Grow lights

I have been looking at grow lights. They are quite expensive. Has anyone done research and know where to find them as inexpensivesly as possible without going to ebay? The ones I have found are between 2 & 3 hundren dollars.

Has anyone made their own lighten plant stand?

Nanna

Nanna,
Here is a discussion I had on lights also. I hope this helps. Patti
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/536942/

When I'm starting seeds, I don't shell out for expensive grow lights, I just use a fixture with two standard 40 watt fluorescent bulbs. I wonder if that would work as well for AVs? I'm going to try it... I have some little AVs on a higher shelf where I could easily hang a light fixture above them... Perhaps that would increase blooming for me!

I'm with CritterO on the expensive grow lights...I did not get the growth I expected or the blooms either so I just use the standard shop lights and that is what I plan to use in my new AV room, if we ever get that started...probable going to be a winter project at this point...lol

My first Av shelves were made from some old metal shelving and then I added the smaller 18 inch flourescent lights with velcro to ake it easy to replace the bulbs, the spacing on the shelves work out great and that is where I grow most of my mini's and trailers. Now that my colletion has exploded into a full addiction I will have to use several 8 ft lights .

For me, Hanging the lights 12 inches above the plants has given me the blooms & desired growth I like so that's the what the plan for the new room will be.

I don't have gret windows to put them in and I sure wished I did!

MsC

I also use shop lights. Mine are in banks for 4 tubes, standard 48" length. About 12 inches from the top of the plants is about the height I use for AVs too - some like a bit less, some a bit more. Seedlings are closer to the lights.

I recently invested in some compact fluorescents - 125W each - but these are for higher light plants. I put a sinningia cardinalis under one (off to the side) and it complained of too much light...... The columnea is loving it though.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll do some looking around and come up with a plan. for wooden shelves with lights. Will let you all know how things work out.

Nanna

Sam's Club has these "Gorilla Shelves" that I love because they're so easy to knock together with a mallot. You can assemble them as a tall 6-shelf unit, or as side by side 3 shelf units. You can fit 2 double fluorescent fixtures (the 4 ft ones) over each shelf. The notches in the upright supports (which are there so the shelves can be adjusted) turn out to be a perfect fit for 1/4 inch dowels, so I put a piece of dowel above the shelf at either end and just set the light strip right on top of the dowels. This makes the light really easy to adjust -- not such a big deal for AVs probably, but wonderful when I'm trying to keep the lights a couple inches above my growing seedlings.

Hmmm, wonder if I can find a picture.... yep! Oh, I should add that I wrapped the shelves with plastic garbage bags to protect the surface since it seemed to be particleboard, and the lights for the top shelf are hung from the ceiling on an adjustable rig that my Eagle Scout husband created.

Wow. It looks like you are going into business. I will surely check out the Gorilla Shelving. That might be my answer. Thanks

Nanna

Now I know what I want for Christmas! No wait, I want that before Christmas! My husband is going to build me a desk, so maybe he could set me up with something like that, too. Then I could get all my AVs off the dining room table. :)

I caught some fixtures on clearance at Home Depot and (sorta) fashioned a shelf out of that grate stuff that you build into different shapes with the little plastic connectors. Sort of like "build your own flimsy milk crates". Anyway, later I found instructions for a PVC plant stand, I have yet to do it, but I plan on it. And I discovered that my local Habitat for Humanity Thrift store sells 4' fixtures for $2 apiece!!! and bulbs for a buck. They say you should use one warm and one cool 40w bulb in the fixture for av's. Which is fine, if you can afford warms (cools are cheaper, by a lot). Or if you can find warms for a buck at the HFH thrift store. On the other hand, my grandma has won best species at shows with her avs, and she has only ever used 2 cools.

I'm using two cools about... well, suffice it to say, my lights are a lot closer to my plants because of the arrangement. I don't have a lot of height to work with. But the one I'm growing right now (which my g-ma propagated for me), is about 50% bigger than hers. They were all grown together with the same mix of stuff, except mine are closer to the lights. I know she does 12" on hers.

Here's a pic of my av from a few days ago. Maybe it's too close and that's why it's so white? dunno

Sarah

To my knowledge there is not a HFH near me but I thought I would check out shelving at IKEA today. Maybe I will surprise Bill with a week-end project.

Nanna

Earlier this summer, I bought a wire shelving unit from Menards ($54.99) to house my plants that I have out on the porch. (Picture attached). I recently bought another one & added shop lights with gro-bulbs for my AVs (see my other postings). Really works great and SO MUCH CHEAPER than commerically-made 'grow stands'.

I did it. I found the shelf I wanted and bought it. As soon as I get it set up I will take a picture for all to see.

Thanks to all for the advise.

Nanna