gro lights for basement or just move out of house?

Need to make more room for wintering tropicals and starts in the cellar, but i have no idea what to get for lights. Will flourescent shop ights work? Do you need special bulbs? Where do you buy them? Please share your experience and knowledge. It's a jungle upstairs and not enough windows! thx.

I'm glad you asked I need the information also.

Judy

there was a BIG discussion thread on that last winter. I'll see if I can find it.

Here's one: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/422149/

This message was edited Oct 14, 2004 1:53 PM

Great link - thanks. I will try the foil, makes sense to me!

i use just plan old shop lights hanging from chains!

NotMartha - You're always giving me good information!!!!! Thank you!!!

The secret is to lower the lights to hang 3inches above the plants and use flourescent bulbs because they throw little heat and won't burn the plants. You can use a heat mat under your tray if your area is too cold. Gro lites cost about $29.00 or mor per bulb when flourescents work just as well and cost about about $2.00. Seedling heat mats cost about $25.00 if you need one and are in most gardening catalogs.

your most welcome!!! im so NOTmartha i just tried it yrs ago and it worked!
i can make a mean unorganized junk drawer too!!! :)

Have fun with your winter gardening!
dori

Home Depot has great prices on the 4-foot shop lights and you can get a 10-pack of the Daylight flourescent bulbs too. I had a real operation going on in my basement last winter and can't wait to get started again this year. I also bought one of those metal shelving units with the particle board shelves and then hung the 4-foot light under each shelf. Works like a charm.

Question: How many lamps or bulbs do you guys use on each of your shelves?

~julie~
(Now I'll go check out the discussion thread and see if it's already been answered! :-D)

It was! ~grin~

This message was edited Oct 16, 2004 8:42 PM

You can use as many lites as you want but a two bulb fixture works fine.

Thanks, Tplant. Right now I've got 4 fixtures on a 3 X 8' shelf and have cuttings and overwintering plants under them. I may try the second shelf with 2 fixture set up later on just to see if there's enough difference to warrant adding more light.

~julie~

This also depends on the width of your tray. Use the same width of light as the tray so they all get equal light. Width of lights can ,of course, be wider and it's best if it is.( My English teacher would be all over me for the ending of my last sentance with 'is')

This message was edited Oct 17, 2004 8:08 PM

Tplant...it's been so long since I had an English teacher, I'm sure ALL the rules have changed anyway! :-)

Thanks for the added note. I'm trying to keep my plants "comfy" and they'll let me know when they aren't. Hopefully, I'll be able to give them whatever is necessary. I think the problem is going to be if I keep them TOO happy and need a heated greenhouse before spring. :-)

~julie~

There's several threads around about building a PVC light stand. It's pretty inexpensive and gives quite a bit of shelf space for plants

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/169142/

Thanks Poppysue...

~julie~

Judy, Julie, and the rest,

I will tell you again at the risk of being told it is not needed:

Use the 2 bulb fixtures and go to Walmart and get Survival blankets. $1.88 each. They are 4 x 7 feet. Unfold just the amount you need. drape it up and over the light fixture and down to the outside of your trays.

They are silver and feel like Mylar. Very easy to work with.

Jeanette

Jeanette! What a great idea! I *do* need on in my stand for the reflection AND breeze control.
Thanks so much for that tip!

~julie~

Speaking of breeze control, I should have mentioned that a very small fan on one end of the light fixture is great for air circulation and making the little legs of the seedlings strong. Jeanette

Hehehehe...I'd have to put a heater behind my fan. The breezes in my basement are pretty cool right now. :-D (OH...DH picked me up a couple of survival blakets on his little shopping trip this morning.)

~julie~

Julie, let me know if you think they will help. Jeanette

Will do, Jeanette. I think I might experiment using only one of each set of two fixtures with the blankets on them just to see if things stretch. I don't have anything to lose right now and it'll give me an idea of how many fixtures I'll actually *need* later on.

~julie~

I do use a small oscillating fan on my seedlings as well. You have to water a bit more I think, but makes for stronger seedlings and helps in preventing damping off IMO.

Thanks Brenda...I'd thought of that but hadn't got around to it yet.

Thanks firebirds for letting us hijack your thread.

~julie~

I'm so glad people, for the most part, are polite when they come to visit and see all our "plants & things", but can't you just imagine the conversations they have afterward!!! lol lol

This message was edited Oct 19, 2004 4:56 PM

I'm sorry, I didn't think we were hijacking Firebird's thread. I thought we were helping. I think we certainly meant it that way anyway.

Judy, that is so funny. I never thought about it but you are probably right. Kind of like the "funny" aunt?

Jeanette

I missed this thread earlier...when I use light fixtures in winter, I use 1 warm bulb and 1 cool bulb in the fixture..simulates a gro-lite and cheaper..

:-) I usually take it when the thread starter isn't participating in the side conversation, that I've probably hijacked the thread. So I try to apologize for doing it. ;-)

Judy, you probably wouldn't want to know what goes on in those conversations. Sometimes, we look pretty crazy to new people. :-D

Earthling...that's just what I'd thought about doing...one warm/one cool. And if I need to buy more bulbs for the next shelf in my unit, more than likely, I'll do just that. And you're right on...MUCH cheaper!

~julie~