Growing space

Starting with a pile of some old 2x4's that I cut down and some old barn siding... I knew there was something good to be made here.  A quick trip to Home Depot secured a 12' section of wire closet shelving cut into 4' section...  and a few other supplies (to be shown later).

But with the wood and the shelving (total cost was under $35) - I was set.

One of the challenges we have to solve every year in our greenhouse-less operation is finding enough places in the basement for the trays and trays of light hungry seedlings to reside.  There's always this juggling act of moving plants around from "good light" to "not so good light".  For some reason this year seemed a fitting time to finally "upgrade" some of seedling space to a fancy vertical plant rack...  only not for the $200+ price tag they start at.

The end result may not be as fancy - but for a build it yourself - takes about 15 minutes to make - seed starting light rack...  I think it will work out just fine.

The 4' width of this seed starting rack is perfect since the cheap $9 shop lights are 4' long.  The metal edge on the front of this shelving give a lot of stiffness so 4 plant trays full of damp soil and seedlings won't cause a collapse.  The back of the shelving that does not have the wire edge has a small board that stiffens the frame and provides support.

I did also buy 4 shop lights that have yet to be hung - but they will go under each shelf and the plants that live on the top will be lit by lights already suspended from the ceiling.  Basically this rack will become the landing pad for seedlings that have germinated on the warm surfaces of my homemade soil heaters.  Right now that's about 3 flats of leeks, onions and parsley (amongst other things).

I did consider purchasing a pre-made shelving system to do this - but for under $40 for all the materials I was hard pressed to find something that was 48" wide and also had open shelving so any spilled water would "go away".  Most importantly - this configuration has a future ahead of it in the era where it can live out in a green house!

Comments

[Shirley Zundell]

Hi: I wonder if you could comment on the color temperature of the shop lights you use. I've been using one warm and one cool temperature light, but I've noticed that they come in different ranges. For the warm lights I've seen 2700 or 3500; for the cool 4100, 5000 or 6500. Does it matter? What's best? What do you use? Many thanks. Shirley

[Andy]

Shirley - GREAT question (and I just published a post on the topic) - basically - everything I have ever read from ag schools that have tested this is- one warm - one cool. The 2700 or 3500 warm - either one hits the red wavelengths needed for those photosynthesis peaks. Same for the cool ones.
If you were REALLY concerned - I suppose you could have the two fixtures that sit over any given 4' section of trays set up with one of each bulb - that would ensure coverage...
I have always bought the cheapest warm and cool bulk boxes I can find and have never had issues.
The real secret - replace the bulbs every 2 years!
Thanks for such a great comment!