my grow rack is finished!

[Fryster]

Well, after being inspired by many people here with their great ideas for home-made grow racks, I decided to put my shoulder to the wheel and construct my very own rack.

Like everyone else, I found a majority of the parts from Lowe’s, HomeDepot, Walmart, Meijer. The only exception was that I purchased a four-bulb T5 High-Intensity florescent horticultural light and a roll of mylar from a local grower supplier.

the Sunleaves Pioneer IV Grow

After assembling the rack I attached the Sunleaves Pioneer IV light with plumber’s hanging strap to bottom of very top rack and hung a 4” fan to exhaust the minor heat created by the bulbs.

Two standard 48” florescent fixtures from Lights of America for next shelf with GE florescent lights. Two of each type bulb:

GE Cool Light

GE Plant Light

Laying out the mylar and measuring / cutting.

Mylar backing attached. The rack’s wheels aren’t on as of yet…

Mylar on sides with space left for ventilation. Wheels added. (a lot of room left on bottom two racks for future plants and their light fixtures.)

Two white vinyl inner shower curtains as a humidity shroud / light reflector. Easy-open front flap using strong rare-earth magnets.

Exhaust vents cut into one side (with flaps!) and fan running.

Sealed up and lights on! Removed fan cover to improve air-flow. (one fan in there, the other is merely a reflection from mylar)

The complete kit. Looks like some kind of bizarre hospital cart doesn’t it?

So far I’ve been unable to get the humidity over 50%, which I guess is fine. I’ve been toying with the idea of adding a small 1½ gallon vaporizer on the very bottom self. Perhaps for the cold, arid winters here in Michigan. But for now in the Spring and Summer I think it’s alright. As I don’t have any lowland Neps or anything… My Dews are not very dewy right now. Guess I’ll give ‘em time to recover from being shipped.

Anyway, that’s my super-dooper grow rack. Not too shabby for a guy with no building talent 'huh?

 

[Ant]

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he is hiding a dead body in there, you can see his feet!

 

[ChronoKiento]

Very nice! Mine is a bit simpler than that. I haven't gotten around to getting any mylar because I don't feel like ordering it on the internet (shipping expenses). I also haven't found a decent shower cover.. but I don't think it's that necessary for what I have now. I think when I get some more neps I'll try and bring up the humidity.

Where did you get your mylar? Don't say online. Lol.

Oh and I suggest you make each each shelf a different distance from the lights since seedlings and pretty much all of your sundews will need to be very close to the light or they won't get very dewy at all. Within a foot of the lights sounds pretty good, but the closer the better.

 

[seedjar]

I wouldn't be too worried about humidity. Once you fill one or two of the shelves with plants and water trays, the humidity should go way up. Since you have a fan moving the air in there, you can probably leave those ventilation flaps covered - the turbulence will be enough to exchange plenty of air. Very nice rig - I had similar ideas when I was getting started, but apparently you have superior funding! ;P
~Joe

 

[pingman]

What do you plan to grow? Many CP's will not need the high humidity and may not need your "tent". Nice t-5 fixture! If you're growing low type plants you will probably want the lights closer to the plants.
Peter.

 

[Clint]

The wrapping makes it look like you're trying to hide what you're growing

Nice. Very nice. The T5's are b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!

 

[Chris36]

very nice job....

 

[vraev]

wow...very very nice. good job at the construction. very original.

 

[Fryster]

Thanks!

That T5 fixture kicks out a little more heat than I expected. Even with the high-speed fan it’s still pretty toasty… (I’ve had it get to 93°F in there once so far…)

I don’t have plants too close to the T5 bulbs. My few Neps and Dews didn’t like the heat so they were moved to the cooler second shelf. My VFT’s seem more durable so they’re on the first shelf soaking up the light and heat, and really seem to like it.

I think all that light is burning my retina’s out when working in the rack. Gonna have to wear some shades when traveling into the “Giant Box ‘o Light” from now on.

I think this summer I’ll be leaving the front flaps open because of the heat. But come winter that bedroom gets freakin’ cold from the north-west winds, so closed flaps will be sufficient.

As far as plant placement goes, I guess I’ll be experimenting on where stuff should go and keeping a very close eye on things. Looking for signs of wilting, discoloration, dryness etc. The lights are on a timer photoperiod of 14 hours. And the fan is on a 30 minute on/off cycle.

My few baby Sarrs are on the second cooler shelf with the Dews and Neps right now.
I am kinda concerned on how the heat of the first shelf would effect their health. Sarrs appear to me as being rather fragile, so I’m babying them. I’d like to grow them outdoors of course but I cannot, as I live in an apartment building and fear plant-vandalism.

And my three little ‘box of death’ Cobra’s aren’t even in the grow rack. They’re in a large terra-cotta pot under their very own well-ventilated plant grow-lights. I know they’d frown at the heat of the lamps…

Anyway, thanks for the advice so far! Any more thoughts or pointers on what I should be doing or not doing?? THANX!

 

[Clint]

Why not run the fan 24/7? I do. Although it's for circulation not ventilation. I have a 16 hour photoperiod.

 

[vraev]

how can u set like 30 min intervals. Can u set like 3 min intervals or so?? in my terrarium...the light is too close to the moss on top and I htink its burning it. I have to keep misitng it regularly to keep it nice....It would be useful to have a small fan ot cool it there. Can u please let me know how to make that fan?

 

[Fryster]

how can u set like 30 min intervals. Can u set like 3 min intervals or so?? It would be useful to have a small fan ot cool it there. Can u please let me know how to make that fan?

Well, I just have one of those standard home timers (get 'em from Walmart, Lowe's etc) that you can set as little as 30 minutes increments. And the timer that my lighting system is on, I can set as little as 15 minute increments.

It's kinda amazing what you can do with timers........

 

[vraev]

aaah....but what about the fan? How did you wire a pC fan to a simple walloutlet? I wanted to do one of those...but i was afraid about wrecking an adapter. However, I now have an old phone adapter handy, can u give me some instructions please?

 

[Jefforever]

For our fans we just cut a cord from an appliance we didn't need and linked it to the pc fan. Pretty easily actually.

 

[vraev]

does it matter where the red and the black wire go?? are the wires colour coded? I "remember" reading something like that....cut off the PC fan ...2 wires.....just join those to the 2 wires in the phone charger adapter. Is that it?

thanks,

vraev

 

[Fryster]

Funny that you should bring up the 'fan issue' ...

I had decided to forego the idea of using the 80mm PC fan(s) and simply bought a cheapie $6 desk fan from Walmart. It is noisier than a standard PC fan but it kicks out A LOT more air; for both circulation and exhaust.

So no rewiring required. Simply plug it into a timer and there ya go......

 

[Clint]

Is it the colored metal kind? I have two of those in my terrarium lol.

 

[CPsinSC]

does it matter where the red and the black wire go?? are the wires colour coded? I "remember" reading something like that....cut off the PC fan ...2 wires.....just join those to the 2 wires in the phone charger adapter. Is that it?

That's right .. just don't touch where the wires are connecting and plug it in .. if it works, then unplug and wrap duct tape around the connections (keep both wires seperate). If it doesn't work, try switching the wires (after unplugging, lol) and try again.

I had an adapter lying around that had different 'tips' you could add to it .. instead of adding a tip, i just shoved the wires inside the holes

 

[quogue]

Great advice on how to start an electrical fire

As for the T-5 shelf, you might be able to lower the shelf. The Neps don't like too much light and they'll have room to grow. The Sundews mighta just got shocked, depends on what type. Usually they eat up light like pancakes..
What kinda Neps? Highlanders? Lowlanders? Intermediates?

Nice rack! My HL set-up is quite similar without those sexy T-5's....

 

[Fryster]

Is it the colored metal kind? I have two of those in my terrarium lol.

Yeah.

The fan is painted flat black. I'd have prefered the chrome version as it woulda matched the rack. (hehe...)



The shelf with the T5's is kinda high, I realize that but it puts out so much heat I'm rather concerned about it. It think it might actually be a convection oven.

Only the hearty VFT's can take the T5's so far, me thinks.......

My Sarrs, Dews, Neps and one near dead Ping get the second shelf with the four cooler T12 bulbs. I wonder if the small Sarrs could take the heat of the first shelf? I know they'd LOVE the greater light up there.

I've finally got around to feeding my VFT's live crickets that I bought from a pet store. What a weird experience; shopping for stupid bugs......

Also bought some frozen mosqito larve. (YUCK) These would okay to feed to tropical and North Americian pitchers wouldn't they? I hope so, 'cause I sure ain't gonna eat 'em.....