Product Review

 Product review

As passionate gardeners, Dave and I are always watching for more efficient ways to manage seasonal succession crops without using a lot of space. We also wanted to grow salad mixes and fresh herbs all winter long; and now we can. No longer do we have that annual chore of finding a place to hang old, clunky fluorescent ballasts for our seed starts each spring.

The Deluxe 3-Tier T5 High Intensity SunLite Garden, made by the Gardener’s Supply Company, is designed for starting seeds, growing herbs, houseplants and orchids. The Gardener’s Supply Company is based in Vermont (US) and specializes in grow lights and stands, seed starting supplies, season extenders and a wide array of gardening and kitchen supplies. Researching further I found that 8% of the company profits go towards supporting pollinator health and habitat. This 100% employee owned company has strict in-house and business guidelines to strive for a positive impact on the environment. Their happy employees enjoy their own garden space and yoga classes while at work. All the while the company continues to support soil regeneration, fight hunger and get more kids exposed to the joys of gardening.

The unit retails for $899.00 (US) plus shipping, handling, taxes and surcharges. The unit arrived on the day the company promised via Canada Post; packaged in cardboard, very little plastic and no polystyrene foam.

Once we unpacked it from the box and put away the packaging, Dave separated all of the parts in piles with part #’s facing up. Doing this task made the assembly process much easier and avoided wasted time and frustration while scrambling for parts and stumbling over packaging.

We had no problems understanding the manual, the instructions were very clear. It was helpful that the manual suggested having a Phillips screwdriver, rubber mallet, needle nose pliers and twist ties on hand prior to starting the assembly. Be sure that you have a minimum 8'X8' area cleared of any clutter or furniture – you’ll need the room to work in. It is helpful to have two people for the assembly.

There’s a little indentation on the cross bar; be sure to place the bar so that the dent side is facing out. Tighten the bottom before you go on to the sides and double-check all the bolts and screws before installing the shelves. Place the unit on its side to make it easier to attach the caster wheels. The wheels required some strength to pop into place, be sure you hear the little pop that tells you when the wheels are seated in properly. If you have a rubber mallet, it is helpful to carefully tap the caster wheels into place.

Part way through construction, we became concerned as the frame felt a little loose. Upon double-checking we found some of the connections could use a little tightening, so we made sure to check all bolts before continuing. Upon completion, Dave felt quite impressed with both the quality of the steel and the stability of the unit.

You'll see here via one of the pictures a little a wire tool Dave made… and another picture that shows it attached to the beaded metal pull chain. The tool was made to insert the chains into the post, which has a grommet on both side so if you just push the chain through it will tend to drop down, but this little wire tool Dave made pushes the wire through both grommets, ahead of the chain, pulling the chain through along behind.

The 4 wheels definitely make the unit easy to roll around on our basement linoleum floor. Rolling out and away from the wall enables the user to access all sides of the unit to water, mist or tend to the plants without having to raise ballasts or wipe down a moist wall.


The light bulbs flickered on one of the ballasts and we thought the bulbs were faulty or that a connection was wonky, but with extra firm pressure on the electric cord connections Dave got the ballast to work again. It still flickers once in a while upon start up, but that might stop when we replace the bulbs with LED version. We’ll connect with the company to find out more about this soon.
The light ballasts measure 14” wide and have beaded metal chains with cord locks to secure it in place. This makes is easy to lift one side then the other in incremental stages as needed. Our top shelf has taller plants on one side so we have the ballast slightly tilted right now to accommodate the shorter plants on the other end. Each shelf has its own light switch, enabling gardeners to run the system efficiently. An added bonus is that the ambient light can support other plant life in the room and reduces the need to turn on the ceiling light.

Each of the ballasts come with three T-5 bulbs, which produce full-spectrum light and last up to 7,500 hours, while using 45% less energy than standard fluorescent bulbs would. Since these T-5 bulbs produce more heat than LED’s, we found it useful to bring in a small fan – both to strengthen the plants and to dispel excess heat and moisture. Besides this we bought a 24 hour timer that allows you to control the on and off times automatically. It also requires that you use a 3-plug extension cord for the three ballasts. Basement placing may be beneficial as it is cooler in the summer down there and therefore the heat will not bother the living space. And in the winter, the extra heat produced from the T-5 bulbs is welcome. In the future we may install a bathroom style fan in the ceiling if needed to vent out any extra moisture.

If you are like us, you’ll want to know what it costs to replace those bulbs and if there are more efficient options out there. A search on Amazon revealed that a 3 pack of these same type of bulbs sell for around $30 or more, but offer longer life span – up to 20,000 hours. Alternatively, go for the LED version and get a 50,000-hour life span (up to 20 years). These T-5 compatible LED bulbs will work with this type of ballast, will produce less heat and meet safety requirements (not all bulbs available for sale do). I saw a pack of 25 on sale at Amazon for $295, which works out to $11.80 per bulb.

Dave wanted to keep the cords tidy, so he used nylon cable strap ties (zip ties) to attach them to the frame. While doing this, he made sure to affix the switches to the post in such a way that they are convenient to reach. 

tidy wires / light switch

The Specs:

The unit measures 51" long x just over 14" wide and about 68.5" tall. The black, powder-coated aluminum frame comes with 3 watertight trays, and allows for a maximum of 14 3/4" distance between tray and ballast.



Overall we are both highly impressed and would recommend this product any time. Within days of having it assembled I had all the shelves filled with seed starts, and within weeks it was full of robust greenery. We started more than 50 plants between April 20 and June 6th. While the garden is planted now, we are currently keeping one shelf supplying us with succession crops... saving us hundreds of dollars already. This unit will negate the need for a greenhouse as we can time our plantings more efficiently now.



If you are interested in this unit check out the company at: https://www.gardeners.com ...or visit one of their distributors i.e.: Veseys.com

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