Have you ever considered building an indoor grow lights system for growing plants indoors? Did you think an indoor lighting system was only for the pros? Wether you want to grow herbs indoors, cultivate an indoor garden or provide some supplemental light for your houseplants during the winter. Growing indoors is an enjoyable experience for any gardener.

One of the many benefits is the ability to grow your own seedlings which is less expensive than having to purchase nursery seedlings you also get access to a greater selection of seeds available when compared to the traditional plant varieties at the local nursery. And you get a little gardening therapy during the winter months when the ground is under a layer of snow.

Once you have your grow light shelving system you can start experimenting with growing some edibles during the winter months. Having supplemental light is essential to growing healthy seedlings and plants indoors. When i did reasearch for growing stands for starding seeds indoors most of them were in the price range of 300$ and above, I did find one that’s available for a more affordable price. If you want to get one of the top notch grow light systems, this Professional Two Tier Grow Light (Aff.link) is a dream.

If you don’t have the money you can assemble your own grow light system that will server well for starting seeds and indoor garden.

First let’s start with all the stuff you will need:

Lighting Fixtures: The lights i recommend are your standart 4-foot 32W shop light

fixtures that can be easily found in big box stores or online for under 30$. You will need to get extra s-hooks to hook the chain to the wire shelving because the light from above comes with chains and only a few s-hooks.

Gardening Trays: You will need gardening plastic trays or any other container you have to help prevent water from dripping. I’ve found these black trays to do the job perfectly, their measurements are by 20 inches long and 10 you can easily fit one tray on each shelf. The trays are perfect for using cell packs, soil blocks or recycled containers to start your seeds. You can also double them up to make sure the gardening tray is not flexing when moving it around. If you are short on money you can also use recycled produce trays or small plastic storage toes.

Fluorescent Tube Lights: I personally recommend the 4-foot fluorescent light bulb they come 10 in pack and cool, warm or full-spectrum. Cool white bulbs provide blue/green spectrum while the white warm bulbs provide red/orange spectrum. If you want a perfect balance of cool and warm that represents natural lighting, full-spectrum flurescent bulbs is your choice. The optimal spectrum for most greens and seedlings is cool white bulbs, you can also use both cool and warm bulbs to provide a wider spectrum of artifical light just make sure you rotate the trays every few days so your plants can receive light of both as they grow.

Keep in mind that fluorescent tubes lose their intensity over time and you will have to replace them every two to three years of continued use. You can still use the older bulbs to provide light but the spectrum strength will decrease over time. Before you make a purchase always make sure you are buying the correct bulbs and keep in mind that some light strips require T12 and T8. Fluorescent tube lights.



Wire Shelving: You will need a large-shelving unit that can accomodate 4-foot shop lights. I found 24-inch 3-tier shelving units to work best it’s also heavy duty and can support up to 250lbs per shelf, you would need two of them placed side by side to hang two 4-foot shop lights across each shelf. The shelves are 13-inches deep and two standart gardening trays can fit perfectly on each shelf. If you need more light there is always room on each shelf for two shop lights. The 3-Tier Shelving Units can hardly be found locally but you can always go online and get one. Make sure the measurements are 30 inches high 23 inches wide and 13 inches deep.

Power Strip with Timer: Most seedlings require at least 12-16 hours of light every day. You will have to set it for 16 hours on and then 8 hours off. You can find power strip with timer locally or online here.

(Aff.links)

How to Setup Your Indor Grow System:

Checklist:

4x plant trays

4x extra s-hooks

1x outlet strip timer

2x 3-tier shelving units

4x fluorescent tube lights

2x 4-foot shop lights

Start with assembling the shelving units as shown on the instructions also make sure they are adjusted to be at the same level for both shelving units. Then locate your growing area near an outlet. Try choosing a place that’s away from pets, high traffic, cold drafts or an excess heat, place the shelving units side by side you can place them on a old workbench or raised up on a folding table so you can easily check the seedlings. Use the chains and s-hooks to hang your lights from the top and middle shelves and plug the lights into the power strip timer then plug the strip timer to the outlet. Place your gardening trays on the shelves, set the timer and start growing seedling. Keep about 2-inches above the seedlings and adjust as the plants grow.