Ok,I cheated.These are really two different questions.I have noticed many of you have light green trays with some type of grid on top.Where do you find these? I have some black ones from years ago that look similar,but do you buy the grid and cut it,or does it come in a standard size?
Next,some of you with incredible plants,have metal shelving units with lights,that you have mentioned came from Lowes or Home Depot,etc.Do you buy them with lights or jury rig the fixtures onto them?
I need to supplement my lighting,as most of my tables under lights are filled with cacti,succulents,and other plants I bring in for the winter.
Shelving units with lights that are made especially for indoor light gardening are usually very expensive,although one I bought 20 years ago was worth it!
I would love to know what most of you do.
Smiles,Lynn
Wicking And Shelves
Lynn - all of the above!
LOL!! Ok, seriously, though . . .
The green trays you are talking about are called permanest trays. They are slightly bigger than the black trays and cost a bit more - but they are sturdy!! Well worth the $$ . . . just haven't gotten myself to get them yet. Still have the black trays myself.
You can buy shelving units w/built in lights. Those tend to be expensive. I can't afford the all-at-once expense, so I buy it pieces at a time. I started with the shelving unit from Costco. I bought the 4' shop lights at Walmart, which come with bulbs. The cool white bulbs are ok for seed starting, but for AV's it is good to replace one with a wide-spectrum bulb.
I jury rig the lights to hang from my shelves.
Syru---Can you be more specific about which lights you use, and how you attach your lights? On my plant stands, I use two 24" T-8 lights from Walmart/Home Depot--1 cool white/1 soft white. I hang the lights with mini bungee cords--mickey mouse for sure--but it works well! I am in the process of setting up a 36" shelf, and considering lighting options. This is one of the small plant stands.
On the second shelf is a jungle grow wicking tray btw.
And here is the 3' shelves I have to unload, move, and find lights for. Not to mention the stuff I have to move that's in the space where I want to put these shelves.
Hi Lyn;
I bought my stands at home depot, they are black wrought iron.2 are 4ft wide & 6 or 7 ft long. they come with 4 shelves, but i did purchase extra shelves.I also have 1 that is 2 ft. wide by 5 ft. tall same kind. The lights i attached are performance plus shop lights that are also from home depot, they work best for me as they are wider than most shop lights with 2 lights. they give better lighting than most & are just as cheap as the other shop lights. I also use those plastic bands to attache the lights to the stand, here is a picture of one.
mrsbonnie
here are the lights
here is the plastic strap i use to attache the lights to the stand. hope this helps.the stands are about 60 to 80.00 unless you can get them on sale. i know sams use to carry them & they are nicer than what i have as they usually come with wheels which i had to buy 7 put on myself. My friend that got hers from sams also got thin plastic sheets that lay on shelves with hers, but i think she said hers cost about 100.00
mrsbonnie
On my bakers rack, I use the 2' shop lights from Walmart. They are manufactured by Ligts of America. They cost about $13.00 each, and come with 2 t-8 cool white lights. I did spring the big $$ and ordered 4 or 5 WS T12 24" (they only had the t12).
I started with wire to hold the lights up . . .
This message was edited Jan 27, 2009 7:00 AM
Then, like mrsbonnie, I've started using cable ties to hold the chains . . . still in the process of changing oer . . .
This message was edited Jan 27, 2009 7:03 AM
I also use the 4' shop lights from Walmart. They are $10 each, and do not come with any lights. I've noticed the 4' cool white bulbs are cheaper at Walmart, but the wide/full spectrum bulbs are better at Home Depot.
I'm still using different methods for hanging on the big shelves . . . on this one, I got a piece of flat metal, cut it in half - it fits perfect underneath the shelf, and the cable tie fits great around it.
I don't know how well this pic will turn out, but this is how I originally started hanging the lights - using the green covered wire strung and twisted around the shelf bracket.
Ooohh! Our Walmart didn't have the 2' shop lights--just the under counter ones--which are fine, but requires 2 fixtures. I was unable to find the 2 footers with 2 bulbs anywhere.
I've only found them at one of the Walmarts here in town, so I guess it's not a common item.
Wonder why? Do they have 3' ones? That's what I want for these 3' shelves. Think I'll take some new flower pics today.
I haven't seen 3' ones at Walmart. That's not to say they don't exist, 'cause they have the 36" bulbs . . .
i got the 24 inc. lfixtures with lights at our walmart.
bonnie
Sheesh! I never find the stuff I see others find at my walmart. They never have those fancy AV noids there either. And when I wanted to buy a larger memory card for my camera--they were all under lock and Key--with a gazillion customers and one very harried looking clerk. I walked away.
I have never seen a shop light that is 3 feet wide.........that is why I always tell people that it has to be 2 feet but not a shop light or go to 4 foot shop light fixture.
Thank you all of the great imput.The pictures really help a lot!
Syrumani,now I know what those trays are called and thanks for the tip about the flat metal.
Phoebesviolets,I don't quite understand how your jungle grow thing works,but I like your ideas.
Bonnie,I will start watching the sales at Home Depot for shelving.We also have a Lowes and Menards,so I'll watch them too.I didn't realize they made wider light fixtures.
I know they have bungee cords and that plastic cord at the hardware store,because I use it outside.
I have 4 of the four foot standard fixtures,3 of which are being used to keep my outdoor plants alive right now.I have a wood plant stand that takes 18 inch bulbs on one shelf and 24 inch on the middle one.So,I'm not totally starting from nothing and all of your ideas give me time to shop for sales,because I have 2 or 3 months before the season starts here.Brrr.
Lynn
Lynn--click on Jungle grow growing supplies for an explanation of trays--Ilove them!
Oops--here's the link--
http://bloominjungle.com/browse.phtml
This message was edited Jan 27, 2009 1:22 PM
Thanks,Phoebe. ^_^
I purchased my shelves in Target. They are 36" wide, 18" deep, and 72" high. I wanted the 4ft wide but I don't have enough room. I also got 24" shop light fixtures at Walmart. I had to buy one and then wait two weeks until their next shipment came it. It seems like they only get two at a time. When I went to get the second one, they only had the one. I could use another one, but will have to wait. I only have a few violets, but also have three trays of leaves rooting. I honestly don't know where I will put them all. LOL. I hope by the spring they will be big enough to trade. I want to get a few streps. Everyone's plants are so beautiful. My list keeps getting longer and longer with every picture they post. I thought I had taken pictures, but I cant find them on this computer. They must be on my laptop. I'll take more pics tomorrow.
Put the little baby plants when they are big enough to travel on DG Marketplace!
How many inches do most of you prefer to leave between the lights and the tops of the plants? I realize this varies according to what plants you are growing and how many lights per shelf.My larger shelves will have 1 48 inch fixture with 2 bulbs per shelf,unless I buy really wide shelves,like those Turtlechi has.I have looked at the ones that Bonnie has so far.
Lynn
The standard height, width and depth of gro light stands should only need 1 fixture and 2 bulbs. The only reason I put two fixtures on two shelves was just for the seed grown speciosas and they they would have been fine without them. I can hardly wait to just use one fixture and 2 bulbs for each shelf soon.
I have chains on all my fixtures so I can adjust them accordingly.
Lynn,
The distance from the light to foliage is usually 10 to 12 inches for standard mature violets and 8 to 10" for mini/semiminiature violets. Also the light intensity is not consistent along the length of the lights. If you divide the shelf in thirds .....let's say the middle 18 inches of a 48 inch shelf.....the light will be more intense under the middle of the tubes.
I got these shelves at the local Lowe's store....the shelves are actually particle board that I've covered in self adhesive plastic. My DH is good with electricity, so he actually screwed the fixtures onto the shelves and wired them together. I only grow mini/semis on this shelf because of the short distance between shelves. The two orange racks on both sides of the lighting shelf have no lights at all. They have wheels, so I move them in between the light shelves, and move them out when I need to work. They get plenty of light for propagation and some lower light plants.
The shelving unit I use for my standard AVs are the same ones as Susan uses. I got the wire racks with wheels from Sam's club. I attached a regular 48" shop light to the rack using the chain that came with it and some S hooks.
Rox
Nice shelves! I aspire to real plant shelves some day. I have plant stands now--rigged with small lights. Also have a mega large window
I envy people with mega-windows.....I have wwwaaaaayyyy too many tropicals all shoved in front of my puny little windows.....all trying to hang onto life until spring. Aaahhh for a greenhouse!!! Someday.
I do not know what I would do without my front porch covered in poly for the winter. It faces south so the good winter sun keeps the plants alive until it warms up more.
I just talked to a good gardening friend who is coming in tomorrow to stay for awhile. (We go back to freshmen in college days). She told me that I gave her a baby Sylvia strep 2 months ago and she wants to show me that it has 33 blooms on it right now. I can't do that!!!!
By the way, because of our heat in the summer being so intense, I have few windows and they are not large. The only big glass faces the front porch in two rooms......triple French doors. (that is not light)
If I hadn't dropped my good camera and smashed it on the floor i would show you the front porch right now.
If anyone needs a camera now, Circuit City is going out of business so I can replace my camera for half of what I originally paid for it less than a year ago. My friend is bringing it to me tomorrow.
Awww--sorry about your camera! Was wondering where you were. Wish I had $$$ for a really good camera, but don't have enough knowledge yet to attempt to walk into CC and pick one, even if I could. Might look for that memory card or tripod though. I hope you are planning to take a pic of your friend's Sylvia with that new camera!
She bought the same camera as me. They are selling the Nikon D40 for only 349.00........that is half of what it was only 4 months ago. It will last forever (if you don't drop it).
My friend only uses a 12-36-14 fertilizer I gave her (urea free nitrogen)
phoebesviolets, the violet with the pink leaves jumps out at me.
av_ocd_girl, a great set up you have! Beautiful violets. All so clean and neat and organized as are yours, phoebesviolets.
gessiegail, I'm glad you are getting your new camera right away as I sure would miss your picture perfect photos.
av_ocd_girl, don't stay away any more than you have to.........we miss you!
You could give me some lessons on a lot of growing. Nice looking plants!
Jan, you could send me your big bay windows!
The violet with the green leaves is Mac's Virtually velvet--the only one on that shelf that is not a mini. I've got several with interesting leaves--but none of them are blooming yet.
So, the violet on the middle shelf with pink leaves is Mac's Virtually Velvet?
Yes-LOL! Must have been sleep-typing! I meant to say PINK leaves--not green.
PhoebesV, I love your plant stand. Basically anything you can hang a light on is a good plant stand, right? I started out with just the orange shelves in the picture with florescents hung on them. They originally came with the clear plastic tent, and were meant for use as an outside type patio greenhouse.
GoldLeaf, That picture is from 2-3 years ago…..before the surgeries and brain freeze that killed all my violets. My shelves don’t look anything like that now….. now they’re full of tiny little babies just getting started.
Gail, Thanks! I USED to be able to grow them. I’m having all kinds of problems getting restarted though. Especially with my streps. I’ve lost a lot of them to rot. I’m growing them the same way I always did, nothing has changed. I’m thinking I need to throw away that old batch of strep soil that’s been sitting around for 3 years, and make up a new batch. It was kept dry during storage, so I don’t think it’s a PH issue. Maybe some fungus or something got into it?!? Whaddaya think?
I love all of your shelves and what gorgeous plants! I am going to be starting out slow and adding as I go.I am watching sales right now on more shelving,more fixtures and my basic soiless mix.I need to get a good start on plants first and then add things like wicking trays,etc.The old stuff I have will get me started,but I will likely need more space fairly quickly...LOL.I only have two windows with even decent light.
Lynn