I meant to look into a shelf system for seedlings this weekend. Best of intentions ... But my cold is still getting the better of me.
I was feeling good on Saturday and maybe over did it with a nice hike. After doing the school-sport-cheering-Mom thing, I took some kids and some dogs hiking. The local Boston trails are covered with a foot of packed powder. Fantastic for hiking. Unusual here. Usually we get melting and end up with icy slick paths, terrible to walk on. Packed powder is beautiful, the hike was lovely. But today I'm "under the weather" again....
Anyway, the plan is to buy an inexpensive metal shelf system (I'm hoping for good sale at Target or Costo). I have a wall area cleared and ready. A south facing window to make use of what sunlight there is. I'll buy lights and attach them to each shelf. (Someone left me a comment here with nice plans for a shelf and light set up. I hope I can locate this comment.)
Last year I tried to go with only window light and this was not enough. I then used my fish tank light and my tank didn't do so good. I'm looking forward to a nice seedling shelf. I enjoy watching the seedlings grow. I'm sure I'll end up with photos to post....
For an inexpensive shelving unit, check CraigsList and Freecycle! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived on my farm I built two massive shelving units with multiple shop lights for starting seedlings. Now that I live in an apartment, I have been planning to make a unit with prefab shelving and shop lights. I am also considering cement blocks and wooden boards for shelves. I look forward to seeing whatever you concoct. I'm going to build my set-up next weekend or later. Shhhhhhhh.....I'm supposed to be resting :-P
ReplyDeleteI'm creating one on the fly -- one of those heavy-duty "wire" shelving units you see in professional kitchens (not terribly expensive at the MegaHome stores), with three clip-on shop lights (really cheap at the MegaHome stores) and a couple of Ott Grow-Bulbs (rather expensive at the MegaHome stores). The shelves aren't affected by moisture, the clip-on lights have plenty of places to perch, and I can stash the supplies on the bottom. I bet clear plastic shower curtains wrapped around the whole thing would make a great vertical greenhouse, too.
ReplyDeleteWe did this today; bought a shelving unit at Home Depot, shoplights and tubes. I'll report on it on my blog once it's up. Might be a while still... If you find that link, can you let us know?
ReplyDeleteI set up a DIY system myself last year, basically as described in the comments above.
ReplyDeletePic here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsondermann/2387478155/
It's worked out fairly well.
I'm sorting out plans for seed starting too.... are you thinking of a free-standing setup or are you mounting to the wall? I'm considering a bookshelf kind thing with no back to it with lots of space between shelves and grow bulbs mounted under each shelf....
ReplyDeleteKathy ... try to do it so the shelves are adjustable. The lights need to be right above the plants when the plants are tiny otherwise they will get spindly reaching for light. As they get older and more mature, the distance is not as critical. Another option is to have one shelf for flats that are just sprouted that is right under the light and the rest spaced with more separation.
ReplyDeletePaul
We have a seed starting set-up in our garage made from Home Depot metal shelving, seedling heat mats and grow lights on S-chains. Here is a blog post and photos of it from last spring:
ReplyDeletehttp://greenuniverse.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/seeds-are-underway/
We live close to Boston on the south shore and last year I started seeds with this set-up on March 1, and it works so well that this year I think I will move it back a week even with this cold.
I'm thinking also of a free standing metal shelf unit. (I thought I saw $39 at Target and I got a $10 coupon in the mail today.) Adjustable shelves as Paul says. The lights will attach to the under side of the shelves and I'll need to move the shelves to get the right spacing from the seedlings. Another option is like Phyllis and tj. Both have nice set-ups (and nice photos) with S-chains holding the lights which make the lights adjustable without moving the shelves.
ReplyDeleteMine will be inside (65-70*F) so I won't need the seedling heat mats. (Only the peppers will need a warm spot during germination 78*.)
I want to measure the seed trays so I get a good size shelf unit probably for two adjacent trays per shelf.
I like the idea of adding plastic shower curtains. Don't think the seedlings need this, but my orchids would love this in the winter.
As Ann-Marie says, I think the expensive part here is the bulbs. Sounds like this may add up. Looks like Phyllis has four 48-inch bulbs per shelf and tj has two per shelf. I think plant bulbs run about $10 each.
I'll check when I leave the house today, but I'm pretty sure we have a single tube in each 48 inch fixture (we got the least exepnsive ones); I do use two units per shelf though because with a single fixture the seedlings will bend towards the light and I want to keep them growing straight and stocky. I agree you won't need a heat mat if your set-up is in the house. The other supplies are a power strip, a timer, swing set chain, s-hooks and some old carpet underneath the seed trays to absorb spilled water.
ReplyDeleteHi Kathy,
ReplyDeleteI emailed you the idea for the shelves a few weeks ago along with a question about winter sowing. Although you didn't respond to my winter sowing question (no matter, I found your blog entry and also the winter sown website), I am glad to see that you liked the grow light set-up idea. As I mentioned before it is from a book called "Designing the New Kitchen Garden, An American Potager Handbook" by Jennifer R. Bartley. I have also seen it done on the web with cement blocks and wooden shelves with the lights attached under the shelves with screw eyes, s-hooks & chains. My set-up with the metal shelves (Lowes) and 4' florescent fixtures with chains & s-hooks included (Home Depot) cost about $160.
Thank you. That's the design I knew I saw and forgot where. I have trouble keeping up with things.
ReplyDeleteBTW All of the winter sowing info I have is here. Here are lists of hardy annual and perennial flowers that you can winter sow. I tried the method with onions, but wasn't successful.
Phyllis, I'm glad to hear you don't have as many bulbs as I thought. I'm thinking to get two bulbs per shelf. And just start with lights on one shelf, add more if I need it.
ReplyDeleteHi Kathy
ReplyDeletewe paid $25 for a box of ten light bulbs (32 Watts, 6500 K color temp). We bought four light fixtures, at $9 each (cae with chains and S hooks). The large and sturdy shelf was the kicker ($88). Timer, $12. The shelves have holes in the uprights and in those we inserted those round wooden sticks ($1.50), on which we hang the fixtures: we can adjust the lights' height by either the sticks or the length of the chains. I'll post the setup with pics soon.
Hi Kathy,
ReplyDeleteI put up a post with our system:
http://blog.bolandbol.com/2009/01/27/germinating-and-growing-seedlings-under-lights-chamber-set-up/
I like the shower curtain idea a lot! We'll probably have to "weld" two together to get a seamless enclosure...
Check out my system . It is made of mostly repurposed materials.
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