Cabinet/PC lst/scrog (First time)

This is my setup as of now. Just finished the PC today. Heres the inside of it. I am going to plant an auto low great white and a jack horror fem in the PC. Seeds should be coming within next couple hours.
The cabinet is just some 49$ vanity cab at home depot. I bought some wood to make a door and top. All the rest was just me reading a ton on these forums and just figuring out what would work in my cab, and what home depot might had for me to work with. Right now I have a super lemon haze, blueberry gum, and a ch9 aroma (free seed from attitude), all going in the cab. Its day 3 since the first one sprouted. Theyre a little bigger than in the pic, but you get the point. Im super excited to get this grow going and see what kind of yield I can get. In the PC I want to scrog with both plants, and in the cab, I am going to top/fim not sure yet, and LST so as the plants dont go too high.
I just had a couple questions. Is three plants too many for my cab? The dimensions are about 18" deep, 22" wide, and 26" high. And should I do one or two for my pc as well? Its a 21.5" high server full tower pc.
Also, my lights right now are all CFL 5500K for vegetative, and the ones I have in now are the standard 23w i think. Will 4 be enough for my 3 plants in the cab? Should I add more? And should I go through the effort or not hanging the lights as I have? They seem to take up alot of height the way they are now.

nice looking builds man pc turned out very nice.

I'd chop the wires to the leds on the fan..you don't want those f'ing up the light cycle later.

To be clear..it sounded like yer doing 2 femmed autos in the pc and the other 3 seeds (all fem?) in the other cab? If so I think the autos will be ok but the other 3 might get a little cramped...figure on veging a good month form seed before flower...and the slh stretches alot as well..maybe you can trim some clones off them when they get crowded and try your hand at cloning...or maybe the autos will finish up in time for you to scoot one of the plants over to the pc. Otherwise maybe just pop 2 seeds for the cab.

I think there's plenty of light in the pc...and in the cab, 4 bulbs should be ok for veg but I'd add like 2 more for flowering as long as heat isn't an issue. How are temps running?

I'm not sure what you mean about mounting the lights. Just be reallly careful that the powerstrip in the pc is secure...I see those fall on plants alot. It seems like every other new grower drops something on their seedings so be careful.

To be clear I have three femmed(super lemon haze, blueberry gum, ch9 aroma) sprouts in the cab, and two (auto great whites) germinating for the pc. Ok, that clears things up with the cab and space and having three. I think I might toss the aroma since I have another free one stored away. The lights question I have has to do with how my lights are mounted. Right now they hang down by the cord secured in with a silver lamp reflector on. The way they hang they take up quite a few more inches than if I mounted them sideways all around the edges somehow. It would be a real hassle remounting them all, would it be worth it to get those few more inches? And it should be easy to add two more in between mounted securely sideways. The temps have been ranging right now from 80 to 86. Our apartment is up and down all day. With my new fan coming thurs, I should be able to add my diy carbon filter as well. When I added that now the temps got up to 90. Ill post new pics soon once they grow a little more. Im still fiddling with the light sealing and odor filtering both.

oh ok I see what you mean on the lights now...yeh I think it'd be worth it to flip them sideways eventually...mostly for the extra space. 24" isn't alot to work with, you need every inch Also cfls put out more light to the sides then underneath. You can buy single lightsockets (cleats) and mount and wire them yourself if you feel comfortable doing so ( I can help, it's ez). they're like a buck or 2 each at lowes. Or you can just do a few powerstrips like in the pc, but individual sockets will give you a little more flexibility in light placement. *actually maybe multiple powerstrips would give you more flexibility...maybe one on each side and one on top facing down...if you can afford 3 more strips ;v/ *



I wouldn't toss any at this point...there's plenty of room in the beginning..a new opportunity might present itself before you run outta room.

Edited by Bongsauce, 08 November 2011 - 05:16 AM.

Ok yeah that sounds like that would give me a lot more light. I mounted my cords underneath my reflecting, derp. Thatll give me somethin to do tomorrow. Im also going to move my carbon fliter/tube inside for more stealth. If I get 7/8 of these mounted, should I have them all daylight bulbs for veg? And all soft light for flowering? Or mix the two?

ya know honestly, anymore I just veg under the warmer bulbs..I don't notice much difference in veg...but in flower for sure use the warmer bulbs.

so...(IMO) either is fine for veg, but for flower make sure to use the warm whites or soft whites. Daylight does work better for veg though, I'm not contesting that...just saying that I don't personally notice the difference. I do notice the difference in flower though.

you get how to wire em and stuff? I just use an old cheapo extension cord and daisy chain em. Make sure you know what yer doing when messing with electricity

I actually do not know how to wire those ones you linked. I got all my fans wired up to a 12v dc in my pc. But all I was using was wire nuts and electrical tape. I was just going to go get 8 of those single light sockets and screw them in underneath. I need to buy an extension cord for all of them too? I have wire strippers and electrical tape and wire nuts. Anything else I need to wire all this up? And how do you go about it? Sorry for all the questions, you mentioned it was quite simple.

Yeh just pick up one of those cheapo 2 prong extension cords...might be able to find a deal on the xmas ones right now.

... when I wired mine up I did 4 in a row and I linked em together. Those style sockets just have the 2 screw, so to link hte next light you have to get 2 wires under one screw....what I did was just strip the insulation off about an inch of the wire without cutting through the wire... and wrap it around the screw and tighten it down...then I put a little dab of silicone over it to insulate the bare screws..you can use whatever.. I'd just burn the wire where I needed to strip it..then you can kinda yank the insulation open and trim it back...hope that made sense...I remember having difficulty trying to get 2 wires to stay in each terminal when I first did it

don't worry about asking questions man...I enjoy helping and watching new growers progress, it's very rewarding.

So I just went to my local hardware store and picked up some supplies to update the cab. I picked up 5 of those bulb cleats, and 2 y splits for the bulbs. I have mounted the cleats inside now. I ripped out most of the aluminum tape, and I am replacing the walls with mylar. Im hoping to mount my fan/carbon filter inside the cab, but Im still working on that. We'll see how my temps run tonight with more bulbs inside. Heres the three little ones sitting under a lamp while I work.
Ill update again later today once this is all done. Still have to wire up these lights as well.

Ok I just finished and the plants are back inside. I put up mylar on the sides, going to fill in all the little gaps later. Now there are 7 lights mounted. 4 at daylight and 3 at soft light. All 26w I think.
Im much happier with this setup. Ive been running it for about 45 minutes now and the temp has been at 77 the whole time. This is amazing since last night it was at 84-86 at points. I think it might be because Im not blocking as many intake holes raising the plants, Im not sure how my temp is now even better with almost double as many lights. Now Im just waiting on my 110 cfm fan to come. Im running one at 79 right now. Then I can mount the whole fan/carbon filter setup inside the cab ( I left room).

I just tested the temperatures for a longer period. I put one thermometer up by the plants near the lights and it read 99! Down below at the bottom it read 81. Is it too hot in there? And is it a problem if its way hotter up by the lights? Anyone with any suggestions?

direct light can sometimes give you a false reading, try shading your thermometer with a papertowel or something..

DAY 4 (veg)
Yeah you were right bongsauce. I just put some mylar over the top of it and it went down some. My cab is still too hot with the new light setup. I have around 175w of cfls in there now. This is the fan I originally thought I would use.
This is a 210 cfm fan. Ok, yeah its strong, but I had no idea how strong. This thing is a freakin beast. I first plugged it in and held it in my hand and when it got to full speed i just threw it out of my hand. The fan seems so strong it could easily take my finger off. I got a fan controller which is coming today. With this new ventilation setup, it is going to increase the noise coming out of my cab by a lot, but right now I cant even close the thing due to heat.
Here are the three sprouts. Wow, since installing the new lights these girls have doubled in speed growing it seems. Theyre exploding in growth.
Heres the Super Lemon Haze (my baby)
This is the Blueberry Gum. It's currently growing the fastest. Very short and stout already. Compared to the stretching SLH. Im kinda worried about the SLH getting too tall. We'll see how good my LST skills are soon enough.

This is the CH9 aroma lastly.

Also, my first auto low great white shark germinated this morning. Transferred it into a dixie cup and the PC grow has begun.

The second great white isn't quite ready to be planted.

I was also reading loki's drop of green thread last night. Def going to get one of those started in the next month or so. Going to use a Monster BFC can. Ill keep you updated. Currently low on funds. Gotta say Ive become semi obsessed with all this shit .

Edited by Lovemybudz, 09 November 2011 - 07:51 PM.
Added day of plant cycle

I installed a new 110 cfm fan instead of that 210 cfm one. Its a bunch louder than the other one. I put on my diy carbon filter, which really hampers the air flow. The temps are still too high. Im reading 84 and 90 up by the lights. THey might get higher too. That was just after like an hour. Im not sure what I should do. I dont want to put the ona gel in the cab, as I hear that makes the buds smell all weird. My intake area is 28 in squared and exhaust is a 4" hole, so my ventilation should be fine. Kinda stumped on what to do. I eventually want to put the whole filter and tube inside.

Sick!!!!

DAY 5
Another update. I leave tonight for three days. I hope my little ones can survive that long without water. Im sure theyll be fine. Here they are once again this morning. Theyre rate of growth never ceases to amaze me. I think putting in more lights really helped.
Heres SLH

Blueberry Gum

CH9 Aroma


Im still having issues with the temp. In the high 80s or even 90 when I opened it this morning. That was with the filter on. Think I might make another exhaust hole.

they're looking nice you could reduce the wattage a little while they're gone to slow the soil from drying out, I dunno if it's necessary..just saying...

hmm..how is your filter built? maybe increasing the surface area of filtering area would help with airflow/temps.

Ohh ok. That might be it. The filter does not have that much surface area to let the air out. My filter for the cab is a simple pen holder large size and small with the stockings and carbon in between. THen I wrap it around the end of the outside pipe with duck tape. It looks awkward and Im trying to figure out how to make it pull air through the filter from the inside. Im just going to construct my own out of chicken wire now then.
My filter Im testing right now for the PC I just made up with this plastic stuff I got with some filter.
Its just some plastic grating wrapped in duck tape and then has four filter layers cut out sandwiching a bunch of carbon pieces. I think it might be restricting air flow too much. We'll see.

oh I didn't realise you were using the pencil holder style..it's hard to see in the pic. I'd add another one of those or stack 2 pc fans to push through the other one. I have a led cabinet that actually runs 3 of those filters..works great. they do take up a bit of room..but making them any smaller is gonna sacrifice how well they work.

Day 7
Big update today. All three are much larger and the first great white sprouted in the PC while I was gone. The ventilation and filter system went through a HUGE upgrade. I guess stealth went out the window for now .
This setup is freakin sweet. I got a 4" vortex fan with a carbon filter and fan speed controller. Did away with my little crappy loud computer fan. Im testing temps now and will report back with how they are after a couple hours, but i have a feeling the temps will be much much lower than they were.
Heres SLH. Much different type of grow than the other two. I really like the way this one is starting to look.
This is the Blueberry Gum. It seems to be growing 4 leaves in the center now, what is this? Is this good?

This is the CH9 Aroma now.

And lastly heres the little shark.

The second shark still has not germinated! This one is a real pain. Im seeing it cracking and starting to come out though, so hopefully tomorrow.

For my cab now, when do you think I should start 12/12 cycle? I dont want them to outgrow the cab. But I am going to top/LST them somewhat. So I wanna veg and get the biggest yield I can.