Sorry, no advice from me on the shelf, but WOW! to you for having so many and starting so young. I think that's fantastic and wish I had started MUCH earlier than I did with serious collections and acquisitions! Especially since it can take YEARS to see some plants fully mature and develop. Congrats to you. I'm sure you will get many suggestions and lots of advice from others who have indoor setups.

Where are you located, if you don't mind me asking?

Tyler

Welcome...nice to see such young person with serious interest in plants!

Do you have budget? Could you post some photos of plants you have?

It would help if you add info about your general location and/or zone next to your name.

I live in washington state, near Seattle so I believe it was zone 8b?? But it should be okay as I'll be taking them inside and turning on a heater if it gets too cold :) As for my budget, I'm not sure about it quite yet, as grow lights vary in price. So anywhere around $20-$50 maybe?

I would suggest for you to visit some second-hand stores, or reStore (we have them in Canada). You may be able to get inexpensive shelving - either a unit, or shelves that can be attached to the wall. Brand new will cost you more than your budget. I have picked up many wire shelves and brackets and mounting plates for probably 20% of the cost of brand new.

I use lots of CFL lightbulbs. These are less $ than grow lights. Make sure you get min 23W (equivalent to 100W incandescent), or higher. They should be bright - minimum 4500k and preferably 6500k. They could be use in clip-on lights, or hanging fixtures or floor lamps. I use them in vanity strips, purchased from reStore for no more than $10 (new will cost at least $30 and more, depending on how may bulbs it will hold).

Yeah, these shelves come in many sizes

thank you for the advice :D I'll certainly be looking into secondhand stores for shelves and such :)

Good luck j.i.d - I found shelve like one in the photo, for $20 (have seen them starting at $89 at local stores)

Here is the sort of shelf I bought:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Furinno-WS15001-Wayar-3-Tier-Heavy-Duty-Wire-Shelving-Multiple-Colors/47044484?variantFieldId=actual_color

I liked it because it was small (like my collection!) but had good dimensions and a good amount of space.

I think you should just get a couple of brackets and a poplar board, to start with. Spend the rest of your budget on a bank of 10000k T5HOs which will be more critical to winter cultivation. If I were you, on that budget, I'll just put my plants on the floor and ditch the shelf idea altogether. The light is more important.

If you put them on the floor or single shelf you could make a light fixture like this using PVC pipe, even making an A-Frame on ends for stability.

If you are going to use artificial light, it doesn't have to be a shelf. It can be an old end table from a garage sale (or grandma's basement :) ) or any other sort of thing that will hold them. That way you can spend your money on lights and fixtures.

hello everyone :) thanks for the great advice! i've been browsing amazon to see if they had what i'm looking for and i found this, along with many related products. Would this be good enough for my succulents? If i settle on something like that I'll be attaching them to the underside of a shelf :)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01GDT048Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1500168824&sr=8-9&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=grow+lights&dpPl=1&dpID=41ZLcGOMhqL&ref=plSrch

here are just a few of my succulents incase anyone wanted to see :) some of them have pollen on them so i gotta clean them off.. and the third photo is of my newest addition which is an echeveria 'violet queen' :) it wasn't in the best condition when i got it but i'm eager to care for it and make it beautiful :D

Beautiful plants! You're doing a great job. I bought a violet queen this year also, one of my favorites.

Also, see if you can edit your name to add your location and zone. It helps when asking for feedback.

Ill let others comment on the lamp, I don't use supplemental lighting so I'm not sure if that's what you need or not.

Keep up the good work!

I tried similar LED strips this last winter as well and I'm using them now for some sensitive plants I have indoors. I have two of them side by side (about an inch apart) to provide additional lighting for haworthias I am rooting and they're already on a south-facing window. My point is this: for the kind of plants you have, you will need probably 3 or 4 of them side by side. If you're lighting a shelf 4 feet wide, you will need more and you will need to place them within a couple of inches from your plants, since they are low-Watt strips.

What I'm not sure of is whether it will be enough for the kind of plants you have. Those are full-sun plants.

My full-sun plants are under 10k-Kelvin T5HOs in winter, drawing a total of 160 Watts.

ooh I just looked at this post and realized I haven't said much about my age yet. im only eleven lol! sorry about that y'all

but anyways it's great to see another person around my age with a love for succulents!! keep up the good work:))

Stores like Big Lots are usually selling off their mini greenhouses at this time of year. Attach grow lights to the bottom of each shelf and you'll have an effective growing center.

ok so i've been looking around, through various articles and videos; would this be a good plan?

•like rina suggested, maybe getting multiple cfl lights would be better and more cost efficient? there are a pack of four 100W equivalent at lowes for about $10 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-100W-Equivalent-Daylight-Deluxe-T2-Twister-CFL-Light-Bulb-4-Pack-E-433557/204855102

• and then i could just separately purchase the clamping light fixtures separately :) about $5 at walmart https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bayco-SL-300-8-5-Inch-Clamp-Light-with-Aluminum-Reflector/14003467

• lastly as for the shelving, would it be cheaper to build one ( like out of wood) or to buy one?

•i found this on targets website :) i checked the measurements and it seems like that would do the job as well. https://www.target.com/p/wallhugger-natural-fsc-100-vegtrug/-/A-52009362?lnk=rec|adaptpdpexsrch|related_prods_vv|adaptpdpexsrch|52009362|0

wow succulentss i didn't realize there could be people even younger than me on this site! i would love to see some of your plants as well :) keep it up!

succulentss

I am surprised you are so young! - it is great to see you younglings :) seriously interested in collecting plants! Hope you all will stick with it.

j,i,d

That last thing is not necessary for your succulents. You really could just have wall shelves for much less. And if you use rails on the wall, you can adjust spacing anyway you'll need. Or just get a table to start with while you have less plants, and just keep your eyes open for different racks or shelves - take time with spending $$$. Even top of a dresser would work very well, as long as you protect it!!! That unit from HD is OK, not so expensive, but bit 'thick' shelves, and quite dark - if you have plenty of space in your room it may work. That's the reason I like the wire ones (as photo letsgobird posted). Mini GH elizabeth mentioned could work: I believe there are metal/wire shelves inside and a plastic, zip-up cover. You could use shelves without cover inside, and then in Spring and late fall you can extend season to keep plants outside using the cover. Check all options before buying...And don't forget garage sales!

And those clamp-on reflectors look good, you can aim them at plants as needed.

They also make 13 inch reflectors, which is what I got. I put a dual light socket adapter into it and put two 23 watt bulbs in. Right now I just use a small table and rotate my plants under it. I probably should get another one, but for right now it works. Pretty inexpensive solution. Here's my setup. It looks a bit dark in this room now because it's pretty overcast here right now. I look forward to seeing what you get.

Wow, it's really cool to see that there are other young people like me who are into succulents :)