Busy Day

Finally started cleaning the basement to start planting seeds soon.  What a MESS it had become!   I could barely move around in parts of it.

Part of it is Loki.  He's an explorer and a real climber.  And when he jumps up of some places, they aren't as sturdy or stable as he thinks.  Appearances can easily deceive a cat.  They think that anything that looks solid is solid.  A stack of stuff can fall over.

So my stack of soil-filled planting trays (ready for planting) wasn't as sturdy as he thought it was.  It all crashed down and spilled the soil out everywhere!  

But most of it is my fault.  Last year, I had a bit of a return to some of the results of falling off the extension ladder.  Sore back, sore knees, some general fatigue.  So when finished with yard/garden work, I tended to put stuff in the basement wherever I could fit.

Well, you run out of space eventually.  Things don't get put away as they should.  Buckets stay a bit dirty.  Seed packets sit out and expire in the warmth (I usually keep them refrigerated).  Fallen soil collects on the floor.  And I fell into a habit of just laying in bed every night for 10 or more hours (mild depression, long covid, aging?) and that didn't leave much awake time for other than basic stuff (and blogging, which I just have to do).

I'd been meaning to tackle cleaning the basement for a month, but there was always something more immediate to do.  The seductive comfort of the heated waterbed, doing laundry, cooking, shopping, etc...  

But I've been getting myself up earlier lately.  Yesterday I made lunch fast, just skimmed the newspaper (must read the editorials and comics), and got myself down the basement.  Where on earth to start?  Well, if I am going to cook dinner, I want the kitchen clean.  I know I will make some mess cooking, but I need it to be clean to start.

So, in the basement, I picked stuff up off the floor, then swept it (I have a shop-vacuum, but I don't like the noise).  And sweeping is rather "meditative".  Quiet, repetitive, calming...  I knew I would mess it up again cleaning higher spots later, but it gave me a good surface to work from.

I mix my own potting soil.  When I run out of it, I mix more.  Which means I have bags of various stuff (peat, sand, compost, lime, fertilizer) left over.  I also used to buy kitty litter in 35# tubs.  They make great containers for the leftovers.  

So I combined 1/2 buckets of some of those and stashed them under my potting bench after sweeping that area clean.  Then brushed the empty buckets clean.  Stacked them up and set them in the garage.  That got me some space.

Collected everything that should really be out in the toolshed and set them next to the patio door for moving there by wheelbarrow (today was for organizing, not moving).  That got me some more space.  Took the trays I grow lettuce and other small crops in and dumped them all into a large shallow bin.  Broke up the chunks of soil and mixed it around with some organic slow-release fertilizer.  Refilled the trays and stacked them aside for planting in a few days.  

That got me the small TV-Tray-size worktable back.  It sits next to the basement refrigerator.  I use it for  holding bulk fresh food while I fit it into the fridge and I also use it for planting.  I was glad to have it available again.

I have a large planting stand, 2'x4' and 5 shelves high.  Bought it many years ago and added fluorescent light fixtures to the underside of each shelf.  Fluorescent lights last well and are energy-efficient, but at 14-16 hours per day, they last only months and even then, they collectively use about 800 watts!  And the fluorescent tubes aren't free either.

So, 1 1/2 years ago, I bought special "grow-light" LED) panels to replace them.  I haven't done that yet.  I need to take all the fluorescent fixtures off and install the LEDs, but I didn't have space (or energy) to do it before.  I am ready to do that now.  The LEDs use 1/4 of the energy and should last many years.  That almost starts to feel like "free", and the seedlings will get better light!  

But it will probably take an entire day to get that done.  I will remove the old fixtures one half-day and install the new ones the next half day.  Because I know my hands/fingers will cramp if I try to do it all in one day (and may anyway in 2 days).  

And I still have to clean the potting table.  The soil from the stacked trays Loki knocked over a couple months ago is still all over it.  The seed packets are still sitting out on the table and are probably useless now.  I have a pile of seed labels that need to be sorted out.  I rinsed out the old 6-pack cells a few days ago, and they are dry and ready to reuse.

Aside from basement-cleaning for planting,  I need to re-order many seeds.  It's a bit late, so some I want will be "out-of stock" now, but that's my fault.  Vegetable seeds will be easier to replace, but flower seeds become unavailable fast.  

But at least I am making some serious progress in the basement.

 

Gardening Light Stand

I have had my indoor gardening light stand the long way against the wall since I assembled it.  But it occurred to me that it would be easier to water all the plants if it stood out from the narrow end.  So I tried to just move it.  SCREEECH!!!  And my muscles objected.

Metal doesn't move on a concrete floor well.

So my first thought was to reduce the weight.  The rack came with shelves.  But they were kind of flimsy to add fluorescent light fixtures to, so I added plywood.  Worked great, but it is also hard to remove.  I managed the added plywood removal, but the lights were NOT coming off. 

The rack is 4' long.  The light fixtures are 4'+ and bolted in after disassembling and reassembling the fixtures.  I wasn't going to do that.  And the stand isn't actually bolted together.  It has parts that hold it together by its own weight.  It means you cant actually lift it or parts come apart.

So I had to figure out how to hold it together to lift the bottom.  Clamping pieces of wood to each corner in multiple ways seemed like a good idea.  If the parts separate by being moved up, them holding the parts down seemed promising. 

It worked.  I'm not sure whether a lever is geometry or physics, but after I clamped short blocks of wood to the bottom shelf.  I was able to move it 1" at a time.  And there was a pattern of moving the crowbar that worked.

1", 1", 1"...  And eventually, all those 1"s added up and I had it rotated 90 degrees...

Now I can put plant trays in and water easily from both sides and lift them out more easily (the original problems I was trying to solve).

And I had large plastic trash bags on the shelves.  They moved.  This time, as I set them back, I put the shelves IN the trash bags and folded the excess under them. 

Of COURSE I didn't take pictures.  I get involved in doing something and pictures are the last thing I think of.  But I can replicate some of it...

Did you think I wouldn't provide pictures?

OK, first is the clamping.  The one at the bottom crosses the rack parts that want to come loose.  The ones on the sides prevent that.  Clamps were suffifient.

Wedging the bottom allowed some slight movement.  That was the 1" at a time I mentioned above.  I did slowly move the stand 90 degrees.

Then I needed to replace the plywood above the light shelves.   And I wanted them covered with heavy duty plastic bags.That took some work fitting them over the sharp corners.  The boards BARELY fit around the rack.  This is an example of one.  And a cool thing is that I was able to fold the excess plastic trash bag under the shelf, so it stays tight. 

Here is the lettuce trays under the shelf I did today.  The others will be done tomorrow.  One is so tight, I have to cut it in half to fit them back, which is why I stopped.  And it was dinnertime too.

But the trays were SO MUCH easier to water and that was the point.  So I watered them, and it worked great.  I can get at them from both sides now.

Indoor Gardening

Some plants grow well indoors under lights.  Lettuce is one of them, and I love my salads!

The specific names don't matter, but from left to right:  A loosehead , a purple romaine, an endive, and a red leaf.  The nice thing is that I can just take scissors and cut off a plant 1" above soil-level and it grows back.  Each 24" tray holds just enough that each plant grows back in time to be harvested again.  They go on for months that way.  And they are completely organic!

I got the planter trays from WalMart, I mix the soil myself (peat moss, vermiculite, perlite, and slow-release 12-6-6 fertilizer) but any houseplant potting soil will do.  I grow them under fluorescent lights on a rack.








I use standard lights (I used to use those Gro-Lux lights, but they are expensive).  But I learned that the white lights work fine IF the color index is right.  Plants like the red and blue ends of the spectrum so make sure the "temperature" listed on the box or label is at least 5,000K if you try this yourself.  BTW (possibly over-explaining) green leaves look green because the plants DON'T absorb that color.  But purple leaves do, so the 5,000K that produces all colors works for them too.

I also grow basil and celery, but I just replanted those trays, so no pics at the moment.

Since I'm discussing lettuce, here is my typical tossed salad:  Several lettuces, grape tomatoes, onion, mini-cucumbers (because they are seedless), chick peas, black olives, green olives, bell pepper, and sometimes a chopped mushroom or carrot or cubed ham.  Some people like cheese or croutons; I don't.  Otherwise, if you can eat it raw, I add it.  Except cabbage type stuff (I love them as sides, go figure).  They don't go well with tomatoes...

Well, since I'm discussing food, here's my typical meal:  3-4 oz non-fish meat (I hate fish), a large salad, and 2 side veggies (a green and a red/purple/orange/yellow).  With a couple glasses of Zinfandel (goes with everything I eat).  Dessert is nuts and fresh fruits. 

Sometimes some vanilla ice cream and Lindor/Lindt truffles...  Extra Dark, White, and Hazelnut.  I buy a 120 piece box of each about once a year.  360 pieces, 365 days. 


Tomorrow, I sit down with the seed catalogs and my seed tray and see what I need to order for next year.


The current model is on the left.  But the old one is good for carrying seed vials out to the garden.  All the vials (specimen containers I found on sale once) are numbered top and sides and I keep a descriptive list on a spreadsheet and the tray stays in the basement refrigerator (which I use as a root cellar for bulk stuff.

There is a fine line between "organized" and "obsessive", and I'm not sure which side I'm on.  LOL!  Probably, since I wonder about it, I am (barely, I hope) just under it. 

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year To All.

Garden and Yard Plantings

I mentioned the tree saplings yesterday.  But there are also veggie and flower seedlings to start inside each week (for the past month).  I started the tomatoes and peppers and cole crops weeks ago in individually set-up flats of plastic cels.  But 4 weeks ago, knowing I needed numerous flats at 7 and 4 weeks before last frost date, I set up 8.

That meant filling the cels with my self-mixed potting soil mix in flats set into sturdy plastic holders (those planting flats are thin and bendy), adding rainwater I saved in jugs (seed-starters can get obsessive) to soak the potting soil, and stacking them up on my basement potting bench. 

Hey, when it gets to actual planting day, that can save a LOT of time.  And in spite of giving individual attention to planting, assembly-line procedures make it go faster.  But there is ALWAYS something that has to be done you don't expect.

The first surprise of growing plants indoors is lack of good light.  Well, I set up a light rack years ago.  But of course, some bulbs burn out and for some reason that escapes me, they do it over Winter when they aren't even turned on!  At the end of the indoor growing season, they all worked; at the beginning of the new one, about 25% are dead.  Which is why I buy tube bulbs by the case (somewhere between 5000-6500 Kelvin and 2900+ lumens.  They last about 2 years (on 16 hours per day for a couple months) and gradually get weaker over time. 

I'll be buying LED tubes in the future.  They are 2x the cost (but coming down), last 4-5x as long, and stay at full lumens until they suddenly stop.  So, anyway, I had to replace several of the old bulbs and it can get awkward.  I seem to be a bit inept and changing them.  I suppose I need to just use more force turning them into the connections, but I'm always afraid they will break.

So I had 3 requirements (not counting changing the tubes).  First, I replanted cels where the seeds didn't germinate.  If I think I need 12 marigolds and only get 8, I replant quickly.  Seed companies are weird.  If I order celery seeds, I get 1,000.  and what do I need with 1,000 celery plants?  Yet if I order zinnias for a mass planting of 60, they put 25 seeds in a package and I need to order several.  LOL!

Second, I had to move flats around on the light stand AND 6-pack cels from flat to flat.  Some plants grow faster than others.  You want the seedlings close to the lights, so taller ones have to be together.  I keep a label in every 6-pack cel for that reason.  A flat of all the same plants only needs one thankfully.  But mostly I have mixed seedlings in a flat so they need to be moved around.

Third, I built wooden stands of various heights the size of the flats.  That allows a lot of easy height adjustment to keep the seedling near the lights.  And for other adjustment, I cut a few 2"x4" boards the width of the stands so I can raise them 2" or 4" easily.

So I had a choice (this was Monday) to plant some seeds outside or plant a lot more inside.  It was chilly and windy out; guess which I chose to do?  Yes, inside.  I'm planting a LOT of self-sowing annuals for either "just" flower or butterfly/bee/hummingbirds.  I tried scattering butterfly/bee/hummingbird (BBH) flower seeds and covering them lightly per package directions 2 years and they didn't grow much.  This year, I am starting a lot inside and will transplant them into the BBH bed in hopes of better growth.

I'm not depending on the transplants except for first year growth (and hopefully "self-sowing").  But I HAVE to have enough to attract them and get them used to coming here.  The meadow flower bed did reasonably well the first year and "OK" the next.  But I think it needs more help getting started, too.  So about half the seeds I started are for there.  Its not like BBH don't like meadow flowers too, just that they aren't as dedicated to producing what BBH need.  Though I suspect some will be good plants for caterpillars to eat. 

Still, the meadow bed is mostly for ME to enjoy looking at.  And partially, the meadow bed is so that I have something to enjoy looking at while I renovate my 25 year old perennial bed along the fence.  It has slowly lost ground (literally, LOL) to invading fosythia, poison ivy, some vine I don't recognize, old age. and changes in sunlight.

Parts of it are undisturbed and thriving (hurray for Stoke's Aster and Autumn Joy Sedum and some individual plants like Brunerra Jack Frost), but it mostly need to be ripped up and started over.  Ans this time as a cottage garden, I think.  Tall flowers (that self-sow) so thickly-growing that they shade out the weeds.

I've change my flowerbed habits several times over the years.  It's always a decision with ups abd downs.  Annual flowers need transplanting every year, but they bloom all year.  Perennials last years (for most) and decades (for some) but flower briefly.  Self-sowing annuals might be an interesting combination.  The pictures I've seen of self-sowing cottage gardens suggest that they might flower like annuals bur last for years.  I know that in a house I rented for 4 years. Four O' Clocks (annuals) reliably filled the space all the time I was there.

I may be an interesting growing season...

Seed Starting

I've mentioned before that I have a box of index cards I created that reminds me when to start seeds indoors, outdoors, and transplant dates.  Some years I get behind, but this year I've been staying on schedule.  Or so I thought.

Oh NO!  I completely forgot about the flowers!  Those aren't in the index cards because I change flowers too often and even varieties of the same kind can have different indoor or oudoor planting dates. 

But I have that information for the flowers on my seed list.  Sure enough, I should have planted some of them a MONTH AGO!  So I stayed up late Saturday to set up 6 flats of my starter soil mix in my 36 cels per flat and poured warm water into them to soak the soil.  I have been expanding my selection of flowers the past couple years.  They all want different conditions.

Sunday, after changing all the clocks (and I sure have a lot of them) I planted!  And it isn't just pushing seeds into the soil.  Some want 1/8", some want 1/4" and some want NO cover at all (needing light to germinate. 

And some want cool temperatures (50-60), some want 70-80, and some want in between that.  And since some want cool temps and light, and some want warmer temperatures and don't need light until the emerge, it got really tricky.  I spent an hour just sorting out seed packets by requirements, LOL!

But when I had that all done, it was easier.  Some were super-easy.  A whole flat of one kind, like marigolds or balsams or salvia required no combinations with other seeds.  Others did though, and as a result, I will have some more of some flowers than others I am used to. 

And, BTW, when I say a 36 cel flat, I really mean 35, because I always leave one cel cut out for easy watering.  I used to lift a corner of one cel to water under, but I noticed that one one seldom grew (because I was bending and thereby ripping the roots I think).  You learn stuff...

But I got most of them sorted out by temperature and germination requirements, and here is what I have growing!

I planted 6 flats.   Some can be under lights in the 64 degree basement.

 Some can be upstairs at 72 degrees and need light but are sitting on a countertop  (covered to prevent cat-exploration).

Some are in the cool basement and not needing light yet...  And, BTW, that light-color stuff is vermiculite which doesn't crust over like soil and makes it easier for the seedlings to emerge.

 Some are in the cool basement uncovered and exposed to light...

And aside from all that, my veggie seedlings are all up and growing well.  

Most of these seeds are several years old.  But because I keep them in sealed vials in the basement refrigerator, they last 3 times as long as the packets suggest.  I got almost 100% germination this year.

Next week, I have more flower and veggie seeds to plant indoors (and some outside).  I think I need another light stand!

But with any luck, this should be a fabulous year gardening year.  Most of the new flowers are self-sowing "cottage garden" types and will not need annual replanting (well, maybe some every few years) but it is a start at a "self-maintaining flower bed" in some parts.  Some parts of the flowerbeds have dependable perennials, and I love those. 

But I'm exploring self-sowing annuals lately.  We'll see how well that works in a couple years.  I'm patient. 

Plant Growth And New Seeds

1.  I am so relieved that the new late-planted spring bulbs are coming up.  Counted 110 tulips today, about 100 early daffodils, and the first few late daffodils.  No hyacinths yet.  Because the top of the soil was so hard, I watered the area to soften it.  The Winter rains and melting snow have the ground well-moisted deep, but the surface was very dry and hard.

2.  While trying to water the new spring bulbs with a sprinkler, I discovered it stuck in one position.  Something else to take apart and repair.

3.  And I say "something else to repair" because I had to take apart my submersible pond pump a few days ago to find why it wasn't working.  Good ones cost a few $100.  Turns out there is a simple rod that broke.  The material is uncertain; it's a bit rough to be plastic, a bit smooth to be ceramic; maybe its resin.  Anyway, it's what turns a "impeller" (think "propeller").  I gather that the difference is that the first pushes and the second pulls.

And thereby hangs a tale.  The pump stopped working and I don't know anything about pond pumps.  The pump didn't even have a brand name on it.  But I looked at the specification plate, and saw a UL (Underwriters Laboratory) number.  So, thinking the UL number might provide some information, I searched it.

WOW!  The UL number actually did lead me to the pump!  Not the actual manufacturer like I hoped, but to the generic model.  It turns out that many companies sell the same items under their own name.  But all the parts are the same!!!

And there in one listing was a replacement impeller that looked identical.  Not just the broken rod (which would have been easily and more cheaply replacable) but at least the unit is WAY cheaper than a new pump.  It should arrive in a couple days.

4.  So why did I want the pump working?  To spray liquid corn gluten all around the yard.  Corn gluten stops weed seeds (and any other seeds) from germinating.  Some weeds germinate in Spring, others in Fall.  I try to do it in both Spring and Fall, and I have to admit that I have a LOT fewer weeds in the lawn than my neighbors who use more serious chemicals.

And a benefit is that corn gluten is 9-0-0 fertilizer.  All nitrogen, which is just what your lawn needs.    But back to why I wanted the pump working... 

The liquid corn gluten comes in containers you just hook up to a hose and spray around the yard.  Only they don't work.  THEY JUST DON'T WORK.  I'm not surprised.  The supplier is selling the liquid corn gluten and saying it is easy to apply.  They don't want to spent money on disposable applicators!  So, of course, they don't work. 

The product reviews are constant in the complaints about the sprayer function.  So, I thought, why do it THEIR way?  I poured a bottle of the stuff through a fine mesh sieve (many users complained about corn grit blocker the sprayers) into a barrel filled with water. 

So (brilliant me), I would just use the submersible pond pump to spray a diluted mix all over the yard using a fan nozzle (so that I would see if the output holes where getting clogged).  And then the pump didn't work!

Here's hoping the replacement impeller solves that problem.  The corn gluten really DOES inhibit initial seed roots, but you only have a couple of weeks to apply it (when the forsythia are starting to bloom - the same time the weed seeds germinate). 

5.  Planted 6 more flats of seeds today.  A flat equals 35 cells (cell = 1.5" square x 2" deep) for me - I leave one cut out for watering.  This weekend was bell peppers, zinnias, and marigolds.  I've given up on most perennial flowers.  They don't bloom for long, most die after a few years, and I have time to grow and plant annuals.  THEY bloom all season, and I love seeing all the flowers all season.

6.  Cuttings of the 3' Knockout Rose and the 3' dwarf butterfly bush aren't  sending out new shoots after 3 weeks in pots, but they aren't dying either, so that is encouraging.  The original plants are sending out new branches, so that it good.  At least if the cuttings don't root, the original plants are still doing well.  Planted outside in early May, they should branch out more and I will have another chance to get cuttings to root.

Gardening/rooted shoots is fascinating.  And "something for nothing" is always good.  The azalea cuttings from last Fall are all doing well and are doubled in height and branches from last month. 

Some Days Are Just Good

I love productive days!  It doesn't matter much what I am productive at.  Some days it is gardening, and it might be planting seeds, transplanting seedlings,  or weeding large areas.  Some days it is building stuff indoors.  Some days it is cleaning the house.  Some days it is organizing things.  Some days it is as basic as cleaning out the fish tanks.  Or other stuff.

It matters that I keep busy in retirement.  It is easy to waste time.  "Tomorrow" is fine...  I don't work that way.  I have less time left than I did when I was 20.  I don't mean to say that bothers me all that much, I stayed busy when I was 20, too.  But I don't want to sit around thinking I will do things tomorrow".

I could go into great detail (and I probably will in future posts), but lately I've weeded 500 square feet of flowerbed, planted small crops (carrots, radishes, kohlrabi, leeks, etc etc),  trapped a threatening groundhog and a rabbit with a taste for cucumber seedlings, cleaned out and rehabilitated an aluminum bass boat with floors, created a new plant light stand for seedlings, destructed the old light stand, drained the hot water heater of mineral sludge, cleaned the washer/dryer/dishwasher/oven, rewired several basement outlets to code, and about finished the new plant light stand (which was a real piece of work)

And then there are the cats.  I love them all dearly.  At least Iza and Marley come in when called.  Ayla doesn't. She likes to stay out a night first before returning.  So I had the idea of letting her out as long as she wanted til she was bored and preferred the food inside.  Its opposite feral adoption, in a way. 

After Ayla escaped out a couple weeks ago and stayed out three nights, I have let her out regularly.  She stays near the fence, just won't come back in when called.   The idea is that I let her out enough so that she gets bored and decides the house is good at least at night.  I don't know for sure that this will work

But she stayed out 3 nights at first, 2 nights the next 2 times, and not at night today.  It MAY be that enough outside time equals more inside time.  She sure loves my attention!  When se comes in she crawls all over we seeking my scritches and neck rubs.  So it may be that, let out enough, se will b more willing to come inside again.

I HAD TO relent.  She had gotten so frantic to get outside after a year confinement that she would hide behind the drapes near the deck door, stalk behind me, etc.  She just couldn't be kept inside anymore.  As strong as my desire was to keep her in, her desire to get out exceeded that.

Seedling Light Stand, Part 3

OK, so I have the new light stand about half assembled.  The 2 bulb fixtures were 1/2" longer than the shelves.  I was thinking "4' light fixtures, 4' shelves with the supports on the outside, should fit".  I should have checked more carefully.  But it wasn't as if I was going to buy more light fixtures, so it didn't really matter.  I had to attach them a little lower than planned.  The fixtures have attachment holes in them, but I had to partially take them apart to get at them and drill though-holes so as not to drill the insulation off the wires inside. 

The 4 bulb fixtures were easier in one way.  The wires were channeled around the attachment holes.  On the other hand, they were designed to hang from hooks on chain.  So I needed to drill a hole through the fixture anyway.  I ruined a drill bit trying to drill through what I thought was aluminum.  It was steel.  I should have checked with a magnet!  That was a bit from my REALLY GOOD set of bits.  I'll have to replace it.  I partially disassembled THOSE fixtures...  You may notice I keep having to do a lot of extra steps to make this project work.  I was not thrilled, but having started down this path, I have to continue.

So I got out my metal step-bit and the drilling went fine.  I reassembled the fixture and dropped in the bolts through the plywood.  Did I mention the plywood?  The rack comes with 3/8' pressboard shelves.  Strong enough for shelving or plant trays, but not much to drive a screw up into from below or countersink a bolt from above to support the light fixtures.  So I added 1/2" plywood below to hold the fixtures and counter-sunk the pressboard from below to cover the bolts.  It works great.  The resulting upper surface is nice and flat for the plant trays.  Looks good too. 

Here is the first 4-bulb fixture attached to the bottom of the 3rd shelf.  The top shelf will be identical.

Except...  You may notice a shelf support missing on the photo above (right side).  That's because one was 2" too short!  The box came with an information sheet asking that I call the manufacturer before returning the product to the retail store.  My interpretation of that is "we make a lot of mistakes, please don't tell the store.  Well, gee, it is about all constructed.  It would be a lot of work to take it apart and the box it came in is all ripped apart.  I emailed them about the problem.

The emailed back that a replacement shelf support is being shipped for delivery in 7 days.  That's reasonable.  I would have preferred a UPS overnight shipment on principle, but all my seedlings  are outside now and the light stand is for next year.

Here is a photo of the plywood base I used and the fancy cover shelf.  The are the same size, though the angle makes it look different.

It's been an minor adventure - more than building a box and less than building a shed.  I seldom get to build anything to specifications.  I end up having to craft things by trial and error.  Drives me nuts.  I have the genes of an engineer and the talent of an art major!


Which reminds me, I need to replace the roof on the shed.  I didn't know about roofing paper 20 years ago, and now it leaks.  Time to redo it right.  That's on the list.  The really really long list of major "to do"...

The lesson here is that I should have built the light stand as I originally intended.  3/4' plywood, 6' high and 5' shelves with the fixtures simply screwed right up into the shelf bottoms!  Don't get me wrong, the new light stand will be great for decades.  But the original plan would have been easier and worked as well.

Live and learn...

Seedling Light Stand, Part 2

Well, at least I have some pictures to add for the assembly!  And I have to admit, the assembly IS well designed and simple to do.  The upright posts have "keyholes".  Think of a hole with a narrower slot below.  The horizontal side pieces have mushroom heads that fit through the hole and the "stem" of the mushroom heads fits the slots below tightly.  The connections are indeed "rigid".  You tap them firmly in place with a hammer (gently - I used a 2x4 and a deadblow hammer).  So far, so good. 

 This is the old plant light stand.  I am taking it apart as I transfer the lights to the new one.  The old shelves had a 2 bulb fixture.  The new ones have TWO 2 bulb fixtures per shelf.  

Here are the old light shelves being disassembled.  I really over-engineered the previous light shelf.  I am learning to back off on the over-engineering.

Note the plywood shelf.  I made those.  It's tricky.  The plywood shelf supports the light fixtures below.  But since the supporting bolts stick up over the plywood, I needed to countersink the provided fancy shelfs from below.  In other words, the top cover shelf has a hole in the bottom where the fixture bolts stick up.  Does that make sense?

This is the new light shelf.  There are now 2 light fixtures per shelf (4 bulbs).  The fancy shelf sits on the light fixture supporting plywood

In this picture, you see two shelves assembled.  The green box is a support of the light fixture so I can feed the support bolts from above.

Each of the rigid steel horizontal bars have a double curve to them.   A lower curve is for strength, the upper curve has a flat surface that supports the shelving (a 2'x4'x3/8" engineered material).  I initially thought it was a sort of rubber/resin, but it is pressboard.  The instructions said it would support 800 poubds per shelf.  It also said not to stand on it.  Huh?  I only weigh 160 pounds.  They must have loaded the shelves VERY carefully to support 800 lbs  if I cant stand on it.  Well, I didn't buy it for the weight capacity.  Plants aren't all THAT heavy!

Next. I complete (almost) the whole shelf rack...

Seedling Light Stand, Part 1

A while back, I mentioned I planned to build a better seedling light stand.  The current one has only a 2 fluorescent bulb fixture per shelf, and even with good daylight bulbs, I find the plants get leggy.  I found 4 bulb fixtures at a decent price and bought a couple, thinking I could put two 2 bulb fixtures on the other shelves.  I planned to make it entirely of 1/2" plywood, 18 or 16" deep and 5 feet long to easily accommodate the 4' fluorescent fixtures.  I planned to attach cleats to the sides to hold the shelves.  The light fixtures would be screwed right up into the plywood shelves.  The shelves would be spaced at increasing distances so that growing plants could be moved to shelves further from the lights as they grew.  Simple basic construction.

It was a good plan.  I wish I had followed it...

But I saw an ad for rigid steel frame shelving at a really great price.  It was 4' wide, 2' deep and 6' tall.  Sounded great.  The shelf supports were adjustable in 1" increments and the shelves themselves were 1/2" recycled material that could support 800 lbs per shelf.  I measured the 4 bulb fixtures carefully and measured the floor display model.  It seemed they would fit right under the shelves perfectly!  It promised "easy assembly" (which, for its original purpose, was true).  I bought it. 

It weighed a ton!  Well, not literally "a ton" but I couldn't even pull the box off the stack due to the weight and friction.  I had to get a store person to help.  The top box was broken open (probably items missing).  The 2nd was fine.  We got it on a flatbed cart.  He assured me that there were outside people to help me get it in the car.  I planned to take the box apart from in the car at home.

Needless to say, no outside person ever became available.  In fairness, they were there, but backed up helping other people.  I finally did manage to wrestle the box into the car.  I'm not weak, but I'm not a weight-lifter either.  Fortunately, I do know some simple mechanical principles...

But I should have known I was off to a bad start!

Next, assembling the stand...