I'm not sure you are looking for answers or confirmation that what you are attempting to do is great. Having been there and tried it, you are farther over your head than the last person buried in your town. Not trying to be mean or harsh, only realistic. It takes lots of practice, and a decent amount of talent and treasury, to learn either hydroponics or how to mix container soil so it doesn't compact, holds moisture yet drains, and is large enough to sustain your plants. Then there is the lighting issue. Research Daily Light Integral, PAR light, lighting spectrum to get a basic idea of what is involved. Growing inside is simply not as simple as "transplant a seedling and it will grow." Platitudes such as "Telling me I can't will only make me succeed. You're talking to person who heats her entire home on 1 tank of oil a year - because someone told me I couldn't!" may sound confident (or arrogant) but the truth is it is hard to make a silk purse from a pig's ear. Pollination is the very least of your worries. Of course, you will learn this as the months pass. But I wish you good luck on your endeavors! Mike

ok, so i figured id go ahead and give anot so brief review of this thing got it fast. real fast. like 4 days, so that was pretty awesome. started putting it together in the garage on a friday(cant do that with a big one-HA!) and immediately considered returning it. the instructions didnt have any text. all pictures and numbers. huge PITA to get it going, but i perservered with the help of a few rfosty beverages. saturday, reinvigorated by decent weather, i move the semi assembled pieces to their final location. south side of the garage. 45 minutes later, i seriously considered picking it up over my head and throwing it across the yard. few beverages later(in case you havent noticed i measure everything in beer hours) its assembled and in place and still in one piece. im somewhat pleased with it. fast forward several days, im not so pleased. not because of it, but because of its location. crap for sun there. looking at alternate locations. im guessing i need at least 4-6 hours of sun? filtered sun ok? petunias are growing there now, so i presume thats enough sun... in summary im not displeased with this thing, but i wouldnt get another. in the end, for the same amount of money i could have a 6x8 HFGH, but as mentioned earlier, no realistic place to put it. it does have pretty good room considering, for new plants waiting to be planted, and maybe some cool season container crops like carrots, lettuce, etc. a little vent on top, sliding door. its not made for a 6ft tall 185lb man though. i do feel pretty buff when steeping into it, so maybe as an esteem booster i can recoup some of the cost. also, once again im convinced that the only thing China ever designed and built worth a crap was a big wall. the opinions of this poster do not reflect the opinions of anyone else. on earth. no matter what their affiliation. pics out later. thanks again guys for the advice, and info.

you can grow alot indoors if you are dedicated enough. if you want something simple i would suggest maybe starting off with a citrus, a lemon tree is pretty hardy.

Thanks one and all!!!!!! OK - no fluorescent light. Next to bright window. Root in water (did this with one sucker this summer) 1 gallon containers - no problem - dollar store has many perfect for this Question, In that cool garage what was the lighting situation like? If I am successful I will post pictures in April 2010. I will take photos this fall when I take the cuttings/suckers and probably once a month during the winter. If this works I will be doing it every year that I have robust tomato plants. Wish me luck! BTW I did overwinter a Serrano pepper plant from 2008 to 2009 and it was super, super healthy and prolific this summer - still putting out peppers as we speak. I started with 3 and only one survived. I will be doing this again with that same plant. See the link below for how this can be done. The link may take a few seconds to load and is photo heavy so scroll down and see the full photos and get the information. It works. In the link these are NOT my photos. DL Here is a link that might be useful: Overwinter pepper plants