Home Grow Light Shelf Unit advice?

I'm looking for a 3 or 4 shelf grow light unit. I don't really want to build one from scratch myself. I haven't found too many online, and most are very expensive. Does anyone know of any reasonably priced units that are decently made and won't fall apart? Does anyone have one I saw at buyplantlights.com called Value Line Plant Stand (Model SL4452) or another of this series - or has done business with this company?

If no to above, is there any interest in trying to do a group order if we can find a good one and I can get us a good deal and work it out so we can pay and get shipped separately? (Sounds unlikely, maybe, but given that we're supposed to be in a recession, I think it's quite possible if there are enough of us).

Making your own really isn't that hard and it can save you a ton of money. I bought wire shelving units from Target and cheap fluorescent fixtures from Lowes or Home Depot and tied them on to the underside of the shelves so that they hang down over the plants. Took me all of 15 minutes to set up didn't cost an arm and a leg.

Thanks, ecrane. Sounds simple enough. Can you adjust the height of the lights easily - or at all, and does that matter much? And what kind of flourescent bulbs should I use? Do light reflectors make a difference? We have long cold winters here as opposed to where you are, and I wonder if that makes a difference in the quality of light I'd need.

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

You can also check in the dollar general stores. I found a mini greenhouse on sale for 10 bucks and I just added a light.

Thanks hcmcdole and ibar too! Well I've taken your and ecrane's advice - found that same shelving unit at Lowe's for around $80, bought 4 cheap flourescent fixtures (with reflecting hoods, so not quite the absolute cheapest), and found that they had boxes of 12 "daylight" bulbs for $25, so I splurged on those and got the hardware bits - all came to just under $200 for what will be a very large growlight area as compared to most of the ready-made units for way way more money. I really appreciate your help - and hope to tell you in future that my thumb is turning way greener! (Don't know what I was thinking when I started this thread - must have been feeling really lazy!) Thanks again!!!
Sharon

Sharon, you will love that setup you bought. Good for you. You got good advice.

Jeanette

Thanks, Jeanette. It's good to hear another vote of confidence for this system. I can't wait to get it set up and hopefully find out that there is such a thing as gardening in winter (here in the northeast)! I've been learning a lot and getting very inspired in my few months here at dave's garden and want to try propagating my deciduous rhodos from cuttings, to harvest seeds and plant my first attempt at a daylily cross, etc. as well as start seeds for spring planting. I'm sure I'll have many more questions along the way.
Thanks again all.
Sharon

Sharon, be sure to take notes and post pictures. Jeanette

There is nothing like starting your own plants from seeds and also cuttings.

perennialme: You can also garden in winter with wintersowing. There is a dedicated forum here at Dave's.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/coldsow/all/

Karen

I tried that last year Karen. Yes, following instructions on that forum. I prefer gardening the way we are discussing here. I guess whatever works.

Jeanette

Thanks kqcrna. I agree Jeanette. I have to say that I don't really understand this. I would think that anything that could be sown outdoors in winter could be more easily sown in the ground the fall, as I do with a lot of my seeds.

I won't go into the details of the advantages of wintersowing in containers. I have been flamed on some forums for even suggestiing it. I'll just say that I have grown 60 to 80 containers of seeds this way each year for the past 3 years. My results have been outstanding and I have beautiful gardens to show for it, and they were almost free. The only real cost is potting soil, no lights, no heat, and no clutter in my house.

If anyone is genuinely interested in information feel free to Dmail me and join us on the WSing forum.

Karen

I use the same setup as described here--the Lowe's cheap wire shelving, the shoplights, the regular fluorescent bulbs--and to that I added propagation mats, because my cellar is on the cold side (usually about 55F in winter), which is a bit cold for starting warmth-loving plants like maters and peppers. I have had excellent luck. I also grow plants inside under shoplights, like mandrakes. They actually do better under the shoplights than they do in natural light. Just remember that you have to keep the lights about an inch or so above the plants. If it's any farther, they just don't get enough light.

Starting seeds indoors under lights is not at all the same as winter sowing. They have pretty much nothing in common. I have used Norm Deno's Outdoor Treatment to start perennial seeds in baggies out in the garage, and it works great. But it would not work well for tomatoes, peppers, and so forth.

You've got that right! These are some of my seeds in winter, mostly in milk jugs, a few in 2 liter bottles, buried under the snow.

I understand why most folks are doubtful that this could possible work, because I felt the same way at first. I have considered buying a couple of shop lights to try a few things inside, like tomatoes. But honestly, I bought some big plants at a nursery which already had tomatoes forming. They didn't produce fruit any earlier than my outside sown ones. What seems to matter most is the DTM of the type of tomato plant.

Karen

I am sure it works my grandmother used to throw her lettuce seed out on top of the snow and it would germinate and grow when the conditions were right. And yes, you would not have the mess. But, I enjoy planting the seeds, having them right there where I can watch them grow and the potting up when they get larger. You see, our winter lasts almost 6 months and if we didn't have the plants we would probably go crazy. (actually this year even our spring was another 3 or 4. cold and wet)

I suppose we could go to Arizona or Texas for the winter, but that really isn't my thing. If the plants were outside covered with snow I really would miss them.

Jeanette

It is certainly true that you can have the situation where a plant you started way earlier inside is surpassed by one started outside later. It can be day length related but I also think that plants know when they are in pots long before their roots hit the sides, and some of them really don't like that. But where I live, if I did not start a lot of things inside, they would not produce much. I start germinating seeds in January. Our last frost is not until May 1. And like Jnette, I really like fussing over my plants under the lights and checking them every day. It is great just to see that green and that life springing up.

For me, it's going out to the patio every morning in my jammies looking for the green. My neighbors don't even ask what I'm doing any more.

We all find our way, whatever that is.

Karen

Our last frost is May 30th. The weatherman really scared us the other day he said it was going to be in the 20s and low 30s. That was August 31st. Can you believe that? It didn't. But then he didn't say what happened either.

Jeanette