Friday, April 13, 2018

The Grow Closet

I mentioned last year that in my new home I setup a "grow closet" to start my plants in.  Did it on the cheap.   It consists of some T5 lights, brooders with some full spectrum CFL bulbs, plastic shelving and a smart plug.  Outside of spring, it just stores some pumpkin growing supplies.  But this time of year I put a thermostatically controlled space heater at the bottom of the closet and a bunch of lights to get my plants started.  The space heater is set to 80 degrees.  I have two wireless monitors in the closet right now.  One is sitting on the top of a pot nearer to the lights and the other is sitting on the shelf.  85.4 degrees at the top of the pot and 81.8 degrees at the bottom on the shelf.  Nearly perfect.   As the plants grow the lights will be lifted.  I try to keep the lights 4-5 inches away from the plant.

The smart plug in a new edition.  Got it for $10 on Amazon for Christmas and it works nicely.  I'll use it in the greenhouse also.  With it I can set the lights on a timer.  I can also turn them on and off via an app.

The 2145 seed is the first to pop through the soil.  Is is it a sign?  Probably not, but is better than it not showing up at all or really late.

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