Whats Growing On Under Those Lights?

For many of us, especially those who live in the Northeast; it is getting to be that time of the year, to get our seeds started. This is my second year starting all my vegetable and perennials from seed, and I do admit it is very addicting, very rewarding and very cost effective as well. I love seeing those first few seedlings pop up, it really jump starts my anticipation for the arrival of spring by just a few notches.

Since I do not have much window space that receives southern exposure, I had made a seed starting shelf with fluorescent lighting. This worked out very well for me last year, and I have made some adjustments to my seed starting shelf this year, that I believe may be very helpful advice for anyone who wants or needs to do same. I have seen seed starting shelves like the one I built; sell for over $700.00 on different sites and catalogs, but for just a fraction of that cost you can build your own. You can view my step by step instructions on how to build a seed starting shelf here. This is a very simple building project that will allow you to easily assemble, and disassemble your shelving unit each year without having to unscrew or re-nail a single board.

The first mistake I made was, not knowing what my dimensions needed to be, which therefore resulted in wasted space. Considering I am using fluorescent light fixtures that are 4 feet long, I redesigned my shelf to be 4 feet long. I had also noticed that last year the seedlings on the outer edges of the containers were growing at an angle, stretching towards the light. So this year I had added another light fixture, and evenly dispersed them over the seed containers.

Another change that I had made this year was painting the shelf a high gloss, white paint in efforts to reflect more light. It does seem to be much brighter. I had also purchased for just a couple of dollars, one of those emergency blankets that you see in survival kits. They basically look like a giant sheet of tin foil. My thought was that by draping this over the shelf would not only reflect more light, but retain heat as well, and this also has been a success.

The very last change that I had made this year with my seed shelf was I re-designed it in a way that makes disassembling and reassembling very simple, without having to re-nail or screw any boards. When the sowing season is over, I can very easily dismantle my shelf and store out of the way until next season.

One experiment I am going to try this year is the type of bulbs I use. I had purchased the more expensive aquarium/ plant bulbs that supposedly are better for growing plants, but I have just recently read and have been told that any white fluorescent light bulb will do. So I have designated a shelf using just regular bulbs, and will see if there is any difference.

Remember that when growing under lights, to keep the bulbs no further than 3 inches away from the plant, so that they do not grow skinny and lengthy, in efforts to reach for the light. You should leave the lights on no less than 10 hours a day. It is actually recommended for plants growing under lights to have about 16 hours of light exposure, but I have done less and my plants came out fine; however I would not go any less than 10 hours.