grow box build, need ideas

hey guys as you can see im new to this forum but ive been reading posts on this website and some others for over a year now off and on. right now i have a small outdoor grow going on and i figured that since i have 2 different shops in my backyard not being used i would build a grow box that would basically just look like a locked cabinet as nobody goes back there other than me and my father (he is informed on both of these grows by the way) ive looked on the net for the past few months and i have to say its hard to pick a setup to go with and i figured i would just see what you guys would build. the biggest i can go is 3'x3'x3.5', i dont want to use very much power, around 250 watts max. id like to grow enough in this box to get 3-4 ounces dried per harvest with these dimensions if it is possible. i havent grown before from seedling to harvest the farthest ive gone was with one plant to about 16" tall and ofcourse it died because i did not have enough perlite/vermiculite mix in the soil and was basically trying to grow in mud so the roots didnt devlop at all. id like to stick to soil for now until i can at least hone my skills before i get into anything advanced. i have the cannabis grow bible by greg green (maybe not the best book but informative). anyway id like to keep this build below 200 bucks , i already have most of the lumber i need minus the osb so the rest can be on lights/ventilation/growing materials etc. i have some small 6" pots so i can keep the height down on these plants as i dont want to run into height problems with this, which is why im also going to stick with indica dominant plants once i figure out how to aquire seeds from a seed bank without worrying about trouble. im basically just trying to see what you guys would do with these limitations and give me an idea on what i can reasonably expect since im still new to growing. this seems by far the best site on the net for info and id like to thank anyone who can offer me any help on this as i appreciate it very much, before you say it i am looking through older posts right now, and i dont get home from vegas (here on business) until two weeks so i have some time before i start. thanks again

Considering you have pretty much exactly the size i have and by looking at my plant i get around 1-2 oz dryed medicine from mine.

Get powerfull CFL lights both 6500k and 2700k. let it grow foot long and start flower phase and by switching the CFL bulbs to 2700k you turn veggie room to flower room.

You can put CFL lights pretty close to plant but the ballast in the CFL are quite hot in small rooms like mine tempatures go from 85f to 95f but its not a problem if you have good enough ventilation.

just get some bulb fixtures and cable to "hang" the lights from top :) 7000 - 1000 lumens for 1 plant is enough.

I see height as being the biggest issue here. With soil and growing from seed you will need about 4 or 5 gallon containers to finish with while meeting your yield requirements. Otherwise you'll need a lot of little plants, but the law usually counts number of plants. Growing from clone or in coco*** gives you the chance to use smaller pots.

One idea is to line the top of the cab with CFL's using Y splitters and then SCROG so you can easily maintain the canopy at the exact height you want. Pics below are from my first scrog attempt. Could work for you if you had some wider and lower pots versus mine and place the screen at a height where you can still water the plants and get your hand underneath to train. I made my screen into a bowl because I was using a single light source (400w HPS). Yield was about 110g in a 22.5" x 22.5" space and should have been at least 20% more (screwed up on both plants)


***coco can be handwatered, but needs different nutes than soil with more attention to ph and doses. Digital ph and EC meters might take you over budget. Coco can be re-used however.

thanks guys, im gonna mull all of this over and take it all in. i appreciate the help guys, ive got everything started and ill post some pics soon. thanks again

hey Hcmake you stated you basically have about the same setup i have and you seem to yeild around what i need in order for me to not run out and the temps you stated are exactly the temps im dealing with 85-95 in the heat of day, anyways how many watts are you using?. now with me switching over to nights so i can keep the temps pretty consistent by having the bulbs warm the cab up to low 80s at night which keeps the temp variance to a minimum, from what i understand is a good thing. the plants dont seem to be growing very fast but im dealing with unknown , probably poor genetics. the cab i ended up with is actually an old one my dad gave me , it sets up 2 inches off of the ground so that helps incase anything happens such as a flood that affects the shop which ive never seen it flood anyway but it still makes me feel better. the cab is 3'x2'x32" , its a work in progress but its in good enough to sustain these plants until i finish up hopefully in about a week. ive spent around 200 bucks so far, but at least from now on ill know exactly what im putting into my body and i wont have to deal with people trying to make a buck off of my pain. thanks again for the hlep guys