How to Make a PVC Garden Grow Light
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Learn how to make a really easy PVC Garden Grow Light for all your early seed starting plants. Inexpensive and just a few steps.
Having a garden means being prepared for the upcoming growing season. One way to do that is to start your seeds indoors about 6 weeks before the last frost date in your zone. But when its cold and dreary outside and you don’t have the window space, what’s a gardener to do? I know what I did. I had Mr. G make me a PVC Garden Grow Light.
Making your own grow light stand isn’t hard at all and is relatively inexpensive. This version will be easy to store away and put back together when needed.
Items to make this project:
- PVC pipe .5″
- PVC end caps .5″
- PVC Tee .5″
- PVC elbow .5″
- PVC pipe cutter
- Garden grow light
- Chain
- Timer
- Grow heater pad
As you can see from the picture above, this is a simple idea but works well when it comes to growing your seedlings before you plant them in the spring.
Purchase your light first to help you decide how wide you want your stand. Since I already had a 24″ grow light fixture, we went with that. Our stand is just a few inches larger than the grow light. The width is large enough to shine over a common seed tray.
We used a chain we already had and cut to size. Mr. G left some slack on the chain to raise it up and down. Drilling holes in the top PVC pipe, he simply pulled the chain through and used a nail to stop it from sliding back through. He then connected the other end of the chain with S hooks to the light.
I keep the light on a timer so that my seedlings get the recommended 12 hours of good light a day. If you are growing flowers, you will need to leave the light on for about 16 hours a day.
As you can see, I keep my grow light in the corner and out of the way. Since it really doesn’t get cold here where I live, I don’t need a heating pad. The heating pad will help the seeds grow faster in the coolness of your home during the winter. I just set my seedling pan on top of a thick old towel to keep it up off the cold concrete.
The dimensions of my grow light stands are 31″ wide x 22″ high x 16″ deep.
I put tomato, green bell pepper, and herbs under the grow light. Cucumbers, lettuce, and cabbage I plant directly in the ground. Again, this practice may be different depending on your zone. Before I started using a grow light to start seeds, I planted all my seeds directly into the ground. I found out I needed that extra 6-week seedling grow period before the last frost date so my growing season would be finished before the Florida heat started.
That’s it! When your growing season is over, just take the stand apart and store away. A simple garden project you can use year after year to help you get a jump start on your spring planting season.
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What a great way to get a jumpstart on my spring planing! I need to make one of these. I’ve been working in my garden to get it ready for spring, so this came at just the right time.
Getting ready to start my seedlings. Exciting times around the homestead. Bring on all that fresh food
I have a plant light at my office and have been intending to purchase one for my home. I could definitely use one of these to keep my plants as healthy as those at the office. My plants seem to thrive under the fluorescent lights at the office.
I never knew that PVC gardens were a thing. Sounds like a great way to start plants if the Spring is long and cold, like in Chicago. Thanks for the tips!
I’m pretty convinced that every plant I touch dies but I really want to try to grow a vegetable garden. I think I will try this and see if it helps at all.
This reminded me that I have to decide if I’m doing some cherry tomatoes this year. I’ve never grown anything inside but can see where this might be helpful for those that do.
This is pretty cool. I’ll have to show my mom this post. She’s really good about growing things. I have a black thumb and kill plants.
This is such a great idea! It seems really easy to make and would help with growing vegetables so much. I have a friend that gardens all the time, I will share this with her.
This is a great idea. I love using PVC pipe for DIY projects all over the house. This would be a smart project for the upcoming season. I am excited to start gardening more.
That’s a very bright idea! Love to mention this to my Auntie For her garden project.
This is completely awesome! We used pvc to build the stand for our container gardens and we love how they turned out!
That looks simple enough I think I could pull it off with no issues. I love this idea, thank you.
Grow lights really make a huge difference in growth rate. This is a really great DIY.
This can really give the house a refreshing look. You’ll also sure that you’re ingredients are safe.
This is a great idea. We’ve been growing produce for a few years now. This will be a fun DIY to do with my daughter.
This is a great and sensible idea to save time and begin early. Something we too could implement next year. The best thing it it is simple and doable.
I never thought that this can be done personally, thanks for the inspiration. I thought it was only being done by experts. Hahaha, Now it’s time for me to do some gardening make-overs and plans.
Gonna share this with Sweetie; he’s the gardener in our casa. We’re also in Florida, in the panhandle, so it does get a little chilly. Gracias for the DIY. BB2U