That's It - I'm ready for Spring - and 4 months to go :(

I can't beleive how Albany is getting pounded,we're getting our share of snow but its so funny to see you guys get it all!LOL
Just kidding,But I am avoiding runs to Albany this winter,its safer going to Buffalo!

Karyn - yeah, yeah, yeah. Just don't try to fly into Albany on Christmas Day - I ended up with a night in Cincinnati and a diverted flight to Syracuse and had to rent a car just to get home. Amazing how we can be worse than Buffalo! >;-)~

Oh well - time to read up on cold sowing!

OK, finally found the webpage for the plant stands. This page was originally posted by another DG member last spring, but I can't find the thread. Apologies for not giving this helpful friend credit, since we've made several of these stands and they really worked out well.

The plant stands are made with PVC pipe, which is quite cheap. It requires some special connectors, also reasonable. If you plan to keep your seedlings under the lights until transplant, adjusting the plan to allow more space between shelves might be advisable.

The stands are designed for 3 lighted shelves. Each shelf holds 4 standard sized flats. Each flat holds 12 cell packs. If using 6 packs, that means each flat holds 72 plants. If using 4 packs, each flat holds 48. As I recall, I can fit no more than 20 flats to a 4x8 table top, but each plant stand can hold 12 flats in a much smaller space. If an additional shelf is added on top, it holds 16 flats.

Here's the website: http://www.carlnet.org/~ttsdaly/plantstand.html

WOW :0 Wish I had a place like that for growing plants...

Wow weeez are these all for you or do you sell plants too? Thats a ton of them, I printed that design out from your hyperlink and hopefully going to build a couple of them!

Katrina

Before I found T's seeds (the hyperlink above), I made one that is a two-tier "countertop model." (I'm lucky to have a nice stretch of countertop in my laundry room, assuming clothes can be folded elsewhere from January to March!

It will hold four flats lengthwise (maximum exposure to the lights) or eight flats turned a quarter-turn (not as much light for the plants on the end, so more rotating and shifting of cells is required.) The connectors cost more than the PVC tubing, but it still cost less than $50 (as best I recall). Four 4' light fixtures were another $25 plus bulbs, and they're going into their third year of use this year. We glued some parts together, but left the unit unglued at strategic points so it can be disassembled and stored easily.

I just discovered some really neat 20-row seed starting inserts from Pinetree. These will allow me to start 40 different types of seed (set into two regular-sized flats) on my heating mat inside this winter, then move them to the GH when it's time to prick them out and pot them into individual pots. Can't wait to get everything going!

Yes, Evert. We sell plants, too. I'm relatively new at it, so I don't consider my efforts 'commercial', especially after having seen the awesome setups some of our other members have! I grow a wide variety of plants, and I'm too soft hearted to 'thin', so I transplant everything. That means that I can end up with three flats of 72 plants from a small 4"x5" container. As you can imagine, the amount of space needed keeps growing as the plants do.

These stands were a life saver for us last spring. We retained one table with the haloid light over it, and that held 18 flats. We tore down the other table that held 18 flats and replaced it with lighted plant racks that held 64. That's an increase of 46 flats in the same amount of space!

The plant stands require two fluorescent fixtures per level, so a three-tiered one requires 6 fixtures and twelve bulbs. Try to find fixtures that have reasonably long cords, since you'll be marrying them up to a plug and perhaps a timer. Using chain to install the fixtures allows a little space to raise or lower the lights.

The PVC is cheap... one of the cheapest construction materials you will find. We opted to add some thin pegboard to the shelves so that the flats would not tip when we pulled them out. Once we were through with the stands in late spring, we just unhooked the fixtures and stored those in the basement. The stands were fine outdoors.

SBarr, you can have lots of flowers blooming their little heads off all fall/winter/spring outdoors. They might get buried under snow from time to time, but most of the cold-hardy bloomers keep their blooms for weeks or months (a whole lot longer than the tender bedding annuals). I have at least 10 kinds of plants blooming every day of the year here :) Others have been bragging what they grow in winter, too. Check 'em out!

Go_Vols, I just checked out the Pinetree website here: http://www.superseeds.com/ I found the row seedling flat listed, but I can't quite picture it in my mind: http://www.superseeds.com/planting_supplies.htm Is it 10" long, 1.25" wide and 7/8" high? Does it fit in a regular domed tray? How is this better than small individual containers? They certainly are reasonable, so it's worth looking into. Also on this page is the 'Nitpicker'... a very handy tool for lifting seedlings out of cell packs while transplanting. They are $2.98 and can be shipped with your seeds... a savings in shipping, as well.

Weezin, in the past I've tried to mark furrows in a regular ole plastic flat (not the cell inserts, but just dump soilless mix in the flat itself, then use a pencil or something to make rows crosswise. This method usually results in 8-10 different seeds in fairly evenly-spaced rows.

These inserts are divided into 7/8" wide cells that run the width of the flat. You fill it up with soilles mix, and when you're done tamping and wetting, you'll have plastic ridges between each of the 20 rows, making it easy to prick out an entire row without disturbing anything on either side of it (and no guesses on those 'tweeners' as to which furrow they strayed from.) Here's a photo - scroll down near the bottom: http://www.snow-pond.com/Seedstrt/seedstrt.html

It will fit in a standard flat just like the cellpacks, and accept a plastic lids to maintain humidity.

Ok, I get it. This is one sheet the size of a flat with dividers in rows. It that it? This is probably very helpful when thinning rows, but I'm a broadcaster. I broadcast seeds into small containers, approx 3"x3" or 4" x 6. When they are ready for transplant, I can take out one container at a time without exposing all the other seedlings under the dome. Would this solid sheet thing make it necessary to reach across outside rows to deal with those in the center that would need thinning or transplanting? Am I getting this right?

You've got the right idea. What I like about this (versus sowing seeds in their respective cell packs) is that I like to see them germinate before I give them real estate in their very own cell. And this will allow me to easily sow 20 different seeds in a very small space (efficient use of my heat mat or top of the freezer), plus keep the just-germinated seedlings inside, using only a small amount of countertop space until they are big enough to prick out into their own cells. By that time, I'll be ready to fire up the heater in the GH and keep the tomatoes, peppers and tender annuals all nice and comfy out there until last frost.

Plus, I seem to have a knack for putting the fastest-germinating seeds out in the middle of the flat, which means I'm disturbing the soil around ungerminated seeds to get the fast-growing plants out of there before they take over the whole flat. The dividers will ensure I don't disturb the roots if I have to take up seedlings from the middle first.

Go_Vols, I now see that the smaller cells will surely give you more space on your heating mat. I still think I'd have problems with so many seeds in a container that can't be individual lifted from the flat. This picture shows containers that are the size of a cell pack, so 12 fit to a tray. I use bigger ones and I use ones that are about half that size. I can lift these containers from the the flat and leave the rest in their little greenhouse. But, I can certainly understand the need to conserve space.

PlantsDirect, I have grown seedlings under lights for many years. I buy Shop Light light fixtures, haven't had to buy any for several years so don't know how expensive they are now I used to buy them for about $6.00 each. I use cool white bulbs mostly, all 48". I buy bulbs by 10 or so count to the package at Costco usually, at around $1.00 ea.

OH! This is just terrific.

A winter plant project.

Off to Home Depot for plastic pipe.

Fun, fun, fun, till the sun chases winter blues away.

:~)

Adam.

Way to go, Adam. It's a nice little project with a big payoff.... plants!