new closet grow

[kwaaluudekid]

I've started a new grow in a 2' deep x 3' wide x 6' tall cabinet. I've done it kind of as an instructional for the new members out there, and to get some advice and critiques from more seasoned growers. So far the plants in the cabinet are 1 Shipwreck (good medicinal stuff - the bushiest of the bunch - received as a clone) and 4 bagseed (what I call regs from here on out). 1 of the regs (the tallest in pictures to be posted later) is grown from seed. So far it's looking female, but we still gotta hope it's not male. One of the clones really didn't do much and is only 3" high so far (it's same age as 2 clones from regs that are about 8"-9". Tall regs and Shipwreck are about 12"-14" or so.

[kwaaluudekid]

now on to the cabinet...


parts list for 2'x3'x6' grow cabinet with light shelf:

4 - 1'9" 2"x2"
4 - 2'8" 2"x2"
4 - 6' 2"x2"
3 - 2'x3'x1/2" plywood
2 - 2'x6'x1/2" plywood
2 - 3'x6'x1/2" plywood

=

6 - 2"x2"x8' (WeatherShield 2X2-8 PT #1 WeatherShield - Model # 2010153 - Store SKU # 302477 - $2.97/EA)
4 - 4'x8'x1/2" plywood (Trubord 7/16 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. OSB Sheathing Board - Model # 386081 - Store SKU # 386081
- $6.34/EA)


2 - (3 in. Double-Hinge Fixed Safety Hasp, Zinc Plated - Model # 15128.0 - Store SKU # 240109 - $3.39/EA)
4 - (Shepherd 2 In. Polypropylene Wheel Swivel Plate Caster, Load Rating 125 Lbs. - Model # 9392 - Store SKU # 168440
- $2.98/EA)
2 - (3 in. Hinge, 5/8 in. Radius, Satin Brass - Model # 15524.0 - Store SKU # 237074 - $1.78/EA-Each)
1 - (Grip Rite 2 In.1-lb Box of 159 Drywall Screw,coarse,grip-rite Fastener - Model # 2CDWS1 - Store SKU # 479697
- $5.94/EA)
1 - (Grip Rite 1 In.1-lb,box of 365 Drywall Screw Coarse Grip-rite Fastener - Model # 1CDWS1 - Store SKU # 517139
- $5.94/EA)
2 - (7/8 In. x 17 Ft. White Self-Adhesive V-Seal Weatherstrip - Model # M13WH - Store SKU # 518506 - $3.97/EA)


These parts are JUSt for the box. The info in ()'s, is info at time of writing from home depot web site (prices may vary), but approximate to : $90

ventilation:

low end fan - (NuTone ValueTest Wall 50CFM/Ceiling Fan - Model # 696N - Internet # 100081599 - Store SKU # 126313
- $13.97/EA)
better fan - (NuTone Basic 70CFM Fan - Model # 695 - Internet # 100001378 - Store SKU # 127767 - $29.93/EA)
dryer venting tube - 8'-10' (Deflect-o® Supurr-Vent Dryer Vent Kit - Model # SK8WF/12 - Store SKU # 417629 - $12.77/EA)
4 - 4" dryer tube clamps
1 - 4" flange carbon filter (**EBAY** around $50 with shipping **EBAY**) (can DIY, but easier to buy)
2 - 7" small personal fans for intake and plant motion (**WALMART**Optimus 7" Convertible Personal Clip-On /
Table Fan **WALMART**) $16.00 ea (get a clip-on and a table fan - will explain later why)


lighting:

you should already have these items, or at least know what you want. I plan on adding a cooltube and adding that to the exhaust fan to help keep cabinet cool. I am using 8 - 20 cmh bulbs for veg right now. have to get 150w hps bulb and will use that as well (plan on using both for veg and flower until I can get either 1 - 400w hps or 2 - 150w hps. then I will used the 8 cmh for vegging in a 2'x2'x4' cabinet (thats another thread)

I also plan on adding 3 - 2' fluoro fixtures (1 for each side) for when the plants get 4' or taller (prolly at 2.5' or 3' mark) to aide in lower growth and production when the main bulb(s) can't get through the canopy




-------- Making the cabinet ---------

start with the base first, then frame, then add walls, lighting, and ventilation

I used Stratlogic's plans from this link ( Grow Box Construction - 420 Magazine (http://www.420magazine.com/forums/do-yourself/65884-grow-box-construction.html) ). Reps go out to Stratlogic for the inspiration to build my own. Don't forget to add the casters to the base BEFORE you add the frame and sides (it's much easier that way).

Take a look at his for the beginning part of my box, as his and mine are the same except that mine has a moveable shelf that the light gets attached to. By beginning I mean ALL of his and then continue here. Once you've gotten the box built and are ready to start adding your shelf brackets. Get out your measuring tape and mark at the 2', 3', 4', 5' marks on the left AND right sides (if you want your plants taller than say 4'-4.5', you might want to build a taller cabinet.) That is the top of your shelf bracket. You should have some leftover plywood you can use for your bracket. I used a 3"x9" piece to make my bracket. You will need 8 of these pieces. Once these are cut, take a screw and screw it in the middle of the 2' side at each foot marker with the top of the board at your mark. once done, take 2 screws and screw them in from the outside to hold each shelf in place and take out the inside screw holding the shelf (does it stick out to the outside? if it does then remove it, don't need it snagging anything)

once your brackets are done, go ahead and paint the inside a flat white. It will help in reflection. Once the paint is dry, you can move on to the shelf.

you may have to cut down the 2'x3' piece to get it to fit as a shelf, so make any adjustments necessary. I had to cut out for frame, but instead of just cutting out frame area, I cut 2" off 3' section (front and back) to help in ventilation. Once you've gotten the shelf to fit, paint the light side of it white. Once the paint is dry, you can mount your lighting system. (Don't be afraid to cut holes in the shelf to run wiring through, it will only help in ventilation I used a hole saw) I also plan on upgrading to a 400w hps with a cooltube. with that setup, I'll have to cut a hole large enough for the 4" dryer hose to go through to connect to the cooltube. And at the other end, there's HVAC products that will help to hook the dryer vent to the bathroom exhaust fan I used. That way the light will cool first, and the fan will draw air from the cabinet, hopefully cooling it. If it doesn't cool it, I can always add another bath exhaust fan in the top and vent just the grow area to lower the temps.

Now before you go and keep the shelf in there and think about testing it out, don't forget to cut where you want the exhaust fan to go (pick either left or right half of top - use other half as shelf for ballast and whatever outside the cabinet). After hole (or square as my case was) is cut, install fan making sure it is high enough to be able to attach vent hose to (and adapter fitting if you used the same cheap fan I did). Also aim venting to side of cabinet where you will add your carbon canister with 4" flange. (dryer vent hose is 4") You will also need a way to mount carbon canister to side of cabinet. (I'll leave that up to you as it will depend on the carbon filter you choose)


Ok...I guess that's about it. My lighting system for now is 8 - 20 CMH and a 150w HPS (when I get the bulb - in veg now, so HPS would be beneficial, but not crucial). Will someday either upgrade to a cooltube with a 400w hps, or dual cooltube with 2 - 150w HPS. Will have to watch the temps when I upgrade lighting system as I may have to upgrade to a higher cfm exhaust fan.

I guess it's time for some picture now...

Please hold for the following commercial announcement...

[kwaaluudekid]

first pic is top of cabinet with exhaust fan mounted and working (notice the hole
for the cords for the lighting)
second pic is close up of fan
third pic is hole for lighting cords
fourth pic is plywood used for shelving (pic needs to be rotated)
fifth pic is lighting system (8 - 20w CMH - in veg for now) with clip-on fan for
plant movement (needs to be rotated)


any suggestions so far?

[kwaaluudekid]

first pic is small intake fan. Hole is in wall behind fan sucking air in from outside
second pic is look at both fans in grow area and regs plant from seed
third pic is pic of 2 reg clones (short ones in front) and shipwreck (bushy one in
back
fourth pic is little 2-3" regs clone that isn't doing so well, but trying
fifth pic is closeup of regs from seed

all pics need to be rotated and can't figure out how to do it yet

[kwaaluudekid]

first pic is closeup of regs clone
second pic is closeup of second regs clone
third pic is shipwreck clone

That's all the pics of the cabinet and plants I have for now. If you want any other pics of cab or plants, let me know. I'll prolly update thread weekly with new pics. These plants are in thier second week of veg using fox farm nutes. Any questions or suggestions are appreciated. This is my third grow and each time I get closer to getting it right.

[kwaaluudekid]

these are pics of my cloning/veg cabinet. It's just an old trunk (the kind used to use when you went on a trip) with 2 - 20w CMH added to it through holes drilled in the top. I use an old PC fan for air movement

first pic is whole cabinet
second pic is a new plant called Loud. It's grown from seed
third pic is 4 clones of shipwreck (a few of them have roots)
fourth pic is 4 newer shipwreck clones (little budding roots now)
pic five is 5 - reg clones

all were fed water and corn syrup mix until roots budded out of the rockwool, then it was switched to 1/2 dose of Fox Farm Grow Big. Both mixtures used as rockwool and foliar spray. I read somewhere that corn syrup aides in root production, and I've gotten good results with it, they seem to be REAL fat when coming out of the rockwool cube

[kwaaluudekid]

this pic is a closeup of the roots coming out of the rockwool cubes. They'll be ready for soil soon. I also want to try 1 DWC setup. Already have the setup, but haven't tried it yet. Maybe now is a good time. Any hints/suggestions/questions are welcome.

Hope you enjoyed the show

:rasta:

almost forgot...pics need to be rotated

[kwaaluudekid]

8/12/2010 transplanted 4 plants and placed with shipwreck clone on 18 hours

8/25/2010 back from week vacation...4 clones did not make it (ones taken before leaving)...2 older clones grew pretty good, 1 is not growing...bagseed is doing real good shipwreck is really good...took 4 clones from shipwreck and put in clone chamber started new cab yesterday...2x3x5...might finish today if motivated

8/27/2010 fed 1st dose of fox farms @ 1/2 strength...testing closet for heat issues

8/29/2010 took 5 more shipwreck clones...now shipwreck same height as bagseed...looks like gonna have 3 bagseed and 1 shipwreck plant this time...now to wait 10-14 days to see roots...fed 2nd dose of nutes

8/30/2010 trying to germ 5 chocolate habanero and 5 jolokia seeds

9/9/2010 roots on 3 shipwreck and 2 bs clones...nothing yet on pepper seeds

bagseed=regs

[kwaaluudekid]

any questions? critiques? hints for better box?

[kwaaluudekid]

the shipwreck (1) and regs (2) are now 25" - 28" tall, so I'll finally have to raise the light shelf again...the 5 shipwreck clones I took had a very nice root system, so they were planted in thier 1st set of pots...4 regs had pretty good root system, but they're not looking so hot after getting thier new homes...they are severely wilted so I gave em water and sprayed em with my water/corn syrup mix and we'll see what happens. That's about it for the plants.

I also have a question fluoro's and cfl's. since my top lights won't get too far below the canopy, I was going to add side lighting at like the 3' or 3.5' mark. I was going to use 18" fluoros, but am second guessing myself now. Which would be better, the 18" fluoro's or a power strip with like 2-3 y-spliiters with cfl's? (btw...lights would be going on 3 of the 4 sides). Thanks for any input

[arthurdickson]

Hello guys im new to the forum.

I used to grow under 400W HID's and MH's but that was turning out to be waay too expensive plus i was having trouble with the heat. I moved to argentina now and i just finished setting up my grow cabinet but this time im using CFL's (two 65 watt lamps as you can see below, combined about 5000 lumens i know im not gonna yield no where near like with HID's bit if i can get into a rhythm and flower a bush and replace with a vegged plant when i harvest i will be happy).

the size of the cabinet is 50cmx50cm (1.6ft squared at the base and height is just over a meter but i got my homemade reflectors which work pretty well about 2 inches from my plants as you can see the overhead is pretty dark so they are getting most of the light)

my question is, will this be enough to veg AND flower? or will i need to go to the hardware store and fetch some more CFL's???

seeds germinated and sprouted out from the soild, been under lights for a day and a half now.

[kwaaluudekid]

arthur...welcome to the site...they're usually pretty helpful here...I haven't tried cfl's yet (contemplating it tho), but you'll also need the color temp, like 2700k. If you have the box, it should say on that...some bulbs have it printed on the side of the base. If not, you'll have to look up make/model to find out.

[arthurdickson]

arthur...welcome to the site...they're usually pretty helpful here...I haven't tried cfl's yet (contemplating it tho), but you'll also need the color temp, like 2700k. If you have the box, it should say on that...some bulbs have it printed on the side of the base. If not, you'll have to look up make/model to find out.

correction i got 3 CFL's total. one 45W cfl which is 6700k and two 45W cfl's that emit 2700k. a combined total of 7080 lumens.

size of cabinet is 50cmx50cm (1.6ft squared at the base and height is just over a meter but i got my homemade reflectors which work pretty well about 2 inches from my plants, the overhead is pretty dark so they are getting most of the light)

will i need more light?

also whats the problem with foil paper? people seem to not like it. i put it up on the opaque side and it seems to be reflecting alot its seems alot brighter than the white flat paint i had before.

also what is a good website to order seeds at i moved to argentina and the previous one i used is having a problem delivering here.

thanks for the reply and sorry for hijacking the thread i dont know how things work around here in my old forum they used to hate when you started a new thread so im still adapting

[kwaaluudekid]

I forget the lumens per sq ft needed, but i THINK you'll need more light

the 2700k lights are good for flowering...can't remember color temp for veg right now

foil paper can create hotspots...I've read of people using it successfully, but I have a wooden cabinet, and I just painted it flat white...most people use mylar film or panda film

I'm not sure of site to order seeds from...a friend tells me nirvana has been good to him, but still ask around...I started with some good bagseed and a clone from some good medicinal stuff

some people get upset when you hijack thier thread...I see it as both of us learning from each other...on this site, they like to see new threads started to keep things orderly...we're all here to learn...this is only my 3rd grow - 1st in present cabinet, and I've learned a WHOLE LOT in the past 8 months finding what DOESN'T work for me

[kwaaluudekid]

Seriously guys...I was curious as to which would be better for my setup? either 1- 24" fluoro + 2 - 18" fluoro tubes (both with tube protector) or 1 - 24" power strip with 3 y-splitters and cfls + 2 18" power strips with 2 y-splitters and cfls? will be using them for flowering only

[kwaaluudekid]

bump

[Theym420]

Personaly, I have a thing for cfl's :D
But you need to plan ahead when you go to mount them, weed likes light, and grows twards it, if you can't move those lights, the plant might get hurt, and it's not good for weed if it gets burnt while growing :o
That's for after harvest :jointsmile:

[kwaaluudekid]

Personaly, I have a thing for cfl's :D
But you need to plan ahead when you go to mount them, weed likes light, and grows twards it, if you can't move those lights, the plant might get hurt, and it's not good for weed if it gets burnt while growing :o
That's for after harvest :jointsmile:

that's what was making me think of the tubes. I can get a plastic tube protector (sleeve that goes over bulb before you put in fixture) so that when plants grow close to light, they won't touch bulb and have less of a chance of getting burned...but on the other hand...the cfl's would most likely be better for flowering when I need the side lighting

[budlover13]

I am a believer of leaving as many leaves on your ladies as possible, so I don't pluck until the leaf just falls off when I touch it. That being said, I grow with cfl's and have burned a few leaves. Obviously you don't want to burn them, but I have burned several and still have good quality. It burns the part that touches the light, but the rest of the leaf survives and continues photosynthesis. It just takes constant attention to minimize the burns. I'm in my closet at LEAST 15 times a day.

[kwaaluudekid]

I kinda got a lil light burn on my Shipwreck lady...she grew a lil fast on me and I had to raise the shelf real quick. only part of the leaf was burned, but now it's malformed and still trying to look good. maybe I can rig a 2 liter soda bottle over it like a fluoro tube-guard...anyway...it's been awhile since I posted some pics, so here's a few for you...well...WAS going to post pics, but it's giving me "Upload of file failed." so I guess I'll hafta try later

[kwaaluudekid]

woohoo...pics are working again...been dying to post pics, so here they come...

1st shows inside of cab...on left is dwc experiment with shipwreck, middle is regs and on right is shipwreck (both in pots are @ 3' with pots)

pic 2 - shipwreck in dwc

pic 3 - closeup of regs (bagseed)

pic 4 - closeup of shipwreck

pic 5 - shipwreck

[kwaaluudekid]

pic 1 - closeup of shipwreck

pic 2 - regs

pic 3 - top of regs

pic 4 - shipwreck (the shelf bracket @ top of plant is @ 3')

pic 5 - regs (the shelf bracket @ top of plant is @ 3')

[kwaaluudekid]

pic 1 - regs clones

pic 2 - shipwreck clones

pic 3 - shipwreck clone

pic 4 - clone of something called "Loud" - never heard of it, but was given to me, so I'll give it a shot

pic 5 - regs clone

[kwaaluudekid]

duh...I smoked too much and forgot to mention that the shipwreck and regs plants that are 3 ' tall are in 3rd week of flowering...put dwc shipwreck clone into flower once roots were dangling (wanted to start it with little height cuz of bucket and height restrictions)

[Akumasensei85]

Those are some nice shipwrecks my friend, I myself have the original Trainwrecks, I notice your shipwrecks are incredibly tall nice! here is some pics of my 5 trainwrecks.

[drudown11]

[quote=Akumasensei85]\ I notice your shipwrecks are incredibly tall nice! \QUOTE]



theyre actually stretching for more light, thats why theyre becoming kind of tall and lanky. I would upgrade the lighting very soon and flower them. Theyre gunna double to triple in size and you already vegged too big. Start bending and training your branches to make your plants shorter.

If you dont, your going to outgrow your space(a common problem with closet grows.)



this is coming from one closet grower to another.

[Akumasensei85]

[quote=Akumasensei85]\ I notice your shipwrecks are incredibly tall nice! \QUOTE]



theyre actually stretching for more light, thats why theyre becoming kind of tall and lanky. I would upgrade the lighting very soon and flower them. Theyre gunna double to triple in size and you already vegged too big. Start bending and training your branches to make your plants shorter.

If you dont, your going to outgrow your space(a common problem with closet grows.)



this is coming from one closet grower to another.

Good shot on the info I'll start this process asap, I'm starting to see that already, this is my second grow my first trainwreck grow was beautiful but like you said they did grow fast, actualy in last week in flowering the buds started breaking the branches it was horrible. but its all good now, I have a netting system for that.

[Stomper420]

Welp, now that my second outdoor is done Ill move indoor...Scoot over Kid, I wanna see how this goes.:stoned: Im thourghly hooked on this grow thing so Ill be watching...K?:D