Here's my rig. Pretty funny if you ask me but I do electrical work so thats how I had the idea of "pig tails" hanging from an outlet strip. I like the fact that its a warm natural sunlight on them. I have 40watters in each. It's simply in a bookcase shelf. Small garden so this is good enough.

First time doing this.

Hey mike well it looks like your sure ready. This is how i do everything. First of all i put all the seeds into a spare bedroom covered to keep moisture and i put one of those radiator looking electric heaters in that room to boost the room temp to 80 degrees. Seeds will germinate a lot faster if keep them warm. After they pop through the soil and start to develop leaves i put them into the basement where i have a rectangular card table. I just put some hooks in the floor joist and suspend the shop light with just some string. As the plant grow i can curl more of the string around the hooks. This has worked perfect for me.

I used PVC pipe to make a rig to hang the florescent fixture on. Its just t-shaped feet with 12 inch risers on each end and 4.5 feet cross bar. I can prop one end up higher on a few books if needed, or raise/lower the whole light using the little chain. I can switch out the 12 inch risers with taller or shorter ones. Pretty cheap, pretty simple. Easy to set up on a table or shelf and can be draped with plastic if you need to keep humidity/heat in.

Joe

I use metal shelving purchased from HD. Each shelf has a particle -board base which allows me to use screw in hooks to hang the light fixtures.



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I keep a numbered list on paper which I reconcile against the numbers on the seedling cups.
I find this is much easier than making label stakes w/ names on them for each of the cups.



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naturalstuff, are those standard household incandescent lights in those "pig tails"?

Paul B.

Yes. I'd love to hear your comments because this is the first time I'm doing it. I figured the warm, yellow light is like sun to them. I make sure it doesn't get to hot underneath but the 40 watts is ok.

lil rhody good idea with the numbering. I use the strips of my horizontal blinds as a label but yet, numbers are much easier. Just have to look back and forth at the paper opposed to at the plant.

For warmth incandescent's may be OK but in order for your plants to grow correctly, incandescent bulbs emit light in the wrong color spectrum.
Over time, you may find your plants are a pale green almost yellow and they will begin to wilt. If nothing else, get some fluorescent bulbs to take their place. Your seedlings will stand a much better chance of survival.

Paul B.

interesting, thanks. Even though I'll be putting them outside in just 6 short weeks? Yeah I guess I should.

naturalstuff, I don't know what part of Ct. you are in but you say you're in Z6.
I live on the RI coast near Foxwoods and we're in Z6b.

Our safe planting time is Memorial Day week-end 5/27-28 (approx. 11 weeks away).
I along w/ others in my area have been bitten in the past when we planted 1-2 weeks earlier.

When you say "I'll be putting them outside in just 6 short weeks...", do you mean you're going to harden them off in 6 weeks? Otherwise you will be taking a big chance if you're planting them outdoors in 6 weeks unless you have a cloche.

The set-up you have on the bottom shelf looks like a fluorescent bulb. Personally, I would configure the top shelf much the same way. The sooner you do this the healthier your seedlings will be and they will benefit when planting time comes.

Paul B.

Wow,
It sure looks like you've got it all going there L'il Rhody! You must grow a considerable amount of chile peppers! How many plants do you garden each year? What is your favorite?
Tom Stone

One thing I wanted to mention:
Many of us get impatient when it gets close to permanently planting outdoors.

One thing we need to realize (and I learned this from experience). If you plant warm season veggies early or while it is still cool, they will just sit until the soil temps. become consistantly warm, then they'll start to grow. There may be little root developement if any.
I was told this by several old school Italian gardeners who relied on crops to bring fresh veggies to their table. Of course, my first year or two I had to see for myself whether this was true or not; and they were right.

Moral is....do not jeopardize your plants by planting too early. We put too much time and effort to bring them that far.
When it is safe to plant, they will wait for soil temps to become consistantly warm before they show signs of growth.

Paul B.

tombstone, I just finished sowing 20 varieties of peppers, 3 seeds per cell. That should yeild approx. 180 plants (based on a 83% germination rate). That's less than half of what I started my second year when I was experimenting. I keep about ½, the remainder goes to family, friends and co-workers.
I still have 10 varieties of tomatoes to start sometime early this week.

My personal all time favorite pepper for a multitude of uses is Thai Dragon. Great for pickling, smoking, flakes/powder and fresh in stir-fry, and they also make great ristras.

Those are some nice setup ideas. lilrhody, I nearly bought shelves like those at Wal-Mart yesterday they had the metal frame with the particle board lined shelves. Maybe i'll pick one up. That is quite a setup and a lot of plants. I also though of somethig similar to the PVC rig that Joe uses. Seems you're only limited by your creativity. I thought of making a folding system with a crossbar that could be stored. As for heating I'm planning on using a heating pad (like the ones you get at the pharmacy) to keep the cell tray heated, would this eliminate the need for a space heater? I'm a little leary of leaving things like that unatended even though they will be on a timer. Space heaters have a less than stellar reputation for being a fire hazzard. The maturity times of the peppers I'm trying to grow are different. Should I stagger the seedlings(planting the ones with the longest maturity time first)?

lil_rhody, I'm 1 hour south of Mohegan. Our last frost date is April 22. 7 weeks away, my fault, not 6 weeks. I gues that is a long time to still be inside. I started most seeds last week so I'm on schedule but I'm sure there will be enough warm days in April to put them out.

Remember last year in May? We were all complaining. Out tomatoes were shocked and stunted their growth becuase it was getting down to 40's and not getting past 55. I hope we don't have to deal with that..

I guess we're going off topic now.

I'd like to see more setups from others.

peppermike, the four shelves support double fixtures (two - 2 bulb fixtures per shelf).
Should I elect, I can get 4 trays under each set of lights, 18 styrofoam cups per tray. That's the equivilant of 72 plants per shelf.

Paul B.

Steel shelves-shop lights and regular flourescents from the Mart. The sheves are adjustable as well as the chains by which the lights hang.

Before that I had plastic shelves , boards, and the same kind of lights--also worked but a bit less stable

John

Way to go John!
You're first set-up is what inspired me.



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Paul B.

lol, makes my setup look so amatuerish. Next year I'll do better. I promise.

This is mt setup. I have a 400 watt HPS for my larger plants that I over winter. I run four 40 watt cool white fluros for my seedlings. I fert with Bat Guano mostly. Any questions are welcomed.. I hope this helps.
Im not real good with posting these pics yet. I hope the link below works.

Here is a link that might be useful: setup

naturalstuff

doesn't matter how it looks-only if it works- switch to flourescents and there is nothing wrong with your set up

John

"I fert with Bat Guano mostly."
YIKES! Holy bat poop Batman!

sonnyedwards, you're probably literally dieing for someone to ask you this but... Should you be using bat guano on plants where the fruit will be consumed by humans?
Not to mention the potential health hazards associated w/ handling the crap. As w/ mice, bat droppings carry of a certain fungus (Histoplasma capsulatum) that when inhaled humans can contract a respiratory disease called histoplasmosis.

During a quick search, I found this on the first university site I came to.
"Several countries, including Cuba, Jamaica, and Mexico, sell bat guano for use as a fertilizer. The guano is typically "harvested" from bat caves. It is rarely sterilized and both the workers that harvest the guano and the gardeners that use it are at risk for histoplasmosis."

I'm sure you can offer some debate on this but knowing that bat dropping are linked to this respiratory disease and knowing how lax Mexico is on it's health and environmental regulations, I would not gamble to compromise my health or the health of loved ones.

Paul B.

Thanks John. I did switch. I feel better now.

Those are really some very impressive lighting set-ups you guys have going there! JohnF that is something spectacular!
Tom

Very nice rigs. Like Johnf said it doesn't matter how it looks as long as it works. All it takes is creative ingenuity. It's always cool to see how different people approach the same thing. I'll take some picks of the my set-up once it's setup.

The questions I have are about the heat. I've read that 85 degrees is ideal soil temp for germination. Which I plan on using a heating pad (pharmacy bought) to set the cell tray on and a thermometer to keep an eye on the temp. Is this safe or are there better ways to keep the soil temperature warm enough? Also once the seeds have sprouted do I still need to keep the soil at 85 degrees or can it dropp off a litte.

I sprayed the top of the soil in that 36 tray cell pack in the picture to moisten the top of the soil but I didn't realize that adding water in the bottom of that tray would actually get to the top of the soil. Stupid huh? Now the soil is extremely moist.

Bad for the seeds that haven't germinated. I have the fan on high right now.

naturalstuff, when I sow my seeds into 6 count cells, I mist the tops as you did and then set them in approx. 1" of water for 2 mins. This lets some water wick toward the surface.
I'm careful not to let them soak too long as they will become saturated and promote fungal issues.

A waterbed heater w/ a thermo-coupling and thermostat maintains a temp. of 83°F.
I monitor the temps. w/ a thermometer for insurance.
Once the seeds sprout, I transfer the seedlings to styrofoam cups within days.
A fan is definately helpful throughout germination and seedling growth.

Paul B.

Thanks for the info lil_rhody,I did not know that. My local "indoor gardening expert" preaches organic gardening.
He also pushes this stuff pretty hard. Ive been using it for a few years with no reactions. Come to think of it my wife wants to know why I sleep swinging upside down from the ceiling fan....LOL Im sorry I couldnt resist. The bag makes no mention of sterilization. However it does say that its manufactured in New Jersey. Thanks for the insight. I will check up on it with my guy at the store.

sonnyedwards, hope the blood doesn't start rushing to your head. LOL
Some american cars are "manufactured" in the U.S. but the parts are from Japan. I buy some wines that are a product of Austrailia but are manufactured here in the states (aged and/or bottled).

The name on the bag of bat guano you have pictured states .
Unless my reading of English is escaping me or there is now a town called Mexico in New Jersey I believe the product is from Mexico, imported and processed from large quantities into bags here in New Jersey, USA.
Or maybe there are so many bats now in Jersey that they are pushing out the pigeons and so much bat popop is in the state that it has become economically feasible to market the crap to help build the states economy. LOL

Seriously, if I were you, I would research the symptoms of histoplasmosis because there is quite a range of symptoms including fatigue.

"Hang in There",

Paul B.