So I'm a long time lurker first time poster and grower. I currently grow lettuce on a bookshelf in my studio apartment in some homemade bubble buckets under an 18" t8 bulb. I have read a lot abut these micro grows and due to lack of space chose this route. I want to have a steady supply so I'd like to keep a small, bonsai style, mother and flower clones from her every two weeks. Here's the catch, I want to do this all in a cabinet that is; 31.5" h. x 24" W. x 12" D. I already have the cabinet and went and bought the first round of supplies a few days back. http://www.simsupply.com/p-69568-white-2-door-organizer.aspx first round of supplies, minus the chrome duct tape. after the first midnight marathon of building. I lined all the pieces of the cabinet that would make up the inside before I put them together. the doors have a gap all the way around, I plan to get foam tape and put around the edge, as well as tape strips of foil backed posterboard to the doors to ensure it is light proof. Ended up using less than half of one emergency blankets, those things go a long way. As of now, the plan is to keep a mother in the bucket, flower on the right and divide the upper part for seedlings/clones. I know this will be a lot of work, but I love growing plants. this is an idea for where id like to position the shelf. I'm not sure what I'll need for space honestly. I know many different ways would work, was hoping someone experienced microgrowers would kick me advice on the most efficient use of the space I have. I want to keep everything contained inside the cabinet and keep it a very DIY cabinet. http://www.rollitup.org/blogs/blog20782-best-diy-ez-walmart-carbon.html unless there is an easier/better suggestion? Advice on lighting welcome, my thoughts were to have t5's inside across the top for seedlings/clones then One or more (is it better to have one large watt bulb or several the equal the same wattage but spread the light out?) CFL bulbs for the mother, and a few for the flowering side. I'm confused on the daylight vs soft light bulbs? And color temp? At my local Hardware store the cfl bulbs come in soft or daylight, should I mix them? Gonna go check out the electrical supply store tomorrow for some axial fans, and pick out some seeds from attitude. Just finished light proofing tubs, starting this thread, and smoking this bowl, calling it a night.
Woah! You've done a lot of preparation for your first grow! Very impressive cab so far, reminds me a lot of microgrower420's box, veg on one side, flower on the other. If you haven't seen his growbox, go check it out now! CFL for the mother would work great. Make sure to get the daylight bulbs though. I suggest an HPS for the flowering room, your cab is big enough to support it. Can't wait for you to finish your build and start germinating. Impressed at the amount of planning and effort thats going into your first grow... completely opposite of mine subbed
I think I know who you are talking about and he is my inspiration. Once I saw that someone who is enthusiastic can pull off just about anything I decided to go for it. I'm still debating getting another cabinet for flowering. Same size. I finally figured out the CFL situation and everyone says I should use HPS for flowering. I might. I still need to order some seeds from attitude and get a few things but I'm very excited.
wow, ya i wish i had planned ahead like that, good job, im sub'd wanna see how you do, if you wanna know how CFLs will work for flowering in a similar sized box i will have results over the next 6-8 weeks posted in my journal, http://forum.grasscity.com/micro-grows/1018306-1st-2nd-grow-rubbermaid-bin-bagseed.html good luck to you,
Thanks nasty! I bought a bunch of lights last night. I plan to use six for veg, 4/blue 2/red. And I bought one mammoth 68watt 2700k CFL for flowering. I'll definitely check yours out!
Anyone who does this much prep before poppin a seed is gonna be a great grower. Nice work so far. What kind and size of intake/exhaust are you using? In most small setups heat can be a major problem, even with cfl's. I always get my cheap pc fans on newegg.com Most of the DIY carbon filters require alot of testing to get them working properly for each setup, and they often restrict airflow too much for proper cooling. I would get a jar of ONA just to have as a backup. I would advise against an hps. Your cabinet may be big enough for an hps, but your flowering chamber isn't.
I think you can go with hps, look at 70w security lights from home depot. You can cut them up and make your own reflector out of stovepipe if needed. I make my lights remote ballast to get more heat out.
i dno mate, im pretty sure you could use a 150w or possibly a 250w HPS in there. So long as you have enough airflow that is. If i where you id buy one of those really small carbon filters and pull through it with either a High Pressure PC fan, or a normal axial fan which would be a bit louder. Im using a 250w HPS in a 1.5 x 2ft x 4ft space however it is in a cool spot, but the plants can grow upto about 4 inches away from the 250w no problem. looks great so far.
I decided to expand this grow. Another cabinet was cheap and I did all the hard planning already. I am still worried about heat. I haven't put any holes in it yet, and want to stay away from MH until I know more. Here's my cabinet so far. I know it needs the back still and a reflector of some kind. This is my filter. It's hard to explain so I'll post more pics later. I tried tested by forcing air through it that was scented. It came out clean. Now I need to determine the appropriate intake/output airflow situation, any tips greatly welcomed! Just ordered seeds last night. I feel like a kid waiting on Santa.
well like my thread says, i am using a 50CFM bathroom fan and i made a filter very similar to what it looks like you have the stuff for, cept i used the nylon mesh bag that came with my charcoal instead of filters, and with the charcoal only 3/8 inch thick my fan wouldnt push through it good enough for cooling purposes, i even tried using my PC fan on the outside of the filter to suck the pressure from the other fan through, and my bin still went from 75 to over 100 in like half an hour,
Honestly I am confused right now. It seems wrong to me that you could put a hps into a 1'x1'x2' grow space and cool it with a pc fan pulling through a carbon filter. I am far from being an expert I could be completely wrong, but everything I have read and tried so far tells me that is just an oven for cooking plants. It took 2 weeks of reconfiguring my 1'x1'x20" box just to keep temps under 85 with just 4 cfls. In the last post, are you upgrading to a bigger space or are you using 2 cabinets now?
I'm adding an additional cabinet. Same size. Once it's assembled and the bottom shelf is in there my inside dimensions are about 22"L x 11"D x 30"H. I though it would get too hot for HPS unless I buy one of the cool tubes and I don't wanna drop that money on my first grow. I still have time before my seeds arrive to tweak it. I plan to add a fan and install the back tonight, then give it a test run to check the temps. If I can figure out the lighting in the second cabinet before it's time to flower, perhaps I'll switch to HPS.
my vote.... amnesia. i just had some of that, it truly lived up to its name. if i smoked even a lil too much it knocked me out.
Honestly I would love to see the amnesia too, but it may be better to go with to WW for your first.. because its well known and well documented and you'll get answers fast if u have any problems.
ya, you dont see many people using those bathroom fixtures, dunno why, its safer and cheaper than a power bar with those plug in adapters.
After much thought and deliberation I decided to go with soil for the moms. I grabbed a bag of Growers Gold indoor mix and Home Depot. I plan to order some fox farms but hadn't anticipated growing in soil. Used the ziploc bag/paper towel method to germ one white widow fem seed. Then transplanted into the soil today. After seeing how much room this left, I decided to plant another. I grabbed a two-liter bottle, cut it, filled it with dirt, planted seed and added some leftover bottled water to both. Made a little dome for the seed that had not sprouted yet. As you can see they are inches from the lights, which are set to 18/6. Plan to check the temps in about an hour, the lights seems hot. Have one fan pulling air in. Not sure if I need to do anything else at this point. Right now just planning on checking the soil to see if its dry tomorrow.
switch it so the fan is sucking the air out of the box and blowing it into the room, understand? passive air intake works best, the fan doesnt have to work as hard...