Cheap or Inexpensive lights.

[Natasha687]

I have no light set-up and only one window that faces the winter sun and it is above the Kitchen Sink. Husband not happy about the plants in the kitchen.
I made my first Tomato sale over the weekend. Six plants for $10. I will invest it in lights. I would like to grow alot of plants and can invision a sign in my Front Yard, "Tomato plants for sale". Please help me with any suggestions On a very inexpensive setup. I already have 2 racks that I can hang the lights on.
Thank You

[JerryL]

I agree with John. Home Depot/Lowes and the like usually have shop lites as low as 8 or 9 dollars. A 2 pack of bulbs should be another 3 to 5 bucks. You might want two or three fixtures in order to cover a couple standard 12 x 21 trays.

While everyone has their own way of doing things mine is on the cheap when it comes to lights for my growing. I don’t worry about spectrums and the like. I buy what ever type bulb is on sale. Cool white, day light, 32 watt, 40 watt, what ever. They have all worked well for me.

[melody]

Same here...cheap shop lights. I use 2 per shelf...4 bulbs total. They work great getting tomatoes to the transplant stage. Mine are under lights for about 6 weeks...but get moved outside for sunshine on good days.

Lots of folks have all sorts of formulas on spectrums and light color...as long as you don't intend on growing the seedings for more than 6-8 weeks....plain old shop lights will do the trick.

[valereee]

What do you hang the lights from to suspend them over the plants? I was thinking about shelling out for a light set simply because I didn't want to have to deal with building a rack for a basic shop light.

Val

[JerryL]

I have my setup in the basement. Plants are on a table. The ceiling joists are exposed so I just screwed some eye hooks in the joists and used inexpensive chain to suspend the lights.

[valereee]

I have one of those drop ceilings in my basement, unfortunately.

Blocks would work, at least for a temporary solution. I might just go buy a light. I have a 2' one that I borrowed from a friend, but I need at least twice the size for this year's plants.

[geol]

valereee,
The electrical dept. at H.D. sells drop ceiling clips designed specificaly for mounting light fixtures. They just snap on, one brand name is "caddy".

[valereee]

Geol, no kidding! I would have thought the shop lights were too heavy for the cross bars of the drop ceiling! Very cool!

Val

[geol]

valereee,
With tightening building codes, they may no longer be availible, but years ago, they were approved when used on the supported "runners", not on unsupported "spacers" to the best of my recollection.

[tjg911]

i made a grow light stand 2 years ago from pvc pipe, 2 shelves and i could use the base for a 3rd if i want. it is very easy and cheap to do, the shop lights at $8 each and a 3 prong timer for $14 are the expensive part of this. the pvc pipe (3/4"), jack chain and the eye screw hooks cost about $15. buy the 99 cent tubes, don't waste money on 'grow' lights, 8 tubes cost $8. i used 1 cool white and 1 soft white per fixture. i paid $4-5 for one of those the other was 99 cents. my friend built a stand last spring and used just 99 cent tubes and his results were just as good or better than mine - buy the cheapest lights you can and just keep them 1-2" above the plants at all times, on 16 hours off 8 hours. i use 2 lengths of jack chain connected to the shop light at each end by an s hook. i used an eye screw that i pryed open to form a hook and screwed them into the pvc and hook the chain to it. i can adjust both sides of each shop light independantly and often have 1 end lower than the other. this is very easy to do and is the best method for growing any plants but oh tomatoes do wonderful!

i found plans to make a 3 shelf stand at the grow under lights forum at gw 2 years ago. i modified it to have more space between shelves because my tomatoes are 20-22" tall in late may. i have a print out of it but no scanner or i'd post it. the link no longer works so i can't direct you to it. i can photo copy it and mail it to anyone that really wants to make one. send me an email, i'll ask for a sase and send you my address.

tom

[ACEHearts]

My husband just built me a planting area in our basement (farmhouse basement).






The mini greenhouse was bought and wired with lights last year, which are really just enough to create some heat and get things going. I'm not sure if the shop lights are hung close enough together over my new table area, I'm thinking of moving them closer, which isn't a problem with the way we hung them (just a matter of moving some hooks over. I just need to know if its necessary or not! LOL!

It's a low working area but it works for a shorty like me. DH has issues there since he's 6'2" LOL

Cindy

[giardiniere]

Right now, I'm using some adjustable shelves in my garage, that I bought years ago at Lowes. I have the lights hanging by chain from the bottom of the shelf above it. I had our HD, cut down a 4' x 8' sheet of MDF board into 1' x 6' shelves. I think the sheet was $19.00. When the seedlings were still young, I had them in the house, and used concrete blocks between the shelves. It worked pretty well.

Tom

This might be similar to what you mentioned in your post.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/libra...light_Bookcase

[Delora]

Originally Posted by JerryL

I have my setup in the basement. Plants are on a table. The ceiling joists are exposed so I just screwed some eye hooks in the joists and used inexpensive chain to suspend the lights.

That's exactly how mine are. My seedlings are in the laundry room, so I close off the door and leave the window open to keep the room cool.


-Delora

[Natasha687]

Here is a picture of the free rack I will use.



I will have to buy chain and hooks, too. I plan to use the money from my first sale of seedlings. I am so excited and my husband will be happy to get the plants out of the Kitchen. Thank you so much for all of the help.

[Suze]