CSI Stickyicky's Locking Metal Grow Cabinet Build

I got the vegetative/cloning section pretty much done. I still have some light proofing to do at the very bottom of the doors, and i'm not sure what the plan is yet. I'll probably just put up another piece of pandafilm, white side in, like i did on the top section. It really works for the top section.

One thing i really love about this METAL cabinet is the ability to use MAGNETS. The fan i have hanging up is hanging with a magnet, so i can move it anytime i want, to anywhere i want. Also, both lights are hanging from magnets.

I just need to finish my ventilation, and finish lightproofing, and the cabinet is done. I am thinking i need to cut one more vent in between the top and bottom chambers, and one more intake on the bottom, and then put the fan on a fan speed controller, so i can slow it down, and hopefully quiet it down in the process.

Future mods i'm looking at would be a digital 250W HPS/MH Ballast with a cool tube, and both MH and HPS bulbs, from HIDHUT.COM. http://www.hidhut.com/catalog/250w-hpsmh-digital-ballast-bulb-and-glass-tube-reflector-combo-p-2297.html

I was thinking about 6" using inline duct fans and the cool tube, and relocating the carbon filter to the corner, mounted vertically, in order to gain a little bit of height. I can mount the reflector closer to the ceiling if the fan and filter are not there. Only a few inches, but I'm sure the ladies appreciate all the inches they can get.

Ok. it worked. I framed the entrance to the lower section in wood, and then cut a piece of Pandafilm to fit. No light leaks, anywhere. I just need to quiet the fan down, and i'm truly stealthy. My temps are running high, so i need to fix that before i flower, but ready to start vegging.

I have World of Seeds Afghan Kush Ryder, Barney's Farm LSD, and Greenhouse Seeds The Church germinating right now. All feminized.

looking good

Thanks man.

So far only The Church has germinated; i'm still waiting on the LSD and the Afghan Kush Ryder. Hopefully within a week i have some good sprouts popping out of soil.

Hopefully i rooting for ya

I added a Fan Speed Controller, and it really quiets the fan down. Other than that, i just need to finish up the air flow at the intake side. I think i'm going to add some 4" muffin fans, but not till next paycheck. Once the airflow is down, i'm done. I can run the T5 now, and keep temps within a good range, but i can't run both the HPS and the T5 until i work out the airflow situation. That's fine, because it will take a month before anything is ready to move up to the top.

I got "The Church" and "Afghan Kush Special" germinated, and several inches tall now. Another 3-5 weeks before they go 12/12.

The temps were too high, and the fans too loud, so i bought more fans for the intake, and slowed down the big noisy fan with a fan speed controller. Now the temps are staying under 85 F, but that's still not good enough. I think i will need to invest in an air-cooled reflector, with a digital ballast that i can mount to the back, on the outside. I think that will solve all my problems with heat, but unfortunately, that's not in the budget for a while. (Just upgraded my home-brew set up. That zapped up my extra money for now)

The plants are coming along nicely. 2 Bagseed from a Blackberry Kush nugget, 1 Fem Afghan Kush Special from World of Seeds, and 1 Fem The Church from Greenhouse Seeds. I had them under the T5 until my fans arrived, then i put them under the HPS. I figured i might as well use the superior light as long as it wasn't flowering anything yet.

I also plan to put my 90W LED UFO somewhere, but i haven't decided where yet. Where ever needs the most supplemental light, i guess. I think the T5s need the help, cause the LED intensity surpasses the T5s by far. And plants vegged with LEDs seem to have really tight internodes. I just need to take care of that heat before i go adding more. (Yes, LEDs add heat)

The common misconception with LED's is that they don't produce heat (and manufacturers make this claim because most LED's don't produce heat themselves, but the electric current running through the wires produces heat which does need to be exhausted. In theory though, you could add a UFO sized hole on either side of your veg cab and use it as side lighting and it would exhaust itself outside of the cab and it shouldn't produce any heat inwards (with the exception of some warm white and infrared leds, if I'm not mistaken).


Edit: On that note though, it'd be more ideal to have the UFO on top and the flourescent on the back wall.. But in a setup like that you'd want the veg chamber on top.

Either way, nice cab though. You've done a pretty decent job. I would like to see your poly liner a little less wrinkled, but I'm just obsessive compulsive like that.

I put two of the plants, the two Blackberry Kush bagseeds, into 12/12 using the LED UFO i have laying around from an earlier tent grow. I am hoping one is a male, so i can ditch it, and occupy it's space with a couple fresh clones of the ones i plan to keep. The two that are in 12/12, i don't really care about. I just planted some bagseed so i could try stuff out on them first, like LST. I LSTed the bagseeds, and i decided that im going to go with topping instead, so i'm glad i only did it to the bagseed plants.

Anyway, i am thinking of topping the Church and the Afghan Kush Special, and taking some clones, within a week, and then i'll be putting the plants into 12/12 about 1-3 weeks after that. Then, i'll grow the clones under the T5, and keep the cycle going in this manner.

I want to move the LED light to the veg side, and upgrade the HPS to a 250W with a cooltube, but that will be later.

So far, so good.

When you are talking about topping the "Church" where are you doing this (what node)? So far, every Church that I have grown has had staggered internodes and I have no idea where to pinch it off/top using UBs method. BTW, if this is ur first Church grow, ur gonna love this plant. She tells you exactly what and when she needs it. No fuss...

It's my first Church grow, and i was thinking about 2-3 internodes down from the top. Everything i've heard about Church has been great, and i can't wait to get this one going perpetually. Thanks for watching.

I just checked the 12/12 plants, no sex yet. It's ok, i wasn't expecting anything to show for at least a couple days. Temps staying under 76 F but that's with no HPS, lust LED and T5.

Both females!!! Damn it! Most people would be happy to plant 2 bagseeds and get 2 females, but i gotta get rid of one of these plants so i can clone my The Church plant, and still be within my limit. I was hoping that my decision would be easy to decide which one, the male. But no such luck.

I might grow my vegging plants a little longer than i once thought, they aren't growing as fast as i had hoped. I think i got a bad batch of Fox Farm Ocean Forest; it repels water, which leaves dry soil pockets, and makes it hard to water right. Each plant is setting it's own watering schedule.

The 2 plants that have been under 18/6 are showing pistils. Right on the top nodes, there are just a couple spots with only one calyx, and two pistils shooting out. They shouldn't be starting to flower yet, as they are on an 18/6 photo-period. They are about 6 weeks old.

Has anyone ever seen that before?

Also i pulled the plants out of the pots, and looked at the roots. They are ready to be transplanted within about a week, so i guess i'll be starting 12/12 in about a week. First, i'm going to top The Church and use the top as a clone. Hopefully if roots, because i'm only taking one. Then i'll transplant it to a bigger pot, veg it longer to grow the roots and shoots, and then flip it to 12/12.

So nobody has seen that?

I know where to get my information when i need it. I only put this thread up to help newbies and to show off my cabinet, but i think i'm the only person who reads it. No point in continuing, fuck it.

if your seed was bag seed then there's no telling what type of genetics you have, perhaps there is some auto flowering genetics somewhere in those plants, autos are becoming increasingly more potent and popular as time goes by, cant be sure, but it could be a possibiltiy

Stickyicky: I saw early pistils on my first two grows. Both were from the same bag of seed; unknown genetics. Tiny fuzzy white pistils showed at between 5" to 8" tall (maybe six or eight nodes). I'm fairly sure they weren't an auto-flowering variety (unless auto-flowering herb was being sold sixteen years ago).

no autos sixteen years ago, the mid 90's was when true consistent autos were first created and they have gotten consistently better and more common since.

Hey thanks guys. The flowers on the 18/6 plants never grew past the single calyx. From what i can gather, this is normal for plants that are sexually mature. (They are 2 months old)

I upgraded the pot size for the one i plan to keep as a mother for future clones (The Church), and it is loving life. Perfect lush green leaves, no curling.

The flowers on the 12/12 plants (2 BBKush Bagseed, and 1 Afghan Kush Special) are coming along nicely, and seem to grow faster under the LED than under the HPS, but this is probably because they are getting BOTH lights in that spot.

3 flowering plants, 1 mother for future generations, and some peppers. Why waste the light?

I think i need to add a micronutrient to my organic tea, and i hope to start using rainwater soon instead of tap water now that it's warming up in the northern hemisphere.