DIY Grow Lights

So last year I wanted to start my first veggie garden in our new house, but was struck with the sticker shock of how much it would be to start a new garden. At that point I started to look at ways to cut the cost but still grow a lot of organic food for my family. So before I even built any of the grow beds in my back yard, I started to grow organic veggie starts indoors. I looked all over the web for inexpensive grow lights and even looked at shop lights that I can replace the bulbs. But after adding up the cost to buy the housing and grow bulbs, it was too much. At that point I started to look at different ways of making my own housing for grow bulbs that would fit into my down stairs shower ( limited space). That’s when I saw a YouTube video that gave me this idea, but I cut a few costly things and made my grow lights more… Better? Sorry but sometimes some YouTube videos are done by people… guessing? I don’t want to be rude about it, but my dad has always taught me to do my own research before attempting things that need a “Don’t try this at home” label. It’s the wiring up part that made me scared for this person, electrical tape and a pocket knife are NOT the only things you need.

Most of these you can find at your Home Depot(or already own) or Amazon, here is the list of items I used:

Rubber Bands ( found on green onions or just have)
Twist tie ( found on bread lofts)
Extension Cord
Electrical Tape
Wire Nuts (make sure you get the right size, #14 gauge and #16 gauge wire is what we are using, the color changes by brand, sadly)
BBQ Skewers 12″ long
Baler Twine
Vent Pipe 4″ x 2′ (in the air duct aisle in a box usually )
1/4″ drill bit (for the corner holes for the skewers to go through)
1 1/4″ drill ( or you can drill a bunch of holes to make a 1 1/4″ circle)
Weatherproof lamp holder (picture of box below)
Y shape 2 splitter adapter (picture of box below)
Chain and S hooks (or you can just tie your Baler twine to the shelf like I did last year)
Wire Strippers
and finally Grow bulbs