start to finish 3 hour grow cabinet

We went to our local Home depot today on a mission to construct an indoor light proof mother / cloning cabinet after we were unsatisfied with just hanging the T5 light we just got in the mail.

1. $54 plastic "base cabinet" at local Home Depot
2. $150 T5 fluorescent 8" x 24" 4 lamp off ebay (shipped)
3. $25 30ft roll of black landscaping plastic from Home Depot

TOTAL: $229

p.s. we didnt get pics of us lining the outside on black plastic to keep inside light out, but you get the idea. We used duct tape and also electrical tape and just lined the doors like book covers to keep the hinges light proof.

Some more pics.

We obviously drilled some small holes in the top of the cabinet so that the light's cables could go through and suspend the light within the box. We then drilled out a hole big enough for a few cords' thickness + the plugs themselves out the top of the grow cabinet using a mini drill bit sander attachment.

Lastly, some pics of the box actually up and running and in our actual grow room. Works quite nicely if I do say so myself! Oh yea!, we do plan on adding an air inlet out the side when we actually need to use this, but it will be primarily for clones and mothers so not right away.

Looks like you're off to a good start there Deftdrummer! I love those T5 lights, they are great lights for small cab like this...got mine off eBay too.

What have you got in mind for ventilation? Even though the T5 runs cooler than an HID, you probably already know that it still has some heat when it's enclosed in a small area like this.

Look forward to watching this one progress. I remember your old thread from last year when I first came to cannabis.com.

ha! thanks for the interest, that is pretty cool you remember my old grow!. That one went pretty well but we have made some major changes this time around including the addition of this Mother / clone chamber.

I know ventilation is a big deal, and the T5 does seem to give off some heat that is questionable. I see some people use passive ventilation etc. but we need this grow cabinet to be 100% free of leaking any light since it is also in the same room where the other plants will be flowering. Our plan as of now for ventilation is to cut a 4" inlet hole in the side and link it up with tubing hooked to a fan that goes outside. We don't have any outlet plans right now but that is not as much of an issue.

On a side note, we are very excited to finally be able to keep the "operation" rolling so we don't have to wait for clone / seed downtime. I am curious as hell to see how this T5 performs after all the talk on this site!

hi just wondering do u think this cab would get too hot with a 400 watt hps??

oh id plan on usins a cool tube

if u use a cool tube, anything is possible.

I am loving that I am getting to learn this from you.... Keep us updated.... I would too like to know about any heat issues you have in such a small crammed space....

Hi again, we are about a week away from using it as a cloning chamber. I don't think that heating would be an issue with any light as long as there was proper ventilation. That being said, I wouldn't try to put a 400 or 600W hps into this chamber, unless you had venting directly from the light as seen on the light in the above pictures. but I would do fluorescents for better results.

420Paul the grow cabinet is actually not that small at all. Compared to some of the stuff I've seen on here where people are growing in small closets and even computer cases, I would consider this cab somewhat of a medium / large size. It measures approx. 4ft tall and is about 1.5ft deep and 3.5ft wide. I will keep you guys posted on how it works out later!

Eh, its small for what I eventually plan to setup, but exactly what I want, size wise myself.

How is the cabinet working out? It looks like an awesome set up. I was thinking of using a similar set up but for growing lowryder from seed to flower. What do you think?

this would be an excellent setup for growing lowryder or smaller plants. But then again, any plant can be a smaller plant if you grow it that way! Check out how it is coming along with only 2 plants in there! This is the same grow box as earlier, meaning it still does not have any active ventilation. We did however add a passive carbon filter (see top in picture) We will flower in the next week so we are working out the ventilation logistics. We are thrilled with the results thus far and can't wait to have indoor soil AND hydro grows running at the same time. Heat stays around 74 F and about the same when the light is off and the doors are shut.

hey yall seem to know alot about cabinet growing and i want to start my own grow
i have a cabinet that's 3 1/2 ft tall, 2ft wide

i want to grow 1 or 2 plants can i just plant them, give them some light, ( like the ones here) and water then every now and then; will they grow all the way up to when i can harvest them

could i do this with my plants
-plant them
-give them the right amount of light
-water them ouccasionally
-and harvest them and dry them





and does haging them upside down really work for drying?

thanks alot

yes, yes, yes, yes yes

will they stay under 1 ft

can i control how tall they get without messing up the qaulity

lst.. and topping my friend

do a few searches there is a wealth of knowledge on these forums. And a ton of stealth grows. The cabinet is currently in day 2 of flowering.

Nice job on the cab.Is the walls on the side of the cab hollow?If they are I was thinking you can cut a vent hole in the top on the inside wall and cut a vent hole at the bottom on the outside and mount a muffle fan on the inside pushing hot air out.It would be light proof.its just a thought. Peace P.S. nice job on light proofing.

Thanks for your input crazywill. There actually is a passive carbon vent that is approx 6" at the top of the cabinet. We were going to put venting from the wall to about the middle of the cabinet since we still have to move around the shelf as the plants grow. We will use a 80cfm in line duct fan to pump fresh air in, and the hot air will just escape out the top! I will keep you guys posted on how well this T5 does from clone to flower with bloom bulbs. The world of T5 lighting is new to me and that is what I mainly wanted to see about.