Changing the lighting, Part one

Front of house with Grow light on at night

During the month of September, it became apparent that I needed to move the growing system.  After going through a full round of planting, I realized that a lot of energy from of the grow light was going outside through the adjacent windows, this was very noticeable at night.  The bush just outside the window shifted its leaves to point towards the grow light instead of south to the Sun. The original goal was to use the grow light to supplement outdoor light through the windows, as days got shorter in the fall, the grow light spread out the windows, creating an orange glow through the night.  The more I worked in enclosing the grow area from the rest of the basement, the brighter the lighting that went out the window, almost like a blub in the cone of a flashlight.  Also, during last winter's planting, the container that was closest to the window grew the least, the cold or winter was definitely slowing its growth, and unless the system is moved, the same issue would happen again.

New insulation sheets added over 2x4 outdoor wall struts

Moving the platform wasn't a small effort, but it wasn’t hard. The wooden framework moved easily on wheels, and had been moved regularly during harvesting and repair.  The issue was the lighting and mylar curtains.  The entire growing system was actually two pieces, one is the platform and the hardness.  The platform was the dirt and water on a wooden assembly with wheels, the harness is lighting, curtains and fans mounted to the celings and walls.  There was one alternate location for the platform in the basement that made sense, to complete the work required the area to be prepared as a harness, and some construction supplies were required.  I purchased a roll of reflective mylar and some sheets of insulation, two inches thick.  The insulation was installed on the wall behind where the mylar would be mounted a few weeks before the move.  The work only took a few minutes and a dozen nails.

At this time, I also had mites in many of the containers. Reviewing the watering from prior years, it was also apparent I was over watering.  Watering needed only a half-hour a day, and the setting for watering had it running for hours. Over watering caused mold and moss growing in the containers. I was looking at replanting over half the containers in the near future, but it was more important to complete the move first and replant as a follow-on step.

New location for Framework with
Mylar on two walls & ceiling

The move was completed on October 10, the same weekend I harvested tomatoes and peppers from the outdoor garden for a final time.  The preparation work required moving a table and boxes stored in the basement in the garage during the transition.  Once the work area was cleared, i nailed a 1x3 piece of wood to the top of the new sheet of insulation shown in the picture.  This would be used to fasten Mylar instead of insulation. The Mylar was slowly rolled out and stapled across the back wall and the load-bearing support beam of the house, creating a solid reflective curtain over two sides for the planting framework. 

I did a different approach for the ceiling, I stapled the more mylar to old cardboard presentation chart I had for the first harness, using a step ladder and used roof tacks to nail the mylar and cardboard to underlying support beams.  Timing and order of work was important, Installing the mylar took less than a half hour. With the prior harness the mylar was installed around the light mounting and assembly, which was problematic and frustrating. By installing the mylar first, it as a simple installation over a flat surface.

The next step was to move the mounting used for the grow light from its current location.  The light had been connected to the ceiling three different ways over the past year.  First was using 4 eyebolts connected to two floor joists.  This was effective, but did not allow adjustments to the angle and location. The next step was to use angle iron to cross multiple joists, providing flexibility in a 90 degree angle compared to the eye bolts.  The angle iron provided a variable range in one direction.  When I expanded the garden to a second tray last year, I purchased two 6 foot lengths, allowing a greater length in same direction.

The grow light is extremely delicate.  A replacement light bulb is $50 and that is handled separately.  The rest is a hunk of sheet metal shaped like a 3D extended trapezoid with 30 pound weight and cord on one end.  I've moved it alone but prefer help.

After the light is placed far away, I took down the extended rails and mounted them over the reflective mylar.  I had to make estimates to find the cross-beams, and nails are used to punch through the mylar and find the location of the beams.  I drilled holes for 4 inch bolts used to hold the beam to the ceiling, the same ones used in the original installation last year.

I reused another presentation board to finish the ceiling above where the platform would stand, and used the other half for starting the top of a curtain parallel to the load bearing support.  The curtain bottom was well under the planter height.  This created a 3 wall reflective curtain around the planter. Finally the light is installed with a small 5 inch fan blowing down on the light's transformer to distribute the heat and provide limited circulation.  I ran the cables over the cardboard to a local power strip.  At the time the light was running 12 hours a day.  My little power meter cold me I was paying $5.16 per month running the light.  I updated it to 18 hours a day.

I moved the platform in place and activated the light. One side of the assembly was still completely exposed, and that would need to wait for another day.

Growing platform in new location with grow light and mylar in place for 3 walls.