building a grow box/cab for cheap?

ive been watching these go for $800+ on craigslist and 1100-1900 on ebay... i obviously see they are pretty easy to build if you are willing to do the work, and of course i am, anything to save money lol.

Curious if anyone could help me out with some ideas or designs to build a grow box/cab for soil 2-12 plants? (keep money in mind aswell)

Please include pics if possible aswell if you have a setup already, provides a decent legend to make an idea around

yo bro do a search for them on here and you will find plenty of kick ass grow boxes and grow cabinets then you could ever ask for! Im going to be building one from the DIY that another poster was so kindly enough to document and share with RIU- searching is your friend!

fellow Michigander here!

You pretty much need a lot of PVC piping, elbows/corners to connect them... Plan out the size you want your box to be, cut PVC pipe to size, connect with elbows.... the tricky part is getting Mylar around the whole thing with easy access to the plants...

Your other option is 4 ft by 8 ft 1/2 inch plywood... good luck

I made a box that was 3' tall with 2' of width and all you need is a couple of pieces of plywood and a 2x4

stormrage93 said:

I made a box that was 3' tall with 2' of width and all you need is a couple of pieces of plywood and a 2x4

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That's similar to what I'm going to do, 34inch square walls, in between 3-4 feet deep undecided on that part, I'll throw some hinges on the front of the inside, Then something that will hold it shut, maybe another hinge on the outside, So it isn't suspicions

r7o2d6 said:

That's similar to what I'm going to do, 34inch square walls, in between 3-4 feet deep undecided on that part, I'll throw some hinges on the front of the inside, Then something that will hold it shut, maybe another hinge on the outside, So it isn't suspicions

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Just make sure you run a small peice of 2x4 across tue top and bottom on 2 out of 4 sides opposite each other. And you leave about a half inch or an inch between the end of the 2x4 and the end of the board. You use that to screw all of the sides to. Without it the box will be really unsturdy and when you screw plywood to plywood it just splits so you screw plywood to the 2x4

I just got done building a cabinet, you dont say what you consider cheap but Id say mine has run about 45$ so far(just the cabinet, not the lights or fan, I used 4, 1/4 inch luan handi-panels from Home Depot( about 5$ each) 2' x 4' WxL, 2 8' 2x2s that I had them cut in half(1.75 each) and a 2x4 1/2" thick MDF handi-panel(7$?) for top and bottom that I had them cut in half,a crapload of screws and a pair of hinges... Ive learned to never use nails , Im going to put a journal up, Im seeing how the heat is in there right now(4-42 watt cfls) 2 pc fans for exhaust...
also depending while trying to figure out what I was going to do I found these:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/White-60-inch-Extra-Wide-Clothes-Closet/5245002?findingMethod=rr
and theres a few more like it... if that isnt a grow tent with some mylar added, I dont know what is, get another one with actual clothes in it and leave that one half open and no one would ever look at it twice

Cheap for me (was hoping that it would include lights etc) was like 200-400, somewhrre in the ballpark of half the cost of a prebuilt one lol

Ok i realize now it will not be too expensive to build one of these. simple questions left now...

(soz prolly wrong forum now but...) height away from plant to lights? so i can figure out how tall i should make my box.

Guessing 4-6ft is decent for length and thinking maybe 4' deep.

If you have suggestions let me know, looking for up to 12 plants, and for as little as 2.

(ideas so far) ive seen the car sun reflector posted for a good reflective surface, i suppose i could make that work. i have two small fans to place on the bottom of the box (box would have 2x4s on bottom to create full circulation), then 2 or possibly 4 pc fans on top to allow hot air out. Not sure on the light yet, supposed i would jump to light topic when needed. Electrical should be easy with good gage extension cord with a surge protecting powoer strip on the outside of the box. (i think it would cause a burn down inside) I would make one side have a hinged door to use for working on and maintenance. was thinking of making a shelf for smaller plants to be closer for extra light.
very open for recommendations so far

TommyHobby said:

Your other option is 4 ft by 8 ft 1/2 inch plywood... good luck

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what would you say for long? or would you say 4' x 8' x 4'?

Antoneal said:

what would you say for long? or would you say 4' x 8' x 4'?

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well, how much room you got to play with, how high you want to grow your plants, what lighting are you gonna use ?

4 ft by 4 ft would fit about 4 good sized plants for flowering

Well after taking some time measuring out things, and how high this current plant is doing, would 76'' be enough grow room between floor and light? And lighting I have yet to look for, I have no idea what to get for a budget, but not nothing crappy.. I think it shines more blue strectum for better growth? Not sure of the bulb/light type tho, nor have any idea how powerful I should go

Antoneal said:

Well after taking some time measuring out things, and how high this current plant is doing, would 76'' be enough grow room between floor and light? And lighting I have yet to look for, I have no idea what to get for a budget, but not nothing crappy.. I think it shines more blue strectum for better growth? Not sure of the bulb/light type tho, nor have any idea how powerful I should go

Click to expand...

a lot depends on the tools you have available to you and your experience , Im only on my first grow, but Ive built boxes before ... if you have the basics(hammer, screwdrivers, drill,jigsaw(all available for under 10 each for the drill and jigsaw- for cutting holes for the intake and fan) or borrow from a buddy...
anyway, decide on the size first, 4x4x8 (LxWxH) would be nice, its pretty big!, but you'll have to have your lights on a chaion to lower them when the plants are young, and to utilize that much space you'd have to use some good sized fans... does it have to be sealed ? certainly wont be stealth, michigan? so its a legal grow? if so you dont even really need a box , look at RiddleMes' new grow, he uses his basement and has some moveable panels to reflect light... if its a legal grow, you could just set up one corner of a room, get some old moveie screens(the pull down kind) that are light and easily moveable or something...more info would be beeter, goals, how much etc, others would be better ta answering that stuff, remember a lot of the cabinets , scrubbers etc is because its illegal most places...

Grow will be legal, thats why im limiting size for 12 plants currently. I am in an apartment currently and would keep it behind a "lock and secure door" on this box idea, i would be staying within the legal rights of this. (under MI law, has to be behind a secure locked door, front door counts, but if you have guests over your effed).
If you have other means yes im open, i looked on ebay at another link and it was like a reflective tent with pvc piping as the frame, i was worried i couldnt control the climate as easy, let alone have the locked door there. i could however change the door knob to that room period and make it lockable. (sorry, obviously im still brainstorming).

Movable isnt a huge priority, but the ceilings here are at 7.5ft (sucks) and the door is close to 78'', if not possible fine, but would like to be able to squeeze thru the door up, but wouldnt matter.

experience wise, im more of mechanically inclined in the automotive side, but i like to build things, so i can handle something like this, tools, i can basically get/have a lot of them

what are the rules on how much smoke you can have on hand? I remember some conversation(could have been mich since they mentioned 12 plants too) but you can only have 1 oz on hand at any time,,, in that case I would search on "perpetual" grows.. basically just staggered planting if youve ever gardened, that will make a difference to your final build.Id put a lock on your grow room door first off though for that(perpetual) you need like 3 areas I think, like I said look up perpetual grows, but realize that since youre legal you can dispense with a lot of the stealthy aspects, personaly if I was you Id order some feminized seeds, get a few cfls at walmart and germinate and get some going(like a couple of plants), and over the course of the next couple of weeks, decide how best to stagger your planting so you always have some coming ready as you use the last batch up especially if its only 1 oz(smokable) at a time, when you have that figured out, it takes no time to put a box together and youll have a better idea of how much light you need and such, but really, check out Riddlemes noobies thread and his latest grow, he really knows his stuff and seems pretty grounded

2.5 "usable" on hand and twelve plants

)sorry I missed that you actually had some growing, my bad... I's check the law first I've heard that they're pretty tough in michigan, cops are not too happy with the law... well at least this will bump the thread up so maybe someone really knowledgable will answer space wise for 12 plants, pretty sure with that many you'll need to go with hps and mh if for no other reason than that would be a lot of cfls to cover that many plants. Again, only on my first grow but I do know about lights and ballasts from other stuff, shipping is what will kill you on ballasts Im guessing with some good shopping(ebay or find a local/close place to buy to save shipping) you could probably get your light(s) and ballast for under 200 which would leave you 200 for everything else, pretty sure 4x4 would be crowding it a bit...
but then again if you used regular(non-feminized) you might only get 6 females if youre lucky , I would think for vegging all 12 you could probably get away with the 4x4 though and then thru natural selection(so to speak) and maybe one or two has problems(in regular gardening we always figure 1/3 of your crop goes to animals, pests, bugs , disease etc ) you could wind up with 4 really good females so if legal is an oz thats only 7-8 grams per plant which I think is a really low estimate for full size plants, most people from what I see are height constrained( like under 3-4 feet)... whatever you decide, good luck to ya! costs add up though besides the box, nutes(I got fox farms 3 pack, 45$ shipped off ebay) good soil (fox farms 17$ a bag, enough for 3-3 gallon pots) but honestly any good soil with a good amount of perlite is good to start with will grow anything(again from non-pot gardening experience) and Ill concur with a lot of people Ive never liked miracle grow anything , even for my tomatoes, they put too much crap in it ...

Ok so I need to lose the miracle grow...

What I wold like to have in the future, sooner thanlater, is 3 different boxes for different stages, such as a grow box and a bud box, etc, with this first box I would like it to be a good all arond grow/bud box so I can get the feel for things and how its going to be with a box. Yes I relaize that timing of the lights is the main difference in the different boxes, but I do know different lights ?rovide different spectrums of colored wave lengths. I guess question I have, is 4x4 enough room for maybe 5 plants at a time?

Ideas for lighting? Pics of assembled boxes for lighting setup? And what would be recommened to act as a reflective surface?

Oops double post