Starting seeds is critical to my vegetable garden. Buying live plants is cost-prohibitive and only by starting seeds can I grow exactly what I want. The flats above are bottom heated with a heat mat. A sheet of plywood between the mat and the flats mitigates and spreads the otherwise too intense heat of the mat. The mat is connected to a timer, 15 minutes heat on, 60 minutes off. The unit doesn’t have a thermostat so this works reasonably well. The lights above the flats are set at 16 hours on 8 hours off.
This table is lit by a light bar specifically designed for indoor growing. I’m also adding some light with a couple spotlight style grow lamps.
Here is my second table. No heat mat, but a new industrial light fixture powering six 48″ long T8 grow light bulbs. I’ll be able to get 4 flats under these lights, but some rotation will probably be necessary to make sure all the seedlings get their fair share of light.
The bulbs cast an almost neon red glow.
This new infrared thermometer is proving invaluable. This model is reasonably priced and very easy to operate. All you have to do is point and shoot. A red laser pinpoints exactly where the infrared sensor is reading the temperature. It’s good for surface temperatures only, but because it instantly reads variations it’s perfect for determining what’s hot and what’s not.
I cover both set-ups with stiff white plastic which reflects light back to the flats and helps hold in a lot of the heat that the lights generate.
The only seeds sprouting, so far, are onions, but leeks and peppers are already seeded and others will soon follow. I’ll soon be moving the sprouted seedlings to the sunroom and eventually to a hoop tunnel set up in one garden bed. From there, they will be transplanted to their final spot in the garden.