If you are looking to start your own vegetable and flower plants this year from seed – then you need to create your very own tabletop seed starting stand. Not only is it incredibly easy and inexpensive to build – its simple design will allow you to grow your best transplants ever!
Starting your own plants from seeds has so many advantages. Not only can you grow all kinds of unique plants that can be hard to find, you can also do so for a fraction of the cost of store-bought transplants.
We have been growing most of our vegetable and flower plants from seeds for over a decade. It’s hard to describe, but there is just something so satisfying about seeing all of the plants for your garden come alive early indoors – even as the snow still might be flying outdoors!
How To Make Starting Seeds Indoors Easy – Creating A Tabletop Seed Starting Stand
Unfortunately, many gardeners shy away from starting their own seeds indoors. All to often it’s because they think it will be too time consuming or difficult of a process. Or they mistakenly think it requires an expensive investment in fancy special grow lights and equipment.
Speaking from experience, all of those misconceptions couldn’t be further from the truth! Especially when you can quickly and easily build your own seed starting light stand. All it takes is a few 2×4’s and a couple of inexpensive shop lights – and you can be growing up to two whole flats of flowers or vegetables with ease!
Why You Can’t You Grow Seedlings In A Windowsill? How To Create A Tabletop Seed Starting Stand
So why is a seed starting stand even necessary? Can’t you simply grow your seedlings in a sunny windowsill?
Unfortunately, growing seedlings in a window or windowsill simply doesn’t create strong seedlings. The sunlight coming through a window is too far away. Because of that, seedlings grown with this method end up thin and weak trying to stretch to the light. See our article: 6 Common Seed Starting Mistakes Gardeners Make – And How To Avoid Them!
But with a seed starting stand, the lights can be hung directly over the plants. As the plants grow, the lights can be adjusted with ease. But here is the best part – those lights don’t have to be need to be expensive grow lights!
As it turns out, the light spectrum needed for starting vegetable and flower seeds is extremely basic. Although tropical and specialty plants often require special lights, vegetable and flower seedlings do not. And that means all you need for great growing success are ordinary and quite affordable LED shop lights.
How To Create A Tabletop Seed Starting Stand
We have been using this table top model for the last five or so years and just love it. One of the best things about this simple seed stand is that it doesn’t take up a lot of room. And it lets you hang basic LED shop lights to easily give your plants the light they need.
We have used our stand to grow our plants on top of an old kitchen table, in the corner on the floor of our living room, in a spare bedroom – and all with great success. And since it uses artificial light, the room doesn’t even need to have a window!
This little stand is quick and easy to build. With the basic tools found in most home garages, most can cut and assemble it in just a few hours or less. In fact, as for those tools, all it requires to build is a tape measure, a drill with a 1/8” drill bit, a power screw driver and any saw that can make straight cuts through a 2 x 4!
The Build – How To Create A Tabletop Seed Starting Stand
As always, for those who want them, we do have complete step by step building plans in our Etsy Plans Shop, but here is a look at the basics of how the stand is built and assembled – and a few secrets to using it to grow amazing seedlings.
We built the seed starting stand using just five (5) 2 x 4 x 8’s. With its four sturdy legs, it can go directly on the floor or on top of a table for easy access. At a finished size of 24″(H) x 24″(W) x 51″(L), the stand takes up very little space.
The tabletop seed rack top is supported by (4) legs with cleats made easily with 2 x 4’s stacked and screwed together. The top frame is then created with 2 x 4’s and sits on top of the legs, making the piece incredibly sturdy.
The strong frame allows for two (2) ordinary 4′ fluorescent or LED shop lights to hang easily down from the top over the plants. Using basic “S” hooks and chain, the lights can easily be adjusted over the plants as they grow. Affiliate Link: 4 Pack Linkable 4′ Led Shop Lights
One final note on the building process, we like to put ours together using screws. This not only makes it incredibly strong, but also great for taking apart easily to store when not in use.
Listen To Our Podcast On How To Start Seeds Indoors!
Growing The Plants You Need – How To Create A Tabletop Seed Starting Stand
With ample room to grow up to two flats of plants, this stand is perfect for those with small to mid-sized gardens. When you consider a flat can grow anywhere from 36 to 72 plants, a two-flat seed starting rack produces a lot of plants!
It allows you to keep the bulbs at a close 1 to 1.5 inches above the top foliage of the plants as they grow. It may seem close, but this allows the plants to grow slow and strong. That is exactly why trying to grow seedlings in a windowsill is so difficult.
The sunlight, unfortunately, is just too far away. Because of this, the plants struggle to reach out to it. It’s also why you want to keep your lights close to your plants on the stand. If your light source is too high on your stand, the plants will grow spindly and weak in the same way.
As for how much light they need, for both vegetable and flower seedlings, once seeds germinate, leave the lights on for about twelve hours each day. This will provide plenty of light for them to grow strong. As the plants grow on the plant stand, continue to move the chains and lights up.
Here is to starting your own plants from seed this year with your very own tabletop seed starting stand. And even more, to your best and most rewarding garden season ever! Happy Gardening – Jim & Mary.
Old World Garden Farms
Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. The two are frequent speakers on all things gardening and love to travel in their spare time.
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