[Homestead] solar tube question

Gene GeRue genegerue at ruralize.com
Wed Jul 9 21:49:35 EDT 2008


On Jul 9, 2008, at 8:20 PM, deb wrote:

> Hello everyone,
> I've been a lurker here for awhile and I finally have a question for  
> all of you.  Has anyone tried to use solar tubes to bring in light  
> to grow vegetables?  I live in a huge hardwood forrest, don't want  
> to cut the trees and have sooo many deer that growing veggies  
> outside is almost impossible.  I do have a clear spot over my house  
> that gets sun so I thought if I could install some solar tubes and  
> run them to the basement, I could garden there without increasing my  
> electric usage (bad for the planet and my pocketbook) and not  
> fattening up the local deer population.  Any and all thoughts are  
> appreciated.
> Deb in Indiana
> ____________

Hi, Deb. It doesn't sound right to me. For substantial light to travel  
from rooftop to basement you would need larger tubes than I have seen.  
There are other issues. In addition to light, plants need lots of  
carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.

Are you wanting to grow, um, special plants?

Double fences will stop deer. They can jump one but won't if they can  
see that their noses will slam into the second fence. Six feet between  
fences worked here.




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