Propagation: Home Grow Light Shelf Unit advice?, 1 by hcmcdole

hcmcdole wrote:
You can get some nice chrome shelves at places like Sam's Club for around $80. These are 6 foot tall by 4 foot wide and 18 inches deep. They have six shelves but I'd suggest only using 3 or 4 to accomodate taller plants or all 6 if you are growing from seed. Getting the first shelf (the bottom shelf) on is the only sem-difficult thing but after that it is fairly simple. When you get ready to put on your next shelf you need to think about how high or low to make it based on what plants you are going to put on the bottom shelf. Add in a few inches for your lights too. Proceed to add your next shelves up to the very top (which can be used for storing pots, garden equipment, etc) and hold your top shelf light.

Like ecrane said about shop lights - you don't need expensive fancy "grow lights" nor "grow bulbs". Get the cheapest 4 foot fixtures but do try to find ones with six foot cords because extension cords can be as much as a cheap fixture (3 prong extension cords six foot long aren't cheap). Some folks say go with a warm bulb and a cool bulb. Some swear by them and others swear at them. I'd get a ten pack because they are cheaper that way (about $2 a bulb for middle of the road quality). Get a cheap six way outlet and a mechanical timer that handles 3 prong and you are ready for growing and showing.

To adjust the lights you will have to adjust them by chains but cheap light fixtures have to have some trade offs to the expensive "grow lights", right?


You can see from this unit that 6 shelves were too many for the plants being grown.


This message was edited Aug 27, 2008 2:03 PM