Gardening Grow Light

I love to garden. But I've never been very successful at starting seeds indoors. Living in the Pacific Northwest, we just don't get enough sunlight to keep seedlings on a window ledge. They end up being spindly. Anyway, that's been my experience. So this year I saw a plant light grow system made from PVC pipe, shop lights and chain in a gardening magazine. It looked simple enough. I asked my dear husband if he would make it. A few days later it was done. It cost about $40.00 to make the whole thing. We put it on a small folding table and so far it's amazing. The plants are growing great. I think the two keys are, keep the lights within 3 - 5 inches of the plants and keep the lights on a minimum of 12 hours. We used regular flourescent bulbs. Two are the blue lights (6500K) and two are the red lights (5500K). Another tip is water from the bottom. If you water on the top, you run the risk of a fungus growing on the soil and literally eating the plant at dirt level.
It's a big savings if you can start your garden plants from seeds. I'm hoping for my best garden year ever!