The possibilities are endless but the important thing is to position lights just over the plants. The card table by itself will not provide a light support but if you can support lights from overhead structure then it would be a suitable stand. I include a picture of part of my livingroom. We installed eyebolts through the ceiling for another purpose that come in handy now. I'll also show a cheap PVC pipe stand that you can make cheaply using just "Ts" and pipe. Chain draped the sides will support lights.

I have a setup that is quite a bit simpler than Bmoser's but works for my small garden. I would be happy to post photos but I've never been able to figure out how to post them directly without going through a different photo sharing website. Bmoser - How were you able to post your photos directly?
John A

i notice the date as 8/03/07. Did you grow these all winter or what. Also, i notice that you are in PA I am as well (near Johnstown). Around what date do you start your germination?

Ripper

John: He uses photobucket which is a picture hosting site. I believe you can store "limited" amounts of photos on there for free. If not there are other photo hosting sites

bmoser: thank you so much for posting the pictures. You definitly have an awesome setup there. With the setup you have behind the pvc frame how exactly did you do that? I can not tell if the top picture and the setup behind the pvc unit are the same. It would be appreciated if you let me know how you set everything up. Do you every have problems with some of the lower leaves not getting enough light? I would think the upper leaves would block a lot of light to the lower parts of the plant but im sure you know better than i do :).

thanks,
ncage

Thanks Ncage. I was not able to copy & paste, but did attach a link to my Photobucket site. I started with a basic 5 level utility shelf in my basement. I added low priced shop lights to 2 levels. Right now I have all-spectrum tubes in them, although I understand from other threads that standard fluorescent tubes will work. If I ever need to I can add lights to the other levels. You can see that I have removed the plastic cover from one of the seed planting trays and the other one is still on. I still have the heating pads on because some of the seeds have not yet sprouted.
John A

Here is a link that might be useful: Light Table

John: thanks for the link. How warm do you keep your basement? I had trouble last year in my basement because it was just to cold for the plants to thrive. Heating my entire 1100 square foot basement was not feasible.

Ncage

Hi Ncage. My basement usually stays between 55 and 60F. I have hot water heat so I get the heating just from the pipes running through the basement. I don't have any radiators down there.
John A

John that is about the same temperature as mine and i have a hot water heater in mine too. A 40 gallon unit. You don't have any problems huh? Where i keep the peppers now is about 75-80 degrees. I was hoping that would help a lot.

I dont have a setup anywhere near as special as the one in the photographs but here is my setup . I grow all my peppers in pots outside once the weather warms up.

http://www.zensurweb.com/peppers/pepper_setup.jpg

I cant figure out how to embed images in the text.

Here is a link that might be useful: my Blog

grrrrrrr i don't know what happened to my post that i just submitted. It disappeared looks like i will have to type the whole thing over.

bmoser: I am really glad you posted the pictures you did. That pvc setup is the way im going. i went to lowes today and bought 6 pieces of 1 in PVC. I didn't what size you used above so i bought 1 in...hopefully this will be strong enough especially since the pieces will not be that long. I also bought a huge piece of 7/16in particle board for the shelves for this unit. Also got T-Connectors & PVC glue. This will be the first time i will be working with PVC. The total came to around $35. Not bad when you consider how big of a platform this will make. Anyways I would like the make the unit with the following dimensions: Width (wide enough to fit a shop light), height (high enough for 3 levels), Depth (deep enough for two shop lights).

Any pointers before i start building this weekend? DO you have any problems with the plants as they grow? I would think as the foilage thickens then the lower parts of the plants (leaves) would have problems because the upper leaves would block out all the available light. Have you ever had a problem with this? I noticed that your picture was in last october. Do you grown plants from august to the following year and have no problems?

thanks again,
ncage

I am now a huge fan of this set-up I have. I bought the metal shelving unit at Costco for $69.00. It is indestructible and adjustable. You can easily get four shelves and the depth is perfect to put two dual bulb strip lights over each shelf.

I can't think of a better set-up for long-term. I tried the PVC system and it wasn't bad. I just feel much better knowing my shelf will hold 600 lbs per shelf!!

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a283/cmpman1974/2006%20Pepper%20Seedling%20Pics/?action=view&current=P1020147.jpg

Chris

I got the exactly same rack as cmpman1974. I am using it in the living room, so I have my plants intermingled with other things like pictures, guinea pig cage and such :) 2 of the shelves are mine though and I can fit 8 8-inch pots under one of the flourescent light for a total of 32 pots using using 4 fixtures divided into 2 on each shelf.

Don't forget to by extra chain and s-hooks for the lights so they are easily adjustable. It's kind of a pain to adjust the shelves themselves. I adjust the lights probably twice a week once the plants growth rate peaks.

I really cannot see anything I would like to improve on that setup and the chrome shelves are actually pretty aesthetically pleasing to look at in the living room which makes for a happy wife! The PVC setup is really cool too, but I am afraid that setup would not go through our "living-room design department" :)

Well i should have looked at metal shelves when i was at lowes and i did not. If the shelves are not much more of course thats what i will get. I checked on some websites and found nothing but of course the web sites don't a lot of times include everything a store carries. Unfortunatly i have no costo near me but i did check their website and i couldn't find the shelf you were talking about. I just have Lowes/Walmart/Menards/SamsClub/Target. There is a HomeDepot but its to far to drive (45 minutes).

Ncage

Ok now i have found some shelves at Lowes that would work. A little more expensive than $50. I am trying to decide between them:

shelf 1

You want the chrome shelf for one huge reason. Much easier to attach thr chain hooks to. The unit you pictured is exactly what I got at Costco except mine has wheels on it which is nice for moving around easily. Not a huge deal in my decision though honestly. It stays in the same place in the basement.

Chris

Sorry all, I didn't revisit regularly. Correct, I used Photobucket. It makes a computer unsavoy person more comfortable posting pictures.

Ripper, This camera of mine dates backwards. The date is March 8th. I'm a few east of Johnestown in Centre Co. My tomatoes in background will be going into a high tunnel next week if all works out. I started these around Jan 15th.

Ncage, The support you see is the result of a desire to have ceiling suspended wicker chairs when the house was built 30 yrs ago. I ran Eye bolts up through ceiling ito crossing 2x4s so that the house will colapse before the eyebolts fail. The rest is just pipe (to hang lights from), 2'x10' plywood sheets (to set plant trays on) and nylon cord to hang it all from those eyebolts. There are actually two suspended plywood sheets (the top one isn't visible in the picture)so I light ~30 trays with this setup.

Surprisingly it isn't even half enough at this time of year. I hope to move most plants to a 15x40 greenhouse as soon as I can get it recovered.

My PVC frame is only 3/4" Ncage but 1" will be a little more secure. I should mention that I raised the height to 3 shelves and it is full of pepper seedlings already. The main concern is keeping light just above plants. You can accomplish that by draping chain over the sides. I drive finishing nails into ends of dowell rods (or 2x2"s)to which lights are chained. Then you can just slip the head of the finishing nail from one chain link to a slightly higher one. For now I only took a picture of the draped chain.

Some specs before you start Ncage. You'll need 32 Ts for the 3 tier frame. Lowes has them in bags of 10 ($3.04 for 3/4"). I cut only three lengths of pipe- 2" nipples between crossing Ts, 16" laterals and uprights, 48" runners. You can glue but I didn't... I just told my wife not to sit on it. For shelves your particle board should be fine. I sawed up a few hollowcore folding door panels which I had available to 4'lengths. I even used a few broom handles for the light supports--cut them ~49-50" long so that you only need 1/2" of finishing nail head protruding. That will provide enough outward tension to hold the nail into the suspended chain.

The PVC framework is cheap but not the most sturdy if you have larger pets or small children in the house. I built two wooden units of similar dimentions that are much sturdier for about twice the cost. Other than 2x4" uprights in the corners and top and bottom cross braces all other wood is firring strips screwed on edge. If you are interested I'll try to get a picture.

bmoser: thanks so much for your very imformational post and pictures. You definitly got me inspired to do something about my current situation but unfortnatly i think i'm going to take the PVC pipe back. I went to menards today and they had wire self pictured above for $55 for black or white and $60 for chrome. I decided to buy a shelf instead because a couple of reasons:
1) it will be easier to adjust the shelf height
2) Its more sturdy.
3) When i put everything outside and i don't need the shelf anymore than i can use it for other things.

cmpman1974: The only reason i considered using Shelf 1 above instead of shelf 2(the wire shelf) is because the depth of shelf 1 is greater. Its deep enough to fit 2 seed trays rather than 1 so you could probably get 2x the number of seeds per shelf. I guess the only thing to take care of the issue you would have with hanging the chains would be to mount the shop light to the bottom shelf and raise the plants with something. As they grow you would have to lower them.

Ncage

Hi Ncage - The shelf 1 that you show in your 3/14 post is the same one I am using. It seems pretty sturdy.
John A

It's exactly the same Chrome shelf that I have as well. I bought mine at Menards. I must admit that I think the setup is as perfect I can get it. It's probably the only thing related to my planting that I am perfectly happy with at the moment (even though I am pretty happy with the rest).

The lights on top seeps through to the next layer underneath and looks really nice especially at night. My wife really enjoyed the fact that it brightened up the room in the part of the living room I put in in (not to mention the nice smell in the house when all the greeneries started exerting their "aroma" :)

It cost $4 for a 1" 10ft piece of PVC. How is that cheaper with all the couplins and pieces needed?

I figured I would need 7 lengths and a bunch of T's and couplings. Cost would be over $40. No?

naturalstuff: it is a little cheaper. I got everything at lowes including the t connectors and the partical board for $35. The shelf i bought at menards cost me $60. Id rather have the shelf though for the price difference. Is it cheaper? Yes. Is it worth the cost savings? Thats up to you. How much is your time worth? It will require a little time to make it.

Ncage

Hi ncage,

Here are some pictures of my set up to give you some more ideas. It was super easy to set up and is working really well for me - reasonably cheap, too.

{{gwi:20731}}

{{gwi:20732}}

{{gwi:20733}}

I used a gorilla rack from costco (~$40.00 a few years ago), but you can find something similar at Lowes or HD. The trick is to get one with the OPEN key holes (made for adjusting the shelves) in the side supports. I attached a piece of chain to the side supports with S hooks and then hung the lights from the chain using more S hooks. It took a while to get the three lights at the same level, but once they were, I could just move the whole light chain up or down as my plant grew. It works really well. The lights ran $8.99 a piece at HD, the lightbulbs are 40W T12 cool white 10/$14.99 and the chains and S hooks were a few bucks. I really like it. Just remember to leave a little slack in the chains - it makes moving the lights up or down easier (although the leveling processes is trickier). Good luck with your set up!

Bellatrix

This thread shows many suitable concepts and everyone should make up their own choice or even choose piecies of ideas to design their setup.

I agree with Naturalstuff that 1" PVC will raise costs. The 3/4" setup will be under $20 ($18.66 by my calc)(54' pipe= 6 sections @ 1.49 per 10' section, $9.72 for 32 Ts). But that is just the stand.

I was able to buy 4 stands pictured by Fiedlermeister at Lowes on clearance for $15 each (normally $74 each) but I have them stacked with junk and don't care to unload them. This past weekend I purchased over 100 metal shelves with bolts at auction for $35. My point is to improvise whever you can. These are all good ideas. Just be mindful that you will probably only use them for plants for the next few weeks and then either store them or use them for another purpose.

i just want to kind of show my appreciation of all the great people in this forum. Thanks to you all i finally have a setup that im happy with. Finally this year i will have a great garden that will be mostly from seed. I still do buy plants from some of the local nurseries because of the ease but probably 90% of my plants will come from seed. This year i will probably start to deal more with seed collecting and probably after that seed trading. Isn't this just addictive ;)?
Also off topic but a big thanks goes to "fiedlermeister". He sent me some seeds because of questions i asked in another thread. I finally got the seeds started today (turkey, two varieties of thai peppers, and tepin). Thanks John i really appreciate it.

ncage

There was actually one issue I had with the Chrome shelf this year that I did not have last year. I used all 8 inch pots last year for my plants (with saucers). This year I am using Styrofoam cups instead. The problem is that the bottom of the cups are so much slimmer, so if you accidentally brush against one, it might easily tip over. It happened to me twice before I went to Wal-Mart and bought some of the "Flexible cutting mats". They come 3 in a package ((blue, green, transparent) cheap, like $2.50 per package). One of these will take care of 1 shelf (in my case, needed 2 packets). That fixed my cups tipping over problem.

I have copied Johns setup works very well for me I put down a piece of particle board on the shelves so that I can pull out all the cells at once to water.

BMoser,

$15 for those shelves? Wow, what an awesome deal. I'd buy 6 of them at that price for storage purposes. They are nice. I may check my Lowes now out of curiousity. I've never seen them at that price. Good find!!!

Chris

I was curious how many lights you guys had per shelf with the silver self above. It looks like 3 per shelf. I thought 2 would maybe be enough. It looks like some people only had 2 light sets per shelf though.

Ncage

I have one shop light, containing two 40 watt bulbs,per shelf which holds two standard trays.

john

ncage, I quess it would depend on how much of each shelf you would like to utilize. I have seedlings on almost every square inch of the shelf on the bottom of that pic above.

Here she is simple and sweet, works everytime. Theres No substitute for the power of a south-facing window when germing. 100% germ everytime.

{{gwi:1153024}}

BTW, Chris if you're reading...the "Trinidad Scorpions" you sent me never did germ. Soil temp is 80F all the time and its been 16 days now. I've germed many a seed in my day and never had one go this long...any insight?

hello? lol

this forum needs a serious overhaul. the structure and fuctionality of these threads are VERY ineffective. anyone notice this forum resembles nothing of the other types of "Forums" out there

ucovinero, the Trinidad Scorpion seeds I have from Chris
didn't have any probs germinating (7 days) at 89ºF. If
you want to try the seeds I have drop me a Email with your
addy in it & I will send you some.

ButchT

UCVinero,

Sorry, I've been a little preoccupied the last two weeks. Haven't had much time to devote to the forums. I agree with Butch T. I bottom heat around 85-90 degrees and have had 90-100% germination everytime with this variety within 10-15 days.

I am very surprised by the result. I've had 4-5 others share similar success. Perhaps they require higher temps than other C. Chinese? I can't confirm because I always use this temp range and plant in Pro-Mix Bx.

Chris

I use an incandescent bulb to heat the soil until the first few sprout, then I switch over to the T5 fluoros. After a week or so I turn on the other CFLs and the oscillating fan to strengthen the stems. So far so good, I have a few almost ready to transplant. The biggest ones are the beaver dam peppers, I swear those seeds were on steroids or something, unreal how much faster they grew than everything else.

I got my Trinidad seeds from you Butch at O.F. and I had most of them germinate. No probs here either with it.
I say try some new seed

kendra

I use the heavy duty plastic shelving units (24"W x 36"L), with 3 cheap shop lights on chains hanging from each shelf.

Here is a link that might be useful:

some killer set ups there! Gonna make some kind of set up for the winter to make it easier to over winter my plants.

My seedlings are facing a window, and I have a ceiling fan on 24/7 (hardening like no other :) )

I had to go out and get another wire rack and lights because i am getting over run with peppers. Man this is addicting.

{{gwi:9582}}

Dale