Have a question about lighting

Does everyone use the artifical light tubes to start seeds? I am looking to see what everyone is using homemade, store bought/
What kind of set up do you use?

THanks
Michelle

I usually use shoplights with fluorescent tubes. One tube is warm white , The other tube is cool white. The lights are on for 12 - 16 hours a day. The tops of the seedlings are usually approx . 2 inches below the tubes.

I've recently setup light fixtures with the energy efficient fluorescents that are low wattage users. I have 3 x 30 watts which each have 100 watt equiv. output.

same here

growin and i posted at the same time , mine was supposed to be first. LOL

i have been thinking of going with the compact floro lights.
Just seen 2 differernt ones at walmart .. 45W and 35watt ( i think)
one equals 200w and the other is 135watts .. one is daylight 6500K
the other dont say.

Mine are shoplight fixtures. I use 1 warm and 1 cool bulb. Same set-up as frankford in the above post. Lights are 2" from leaves and I move the chains to keep them at this level as the plants grow.

I have found that they tend to grow straighter and stockier if I double the amount of bulbs. (2 shoplight fixtures per shelf) 4 four foot bulbs will cover 2 seed starting trays with optimum light. I keep this room cooler by at least 5 degrees, but the bulbs give off a touch of heat...so it evens itself out.

If I have seeds that benefit from bottom heat for germination, I simply raise the lights on the shelves to right underneath the shelf above and leave them on. Keeps the germination trays about 78-80 degrees...great for peppers and tomatoes.

After germination, I put the lights on a timer and make sure I have a period of darkness and cooler temps at 'night'.

how do you have them mounted? Under a shelf? I a newbie to this. And wondered if I just mounted some shop lights under a shelf if that would work.. What are the best bulbs?

I'll take a picture of my set-up...right now all of the off season junk has collected on it and it's a mess. Got to get it cleaned off in the next few days anyway.

I used the vinyl coated wire shelving that you can get at Lowes or wherever. Made 4 foot shelves with legs that go from floor to celing. My lights are mounted by chains on the shelf above and I can even use the floor for cooler temps.

The 4 foot shelves hold 2 seed trays each, so depending on how many shelves you have, multiply it by 2 and you'll have the number of seed trays you can have.

I just use the el cheapo shop bulbs, but use 1 warm and 1 cool in each fixture...I change bulbs every 2 or 3 seasons. They seem to be brighter.

I start my seedlings on a heat mat until they sprout. Once they have sprouted, I put them under my grow lights. I use grow lights that I purchased from Chraley's Greenhouse. ww.charleysgreenhouse.com. I have two sets of two tier grow lights, the top light and the bottom light both have two sets of 40 watt bulbs. You can use shop light fixtures, but the right bulb and the right day lenth is what is importrant. Many seeds require a long day like 16 hours of light. But there are some flowers that require a shorter day. Doing some reading on line, or in garden books will help you out with the right amount of light. There are many books availaable to read on growing plants under lights.
Below are some pictures of the plants that I grew from seed under these lights last year.

First picture was wrong one, here is a close up of the plants that wa grown under lights.

I use 4 shop lights hanging with chains from a pvc contraption. I'll get a pic on here as soon as possible. I also use one cool white and one warm white or sometimes a grow light if they are cheap enough at the big box store. I have 2 lights per shelf and change the bulbs about every other year. Mine are in my garage (don't use garage for car at all). They stay warm enough in the winter here unless we get a once in a blue moon really cold snap. I winter sow alot of stuff outside but use my lights for spring tomatoes, peppers, and warm weather annuals like zinnias.

I grow 80% of everything from seeds including perennials.

Thank you for this thread! I'm really jazzed.

I built the PVC shelf a few days ago. I pounded the joints with a rubber mallot real hard. I measured each joint to make sure they were all the same size..(pounded in as far as it would go) It took a while to "square" it all up, but when it was finished, It was strong enough for my 13 year old son to climb on it!

I don't have all the lights I want for it yet. Eventually, I'll have the second shelf set up with the 2 fixtures I have on the top... I'm curious if anyone is using the "sunshine" lights they have out now. I have grow lights from Walmart.

For now, I just put some boards to use the second level for misc.. okay.. for clutter that doesn't have a place yet.. And my Maya that is recovering from shipping.

Now we need a thread on how to keep them NEAT and organized!