# Building a new plant rack, need advice



## BonnieLorraine (Jan 23, 2011)

I've officially outgrown my propagation tanks, and am ready to start on some grow out tanks. We were going to get a greenhouse, but we decided the cooling in the summer might get to be too much, and it would be safer to leave things indoors. So far the planned setup is a 4'x2'x6' gorilla rack with 3 glass tanks. The tanks will be on their sides with sliding glass doors in the front, and a 2" glass lip at the bottom so I can put in egg crate false bottoms. The dimensions for the tanks will be somewhere around 4'x2'x18", give or take an inch or two to have it fit inside the rack. I was planning on getting a MistKing value system, and running three of the value greenhouse nozzles per tank, with the holes centered down the middle, and the misters coming on maybe 3 times a day. Does anyone know if foliar feeding with a mister will clog the nozzles, and if so would soaking in vinegar get it out? The lighting will be dual 4' t5 fixtures with 6500k bulbs installed under each shelf. 
I'll have 1/2"-3/4" bulkheads installed in the back lower corner, with tubing and a shut off valve left attached, so I can drain them when the bottom gets too full. In the top tank I also want to install two internal fans like shown here DIY: Air Circulation in the back corners, for my orchids and ferns. Now for my dilemma. I put aquarium heaters in the propagation tanks in the water under the false bottoms for bottom heat, but it's also heating the air quite a bit. I've been looking at heat cables, to possibly go above the egg crate, but it seems all of those are made to be buried in sand. I've also looked at the heating mats, but those are made to be used under the drainless trays. I want to be able to freely water the plants and have it drain through into the false bottom, but also have some way to provide heat to the undersides of the pots. We have the water circulation cables on the benches at my college for bottom heat, but I'm unsure how to adapt that to an 8 sq foot tank. I'm trying to get this all planned out in advance so we can order the tanks by early next week, and the aquarium builder doesn't like drilling new holes after a tank is made. If anyone has any ideas for the heating cables, or how else I can optimize plant growth in these tanks, please let me know


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## therizman2 (Jul 20, 2008)

Do you think you will need to provide extra heat in addition to the heat that the lights will be giving off? IMO, I would skip trying to figure a way to heat the tank, if anything, just move the lights closer and I would think that should get it plenty warm enough for any plants you plan to put in there.

You may also want to consider a few different heights of tanks. I have quite a few plants that never get much over 4", but then I have others that are 24"+. 

What do you plan to foliar feed with? Most foliar fertilizers I am not a huge fan of because eventually you have to go in and clean off plant leaves which for some plants I end up doing more damage than good because the leaves are so fragile.


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## BonnieLorraine (Jan 23, 2011)

I'm more worried about the night temps, which can drop into the 30-40s here. I would have whatever I use hooked up to a thermostat where it only comes on when it drops below the 70's. I plan on using heavily diluted dyna gro for the foliar feeding, so far with what I have it diluted down to I haven't had any problems with spots or marks, but then I'm just using it to supplement regular dosing.


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## therizman2 (Jul 20, 2008)

If it is indoors, and not in a greenhouse, what are the temps that your house gets down to at night? If you just want to keep the ambient temperature up, Id say just get a space heater with a thermostat, will be the same or cheaper Id think than getting a bunch of heat cable or heat mats to go in each tank.


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## BonnieLorraine (Jan 23, 2011)

I'm thinking for the summer I will just put them on a reverse cycle, that way when it's hot the heat lamps won't further be cooking things, and at night the lamps can keep them warm. I'm going to have to put up some light blocking curtains on the window though, so the neighbors don't think I'm growing pot >.< I'm more worried about the winter. I'm moving to the new apt next week, which is why I want the rack ready to go on the day I move, and no idea how hot or cold it will get, theres no ac and no heating. I think at my Mom's house it gets down to about 50 at night inside, enough to wake me up shivering or have me buried under heated blankets. I really just wanted the bottom heat to promote root growth though, you're supposed to have the soil warmer than the leaves, which is hard to do with a room heater. I think I'm over complicating things lol.


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## therizman2 (Jul 20, 2008)

lol, you are making this quite complicated. IMO, if you are just doing a small area, no need to try to heat the soil. Usually the only places I see the soil being heated is in high production greenhouses and those that are owned by large entities (corporations, universities, research areas, etc). The best way I have seen to heat the soil is with steam, but I am guessing you dont have access to steam for heating purposes. Otherwise the next best option is with heat mats. Heat mats made for that purpose are rediculously priced IMO. (Seed Starting & Seedling Propagation Bottom Heat Mats & Thermostats at Home Harvest® Garden Supply) With good fertilization and ambient temperature control, I dont think you will notice much of a difference in root growth when growing them in your setups which are basically terrariums. Other really cheap option (I am in college and do love cheap solutions), just cover them up with a blanket at night, the tanks will already be warm from having lights on all day, blanket will help insulated it overnight.

Reversing the day/night cycle could work as well. Just remember that some plants need that cycle, so during the day, you will want to make sure there isnt too much ambient light getting to the plants. I know a few of my plants seem to have started to grow better when I put them in my basement where I could control ambient light getting to them. On the plus side, electricity is cheaper most places at night since there are very few other people on the grid using any and there is no way for the power companys to effectively store it.

On a side note, Home Depot now carries a pretty sweet little watt meter, and its only like $20 if you dont already have a kill-a-watt. Interesting to see your power consumption and figure out ways to reduce it (LED, T5, etc).


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## BonnieLorraine (Jan 23, 2011)

Yeah, I'm slowly phasing out all my power compacts for t5's. I looked into the LED's, but until they come down in price they aren't quite feasible for me. My problem is I was an intern at my college, in charge of propagation for the greenhouse (each intern gets a section of the nursery: shade house, natives, drought tolerant, etc) so my problem is I've been spoiled with all the nifty little toys they have over there. We had an entire glass house just for cuttings/seed germination, with the heated cables on the benches, and misters going off every hour, was pretty sweet. I've been trying to replicate that at home as much as possible, but it's difficult. I could sure see the difference though in getting my gesneriad cuttings to take there, versus at my house.


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## JoshH (Feb 13, 2008)

I too ran out of space in my tanks and wanted something bigger, and tailored just for my plants. Commercial units were rediculously expensive, and I didnt want to use just a baker's rack. Here's what I ended up doing....easy and only about $100 or so.

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/43960-plant-grow-chamber-journal.html


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## BonnieLorraine (Jan 23, 2011)

I saw your plant case Josh, it's wonderful!! I had been thinking of doing something similar, but with sliding glass shower doors built in the front. Then I saw the steep flight of concrete steps up to my new apartment, and the sharp turns to get into the bedroom where the tanks will be, and quickly changed my mind. Maybe when I get a more permanent housing situation I can look into doing something like that, but for now the lease is month to month, so I need to be prepared to move whenever.


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## JoshH (Feb 13, 2008)

I had a similar problem since I just moved into this new rental house, the first floor gets really cold at night (60-65) and the plants aren't doing well. I just switched the lighting over to HO T5s and run them at night, which keeps them warm. At day the lights go off and the plants are only subjected to regular cool temps ie: 69-72. So far the plant growth is starting to really take off. It seems that under 67 degrees or so the plants start to suffer, or at the very least stop actively growing. Another thing to think about is fungus and mildew, like powery mildew really become a problem with the sharp drop in temps.

I've never found a need for a heating pad, but thought about trying one for starting seeds.

Your planned setup sounds more than adequate for growing pretty much anything. The T5s will do wonders on the growth rate and overall health.


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## frogmanroth (May 23, 2006)

Shop Lawn & Garden : Plants : Greenhouses at Lowes.com


here is a link to lowes it should be indoor greenhouses they work awesome I use them for flies


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## BonnieLorraine (Jan 23, 2011)

I tried the link, but it didn't work. Most of the indoor greenhouses I've seen have been either too expensive, or had the plastic vinyl around, but open on the bottom, which frightened me since the apartment has wood floors. 

I just picked up the rack I will be using yesterday from Lowes, it's 48"x24"x72". I also stopped by Hamiltons today to pick up 3 of the 47" t5 fixtures with 6 of the 6500k bulbs. Hopefully we can start assembling things tomorrow afternoon. Below is a drawing of what I'm sending to the glass tank builder. No, it's not the greatest CAD drawing I've ever done, and most people keep telling me I accidentally put the back view upside down, but I just wanted something to show him the placement of the holes. It should perfectly hold 4 of the 11"x22" flats and fit snugly on the shelf. The smaller hole on the bottom back is for the .5" bulkhead, and the larger upper hole is to fit cords through and so it can fit the plug "grommets" that are used in melamine cages. The small three holes running down the center middle are for greenhouse nozzles, and the back two holes that are in the corners are for internal fans. There will also be a two inch glass lip siliconed behind the sliding doors to hold in all the water for my false bottoms, which I forgot to draw in, and really didn't feel like copying down all these to paint again so I could email them to him >.<


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## Lunar Gecko (May 7, 2010)

JoshH said:


> I had a similar problem since I just moved into this new rental house, the first floor gets really cold at night (60-65) and the plants aren't doing well. I just switched the lighting over to HO T5s and run them at night, which keeps them warm. At day the lights go off and the plants are only subjected to regular cool temps ie: 69-72. So far the plant growth is starting to really take off. It seems that under 67 degrees or so the plants start to suffer, or at the very least stop actively growing. Another thing to think about is fungus and mildew, like powery mildew really become a problem with the sharp drop in temps.
> 
> I've never found a need for a heating pad, but thought about trying one for starting seeds.
> 
> Your planned setup sounds more than adequate for growing pretty much anything. The T5s will do wonders on the growth rate and overall health.


Ohh thats whats with the mold I get in my 40 gallon grow tank. Grrr I cant seem to get rid of this yellow fungus I get in my drainage layer. Ticks me off to no end. I live in high desert in OR. We have extreme lows and highs with in a few hours. I know lots of people who lost horses to colic this year because of it.

Over all this post is a great one. Wish I had the space to have such a nice plant set up going but I really love reading your ideas.  BonnieLorraine - that looks like it will be really cool. Keep posting! Cant wait to see pictures.


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## Brotherly Monkey (Jul 20, 2010)

have you thought about using those indoor green houses? The secret Jardines hold humidity pretty well, compared to most of the other brands, and you can fit two bakers racks into the 5x5 and still have plenty of room to move around put various bits of equipment, like a humidifier or aircon

http://www.greners.com/grow-tents.html


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## BonnieLorraine (Jan 23, 2011)

We had a slight change in plans. The 4' rack ended up being too flimsy for our purposes, and unfortunately a nicer 2' wide one was significantly ($400) more expensive. We changed it to a 6'x2' rack from Home Depot, exchanged the 4' fixtures for 5', and decided to make 2 3'x2'x18" tanks per shelf instead of just one large impossible to move one. As you can see, the pics aren't set up in what was supposed to be my nice new plant room, but are instead in our friends garage. We learned the hard way that you should never rent from someone on Craigslist that presents them-self as the apartment owner, has you sign a lease, pay the rent and deposit, and hands you the keys. Hopefully we will have a legitimate apartment soon to set the finished rack up in. Oh, if you're wondering why the water is slight unlevel, the wire shelf seems to be slightly bowed, hopefully they will straighten out soon.

Picture of the right tank with my future mother plants that I just potted up to 6.5" pots










Picture of the lower two shelves on the rack, the middle rack will be much lower once we get the front opening tanks for that shelf and no longer have to get in through the top










Empty tank










More to come soon hopefully


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## BonnieLorraine (Jan 23, 2011)

The shelves didn't leave as much space as I had hoped, so we're having 2 18" tall tanks on the top rack, and the other 4 tanks are 16" tall. We'll be putting a 4'x2' glass tank inside the stand under my rhino iguana's cage as well for some of the taller mother plants. I took pics today after spending 10 hours repotting mother plants and taking cuttings. The bottom two tanks are currently sitting in the living room, waiting for some plumbing parts to come in the mail before I can install them. Here's the latest pics


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## Steve25 (Jan 29, 2010)

Looks awesome!


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## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

Looks good, I was going to post this, IKEA | Dining storage | Display cabinets | KLINGSBO | Glass-door cabinet but I was too late. I'm thinking of converting one to an orchid grow chamber


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## Dartfrogfreak (Jun 22, 2005)

Bonnie, it looks like it turned out to be an awesome setup!!


Keep us posted on how everything works out


Todd


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## jhowie (Oct 20, 2011)

Absolutely! It looks absolutely great... I am really thrilled on hearing how it works out. It looks amazing and I am really jealous for I want a plant rack like that so bad!  Since I do not have enough space at home I put some plants for sale (though I did not want to but I do not have any choice) but once I moved I want a rack like that with a ton of new plants to adore!


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## BonnieLorraine (Jan 23, 2011)

Updated pics:

Epi Ferns


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