect seeds to plant next year. Simulating summer lighting and temperature and growing a full cycle will prove to be easier than the "extended early spring" environment, IMO.

To grow them for seed, you'll need a warm environment (70F-75F daytime temps, 55F-60F nighttime temps), and intense light on the whole plant for more than 12 hours per day. I'd go with 14 hours if the light is intense enough, or you can extend that some if your light sources aren't quite as intense as you need. Using a reflective "grow tent" will have two advantages for this, it makes a smaller space that is easier to heat and control temperature, and the reflective interior gets a lot more of the light from light sources onto the plant. Some T8 strips plus some "LED Grow lights" with more red than blue (3:1 red:blue is pretty common) will provide the light and the stimulus to bloom. You'll need to pollinate the flower(s) manually, to get it to give you seeds.

The other approach, the "extended early spring" will be more difficult. For that you want almost constant temperature around 50-55F, somewhat less intense lighting with very little red light. A little deep red is needed, even for vegetative growth, but you want most of the light in the blue band(s). "Aquarium lights" that are almost entirely blue would be best for this. The lighting level will be hard to hit for this. You want enough light that your plants don't get "leggy," but not so much light that they want to bloom. Fairly intense, mostly blue light for 8-9 hours per day, with long dark nights and lower temperatures would be the way to go for this approach.

Again, I really think it would be much easier to grow what you have full cycle, and save the seeds you gather from these seedlings after they bloom.

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