Please critique my diy grow light set-up

I have that book that is years old from the 80's but is a good book.............Park Seed I used to order from , including all their domes and styrofoam set up for growing seeds still sitting out in the Storage unit. (I used to use them all the time though)

Onewish1 -
I'm sure tin foil would offer some reflection. I had read a forum (greenhouse?) discussion last year on white vs mylar for light reflection and it appeared that mylar was the winner. How it stacks up against tin foil I don't know.
I can get my seedlings further along indoors for planting out in the spring. I don't do much planting in the summer as rainfall can be tempermental even this close to Lake Michigan. I'm even tempermental with July and August heat. Fall planting not so good either as seedlings can be smothered by falling leaves (yard wooded with oak trees).
Does Park Seed put out more than one catalog? I used to look forward to receiving their spring catalog but not so much anymore.

You can look at Park's seed catalog on line too. You can sign up for their newsletter to come to your email - they also have web specials (or used to have them).

thanks Cindy... good to know

I just received my order of seeds from Parks. I order online but also have their catalog. It seems that they have two different catalogs. One for plants, the other for seeds with a few plants also listed.

I have ordered both plants and seeds from Parks since the 80's without any problems. They will replace a plant if it dies.

Gessiegal:
Yes, Parks book may be old but plants don't change their germination or cultural habit with the times, so the information still applies.

Thanks for all the good info, folks!

I'm getting my first set of true leaves on the petunias and impatiens and they seem to be happy under their lights.

Happy Gardening!

GreenerBeaner

Blomma -
Thanks for explaining the Park's catalog. I used to get the one with the plants but am now receiving the one with the seeds. I kinda missed seeing their plants - enabled my instant gratification cravings.

CindyMzone5
I usually get both catalogs. If I remember correctly, the one with plants come later in the season. You may be able to request the one with plant on their website.

Park Seed has so many catalogs I have to leave them at the post office in the trash..........
I wasn't saying that the book wasn't any good............just that there are a zillion ways to do things.
I find bottom heat more important in success with seeds than how much and what kind of light.

I used to work in a greenhouse and we had chambers where the seeds got no light at all.........only warmth and they germinated beautifully.

Glad to hear your plants are doing great under your lights GreenerBeaner.

Your experience reflects mine, gessiegail. Bottom heat (or probably more correctly, "soil temperature") is far more a key to most seed germination than light. Once they germinate, however, the reverse becomes true. Years ago, I played with this (right after I built my GH, and was full of energy and wonder). Planted 3 trays of Impatiens in the 60 unit Park Starts with those transparent covers. One tray I put on the gro-mat (set at minimum temp 70 degrees), one I put on a bench in the GH with the GH temp set for minimum temp of the GH @ 60 degrees, and one I put on the floor of the GH with similar light to the other two, but presumably somewhat cooler. Quite a difference! I'm doing this from memory, but after 10 days I had 95% germination on the gro-mat, 62% on the bench, and 17% on the floor. Told me all I needed to know. I start everything on the gro-mat now. Still set @ 70 degrees, which seems to be a happy medium for the requirements of differents seeds. Also found the bottom heat to be effective in speeding rooting of cuttings.

I wrote a DG article on lights you might find useful: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/464/.

Inexpensive cool fluorescent bulbs are fine & might even be better for seedlings than "grow lights."

Thanks for the info critter. I agree that normal bulbs are as good as "grow" bulbs and a lot cheaper too. Intensity of artificial light seems more important than spectrum to most plants.

I think "grow bulbs" come into play more for tropical plants etc. that will be under them long-term, not so much for seedlings. Getting the bulb very close to the seedling (an inch away is great) is important for sturdy, stocky seedlings.

critterologist:

Grow lights are made up of wavelengths within the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, green, and yellow of the spectrum that are suitable for plant growth that incandescent bulbs don't have. Plant lights are made to resemble full sun very closely and contain the wavelength in colors that plants need to grow.

Grow lights aren't just for tropical plants. I have used them for years for sunloving plants, such as tomatoes. It depends on what species of plants you are growing under lights that determines the type of bulbs to use.

See my post on Feb 12, 09. That info came from a book written by Parks Seed Co.

Yes, but seedlings seem to do just as well under ordinary cool fluorescent bulbs, both in my own experience and in the opinion of professional growers such as Tom DeBaggio (local herb guru and writer). If you want to shell out for the more expensive bulbs, that's fine; they'll certainly work... but remember companies like Park Seeds sell grow lights. :-)

Just on a personal note, I have spent the last 30 years of my life starting from seed and growing under lights. My personal preference is for the full spectrum..............though seeds can be started with cool fluorescents, once they are growing, they need the full spectrum lights. I buy them at Walmart for 6.50 each..........not a big investment for sure. As mine have gone out, I have bought the rest from Indoor Gardening Supplies by the dozen and they average about 6.00 each....40 watt and 4 feet long.

All very interesting to me since this is the first year I am growing from seed. My husband set up a very nice shelf system (5 4'long very deep shelves with two sets of lights across each shelf. When we were looking for the flourescents, I couldn't decide so we bought a box of the "full spectrum" ones. So far my seedlings are doing very well. I didn't use the heat mats that I bought in the co-op because the basement is warm. I haven't used a fan yet and I haven't had any problems so far. I have moved the larger plants to a window area that faces south and am hoping that they will be getting enough sun.

I have 3 of Park Seed's "domes" and have found that these work better than any of the other methods (covering in plastic bags or other containers) for sprouting in a hurry.

I am hoping to have enough to bring to HollyAnnS plant swap in May.

I have some winter sowing outdoors. I tried it last year, but the only things that were hugely successful were digitalis. Still, for the little amount of time and work involved, it was worth the result.

In my excitement for growing from seed I went overboard with accumulating seeds and am planning to the rest outdoors after the last frost (near the house so that I can spritz them frequently),

Next year, I will show my husband the picture of hcmcdole's set up and tell him that I want that for my birthday present. (Don't think I'll get it though)

I will definitely check back often for more tips.

Teri

I'm still confused about one thing. What does the T have to do with a bulb? Like a T-8, T-10 or T-12 & how does that relate to what I need for setting up a grow light system? I know it must be explained in here somewhere, but I'm not getting it. As I recall, that's how the fluorescent bulbs were sold.

There are now two "standard" sizes for fl. bulbs... the older T-12 bulbs are the fatter ones. The new T-8 fixtures take skinnier bulbs (so the fixture has a thinner profile) and use a little less electricity -- also I think the quality of the light seems better from teh T-8's, more lumens or something?

Thanks. DH is going to pick these things up for me today & now (I think) I've got all the info I need!

The fixtures are often different for T-12 and T-8 bulbs, so be sure you match them up.

:-)

I haven't sown seed for a few years indoors since I use a coldframe. However, I came across a box of forgotten seeds in my garden shed. These are old seeds, the oldest from 2004. Decided to test them using the moist kitchen paper towel method. Lord behold, they germinated. Now I'm on a roll and no window space to speak of.

Dug out my plant lights and mounted them above my shelf on the wall in my office. See my post on Feb 12.

I have 2 wide spectrum 4 ft. GE plant lights mounted on a shop light fixture. On the tubes it reads "Plant and aquarium F40PL/AQ Wide Spectrum". That is all it says. They were purchased from Walmart in 2004 and used one season.

Caption: Here is my setup. I'm hoping I can get away with just one shelf, although I have 3 more if needed. The light is approximately 6" above the plants in the pots. Chains allows me to raise and lower the light as needed. This is the setup I used when I started those 54 different varieties of plants, except I used more lights and shelves.

HEY ALL the suggestions are good. I might add that I think I see some kind of player above the light shelf. Stuff in some soft sweet music...........those seedlings will take right off. You determine what sweet soft music is. LOL

My seeds are popping like crazy under the full spectrum ordinary flourescent lights. The only ones that haven't done anything yet are the petunias. So far, even though I don't have a fan, there is no damping off and a huge success rate!! Keeping my fingers crossed.

When I ever started petunias, I had to order the pelleted ones.........they are soooooo tiny!

they do make life easier

I got some pelleted shockwave seeds this year, first time I've ever used pellets. Those pellets are just so expensive. I only bought them because I wanted to try the shockwave and couldn't find the raw seeds . I'm just cheap I guess but would prefer unpelleted and cheap to pelleted and expensive.

Karen