MFGB: My First Grow Box

[Ackaroth]

So I have been lurking for a few days, reading various retailers linked around here as well as just general resources, and have decided that, at least for beginning, I am gonna use an old IKEA 3 drawer dresser that is stripped out, with a CFL setup. Measurements are 34" high, 15" deep, and 30" wide. While I realize this is a bit smaller than optimal, it should at least get me off the ground, and give me some developing space while I work on a solution for later stage growth. My hope is that I can purchase everything I need locally as I am not very comfortable having things shipped to me at present.

So far my plan is:

• Get a few plywood squares cut for front (door) and maybe back (seems to be a particle board-like material, not very strong, also I am worried that moisture might affect it over time)

• Get door hinged on, possibly caulk up back panel to reduce airflow and light leakage later.
• Purchase probably 3x light sockets and lights for initial lighting, possibly Y socket extensions as well to later upgrade to a 6 light setup.
• Get thermometer and timer, possibly oscillating fan(Radioshack?)
• Explore fan options, hoping to knock this out at same time/place as lights
• Hit up garden store, get some starter pots, trays, ph testers, hopefully they have something like panda film as well

and thats about it! I have a handful of bagseeds that I am gonna try with to start, as I am on a budget (aren't we all) and trying to keep inital costs down. This is a project/hobby more than anything, and I like keeping it that way.

I plan on running around town in the morning when everyone opens up to see what I can find as far as all this stuff. I am planning on running the box completed a few days before ever putting anything inside to see how my temps run. Will do my best to get pics up before planting starts. Also, of note, I live in the south, USA, where its hot and humid. I keep my apt anywhere from 73F to 76F, which seems like it should be fine for development.

Thoughts/Comments/Suggestions?

 

[Ackaroth]

Huzzah! Early progress.

So I couldn't sleep, and decided to screw around with some case fans after reading through some other grow box threads. Just successfully wired up a 120mm and an 80mm, both LED lit (One is UV or Blue, other is an orangish red, am concerned that this may be bad to have even this little bit of odd colors in the environment, but they are pretty small overall) so now they are on wall sockets (Thank you old samsung phone charger and whatever that radioshack plug went to). Also want to give myself a pat on the back, I have very novice electrical knowledge, and this (even minor but still daunting) task proved successful in a very short amount of time.

So my observations, and what I already sort of knew from building computers, is that the 80mm is cranking out a lot more air, I am pretty sure it is a higher rpm fan. Should I use this as my bottom intake fan or my top exhaust?

Need to get a crappy point and shoot camera so I can log all of this, its gonna be cool to look back on my jig-rigging.




Edit: Also gonna run around and do some shopping today I think. Any advice on what to say I am constructing/growing when buying parts and soil for an indoor project?

 

[Ackaroth]

Best I can do for the moment is cell phone camera and bad lighting, but this is a quick glance at my canvas

 

[Ackaroth]

Hate to keep posting instead of just editing in new stuff, but whatever.

Planning on using a similar light setup to this one https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/341951-5wk-grapeape-bagseed-cfl-journal-4.html#post4350780
Was wondering, how man light sockets can you run on 1 plug? I realize the gauge comes into play, but should I just go safe and do 1 extension cord per socket? I would like to end up with a rack of 6 (3x3) with the possibility of putting Y socket adapters for an additional set of lights.

Other random pondering so far this morning:

Soil choice, locating my thermostat and timer (hopefully all at the same place), and figuring out if I need any additional nutrients for soil grow.

Debating getting a few jugs of water staging for a few days to start their de-chlorination. Not sure if I will be ready by the end of the week but this mornings progress alone tells me I could logically germinate within the week.

Right now I have seven seeds to try, one of which went through a partial bowl before found, but I am going to be optimistic with. Also gonna hit up a friend and see if he has any lying around. I really don't want more than maybe 4-6 small plants in this small space, but I am assuming a few might go male, a few might go belly up, etc etc.

 

[Rastamoney]

I would stick with 1 to 2 plants tops for your space and first grow in the box. But, where there is a will there is a way. Plus, if you only have a limited amount of seeds, you'll have to learn through trial and error with some things, I know I did. In that size box, I would only veg untill the plants are about 12 inches. That way you'll be able to somewhat contain your plants in your box. Remember too, that with cfl's keep them 4 to 5 inches from foilage. Are you planning on painting the inside of your box? Bright white and shrout tape would be perfect. good luck and I look forward to seeing your finished box. Don't let anyone deter you about the size of your box either. I made a box by connecting two 3way speaker boxes and have had many good grows. That box however is now my mother box. Just use miricale grow for the first 4 weeks. Afterwards, you'll have alot of choices for nutes to play with.

 

[Ackaroth]

Thanks for the feedback! I am optimistically hoping that I get 2 plants out of the limited amount of seeds I have, so I should be fine there. And yes, I am planning on cutting the veg a little short to stunt them a tad, but 12 inches was my goal too. As far as the box, I am up between getting Styrofoam board and panda or mylaring it, or just painting the box with a white paint. I don't know much about different paints and that will also slowdown my launch time (and potentially make a mess) so I'll probably opt for whats easiest.

 

[tendran]

Painting is the easiest by far, a small bucket of flat white paint is better than nothing. If you have mylar or panda stuff or intend to buy it, do it. Wal-mart sells emergency blankets in the camping section made out of reflective polyester (mylar). It's thin and difficult to work with sometimes but you could probably line your whole cab with it for like 3 bucks (roughly the price of one blanket). While you're there, the best way I found to install it is simple scotch double sided tape.. it's more forgiving than glue or a staple gun because you can unstick and restick it to fix wrinkling. I've used this stuff and it's not perfect but it's a step up from paint imo, and even cheaper.

Also it's good form to plant way more bag seed than you want plants, because as you said, you'll be expecting males. Keep up the good work.


Edit: Oh, remember when you install lighting make it ADJUSTABLE (aka install sockets onto a 2x4 and have it suspended from chains or whatever you have. This way you can adjust it with the plant height. Adjustable lighting is so much more important when doing CFL/LED grows since the lights have to be close to prevent stretching (and in a cab like this the less stretching the better).

 

[Ackaroth]

Ya, I am planning on building either a 2x4 or pvc pipe light rack. Thanks for the advice with the emergency blankets tho.

 

[JRTokin]

Huzzah! Early progress.

So I couldn't sleep, and decided to screw around with some case fans

ha ha! I know that feeling! Your project looks good man. Will be checking it out. Oh and the white paint is definatly a good idea. Plus its like so much easier than sticking mylar down!

 

[HistoryPuff]

I would stick with 1 to 2 plants tops for your space and first grow in the box. But, where there is a will there is a way. Plus, if you only have a limited amount of seeds, you'll have to learn through trial and error with some things, I know I did. In that size box, I would only veg untill the plants are about 12 inches. That way you'll be able to somewhat contain your plants in your box. Remember too, that with cfl's keep them 4 to 5 inches from foilage. Are you planning on painting the inside of your box? Bright white and shrout tape would be perfect. good luck and I look forward to seeing your finished box. Don't let anyone deter you about the size of your box either. I made a box by connecting two 3way speaker boxes and have had many good grows. That box however is now my mother box. Just use miricale grow for the first 4 weeks. Afterwards, you'll have alot of choices for nutes to play with.

I think 4-5 inches is only ideal for the first week of growth. After the plant can take some more stress it needs to be 2-3 inches away. Also, I'm not sure if you have used it, but I hear everyone says MiracleGro soil is HORRIBLE for marijuana plants because it has the nute food already in the soil. Scott's soil is fine if you can't get a hold of Fox Farms soil.

That's weird that your 80mm fan pulls more air than the other. One thing I would be cautious about is using a case fan that lights up. The dark period for plants should be just that; dark. Are you going to smell-proof this cab? I noticed you haven't said anything about a carbon filter, but if your bagseed happens to be good stuff it will reek when you're almost finished. But you seem like you know what you're doing. I'll be following this.

 

[Ackaroth]

Thanks for the comments. I am looking at some "Living Earth: Organic Potting Soil" at the moment, I think its semi-local organic stuff, I might just have to see what its nutrients are like. I dont want to use miracle grow just because I am worried about having any chemically taste, I would just rather it be about as natural as can be. As far as the case fans, I dont know the specs on either, but the 80mm seems to push alot more air. But yes, they have LED's. I am pretty sure I can snip off the wire to the LED, however.

As far as odor, I hadn't planned anything currently. I am hoping that my only having a couple of plants actually mature in the box will keep smell down some, although I have room for adding some odor combatants. My home usually smells of the goods, and I am fortunate enough to live in a spot surrounded by like minded people, so unless its just unbearable, I can let it ride for a short bit.

Went to hardware store today and priced out everything. Looking like I can get out for under $100, although I am not particularly excited about either the thermometer or the timer I found there. Cheapest oscilating fan they had was a 9" for $19.99 as well, which doesn't seem like a steal. But its closer than a walmart/home depot/lowes. Also, I haven't found the lightbulbs I want to use yet, but there is a huge lighting store nearby I have yet to try out.

Pretty sure I am gonna paint the box and then maybe add a small wood psuedo weather stripping just inside the door to cut down light leakage. If it goes ok, might put rubber stripping on over it to completely seal. Any thoughts on using a caulk like substance to make a seal that the door would close against?

 

[HistoryPuff]

I think caulk would work. I haven't used any for this purpose, but just use black caulk (hehe) or black rubber tubing. I'm building my box too (I'll start next week after my brother visits this weekend) and have been thinking about what sort of material I want to prevent light leaking. I bought the emergency blanket at walmart already though, so I may just buy some construction paper and make a right angle pillar to go on the four corners of my cabinet, and each side of the door.

I unfortunately have to make mine as stealthy as possible because of who I live with. So I may just decide not to ever open one door and make sure it has a lip that prevents light from leaking out the middle of the doors.

Because your box isn't that big you might want to consider some 40mm computer fans rather than an oscillating fan just because it might be too powerful for that space.

My space is pretty cramped, so I may actually just use 6x26W cfls for 2 plants. Mine are autoflower since I don't have a lot of vertical space to work with. And I'm going to LST them which I'm looking forward too. For your space, you could probably get away with 10-14 lights if you have good ventilation. I'm not too worried about my yield, more about stealth, so just ask yourself what you want out of this grow and plan accordingly.

 

[Ackaroth]

Mine is meant to be a test yield more than anything, this is about furthering my knowledge of green thumbery, getting in a little light carpentry, and seeing if I can offset my extra curricular costs a couple times a year. I have modified my idea for my light setup, but eventually I will be running on max 6 lights.

Would you care to elaborate on "autoflower" and "LST"?

Also, as far as stealth, I want it nonchalant, but it doesn't need to be a mystery box. My roommate is a long term, like-minded friend and business partner.

EDIT: Thanks RIU, I jumped over to the newbie vocab thread and found LST. "LST - Acronym for Low-Stress Training, the technique of manipulating the branches in order to reduce plant height, expose certain branches to light, and/or distribute hormones to lower branches of the plant to encourage larger buds."

I am still not completely sure how to do this, but that is my desired goal. I would be perfectly happy with 2 squatty fat short plants.

 

[burninjay]

Howdy, one of my boxes is nearly the same size as yours so I figured I would toss a few ideas to consider in your planning. It's made out of cheap OSB, the bottom section is 34x16x27 and contains the plants, pots, and lights. The top is 5 inches and houses the fans, ballasts, and carbon.
For lighting, I used 2 100w hps fixtures and 2 15w actinic blue T5 fluorescents. The HPS fixtures can be acquired for a reasonable enough price to consider them over CFL's, you're going to spend at least 50 bucks for enough CFLs to cover that.
The fans are two speed microwave blowers I got off ebay for about 15 bucks each, and they move a ton of air as well as create enough negative pressure to pull through a 2 inch deep carbon bed, a 120mm case fan can't handle carbon well. important to note is that the box intakes from bottom and exhausts at the top rear, this way the heated air from the bulbs is exited before contacting the plants.
For training, I used a screen to space out 3 rows of 5 tops. Each of the tops should end around 10 grams dry. A quarter pound of herb from 200w isn't too bad if you ask me. Your box is a bit shorter, but you could duct the exhaust to mount the fan remotely of just grow shorter buds for a slightly smaller yield and still use the same concept. Plenty of LST/ScROG examples on this forum already, just poke around.

I'm sure you'll learn a bunch and have fun regardless of what you end up using, but really consider low wattage HPS over the CFL's. It will save you money in the long run by giving you more respectable yields with fewer bulbs and shady y-splitters everywhere.
One more thought, I used to make my lights raise and lower on cables/chains/pulleys/whatever. I will never do this again. So much easier to just put a box or container or something under the plant to lift it closer to the lights than deal with cumbersome hangers that take away overhead room. This is especially important if one plant is growing faster/taller than the other.

The girls in the picture are 2 Sour Queen plants at somewhere around 5 weeks flowering.
Good Luck!

 

[HistoryPuff]

Nice pic, burninjay

Ackaroth, autoflowers are special seeds you buy that start the flowering period right away no matter what light cycle you use. You could use 12/12 like you do after vegging, but because it's a flexible type of plant, most people will actually use an 18/6 or 20/4 throughout the entire span of their grow to increase yield. Essentially, an autoflower will be finished in 9-10 weeks therefore it will be shorter than other plants that vegged for a month or two. I'm waiting to start germinating my Bubblelicious autos from Nirvana. LST and an auto is a really good combo if you're tight on vertical space.

 

[Ackaroth]

I have a lot of updates to post, short version: built light rack, got chain setup, put on hinges for doors, and got wood cut for the doors as well. Right now my predicament is finding the 6500k CFL's local (if possible) and then getting dirt and etc.

 

[Ackaroth]

Eye's put in to hold chain

Hinges

Hinges

Light Rack - Probably gonna bring it in a little closer, Dont like the gapping right now but it shows where my heads at

Light Rack

Timer

Thermostat

 

[HistoryPuff]

Not gonna lie, man. You're making this look pretty legit. Keep it up.

 

[Ackaroth]

Thanks! I had an $80 budget, went to Home Depot, and spent $120 But unlike my roommate, who was shopping with me, I wanted nice looking things, not just cheapest available. So the hinges, door handles, a few other things I picked, are a little fancy for a grow box, but that will hopefully only help it blend in as a piece of nonchalant furniture.

So yeah, budget is tapped out for a couple days, but after that I need to worry about paint (or wal-mart emergency blanket), 6500k cfl's, dirt, pots, ph tester. I may go ahead and buy the Y sockets for the lights, as like I said, I am not very happy with how far apart they are, but at least with Y's going I can still crank out a lot of light (6 bulbs instead of 3) with my current setup. Roommates biggest issue with me building us a 6 socket setup (expandable to 12 lights with Y's) was that this is our first try, we can go smaller for this one and just try on bagseed and figure out how everything runs and such.

Like burninjay said above, I will probably keep the lights at a fixed height near the top and maybe use the spare plywood I have to make shelves that can rest on those old roller mounts seen in the pictures on the sides of the dresser. That way I can lower the shelf 3 times and then just use the floor of the dresser.

 

[HistoryPuff]

How many plants were you going to start on your first round? You probably only have like 50-80 bucks of stuff left to buy. You could either get y's now, or just buy higher wattage cfls like 42W instead of 26 or whatever. It is a good idea to keep the lighting fixture in once place. The shelves may work fine, but what I plan to do with mine is just use several yellow pages books under the pots and just adjust as often as I need it, and that may be less work than installing and moving shelves, but do what works for you.

I also am going to recommend the emergency blanket for now just because it won't be as time consuming, will be cheaper, and will reflect just as well if not better.