Greenhouse Basement Profits

A husband and wife living in Wisconsin have converted their entire basement into a fluorescent lighted area for African violets. The floor has been tiled with asphalt. Counters and fluorescent lighted showcases have been added to increase customer appeal. In this basement "greenhouse," they strive to grow only the varieties of violets in greatest demand, and their customers come from hundreds of miles to purchase cuttings and small plants. They do no mail-order selling, but make a good steady profit from their over-the-counter sales
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A grower in Winterset, Iowa, earned enough money from the sale of light-grown house plants to pay for her greenhouse. Her specialty is African violets. Another Iowa grower, who grows violets under basement fluorescents makes enough profit from them to pay for all of her own clothing and that of two high-school-age sons.

A Missouri "amateur-commercial" grower, the wife of a retired physician, adds a substantial amount to his retirement pay through sales of violets grown under light in a basement and two upstairs bedrooms.

A pair of fluorescents placed under the shelf in my greenhouse annex give me considerable extra room for starting gloxinera seedlings and cuttings.

Since we have no basement in our home, we have installed lights in our utility room and in my study. Under these setups are started many of the gloxinias, African violets, episcias, and various hybrid seedlings destined for sale.

Turn Your Basement into a Plant Room

A basement setup can be constructed by fastening one or more pairs of fluorescent tubes to a sheet of plywood and suspending it from the ceiling by chains or ropes. Enamel the plywood white to give increased reflection, and if the basement walls are dark, give them a coat of whitewash or paint. A table or counter to hold the plants should be centered about 18 inches under the light tubes. This distance will prove satisfactory for growing a number of plants. Those needing most light can be boosted up with boxes or inverted flower pots while the leaves of taller plants such as potted lemons or other citrus, hibiscus, and holly, among others, should just clear the light tubes.

If you don’t want to give over this much home space to plants, you may be able to fasten lights inside an old cabinet or chest and grow or propagate plants in it.

Then there are plant-growing cabinets, mostly of metal, with lights installed in them. These can be purchased directly from the manufacturer and are advertised in most of the leading garden magazines.