How much space between shelves?

8 years ago

How much space do you leave between your African Violet shelves? I've been looking at pictures of setups on the internet, and in some cases there is a lot of empty space with the lights fairly far away, and in others the shelves are closer, with the lights fairly close to the tops of the violets. What spacing did you choose and why?

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Jeff Zenner

8 years ago

Lucille, I had to do the math when I redid all my shelving. I am assuming that you are referring to folks who use artificial lighting within their plant stands. Not just receiving ambient light from some distant source.

I really never considered how far apart to put the shelves. I had to know how far away the tops of the plants had to be away from the light source to receive the proper amount without getting burned.

I had to consider the height of my tallest plants.

Since I wick water, I considered the height of my reservoirs.

I had to evaluate how much light my light fixtures were able to produce

I decided to make my shelves where I can raise and lower the light units as well as raise and lower individual shelves.

Ultimately, I spaced my shelves to where my tallest plants were not going to be too close to the light fixtures.

Since my lights are designed to where I can easily increase or decrease the amount and type of light each fixture emits I can make sure all height plants get the amount of light they want by simply increasing or decreasing the amount of lights that are used. (This method has required me to move my shortest plants to one shelf and my very tallest to another so I can adjust lighting accordingly.)

Sorry for the long post but that is what I did.

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Comments (6)

irina_co
8 years ago
Oldtimers will say - 8-12 inches distance from the crown of the plant to the T12 tube for standards, 6 for minis. But we have new more efficient fluorescents now and moving towards LEDs. So while I agree with Jeff - some plants will need more space, some - less - you still need to provide enough and not too much light at the crown level.

I am a believer in the proper tools. I cannot eyeball the light level. So - upload an APP 'Lightmeter" or similar app on your cell phone - or if you do not have an android or iPhone - ask a friend or relative do it for you. I find 250-400fc on a crown level to be a good range. Dark leaf violets will like higher number - under the tubes - and light color violets will be happy on the edges.

Since you purchased the LEDs from Amazon - and they are different from mine, Jeff's and everybody else - you need to take one measurement before you mount them. Hang the fixture 20 inches above the horizontal surface - and find the sweet spot - 400 fc under the center - lets say it will be 10 inches. You will add the height of the plant and the reservoir, space that the light fixture will take - and it is your distance between the shelves.

The light level diminishes away from the center - so if you put your plants higher in a back of the shelf for better presentation - it will work too. And you can always mobe your plants around to accommodate higher and lower light requirements,

If you are not comfortable to do the measurements right now - you can start with 20 inches between the shelves and move them farther apart if the leaves start bleaching and hugging the pots. The low light is not damaging - so start from more - and gradually reduce the height until you see that it is too much. More light - the plants will bloom more but the bloomstalks and petioles will be short. When you are close to a sweet spot - you can play with the time.
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lucillle
Original Author
8 years ago
And of course one needs to take into account light degradation over time. Violet calculus. lol.
irina_co
8 years ago
Luckily they do OK in a range of parameters. Otherwise we would be in trouble.
lucillle
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Several people at Buddies suggested 17 inches, and this seems more practical than 20 inches because few of the standard wire shelving sold will give four 20 inch spaces because the most popular standard height size is 72 inches.

However, in keeping with Jeff's results based math approach, all four spaces do not have to be 17 inches, some can be more, some can be less, and that way one can still have needs based applications.
irina_co
8 years ago
You are correct - it makes sense to have closer located shelves and fartehr located shelves - so you can grow taller plants on one shelf and miniature and starters on another. Since you are an Orchid grower - sticking phals and paphs on the shelves with AVs makes sense as well - they seem to come in bloom faster. That is my very limited Orchid experience.