It's about time I posted my setup....
It's not my first year of growing Chilis but I had to take a break last year and the year before that all of my seeds except for Bird's Eye didn't germinate. Soon after starting this season it became obvious that I will need some extra space to grow as much as possible in the best possible way. I don't have a garage and the cellar is far from suitable for growing anything but mould, so I was looking around the place and decided to set up a "grow shelf" in one corner. My budget is pretty limited atm so I decided to use as much "recycled" materials as possible and there I was in the cellar armed with a buzzsaw making the best I could of some old furniture...
I bought some black/white-foil from a growshop for you-know-what, because no gardening center carried it and in a grow shop they're at least not giving you strange looks if you buy indoor growing equipment. I didn't mention that I wasn't going to grow weed, but chilis, because all they would've said would've been "yeah, suuure...!" - and I couldn't even blame them...
I covered the boards and the walls with the foil so the light would be reflected in an effective way and would stay inside the shelf at the same time...
So here's the shelf after the first phase of building it:
It has three levels/boards - the top one still being under construction, but I can't work on it atm, because I am recovering from a disc prolapse and spend most of the day flat on my back.
I really need to get it done though, I need the space for plants!!! There is some space underneath the lower level for the "electronics", some tools, etc.... This way the necessary but not nice to look at stuff is kept outta sight but always handy.
I have an 865 light in each of the two finished levels, they are connected to a timer and are on from 6AM to 8PM. I am using chains so I can adjust the height of the lamps by 1cm. I am using tomato food as fertilizer and a mix of soil and sand. The temperature is around 22-25°C. While they are still inside they get treate with a neem/water solution I am spraying on them.
continued in next post!
It's not my first year of growing Chilis but I had to take a break last year and the year before that all of my seeds except for Bird's Eye didn't germinate. Soon after starting this season it became obvious that I will need some extra space to grow as much as possible in the best possible way. I don't have a garage and the cellar is far from suitable for growing anything but mould, so I was looking around the place and decided to set up a "grow shelf" in one corner. My budget is pretty limited atm so I decided to use as much "recycled" materials as possible and there I was in the cellar armed with a buzzsaw making the best I could of some old furniture...
I bought some black/white-foil from a growshop for you-know-what, because no gardening center carried it and in a grow shop they're at least not giving you strange looks if you buy indoor growing equipment. I didn't mention that I wasn't going to grow weed, but chilis, because all they would've said would've been "yeah, suuure...!" - and I couldn't even blame them...
I covered the boards and the walls with the foil so the light would be reflected in an effective way and would stay inside the shelf at the same time...So here's the shelf after the first phase of building it:
It has three levels/boards - the top one still being under construction, but I can't work on it atm, because I am recovering from a disc prolapse and spend most of the day flat on my back.
I really need to get it done though, I need the space for plants!!! There is some space underneath the lower level for the "electronics", some tools, etc.... This way the necessary but not nice to look at stuff is kept outta sight but always handy.I have an 865 light in each of the two finished levels, they are connected to a timer and are on from 6AM to 8PM. I am using chains so I can adjust the height of the lamps by 1cm. I am using tomato food as fertilizer and a mix of soil and sand. The temperature is around 22-25°C. While they are still inside they get treate with a neem/water solution I am spraying on them.
continued in next post!
