Grow racks at night
Plant racks, light stands…I call ‘em grow racks. They’re filling up now. Pushed to capacity, they can hold a total of 36 trays. Depending on the size of the plug sheet—I use 38s, 72s, 128s, 200s—I can start between 1,368 and 7,200 seedlings. Sounds super-efficient. HOWEVER, it comes down to the light. With four trays per double fluorescent fixture, the light is pretty stretched, and a lot of rotating is in order. Also, most of the fixtures are the old standard T-12 type, where the light is stronger towards the middle of the tube. You can clearly see the difference in growth if you leave trays in the same position for a few days. The newer T-8 type lights evenly from end to end and uses less power, but I don’t feel like replacing all the fixtures (a couple in there are already T-8). I continue my experiments with what size plug sheet to best start in given the light (and which determines if or how often I need to transplant to larger quarters). All in all, I’ll get around 2,500 seedlings off the racks this year.
Somewhat related posts: • Seedlings aplenty • The Big Shelf • Rack built • New rack ready to roll! • Seedlings continue to grow…
