Zinnia & the High Price of Grow Lights

 

This post was delayed by the theft of my stepdaughter's catalytic converter. Instead of blogging, I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to figure out how to fix a $1,300 problem caused by some dirt-bag (and not the good kind of gardening dirt bag) for less than $1,300. Then there was the follow-up research on how to protect your catalytic converter from being stolen in the first place, which it turns out there's a whole industry that's developed. Just have to find a place to get that installed on our cars now.

In any case, yesterday's addition to the greenhouse was planting a few zinnia seeds. Slow and steady. 

Another strategy had been to add the SunBlaster grow lights to the greenhouse one by one. The problem that's arisen is that as seedling season approaches, the price has gone up from the low $30 range to the low $40 range. I almost didn't pull the trigger on a purchase yesterday, but then decided to go for it because chances are that they're not going to get any cheaper between now and when we really need them, the middle of next month and April. 

This has again raised the issue of costs. We are a long way from breaking even. At $200 a pop, the raised beds we built last summer weren't cheap. The greenhouse is more money. I've been toying with the idea of trying to sell some of the seedlings at a garage sale we're planning for the spring. We shall see. In any case, Kiki has suggested thinking of this more as a hobby than as a money saving strategy. That takes the edge off a little. It is going to be years before the grocery savings start to catch up with the infrastructure investment.

Another issue that's come up is seedling overgrowth. This was something that I'd worried about, and it has come to pass. The tomato seedlings on the lowest shelf are getting close to growing into the grow light. There's a little room to raise the light, but not much. Another option, as you can see depicted above, is to take the seedlings out of the boxes where we started them. This buys us about another inch and a half. 

Basically, it looks like I'm going to regret having started some of the tomatoes too early. We shall see. It's still a little early to judge.