Buying superbox or supercabinet for first time grow.

New2GrowingWeed

New2GrowingWeed

Member
I want to thank everyone for their input. The more I look at the boxes the more I realize how overpriced they are. Its like buying an alienware computer instead of building your own, most premade game computers are complete shit. At least that is what I am getting from everyone talking on the thread. I have decided to build my own. I hate to ask to many questions on this post because there is thousands of posts I can look through.

If anyone doesn't mind the questions please continue. If not no need to respond to this thread anymore.

My major concern is smell and detection. I do not need a huge room with 10 plants. I just need enough to for myself. The options I have come up with so far are as follows.

1. The house I am moving into has a section of unfinished basement. I was going to create a full garden down there for full year growing, my family eats lots of vegetables and we always had an outdoor garden for the past 12 years. In that room I was going to make a fake wall or shelf that led to a small space where I would have my medication. http://www.instructables.com/id/Secret-door-bookcase/?ALLSTEPS is an example. This would do two things for me. Firstly I can blame any residual smell on the other plants. Secondly it provide secure location from the stuck up in laws. I have posted an example of what I am talking about. The basement is roughly 50 foot by 17 foot in the long section.

2. Build a ladder stair through my master bedroom closet, not my wife's walk-in closet but the small one I will never use or anyone will go into, to the unfinished attic. Insulate the attic, just buy a grow tent and keep it temperature controlled filtering smells and heat through rooftop vent.

Thoughts?

btw I will not be starting this project until I move into my home in November. So I have plenty of time to bulid, prep and prepare for this room. I can also budget in most of everything I am thinking of with little problem.
 

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Greenhouse;save

Greenhouse;save

Well-Known Member
The one bit of invaluable advice I can give u is this Do not try and overcomplicate the build u r about to embark on soon.keep it as simple as possible try and research the things that will cause u to make alterations in the future when u have completed ur build ie holes for cables,ducting,fans,inlet and outlet,brackets for lights and so on u seem to be an intelligent enuff man to pull this off with very little hassle.keep me posted and I will try and give u as much help as possible u can pm me if u don't want it to show up on a thread.Good luck my freind
 
New2GrowingWeed

New2GrowingWeed

Member
Greenhouse;save said:
The one bit of invaluable advice I can give u is this Do not try and overcomplicate the build u r about to embark on soon.keep it as simple as possible try and research the things that will cause u to make alterations in the future when u have completed ur build ie holes for cables,ducting,fans,inlet and outlet,brackets for lights and so on u seem to be an intelligent enuff man to pull this off with very little hassle.keep me posted and I will try and give u as much help as possible u can pm me if u don't want it to show up on a thread.Good luck my freind
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Thank you so much for your input, the time you took to write back to means the world to me. I will continue to research and keep you updated. I just received the blueprints of the house today so I am going to start planning everything. The number one thing I have to keep telling myself is I have time. I do not want to rush it and want to get it right the first time. I know a lot of people overexcite themselves to get a crop growing and deal with problems that could have been easily avoided from the get go.
 
Greenhouse;save

Greenhouse;save

Well-Known Member
Yea your right bud but I was of the same attitude as u no rush think wisely and take it one step at a time.You will succeed I can't tell by ur attitude uv got wot it takes patience and common sense.
 
RetiredMatthebrute

RetiredMatthebrute

Well-Known Member
New2GrowingWeed said:
Thank you so much for your input, the time you took to write back to means the world to me. I will continue to research and keep you updated. I just received the blueprints of the house today so I am going to start planning everything. The number one thing I have to keep telling myself is I have time. I do not want to rush it and want to get it right the first time. I know a lot of people overexcite themselves to get a crop growing and deal with problems that could have been easily avoided from the get go.
Click to expand...
if you plan on doing hydro i cannot stress how important it is to have a nice clean work enviorment, this is a lot of work but has its rewards.

i personally prefer soil but theres alot of pro's and con's about them both.

if you plan on doing 1-4 plants a 4x4 room and a 600w light will do you justice, also start thinking enviormental control, plants enjoy temps in the 70's. your light is going to provide heat but if its pulling in cold air then you may have a issue with it being too cool for optimal growth. i had this issue in my basement, 65 was avg temp and though they grew they grew a bit slower than they could have, i got a fan/temp controller to maintain a nice 76 degree room i saw a nice difference in growth.

also if you are going to be growing it in a room thats hot you may not be able to cool the room sufficiently and would need either a intake hose ran from a cool place or an AC..AC's can get pricy so keep that in mind.

CO2 is talked about on here as if it is necessary and while it does give an improvemnt its not needed for a first time grow and i would suggest thinking about putting any kind of CO2 system on the "to do" list after you have worked out all the other kinks.

a simple humidifier can provide you with some humidity, 40-50% humidity is good for the entire grow, can get more technical but why bother imo..

there are some really nice tents out there that would provide you with not so stealth a grow but if its getting tucked away in a basement out of sight out of mind you may benifit from looking into a nice 4x8 tent with a divider in middle so you can expand later...or a nice 4x4 and expansion can include buying another tent...something for you to think about.

dont get sucked into the nutrient hype especially if you decide to go soil...a simple all purpose fertilizer and some quality soil should bring you through a entire grow with only having to add nutes once or twice, people think they need to feed every week and end up with assloads of problems by week 6 of flower...my theory is if its not broke dont fix it, so if the plant isnt showing you it is hungry dont add fertilizer. a green plant is a happy plant.

anyways i wont continue on, maybe some others can chime in on some things to think about and research. like someone was saying above keeping it simple is the best way to start.
 
New2GrowingWeed

New2GrowingWeed

Member
RetiredMatthebrute said:
if you plan on doing hydro i cannot stress how important it is to have a nice clean work enviorment, this is a lot of work but has its rewards.

i personally prefer soil but theres alot of pro's and con's about them both.

if you plan on doing 1-4 plants a 4x4 room and a 600w light will do you justice, also start thinking enviormental control, plants enjoy temps in the 70's. your light is going to provide heat but if its pulling in cold air then you may have a issue with it being too cool for optimal growth. i had this issue in my basement, 65 was avg temp and though they grew they grew a bit slower than they could have, i got a fan/temp controller to maintain a nice 76 degree room i saw a nice difference in growth.

also if you are going to be growing it in a room thats hot you may not be able to cool the room sufficiently and would need either a intake hose ran from a cool place or an AC..AC's can get pricy so keep that in mind.

CO2 is talked about on here as if it is necessary and while it does give an improvemnt its not needed for a first time grow and i would suggest thinking about putting any kind of CO2 system on the "to do" list after you have worked out all the other kinks.

a simple humidifier can provide you with some humidity, 40-50% humidity is good for the entire grow, can get more technical but why bother imo..

there are some really nice tents out there that would provide you with not so stealth a grow but if its getting tucked away in a basement out of sight out of mind you may benifit from looking into a nice 4x8 tent with a divider in middle so you can expand later...or a nice 4x4 and expansion can include buying another tent...something for you to think about.

dont get sucked into the nutrient hype especially if you decide to go soil...a simple all purpose fertilizer and some quality soil should bring you through a entire grow with only having to add nutes once or twice, people think they need to feed every week and end up with assloads of problems by week 6 of flower...my theory is if its not broke dont fix it, so if the plant isnt showing you it is hungry dont add fertilizer. a green plant is a happy plant.

anyways i wont continue on, maybe some others can chime in on some things to think about and research. like someone was saying above keeping it simple is the best way to start.
Click to expand...

Once again I want to say thank you for taking the time to write to me. I have been pouring through 100's of forum posts, videos and this is all I can think about. Not that I am thinking about rushing it as I stated but thinking about concealing it and how to keep the room as simple as possible.

I originally posted that I had 2 options. Grow in the basement behind a fake wall or in the 2nd floor master bedroom spare closet. I have decided, however I won't be 100% sure until I move in towards the end of September, to make the grow room in the closet upstairs because it runs adjacent to the laundry room. I will explain the setup below. Once I start building I will post pictures but once again that will not happen until September or October.

The closet is 5 foot by 5 foot, slightly bigger but for ease of explanation we will use those numbers. I am going to build a shelving wall 3 feet into the closet that can open, I will not explain the details just refer to the video I posted earlier in the thread. Behind that wall I will gut the 2 x 2 area of any carpet.I will lay down matting and cover the walls and roof, http://www.audimutesoundproofing.com/Products/Peacemaker-64mm-Anti-VibrationIsolation-Material---2-x-25__APM64000840.aspx?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=newfeed&gclid=Cj0KEQjw_42eBRDHqcG1psmtneEBEiQAWPL8WChmFXbftcuWXREmk81obLSZOOyV3y1BdzGYytRQFPAaAs7d8P8HAQ, to help sound proof the room. Not sure what frequency carbon filters run at but I am guessing lower frequency so I will go with the 6.4mm. Unless someone knows the frequency??

I will then waterproof the flooring, still have not decided on exactly what I will use. After waterproofing the floor I will line the entire room with reflective paneling, material I will also determine later.

I have decided to use CFL's. Yes I know people will plead and argue other lighting is way better and OMG your yields are going to be terrible! But I don't want to deal with heat. So CFL's it is. I am going to get lights for both ends of the spectrum, for flowering and vegging. I know I need 10,000 lumens per square foot. I know I do want an adjustable lighting system from the top that can move up and down so I can keep it 3-6 inches from the plants. I will run fixed lighting in the two corners on the wall connecting to the laundry room as well. That being said after the room is built I will run the lights 24 hours a day as a test to get a temperature in the room, checking it every 6 hours as well as humidity, even though that will change once the plants are in there. I won't start growing until the room is complete and tested.

I will be using a carbon filter, not this exact one but something similar http://www.htgsupply.com/Product-A-GrowBright-6-in-Jr-Inline-Fan-and-Carbon-Filter-Combo this is just the first one that pops up on google. I will cut a hole into the laundry room and run the filter to the dryer hose and disperse the air out that way. Question is if I run more filters will it mask the smell more as long as I am replacing the air?

I will put a hole by the floor at the right side of the closet under the shelving, this is where I will pull the fresh air from.

I plan on putting fans in that I can adjust the height on. This should be the easiest part.

The rest of the build is dependent on how much noise, heat and humidity is going to be created after I complete the room. I will add modifications as they arise.

I do want to do hydro but I might change my mind since you told me that soil doesn't have to get much more attention with the nutrients. However I will have to water every day. Hydro was appealing because you can put a weeks worth of water in and boom your good for a week. I know on my first grow I will be checking it like a newborn cause I am new but eventually after a few grows I am going to want to have that time where I don't want to mess with it.

I have decided to get my seeds from attitude seed bank. I have narrowed it down to a few autos, that I will use for my first grow or so, and I have selected to get a few feminized seeds so I can clone in the future after I get some experience under my belt with whatever setup I decided on, most likely hydro.

If you took the time to read this whole thing you rock and I just high fived you! You are awesome, I don't care what they say about you lol.
 

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GreenthumbQC

GreenthumbQC

Well-Known Member
[QUOTE=" However I will have to water every day. Hydro was appealing because you can put a weeks worth of water in and boom your good for a week..[/QUOTE]

where did you read that loll.
 
New2GrowingWeed

New2GrowingWeed

Member
pickpocket33 said:
[QUOTE=" However I will have to water every day. Hydro was appealing because you can put a weeks worth of water in and boom your good for a week..
Click to expand...
where did you read that loll.[/QUOTE]


I just figured it was every day because videos and what not said to keep the soil moist. :/ guess that doesn't have to be everyday?
 
New2GrowingWeed

New2GrowingWeed

Member
LOL, funny thing is that the best advice I was given was KISS, keep it simple stupid, and I totally brainfarted on reading about watering soil because I was certain I was going to use hydro.
 
Greenhouse;save

Greenhouse;save

Well-Known Member
Yea I've heard of a few LEDs that do a pretty good job.i have read ur full thread n2gw and a few things that have popped into my head whilst reading were 1 u seem to b hellbent on throwing a shitload of money into this project 2 it's seem to me that for u only the best will do 3 although u have gave this plenty thought u r still considering hydro now please please do not b offended this is positive criticism.as a newbie u have to start off in soil it is very low maintenance twice a week is all u should need to tend to ur plants don't go buying all the top of the range accessories yes a good light is essential but com on 190 buck for ur c filter go to fantronics website and you'll get a perfectly good rhino filter and all the kit needed (fan,ratchets,ducting,clips)for under a 100 bucks and 4" filter will be plenty for ur space because ur space will b the most valuable part of ur setup.i will leave u with these thoughts and mabay talk to u later u can hit the reply button or like button an it will get straight back to me.good luck hope to hear from u soon
 
New2GrowingWeed

New2GrowingWeed

Member
Greenhouse;save said:
Yea I've heard of a few LEDs that do a pretty good job.i have read ur full thread n2gw and a few things that have popped into my head whilst reading were 1 u seem to b hellbent on throwing a shitload of money into this project 2 it's seem to me that for u only the best will do 3 although u have gave this plenty thought u r still considering hydro now please please do not b offended this is positive criticism.as a newbie u have to start off in soil it is very low maintenance twice a week is all u should need to tend to ur plants don't go buying all the top of the range accessories yes a good light is essential but com on 190 buck for ur c filter go to fantronics website and you'll get a perfectly good rhino filter and all the kit needed (fan,ratchets,ducting,clips)for under a 100 bucks and 4" filter will be plenty for ur space because ur space will b the most valuable part of ur setup.i will leave u with these thoughts and mabay talk to u later u can hit the reply button or like button an it will get straight back to me.good luck hope to hear from u soon
Click to expand...

I am going to keep this short because I am actually headed up the street but wanted to get a response in.

Yes this will be a lifetime investment and only the best will do. That being said its not only about the end product for me. Now that I have set my sights on this project all I can do is research all day everyday. I have months before I can even start this project so I am in the first stages of this. The six P's, Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. (LOL! I guess in this case it prevents piss poor pot!!)

I will start out with soil so I can learn the basics first, I can tell you are concerned and I have suspicions why. You can't get to calculus without learning to count to ten. I am over-complicating things but I am a perfectionist, I will start out with soil and heed your advice.

You have not offended me in anyway!!!! You are the expert and I am the new guy. It really means the world to me to chat with you and other people that help me, not to mention probably 100s of people, how to grow.

Sorry I have to go, I have to run up the street.
 
FrozenChozen

FrozenChozen

Well-Known Member
I got a bout halfway through the top post and HAD TO STOP

CFLS ARE A BAD IDEA!!!!

You say heat is your biggest concern? plug a 5 outlet lamp in inside your closet and run your five 42 watt cfls, watch in horror as the temps hit the mid eighties and then the low nineties.... Hot CFLs pop and melt and cause fires... If you do choose cfl, you'll be disappointed trust me or ask around, Cfls should be saved for MICRO grows... if heat is a concern look into induction or LED lighting....
just one of these would KILL that 5x5 closet
http://www.greners.com/i/grow-lights/induction-lights/induction-lights-inda-gro.html
You might need two of these
http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Horticulture-GL80X5LED-Spectrum-Growing/dp/B00KC6LT5C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405466773&sr=8-1&keywords=apollo+LEd+400w
or even one of these
http://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Horticulture-GLK600CTAC-Digital-Dimmable/dp/B005EW026Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405466891&sr=8-2&keywords=apollo+600w


just don't sell yourself short with cfls!

google "inverse square law" and read about how distance affects photon strength and lumen output.
Good luck on Your Grow!
 
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