Doco's Mother/Cloning Cabinet

Been wanting to experiment with cloning and I ran across this cabinet for free a few days ago and it looked perfect my needs. It's 36w x 18d x 72h and I've divided it into a mother section on the bottom with the cloning section in the top. Only planning on one mother and 4-6 clones at a time.

For the mother area I have a 2' New Wave 4 bulb HO T5 fixture with 6500 K lamps and I'll get some kind of side lighting later as the mother grows.

For the clone area I have a 2' 2 bulb T8 fixture with cool white 4200K bulbs. If I need to, I'll get 6500 K bulbs but I think it will be ok for a week at time for clones.

Each section has a 120mm 120v fan for exhaust and holes are drilled through the floors, shelves, and bottom front for passive intake.

I'll get the aero cloner in the next couple of weeks from a friend but I still need to grow the mother up so no hurry there. The victim/mother is a Jedi I got as a nicely rooted clone a week ago that is still in the hydrohut till I finish this cab.

So what else do I need? A circulating fan for the mother I suppose. And a timer to run 18/6. From what I understand, light proofing is not important in vegging correct?

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Originally Posted by doco

It's 36w x 18d x ...

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Beautiful find! Exact same interior dimensions as my closet. I do 250W flouro scrog in there.

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Originally Posted by doco

For the clone area I have a 2' 2 bulb T8 fixture with cool white 4200K bulbs. If I need to, I'll get 6500 K bulbs but I think it will be ok for a week at time for clones.

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4200K is a lousy spectrum in flouros. It's the yellow/green area. I'd recommend the 6500K. Reference this chart.

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Originally Posted by doco

So what else do I need? A circulating fan for the mother I suppose. And a timer to run 18/6.

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Sounds like you got it all under control. I think if you use a high output fan for the exhaust, there might be enough "turbulence" in the cab that ya might not need a circulating fan.

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Originally Posted by doco

From what I understand, light proofing is not important in vegging correct?

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Correct.

[quote=Volker]
4200K is a lousy spectrum in flouros. It's the yellow/green area. I'd recommend the 6500K. Reference this chart.
[QUOTE]

Wow, you're right, that does suck. Damn, that means I've been abusing my other plants too cause they have a Metal Halide lamp, probably in that same 4200 K range. Sheesh. I mean, I knew 6500 K was better but I didn't know it fell off like that.

Thanks!

Cab is coming along. Doors are on, all ventilation is installed and works great, lights are all wired, timers installed and programed. The T5 is operational and I've order six other T8's 6500 K bulbs for the side and clone lighting. Should be ready for the Jedi youngster tomorrow!

sweet, that looks great. i need to get one of those.

I decided to bring this Troublemaker into the mothering cab along with the young Jedi. It's a Hindu Kush/Master Kush cross. I just couldn't stand to have the cabinet empty! :cool:

Nice setup I'm impressed.

Thanks man. Learning it all here at this site.

I guess for the time being I'll just let them grow out some - I really won't need clones for another two months or so.

Here's a couple tighter pics of the Troublemaker.

Marry Christmas!!

The Jedi clone was way stretched from being in the bottom of the hydro hut waiting for the new cab so I am going to try my hand at lst'ing her. I'm pulling it over a little each day for the last couple of days.

The TroubleMaker is doing well with plenty of side growth since I topped her. Also a shot of her undersides - look at how tight that internode spacing is...never more than a 1/2 to an inch apart while she was growing up. Something about tight internodes turns me on - is that wrong? :o

So think the new t5 HO 2feet times 4 would be enough to veg two or three plants?

I'm thinking of picking one up next week. Not sure if I should push for the 8 times 2feet if it will even fit.. Note have a small space so the the better 4 feet ones wont fit. Too bad too since they seem to be a better buy for the buck.

i have a 6 times 2 feet. Works great. I use it with some T12 tubes as well.

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Originally Posted by Pasofol

So think the new t5 HO 2feet times 4 would be enough to veg two or three plants?

I'm thinking of picking one up next week. Not sure if I should push for the 8 times 2feet if it will even fit.. Note have a small space so the the better 4 feet ones wont fit. Too bad too since they seem to be a better buy for the buck.

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I think with additional T-8 side lighting ($15 a 2 bulb fixture) the 2' 4 bulb T5s would do the trick for a couple of plants. Kdspecial has a great cab going where he uses T5's...check his log out: http://boards.cannabis.com/showthread.php?t=80001

I've only used this for a week so my opinion is based on limited experience but so far it's working fine - the plants are very healthy and the 120mm fans are enough to keep the cab cool.

BTW, I got my 4 bulb T5 for $140 delivered with 6500K bulbs - they also have 2700K flowering bulbs or you can mix them. I think thats a decent price for a genuine New Wave T5.

Hey doco, awesome cab! I'm putting one together right now and can use all the ideas and visuals I can get, so thanks for posting this here. I was thinking about some holes in the bottom since I have passive intake as well, and after seeing yours I think I'll do it for sure. My cab is for flowering so the rest of it should be fairly sealed and the holes are probably even more essential for me.

Hiya Canuck - I'm glad if my experiences can help benefit someone else - all of my (minimal) knowledge came from others sharing here too. :)

One thing I have noticed is that when I light proofed the doors (just cause I didn't like the light coming through - this cab is just for cloning/mothering so I don't really need light proof) it did cause more negative pressure on the fan so I'm planning on drilling some more holes, maybe in the bottom front and back. You could also use a larger intake hole (like 4") and just use an 45 degree elbow on it to help keep the light out.

In the next month or so I am building another cabinet just for initial vegging after they are cloned and before they go into the flowering hut. It will hold 4 plants, two on top, two on bottom. Stay tuned......

Good Luck and Happy Growing!!!

Last night I was in the hydro hut changing the speed controller for the fans when I dropped it right into the plants. When I started checking the plants for damage, I found one small lower branch broken off, about 6" in length from one of the beautiful Mango's.

I had wanted to experiment with cloning but not for a month or so and I really didn't have my new aerocloner gear setup yet...so this is Plan B.

I had the dome and rapid-rooters already and by a stroke of luck my Clonex has arrived by UPS that day. I first trimmed off some leaves near the node I wanted to plant, cut it with a razor diagonally, dipped it in the Clonex for 30 seconds and plopped it in the RR. I misted it with ph'd water (with a drop of Superthrive) and then misted the inside of the dome.

This morning the poor thing looked terrible, all wilted and sad. I misted again. Tonight (approx 20 hrs after the incident) it still looks sad but the stem isn't all wilted over so it may have a chance, I dunno.

I have never cloned before and have no idea how long it may take to recover (or die) but it will be a good learning experience in any event.

Any and all comments appreciated since I have never done this and can use all the help I can get!

Doco, what i do is trim the fan leaves down to about half the size. It seems to work better. They look funny tho. Otherwise looks great. I cut off the little domes on the lid to the humidity dome however.

Maybe you were meant to drop it so you could try out cloning a little early? Cool coincidence that your clonex arrived that day. It's still green so that's a good sign! :) Best of luck to you and your accidental cutting. When she gets older don't tell her that she was a mistake or she might have psychological issues! ;) :jointsmile:

Hey Dusto, Do you think it's too late to trim off parts of the fan leaves? I'm at work now and once I get home tonight, it will be nearly 48hrs since the accident. What do you think? Also, should I have a heat pad underneath the tray?

Well the clone still looks the same as it did last night but at least it's not worse.

Meanwhile I've been having fun with LST on the Jedi. When I had it pulled over to one side it just took up too much horizontal space so now I'm curling it back around into an "S". I'm gonna have this thing into a pretzel in no time!!

The poor Mango victim/clone looks like it's going to make it after all. For the first few days it was pathetic and just limp on the tray. The larger leaves were curling up so I cut them all off except the top. A couple of days ago I fed her a few drops of 1/4 strength nutes and yesterday she raised up off the tray and looks like she is trying to stand up on her own. There is also some tiny new growth at the nodes where I chopped the fan leaves so I am encouraged.

Its only been a week and given the situation & conditions, I think she will be OK eventually. If I would have had the aerocloner setup and ready when the accident happened she would already be fully rooted and ready to transplant by now but I had to John Wayne it with what I had.

I'm pretty stoked actually...the flowering Mango's are doing great in the hut and this will become a new mother plant and I'll just flower the Troublemaker - it's too Indica dom for my tastes - with mothering space so limited anyway.

Another shot of the first-time LST experimental Jedi which is working great, and other of the Troublemaker bush.

I hope to start taking some clones from the Jedi next weekend. I need to end up with three good ones. That will put me on track to veg them for 4-5 weeks and put them, along with that TroubleMaker bush, into the flowering hut just about when the current hut grow is being harvested.

Well it looks like I nuked my Jedi when I fed it the other day - I think I only gave it it half strength nutes for the first time - since it was a clone it should have been at least somewhat used to nutrients but as can be seen, it is seriously jacked-up now. I guess I'll go run a few gallons of plain water through her to see if I can slow down the burn. Damn!! :(

Yesterday, I installed another T5 HO x 4 in the top section where I have the new Mango clone and within hours she started wilting over so I swapped back to the T8's for a couple more weeks till she is stronger. Dunno if it was the extra heat (up to about 80) or just the intensity?

Pic 1 is the illing Jedi, Pic 2 is the Kush bush, Pic 3 is the whole maternity ward.

cool setup, I like how you did the top and bottom sections different. Check out the cabinet me and my friend built today if you get a chance.

http://boards.cannabis.com/closet-ca...w-cabinet.html