My friend Betty and I have worked for two days building me two new plant stands.......
Found fixtures at Walmart, bulbs at Wally World and we put together the stands (ourselves!!)
Two new homemade plant stands..Organization????
we made a small mess on the front porch taking the furniture out!!!
my desk area is getting smaller and smaller by the week
These have to be the last stands or I will be sleeping on a cot in one room!!!
I say I will never grow a standard again............and then i waked up this morning to find new blooms on her...........guess i will grow standards again....
That first pic of a standard is 'Newtown Shared Venture'
This is a Russian (?????)
a noid is blooming a different color this time around
Well Done! Looks very nice.
That looks great and you will enjoy those stands a lot...hey sleeping on a cot isn't all bad...lol
MsC
I do love episcias........this is 'Seafoam'
I have slept many a night on a mattress on the floor.......pretty good sleeping!!!
Chirita senensis keeps blooming
Gail
I love the shelfs where did you find those at if you don't mine me asking I need more I have 3 rooms upstair that are empty and that looks great. I just got a bunch of tray from K-Mart For 1.19 and tray with holes from the garden shop for free so I want to start more plants and I will be getting some seed so that should make lots more as of yesterday I counted 210 houseplants most are in my bedroom I do have a big bed- room .some plants are out that will come in fall.and I will need more room to put them up for the winter Thank
Kim
'Night Beacon' strep has been blooming for a long time
***Dimmer, the stands came in shelves and posts from The Container Store......Metro is the brand.............my friend was nice enough to bring them from Houston as we don't have Container Store......usually just in cities....
But I do have one stand I will show you later that is nothing but pvc ........put together easily
'Iced Pink Flamingo' has bloomed so long she has seed pods almost ready to come off..
Kohlerias that need to have cuttings taken and put into 4" pots.......
Your Plants are just great and the colors are so bright
The last is the best.........one solid shelf of baby minis and Sinningia.........
Thanks for letting me hog the post site!!!!!!!!!!!
Now we are enjoying a cocktail...........we deserve it (LOL)
I just have an average camera but when you upload them, all I do is push auto adjust......takes so much of the glare of the lights off....other than knowing to push auto adjust I know nothing about camera taking or "fixing"....
Beautiful pics !
Those strep pics were just what I needed on our rainy day here.
Very nice.
MsC
Gail, you and Betty did a splendid job with your new stands and light fixtures! I started to say who needs men anyway, but decided not to. Ha! All your plants are looking great and I'm sure you will spend many happy hours in that very pleasant room.
Snowrose, I have said for over 30 years that I don't need a husband.........I need a wife (LOL).
The reason Betty is her to help me is because my brother, although a wonderful brother, can't change a tire!! (neither can I)
Betty Lou is quite mechanical and very particular about things being done right.....me?????????
Well you all on DG know me well.............fly by the seat of my pants.......
PS Betty wants me to order her some streps.......she loves them!!!
Sounds like you have gotten your friend Betty Lou hooked on Gessie's ... did you warn her that one Strep will end up being about 20? :)
Wonderful job y'all did there! Your black metal stands look identical to the ones I have. I got a couple at Wal-Mart and a couple at Target. They have been on sale at Target twice the past month! Our Wal-Mart only carries one size ... 4 shelves 54" tall by 36" wide by 14" deep. Target carries at 3 or 4 different sizes ... I have one out on my porch that's only two shelves and about 36" tall. I just bought the grow lights at Wal-Mart and I keep this cloth covered craft wire on hand all the time, so I just tied the lights on with that wire .... real easy. I would love to have those professional type stands with the built in lights, but they are way out of the range of my budget!
Lin, these stands are 741/2" tall..........4 feet wide.........I am trying the fixtures from Walmart for 8.00 each and the bulbs were only 6.00 ..........this is in contrast to my other bulbs costing 10.00 each at the hardware store.
On one stand I used those cable ties to attach the fixtures.
On these stands we only used 2 s hooks to attach..........no chain (I did save all the chain that came with each fixture)........I have two others that have chains to adjust and didn't need anymore like that..............there is a lot of wasted space on those two stands because I made the shelves 23" apart.
On these 4 shelves of each of the stands we made the top shelf 20" from the top.... the next shelf down we made 19" apart.........then 18".........then a 16" .
I already have 4 shelves on other stands which are only 131/2" high for growing leaves, etc....
Don't let me kid you..........it was tedious and only my friend made me keep going.......will be curious to see how these 6.00 full spectrum lights actually do to the plants........
PS>>>>>>>>>>>I won't tell my friend that when I was trying to order her a lot of streps from Rob's Violet Barn, we had to quit because she didn't know the zip code of her PO Box..............I laughed so hard because she was the straight A student in the college of Business at UT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (not me!!! for sure!!)
LOL about Betty Lou not remembering her Zip Code ... sounds like me! I just like to say I have so much important stuff going on in my brain that I can't remember everything! :)
My first stand I bought just the regular lights from Wal-Mart for I think $6.97 each and the next two stands I set up I bought the Grow Lights from Wal-Mart for $9.97 each ... the plants under the Grow Lights seemed to be doing so much better, with color and blooming more ... so I went and got grow lights for the other stand and left the regular ones on there and just put one grow light with each of the regular lights ... the plants seem to be doing so much better. I still think I want to put 2 Grow Lights on each shelf of my stands cause the lights are only 24" wide and the stand is 36" wide ... so I am having to rotate plants ... the ones out on the ends don't get as much light so every so often I take plants from the middle and put them on the ends and put the ones that have been on the ends towards the middle!
I am soooo not good at putting stuff together, building things! Even if I have directions! I must read directions, but it still takes me forever to get stuff put together even with the directions. So, most of the time I get Hubby to do the "putting together" of things! He's good at that and I'm not. I don't have a lot of patience! Me, I'd rather just buy something already constructed, throw it in the back of the pick up truck and bring it home and put it where I want it! LOL.
Keep me posted on how your light stands do!
Very nice set up, Gail! You and your friend did a great job! And your plants are gorgeous as always!
I'm going to see if the Container Store has a website...
Karen
Gail... where do the green trays come from?
Karen
I order them from www.parkseed.com
I always order them by the 10..........then it makes them only be 5.00 each as opposed to costing 6.95 each
No one else makes them as well as Park does.......i have some that are 15 years old that I use outside........they don't look too hot but still serve their purpose well!!!
Looks wonderful.Love your mini's & mini sinns, my favorites.
mrsbonnie
Gail: What size permanest trays do you order from Parks? I see they have a 12 x 8 x 2 3/4" size at 12 for $1.99 ea ... not bad $24 for a dozen. http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=6115&PrevMainPage=textsearchresults&scChannel=Text%20Search&SearchText=permanest%20trays&OfferCode=TH1
Lin, those aren't big enough to do anything with.......that is why they are offering them at 1.99............the ones I order are 11x22.........that 22" is longer than the depth of the 18 or 19" shelf; however I rotate plants from directly under the light to the outside about once a week . You could also use the ends for plants like episcias.....they are happy with the outside portion of the light coming down.
Ok Gail, I found them! Must have missed them the first time I looked! The 11x22 are what I am going to order. Don't know what I was thinking talking about ordering those 12x8 ones .... they would be way too small for anything more than one pot! $5 each for the larger ones is a good deal too!
Thanks!
Lin
good, you will love them.............then if you don't want to order the grids..........you can always go to Lowes, Home Depot, etc...........and get the metal grids for practically nothing ...........just ask them to cut them for you for a 11x22" tray....
Oh, I didn't think about the grids ... I would rather have plastic than metal. Does Parks sell any kind of plastic grids?
You better call Parks or they may take 4 weeks to ship out........make it clear that you would appreciate quick shipping...
The grids you get from www.violetshowcase.com
They ship the day you call.........
*******************anybody reading this, check out this site on a Canadian site for hail damage........quite a documentary and really scary.....
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/743139/
Lovin' your new setup! ; ) Lovin' the blooms, too!
Cj
glad you are able to post and keep all of us informed about this water!!!!!!!!!!! This has been the strangest weather year, Cj, for everyone........we got over 5 inches this morning and more to come tonight and tomorrow...........the farmers are getting mighty restless.......the grain has been ready for two weeks to be harvested but they haven't been able to get in the fields.........a summer of nothing but rain......
Yet, last year they all completely lost all crops due to a drought...........it is getting a little creepier..............in His time!!!!!!!
Whoa...I hope all that grain doesn't rot. This would've been a good year to grow rice, methinks. lol
The grain sprouted several weeks ago but they can't get in the fields........yes, you are right.............should have grown rice!!!!!!!!!! LOL
Fabulous new stands! I've got one like that upstairs, and every so often DH catches me looking around, trying to figure out where I can fit in another...
I love your 'Iced Pink Flamingo' strep! I'm regretting not getting one when I bought my 'Iced Amethyst Showoff', but since we were headed to the beach for 10 days I wasn't sure any plant was going to survive the adventure, so I just got the one. However, I've got some little babies of 'Showoff' coming along slowly from leaf cuttings that I put down last fall, so maybe I can trade you for a baby or a leaf this fall... :-)
I've got those Permanest trays also. I had a few, then treated myself to a bunch more when Park's had a big, site-wide sale last year (35% off in mid-November, but I don't know if it's a regular thing)... even at full price, they are worth it, and I do like Park's quantity discounts!
BTW, you can make grids by cutting up the larger plastic grids that they sell for florescent ceiling lights (HD, Lowe's)... you can get through the plastic with sturdy scissors, but a tin snips (or a Dremel tool with a cut-off disc) is easier.
Critter, someone told me that you could have these cut just like you said!!!!!!!! I wasn't sure they knew what they were talking about...........sounds good to me.
PS......I would love to trade leaves when we get our trades together in the fall!!!!!!!!!!
Have you been propagating your streps? 'Iced Amethyst Showoff' was the first one I tried from a leaf... I cut up the leaf and split it down the middle, leaving a little of the center vein on each piece... then I stuck the leaf into moist mix (cut edge down) in a closed, vented container (one of my 6 inch plastic salad containers that I like to use)... it worked! I also have some strep babies downstairs from seeds that Ki sent me a year or more ago (I sowed the first half without luck, but kept the remainder in the fridge... took many weeks to germinate, but I think the heat mat helped!). I like them but am trying not to go too crazy with lots of them... wish me luck with that, ROFL.