i called uhaul and asked how much, he said $12.99 (about $14 cheaper than building my own) but it was only 4ft tall and probably not much wider/deeper. Considering the oscillating fan and the bright powerful hanging lights wouldn't I need more room?
If you hit up YouTube man, there's a dude on there that shows you how to make a basic grow cabinet out of 2 cardboard boxes taped together.
Yeah I think that's the one I saw that gave me the idea. I have an external inhale fan that's basically just an old small heater fan foxed to a hole in the side of the box, then just a small box fan blowing some more air in dieting the day. It does get hot in there ,85+, with 9 cfls. I used two of those floor lamps for my sockets then splitters to make more sockets. The wires or connections or timer don t get hot so I'm pretty sure I'm not running too much watts through them. I lined the inside with that safety blanket stuff you can get sheets of like 9'x9' at wally world for 2 bucks. Some people say it's not mylar and it doesn't reflect light and all this bullshit, but it is aluminized cellophane, which is what mylar is, so it might not be add good, but for 10 percent of the price is like a limp dick, you just can't beat it.
Lol @ limp dick. Since I inherited a single plant, I've chosen to craigslist and mcgyver my own. I found an acrylic sport locker on Craigslist that had the dimensions of 14"x14"x4' This was hard to refuse. Because a single plant box In this footprint would be cake. Sand and bondo the slits for where the shelves slat into, then sand smooth. Some spray adhesive and a Mylar space blanket and the inside is sealed and reflective. 2x 3ft. Power bars with 8-12 sockets. Some plug to socket adapters and there you go. Cfl lights you can move up with growth, or add light under the canopy. Some hole saws. A second hand bathroom exhaust fan adapted to a power cord to plug into the power bar. And dryer duct to vent wherever. Some thin passive intake slits on the bottom of the locker and boom jobs done.
ThePiranha, on 13 Jul 2015 - 3:43 PM, said: Took awhile to sift through all the vids but Im guessing it's this one. Couldnt finish it yet but it looks good to me. Just went to my local home improvement store and got two cardboard boxes measuring 23" tall, 21.5" deep, and 38" long. I'll have to mess around with them to see what way would benefit the plant the most. lol @ the joke On pay day I will take a look around walmart for the mylar blankets. For lights I will probably just do what that other guy mentioned and use one 125w dual spectrum cfl. The fan I'm looking at is a standard 6" air duct fan for $25 each. Should I use an external fan and internal fan or just an external with hole for intake and let it use the pressure to suck it out? Sounds like you did pretty good job, got any pics for inspiration? For the lights I was going to keep it on a rope so I can raise it as much as I need, I just hope it doesn't out grow the space in the boxes I got. Since I plan on using the 125w dual spectrum cfl about how far from the plant should I keep it? And more importantly, is it even safe to use cardboard with lights that get that hot? :-/ because that makes me VERY worried
First, I need answers to my response right above this one, not being impatient or needy just don't want THIS post to cover up my previous one. This is what I've got to work with. With them stacked this way it is 46.5" tall with the flaps down and 56" tall with the flaps up. I will probably leave the flaps up for the extra height and I'm thinking of keeping the flaps open at the bottom as well for more height to make sure the plant never gets too close to the light source. I have another cardboard box I can cut up and tape to the box as a new floor and ceiling. Also I found these bulbs, only 100w though so I was thinking of using two. Would my setup draw any kind of attention or better question, how much of a difference in electricity will my setup make (two 100w Dual Spec bulbs, 2-4 small oscillating fans, in line air duct exhaust fan (400cfm), MAYBE intake fan, timer switch)? Sorry for the millions of probably incredibly stupid questions, and sorry for the million more to come.
Here's what my plan was till I acquired this nice locker. Go to Walmart and ask if they had any toilet paper boxes from the economy sized packages. Those boxes are at least 48" tall, and normally 24-36"x24-36". I was going to cut one of the corners and break the box down flat. Then spray the entire blank side of the box flat white for light diffusion. Re-assemble the box and cut an access panel for tending. Then run an extension cord with 1 socket on each head through the top flaps with a couple 23w 6500k bulbs. Google space buckets if you're concerned with cheap and stealth. You can make them outta a couple 5 gallon buckets and can accessorize them as you see fit. It would yield enough per plant without being greedy.
Im guessing you're saying the 21" wide is too small? What about what I asked about the heat and cardboard?
#GrowingNewb that's almost what I did, taping two boxes together like that. Pirahna's plan about spray painting the inside white is a good idea too I think. I didn't do that though because mine is more like a work in progress. I stayed with just one daylight cfl, then added one box and the mylar. It got hot when I added some more cfl so I ducted in the fan. My plants shot up one week into flower cycle so I added the second box on top. Added more lights so I open the door now during the day time and just point a box fan in there. Gotta little thermometer and I usually manage to keep temps down below 83 during the day. It's very hot where I live 100+ already and those 2 fans help temps a lot. Don't worry about smell really, not bad with one plant. Don't have exact measurements of my box but is proly right around 4 foot. My plant is at the top of the box now, but she's almost done too. Hairs are starting to turn orange.
About the fan question, I told you what I did and it works, but from what I read the best for a small box like this is an online exhaust fan at the top of the box and either an intake fan or passive intake holes at the bottom. You want to move the air around for two main reasons. Most important is heat control, but almost important is your plants need fresh air. So the exhaust at the top does this for you the best I think seeing as how natural convection, heat rises and all.
Well I got the boxes taped together and the doors cut and everything, pics below. I was thinking of painting the inside white but figured mylar would probably do a better job. Thermometer is already on my to-buy list as well as a humidity meter so hopefully I can keep mine in that same range as yours. As for the smell I hope you're right but I am still buying an iPower carbon Filter just to be on the safe side. The height of mine right now is 5' 7" so I'm pretty happy with that height. I guess I'll try it without an intake fan for now. Regarding the pics: it's a work in progress and I already have a plan to cover up the cracks between the doors. And yes I did use three different tapes lol, getting more duct tape Thursday and frankly I don't care how it looks as long as it does it's job properly.
Lol that's some sexy tape there. The box can be whatever size you want it to be. My box scenario was pulled out of my arse. I've still yet to decide what the hell I'm going to do with my baby. I've got the locker. It's more or less still stock I haven't had much $$ to work on it but I did a Blueprint on what I want it to do. The box scenario came up as an option to keep my costs low, so I figured what the hell if I'm not gonna use the idea someone can. Now today I scored a sweet deal on a flourowing with a 125w cfl. And it's 14 inches long so I'm having to rethink my situation. I was gonna go to the hardware store and get 4 new cfl bulbs at 10 something for a 2 pack. Then get cord and a socket and build a hanging socket that I could use a Y splitter and then 2 more Y splits to make a 1 socket 4 bulb light. The issue was that the bulbs were what they were and the parts for a custom socket were like 9 bucks. Lastly, the y adapters were 3 bucks a piece. So all in total it woulda put me at 40 bucks for a light I built myself that would only have 1450 lumens per bulb. There was a dude selling the wing on Craigslist for 30 bucks, I haggled him hard and ended up getting a professional light hood and bulb worth 60-70 bucks for 25. Lol So I'm back to the drawing board. Now as for your cardboard, unless your retarded with your setup it should be fairly cool to the touch. The problem I've seen with my setup is overdrawing. I tried to do a 4 bulb split on a single 65w clip lamp socket. Each bulb was more that 23w I think it was 27w per bulb. So 27x4= a lot more than the socket was rated for and the socket/wall cord got warm.
lol shut up its all the duct tape we had. Sounds like you got a damn good deal on that light and wing though good job. What would make my setup retarded or what do I need to be careful with exactly? For my light I was going to buy a wing reflector, cut small holes in the top of the box to run the ropes and try to keep it as centered as possible but I am still worried about the light or lights causing fire. Would a single 100w dual spectrum cfl suffice or should I get two? Please keep the size of my grow room in mind
Little by little I'm getting there. 4ft bamboo stakes, digital thermometer, and three planters (5", 10", 12")
Got the intake cut out and a screen mounted over it. I also got the cracks in the doors taken care of by using some screws and twine to pull the doors tightly together and using cardboard on the inside to get the rest covered up. Will be using Mylar to cover the rest of the cracks to help seal the whole thing up
I can't believe I haven't pulled the trigger on this yet, but money has been so tight having to pay my bills AND my moms because of job issues on her side but I started looking at this again. Did a little more looking around today and I'm gonna say screw it and just go with CFL like this bulb and reflector combo for flowering (2700k) and this bulb for the initial grow (6400k). I've seen Apollo for a long time and haven't heard anything negative about them. Are they reliable? If I get this reflector and find its a little wide, is it safe to bend it down a little bit? I somehow lost all three of my tape measures and just found out tonight as I tried to measure the box *rolls eyes*
Those bulbs will work, and you will get a couple of oz from them, but a 300w LED that costs about $60-$80 will give you about the same bud but cost less to run (they use about 140-170watts) and cost less to buy. You only use the one light, so you don't have to switch them over There are bigger lights available, it depends on how much bud you need, how much money you have to spend, and of course, how much space you have to dedicate to growing
This was my setup when I was using the 250w revolt CFL bulbs with the Apollo reflector Veg Flower I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, the 250w bulb is the size of a 2 liter soda bottle. I got some pretty good herb from it. the most I was ever able to harvest was 2oz/ plant. Not bad for personal use but in flower I was running that 250w and 3 60w bulbs. That's a lot of watts compared to buying a 300w led panel that really only draws 148w if you're thinking about electricity bills.