ikarus rising

The purple basil is sprouting! It's been germinating exactly a week now and there are already little purple sprouts poking up. There is sprouting in almost all 18 of the purple basil compartments.

The sweet basil seems to be lagging a bit behind. Most of the seeds still look like wet little eggs.

Here's a picture of the greenhouse in its almost finished form. It currently consists of a 4-tier plastic storage unit that measures 56" x 34" x 14", wrapped in 4 mil plastic sheet with a vertical slit down the front for access to the shelves. My short term solution for the opening was velcro and packing tape, but I've since installed a 3' zipper.

There's currently one tray that's half-filled with my germinating basil. I'm planning on using at least two of the shelves, possibly three if I can figure out a nighttime heating strategy that doesn't take up a whole shelf.

The grow lamp is attached to the underside of the top tier (on the right). I bought a timer switch for it, and so it's programmed to be on from 7 am - 10 pm. Ultimately, this will be replaced with a T5 fluorescent bulb, which I'm planning on hanging from on the underside of each tier. I bought a cheapo thermometer and hygrometer at PetCo (they're supposed to be used for iguana tanks), and stuck them to the top tier. I'm currently heating the greenhouse at night with just a programmable space heater. It's set to maintain 75 F by pulsing on for a few seconds every couple of minutes. The whole structure is on a second floor unheated sun porch in front of south-facing windows. If I find I'm having problems with insulation, I'm planning on replacing the 4 mil plastic sheet with some actual plastic, but that'll be more expensive.