I have an update on my seed starting setup and I’m really excited about where things are right now!
When I first started out I had one shop light. Then I added another one. But as of this week I’m up to five total, and I finally feel like I have a system that makes sense for where I am in my gardening journey.
So here’s how it works. I have a three tier shelf that I’ve had for a while now — I believe I got it from Walmart. It works really well with my 1020 trays from Bootstrap Farmer. I also use some of the Lowe’s trays too. The Bootstrap Farmer trays are more durable but the Lowe’s trays are a little cheaper, so I just use what I have and make it work.
The main thing I want to highlight though is the overall setup and how I have it organized.
Starting at the bottom — this is where my seed starting process begins. Everything goes down here for germination with the humidity domes. I only have one light down there for now and I feel like that’s enough, but I’ll add another one if I need to.
Once things have germinated they move up to the middle shelf. This is where the two to three inch spacing requirement between the light and the seedlings comes in. In the past I had a mix of seedlings that had germinated and some that hadn’t all on the same shelf, and it was really hard to meet that requirement when everything was at different stages. That’s what pushed me to change my setup. Now that germination happens on the bottom and growth happens in the middle, I can actually meet that two to three inch requirement for the most part. I have two lights on this shelf.
Once the seedlings get significantly taller they move up to the top shelf. That’s where they’ll continue to grow until they’re ready to be hardened off and transplanted out after my last frost date. I have two lights up there as well.
Now for the tomato seedlings and other seedlings that get really tall, I had to get creative. When you buy these utility shelves they come with little caps on the top of the poles. I had some extra half inch PVC pipe so I popped those caps off and inserted the PVC pipes right into the poles. Then I used some 90 degree elbows to make it work. It gives me the extra height I need without having to buy a whole new shelf. I went back and forth about buying another utility shelf but I was like — you have what you need, use what you have. And so that’s what I did.
The shop lights I’m using are the Hyper Tough brand, 5500 lumen, four feet long. They’re $20 a piece at Walmart. I started with two and just added three more this week.
Something else I want to mention is that this system had to work for my life. I’m a wife, a mom, and I still work a full time job. I needed something I didn’t have to constantly worry about and this setup seems to do that for me.
This is a brand new setup so we’ll see how everything grows. I’ll keep you updated as always. Learning as we grow! 🌱