I'm looking into converting the cabinet in the pictures. This post is just for any comments and suggestions anyone might have. I will be, and already have done a lot of reading so far, but I want to do it once, and do it rite. All shelves are fully adjustable, and removable. I also plan to cover the glass in the front of course. ;] Thanks in advance Measurements: Front to Back: 2' Width: 2'4" height: 6'5"
i was growing in a cabinet about that size at a buddies and your biggest issue is with heat, and that will depend on what type of ventilation you have, what light source you are using high pressure sodium and metal halides put off a lot of heat i would definantly use a hood that you can vent and with proper ventilation you should be alright, and CO2 is not a bad investment they do help the plant do better especially if it gets warm they are a bit pricey though you will spend at least $200 for tank and regulator you want to keep your temps around 75-80 degrees i think thats like 21-23 celsius i hope this helps good luck.
Thanks for the tips. I don't have any supply's yet, So i'm open to any recommended lighting for this setup. I'll also look into a co2 system, one that can be self contained within the unit preferably. On another note... any suggestion's on how to get the most out of my space? I'm guessing i can grow maybe 4 decent size plants here. Possibly using SCOG, and LST?
new question, if anyone is still awake xD Would it be possible to use this light, and still find a decent way to ventilate this box?: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-400-watt-HP...ameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting thanks
i just got a legit idea, you should take pictures of what the outside looking into the cabinet looks likes, then put those pics on the inside of it, so when you look at it, it just looks like there's random shit in it.
hahha, I didn't even notice you're reply, Although that would be pretty sweet if I could pull it off, I think I'm going to just put mylar over it, and eventually get mirrors cut for both doors, to face outside the unit. I have a question though, I plan to divide this into two havles for flowering/vegging, What amount of HPS lighting would be sufficient for this setup? Let's assume I'm using a hydro system, the type of system dependant on what I have room for(I still need to research this a little). Here is a recap on Measurements: Front to Back: 2' Width: 2'4" height: 6'5"
could put into a 2 tier system and do 2 Scrogs, 2 plants in each chamber thatl yeild you very nicely. and to keep heat down use cfls
DO NOT USE MIRRORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!it will burn up your plants, you will be fine to use a 400W hps or a Metal halide, just when you buy your hood and ballasts make them separate, and what i mean by that is don't buy the hoods that has the ballast built in to them i found out the hard way, these generate to much heat in confined areas, purchase a hood that that has removable vents on the top and the end so you can set up ventilation ducting with inline fans to vent the hot air from the hood and make sure the hood also has a glass insert this also helps reduce heat, then purchase a switchable ballast so you can use both high pressure sodium and metal halide and with the other things i told you you should be fine any more questions let me know
hydro is gonna be tight and if you haven't done this before maybe start with soil it's a little more unforgiving you really need to know what you are doing with hydro and it's a hell of lot more work,cfl's would work but if you want some tight big solid nuggs then i would use at the very least a 250 watts hps and if you want to make this a duel unit for both veg and flower you will have to make very light tight when your plants are in flowering stage they CANNOT receive NO LIGHT feom your veg side this will really mess up your flower cycle if you do use any cfl's just use them on the veg side and the hps on the other for flower, then you really don't need the metal halide that is mainly used for veg state and you can use the cfl's for veg
nothing yet, I'm waiting on a check at the end of the month before I start Here is some plans though: Only Mylar on the insides of the glass you see.(the rest is already an acceptable shade of white for reflectivity) Cabinet will be split into halves, one halve being slightly larger for the flowering.(I will have roughly 3.5' of height for flowering, and 2.75" for Vegetative) I will have to decide what the best growth medium for these height restrictions are. Both top and bottom will have low profile florescents that will cover almost every square inch of the top of each chamber. $212 for the reflector, 8 6500k bulbs , and 8 3000k bulbs. Additional lighting can be supplied with a cheap reflector, and 1-2 42 watt CFLs, clamped on to small DIY rails that run around each chamber halfway up. ventilation will be done by 4 Aero Cool Master in each chamber, all powered by 1 100 watt computer power supply, on a timer. A very simple DIY easily replaceable Activated carbon Filter. 4 of these same fans will also intake each chamber and connect to the same power supply. Co2 for the flowering chamber(this will be the only external piece of the entire setup, and will likely sit behind the box, to give me some air space back there) The doors will be sealed with weather stripping. < Well that's about it for now, unfortunately I do still need to wait a bit before I can start.
That is a great idea, and you make a good point on the scrog, I forgot to mention in my reply I plant to have a scrog setup in it to deal with the height restriction. The mirrors are for the outside of the cabinet, for privacy, and to make it look natural. you have a point with the HPS, However I'm going to try out these fluorescent lights for this first run. I think with the amount of light I will have in such a small area it will be sufficient. If it doesnt work out I could possibly mount them on a side wall in the veg room, and get an HPS for the top I'm going to build doors onto the flowering halve. I'll keep in mind everyones suggestions about the hps for flowering. If I can use just the flourescent it eliminates a ton of headache with all the heat off the HPS. I'll have to readup more on grow journals done only with flourescents. thank's for you're interest, and all the tips everyone
sounds good spounge but do this to keep the floor on the higher teir cool. put 2 shelfs about 80mm appart then in the sides cut holes for computer fans, 2 inlet and 2 outlet in an enclosed area of the shelfs willact as a cooltube, roots cant get warm else this may cause rootrot by the water and soil becoming mushy and restricting oxgen getting to the roots.
that's not a bad idea, I'm just a little concerned with my height issues. speaking of which, does anyone have some recommendations for strains that would do best in this type of environment? I'm trying to get the most yield possible given the space I have to work with.
hindu kush grows short, but when scrogging the height is basicly what ever you set your screen too and then the bud growth going upward. hindu kush also yeilds quite well and smokes beautifily.
cool, I have heard alot about it. I'll be sure to look into it after this beast is rigged up. thanks for the tip
I'm leaning towards using 3 gallon grow bags, and putting as many as will fit into this cabinet. So lets say 8 plants in a 2' x 2'4" x 3.5'tall flowering chamber(3.5' height is from top to bottom, the growbag needs to be accounted for). I can adjust the two spaces for whatever I need, but the bigger I make the flowering chamber, the less room I have for veg. does this sound like an obtainable goal? If I did this would I be better off just using LST instead of SCOG, so I could transfer them from veg to flower chambers?
I would got with lst is you want to do that, and that way you can move them from veg to flower. I have a similar cab that im going to be moving my girls into in the next week or two. What kind of ventilation are you using?
all he has to do is change the bulbs from veg to flower, then change the lighting in each tier, so that i find is ALOT simpler than lst because scrog is low maintance on keeping it in the screen and switching bulbs is just way easy.
I was just thinking lst because he would get a lot more yeild that way. but your right it would be easier i guess lol. You could just do a sog, and stuff as many as you can fit in there in like one gallon grow bags or smaller pots. that way you wouldnt have to do any lst or scrog and could just let them go.