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Grow shelf idea thing

I've decided to make a grow shelf 'cause some sort of 'maternal instinct' is now in me, and I want to make lots of baby cps. So, I have this rough sketch:

plantshelf.jpg


The top shelf as you can see is for the babies/small rosetted plants, and the bottom for taller/flowering plants. The gray things are the 4' shop lights, I'm thinking of using two for each shelf. The back will be open and lean against a wall. I already have three 4' long shelves for this (which are about 9" wide), and I was just wondering what you guys think about this set-up, and if you have any ideas as to what material I should make the rest of the shelf out of, if the lengths should change, or if you have any "blue prints".

Many thanks,
-Ben
 
I think they make 7 foot tall 4 shelved units at the BORG. Very sturdy plastic. Very solid. 2 foot in diameter.

Put the lights under the shelves and not on top, that way the grid doesn't cut out light. NEVER get them wet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, put down a big tray under the plants. I believe several people do this.
 
7' high might be a bit too extreme. If ya look closely above the gray bar, you can see in the pic that there is a black line which represents the shelf, so the lights in the drawing are supposed to be mounted under the shelves.
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But this is a rough sketch after all, and I don't have that much money, so I just want to make something with the materials that I have.

-Ben
 
Ohh ok.

I have a feeling you'll be moving plants closer the the light
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Yeah, I prolly will, maybe I should make the top part 6", then the bottom one 1'-1.5'....

Any more ideas?!?!

-Ben
 
If you want to save time, go to Costco and get the adjustable wire shelves they sell. I grow all my plants on them. It's about $70 and you get materials to make two of the shelves of the type shown in your drawing. They are deep enough to use two shop light fixtures on each shelf (four tubes). You can set the shelf heights to whatever you want.

You can probably make it for less, but the ones at Costco are very strong, durable, and easy to deal with.

Capslock
 
I think it might be cheaper for you to buy an adjustable shelving unit like this. They're pretty much the same as the ones Capslock mentioned, but they're a few bucks cheaper at Lowes' around here. You get 30 square feet of shelving space, each shelf holds 300-some pounds, and they're easy to hang lights and other equipment from. I swear by these - for less than $80 a pop these are the best investment in CP growing I've found so far, besides my $30 froggy humidifier:
IM000967.jpg

(Found this one at Target.)
~Joe
 
Both seem really good, just that at Costco, it's says their shelf is $67.99, and at your link seedjar, $74.97. The cheaper one has less shelves, so I might be more interested in that one, but then again considering X-mas is almost here.....it's too hard to decide!

-Ben
 
sounds like you setting up something like what i use, except i use units that are 7 foot tall. not quite wide enough for a 4 foot fixture but its not off by much. my plants are doing fine. all of my pings are 18 inches from the light, all are doing great. i even have a VFT growing on the same shelf as the Pings and is doing well
 
  • #10
That frog is awesome!
 
  • #11
It's sad that only two of your plants are flowering... I was hoping you would be able to breed all of them this season...

I would like to hear how this goes. I am in the process of thinking about (preparing my wife) rebuilding my growshelf in a similar way to the one you described/drew. However, mine would not really be for raising babies but just to make more space and more accessible space. Currently my grow shelf is in a storage space above my closet which makes it rather difficult to water and even more difficult to simply observe my plants.

xvart.
 
  • #12
Check this out

1)  Borrow a chop saw.
2)  Buy some 1 X 6 and some glue and screws.
3)  Figure out how many shelves, how tall, how much   distance to allow for light fixture thickness/distance from plant/height of plants pots.
4) Build it.
 
  • #13
Alrighty then, it guess it's pretty much settled. I only have 3 shelves in the basement, but I think I'll find a way to make 4 with all the freakin' wood we have. AND, my dad has a chopsaw! Plus lots of other stuff. So, I'll let ya guys know what happens. I'm really excited!!!!!111
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-Ben
 
  • #14
Good luck, can't wait to see the finished photos. It's always fun working on a project.

xvart.
 
  • #15
Well, I was wondering, what's better? Two 32 watt T8s, or two 40 watt T12s?

-Ben
 
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