Friday, July 08, 2016

Building the bench

When I took up the art of growing Bonsai trees, I had to provide an artificial light source on my balcony. There are very few trees that will grow in a low light environment. That's when I made the decision to put a Grow Light on the balcony.

While I was shopping for a Grow Light, I realized that with a Grow Light, a few sun loving flowering plants could grow on the balcony. Very exciting!

Dixieline
There is a very nice store near Guava Gardens that is a combination lumber yard and hardware store. It's name is Dixieline, and I like this place a lot.

After thinking about a bench for the Grow Light for several days, yesterday I prepared a shopping list and drove over to Dixieline to buy the lumber and hardware for this project.

Bench top
The top of the bench is made from two 3/4" x 10" wide pieces of lumber which I plan to glue together. Gluing requires some pressure to keep glued surfaces together and to insure a good bond.

In the pic below, you may see my solution to the pressure problem.
Rubber bands!

Click on the board pic to make it bigger

Rubber bands!

Grow Light on the new Bench

View of Grow Light Bench Leg

I used two steel braces like this one to connect
 the right side of the new bench to the existing 
flower shelf




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9 comments:

  1. Suz7/8/16, 7:13 PM

    pretty clever!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tioga George7/9/16, 8:49 PM

      Hi Suz,
      So.....you like the rubber band idea? Hmmmmm?


      George

      .

      Delete
    2. Suz7/10/16, 8:46 PM

      I like to see ingenuity and a little thinking.
      You've always been good with that.

      Delete
  2. Croft7/9/16, 9:59 AM

    Well that should get the marijuana police knocking on your door, George! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Phil7/12/16, 12:30 AM

    It looks like you are using flourescent tube growlite bulbs. I would have suggested LED's as they use much less electricity. You could almost use them with a solar charger. I like the USB ones with 18 lights on a goose neck stem. The stem is about 18". You can order on eBay direct from China with free shipping for about $3.75 per lamp. I also bought a circular one for taking closeup photos, just take the picture thru the center of the ring for shadowless lighting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tioga George7/12/16, 5:04 AM

      Wow, Phil !
      There's a lot to learn about Grow Lights!! Thank you sooooo much for the heads up info!

      I may get another chance to buy Grow Lights again. I'm thinking about using this fluorescent grow light for sun loving flowers on my almost total shade balcony.

      Then buy additional grow lights for each Bonsai.

      George

      Delete
  4. Phil7/12/16, 9:13 AM

    George: The USB LED lights work off a little cube adapter you can get for about $1. Order when you order the lamps. You might use one on each bonsai, as sort of a spotlight. They are very cool. It might be possible to have an indoor spot to highlight one plant, and rotate it every month for the outside air. Thus you would have one indoors to enjoy..At one time I was all excited about bonsai some pyracantha plants which were coming up from seeds in my back yard. I never got around to it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shah8/7/16, 9:00 AM

    Gardening is becoming more and more famous among most of the people specially among the aged people all over the world. Bonsai trees look so beautiful and make the entire home more beautiful and attractive to all. This essay republic will help the people to know about how to take care of the trees in the garden. The sunlight is most essential element for the growth and blooming the flowers in the garden.

    ReplyDelete

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