Starting our veggies and flowers from seed has been so satisfying, and a great way to extend the gardening season here in Muncie. We began starting just a few seeds in the window several years ago, then upgraded to a small shelf in the same south-facing window, and finally graduated to a larger shelf with LED grow lights.
Our current set-up
Living in a relatively small (1,300sf) home, and having small children, has presented challenges regarding where we might locate our seed starting shelf. The soaker tub in our master bathroom is only occasionally used for kid bath time, is water tight, and is located next to a window. We decided it would be a the most “out of the way” location for our seedlings to get their start, and it has proven to work even better than anticipated! The bathtub location has worked great to prevent crawling toddlers from pulling-up on the shelf, and the tub has collected its fair share of drips from the watering can. Eventually we would like to invest in some higher-quality wire shelves, but we’ve been pleased with the performance of the plastic shelves and their significantly lower price. Because of the slope in the bottom of the tub, I used some scrap lumber to create a level base for the shelves.
Our lights were purchased during the very beginning of the pandemic in 2020. I found some on Amazon with good reviews and a reasonable price, and ordered just one set to try out before investing too much. They worked great, and were exactly what I was looking for, but when I went back to order more they were gone. Our guess was that the increased interest in gardening during 2020 coupled with supply chain issues may have been to blame. I was able to find some other lights for about the same price, but each light bar had half the LEDs as compared to the first set I found. Both sets put out a “white” light rather than the pink hue that other grow lights emit, which was something I specifically looking for in the lights we purchased. Both sets have worked very well for us, and the manufacturer of the first set has made some improvements to the lights since we purchased them in March of 2020.
To hang the lights, we simply used some floral wire that was in our craft box. Rather than fiddling too much with adjusting how low the lights hang as seedlings grow, we hung them a bit high and then place empty trays under our seedling trays to get the right distance from the lights. This helps maximize light exposure, and reduces how much the seedlings stretch. As the seedlings grow, we remove the trays, and if needed put a twist in the wires to raise the lights even higher.
We have toyed with the idea of locating our set-up in the garage, because it is insulated but not heated. Because most seeds need a warmer soil temperature for germination (especially tomatoes and peppers) we have opted to keep the shelf in the house. It is nice to keep both cars parked inside during the winter! We are planning to move the shelf to the garage once the evening temperatures are consistently higher, which should help the seedlings during the hardening process (rather than going straight from the house to outside). Another adjustment we will make this year is to put a timer on the lights – this may seem small, but many days I would forget to turn on the lights in the morning and the seedlings would miss-out on a few hours of good light!
// Dad Gardener
Dad Gardener 