Propagation: Interested in an Alt. Propagation-Light Stand?, 1 by darius

darius wrote:
Okay, I've started (but not yet finished) my grow-light stand... but it's also a multi-task stand. (There's no place for my hanging houseplants plants here until it warms up, so I'm using the top of the stand to hold them. I have it in an unused sliding glass door so the houseplants get some natural light.)

Right now, I only have one light hung, and 3 seed trays on the shelf below it. The rod for another light is there, and part of another shelf but I ran out of daylight to work on it. I still have to add 45º braces on the top to keep it square.

The capacity is 4 shelves if I don't hang plants from the top. I will have just 3 shelves this year for seedlings. No place to plant more until I find a home!

Construction is simple: Each side member is just scrap lumber: a 2x4 and a 1x4 for the cross piece. The horizontal pieces for the shelving are 1x2 (on edge because they are not very strong otherwise). I had them left from something or another. There is a small 1x2 brace on the bottom of each side support, but I need to remove it and use a 1x4 or a 2x4 for more stability.

The lights hang from half a 10' piece of EMT (used for electric wiring, $1.40 each @ Home Depot), and are supported just by pegs at a 45º angle in the side members, spaced 2" apart so I can raise and lower the lights as seedlings grow.

I had planned to fasten the cross pieces to the side supports with long machine screws and wing nuts so I could take it apart easily for storage. Dummy me bought screws too short, so for now it's fastened with deck screws.

Each shelf is just 4 pcs, of 1x2 on edge and only one is actually fastened to the side support. I could screw them all down but that's just more to take apart later.