Grow cabinet in my shed

T

ted1080

Member
I am new and need advice. I cant afford medical marijuana anymore and I am going to grow some. Im building a grow box out of an old fridge. The plan is to have a 300w led and a 4in carbon exaust fan.
My questions and concerns are-
1. All of the info i have found on grow cabinets talk about temp and humidity. But they are indoors. I dont want it near my kids. It will be in the shed which isnt temp or humidity controlled. Its in the shade so the temp stays pretty consistent in the summer. Will i be able to grow?
2. The inside of the frigde is white. Do i need to use reflective lining?
3. With a 4in exaust fan and carbon filter, do i need an intake fan? (one video said you need positive pressure in the box)
4. How many plants can i effectively grow in a box that size? (full size fridge)
5. Is 300w enough
6. Does the fan run 24 hrs a day?
Thanks
 
Skidmarx

Skidmarx

Well-Known Member
Hi Ted,

I have seen a few people on forums get harvests out of small environments can't see why not.
Whats the make and model of the LED you have in mind? (Some units can be rather hot)
Can the give the dimensions of the fridge interior?
Also what are the highest & lowest expected temps will be inside the shed?
Do you have any experience growing? Anything at all.

1. Yes.
2. No. white should be ok.
3. A passive inlet (just a hole in fridge) should be OK as you will want to retain some humidity inside fridge.
4. Depends how good are at training. Get swatting up on small scale grows.
5. See above^ (on lights specifications look for the "actual power draw)
6. During veg you want plenty of humidity so manybe an on/off shedual but during flower yes to keep the humidity controlled.

(I'm thinking you could keep a humidifier outside the fridge at the inlet opening)

(Quantum boards or strips might be worth a look as the tend to generate less heat)
 
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T

ted1080

Member
Skidmarx said:
Hi Ted,

I have seen a few people on forums get harvests out of small environments can't see why not.
Whats the make and model of the LED you have in mind? (Some units can be rather hot)
Can the give the dimensions of the fridge interior?
Also what are the highest & lowest expected temps will be inside the shed?
Do you have any experience growing? Anything at all.

1. Yes.
2. No. white should be ok.
3. A passive inlet (just a hole in fridge) should be OK as you will want to retain some humidity inside fridge.
4. Depends how good are at training. Get swatting up on small scale grows.
5. See above^ (on lights specifications look for the "actual power draw)
6. During veg you want plenty of humidity so manybe an on/off shedual but during flower yes to keep the humidity controlled.

(I'm thinking you could keep a humidifier outside the fridge at the inlet opening)

(Quantum boards or strips might be worth a look as the tend to generate less heat)
Click to expand...
300w viaspectra

Fridge interior-2ft x 2ft9in x 5ft

The highest and lowest will be whatever the typical Connecticut temperatures are because it will not be affected by the sun. So I will have to time it right. But I will have no control over humidity and temperature.The highest and lowest will be whatever the typical Connecticut temperatures are because it will not be affected by the sun. So I will have to time it right. But I will have no control over humidity and temperature.

I grow hot peppers and tomatoes.

thanks
 
T

ted1080

Member
Just Be said:
There are plenty of former refrigerator examples to be seen in the Stealth/Micro/Cab section. Hopefully you can find some good ideas, makes some friends and get yourself some good smoke. Best of luck!

Edit: Oh, and welcome!
Click to expand...
Problem I am finding as I can find tons of post on how to build the cabinet from the refrigerator. But they are all for indoor grows. Will the same thing work without any temperature or humidity control during the right growing season?
 
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M

Mitchician

Well-Known Member
This guy just finished setting one of these up and it's pretty mint.

Climate controlled grow fridge

Hello everyone! Im about to start an ambitious Build for a grow box, I'd love to hear if anyone has any input on its feasibility or any modifications that could improve it! For a while I used to grow in a grow tent, it served its purpose but was painfully obvious what it was, and annoyingly loud...
www.rollitup.org
 
Skidmarx

Skidmarx

Well-Known Member
Pepppers and toms great stuff!
Ted, Just B and Mitch are spot on. Any advice I give is general so if theres a similar set up running jump on that thread you'll get 1st hand info.
Fyi the 300w Viparspectra has a power actual power draw of 129w +/- 3% . The cheaper one's tend to hotter.
I'll follow along on this best of luck. Get a shitty stinky comfry compost liquid and spray in your shed the kids will never go in there.
 
Just Be

Just Be

Well-Known Member
Ted, you can have control humidity with one of the numerous small humidifiers available on amazon. Like this one, or this one. Both can be hooked up to a controller such as this one that will automatically shut the unit off when the RH reaches your preferred level. A small tube heater (like this one) can be hooked up and should provide enough heat to keep an insulated frig unit warm enough. If you decide to buy a small humidifier AND a small heater, you might want to consider getting a controller (similar to the one I linked above) that controls both heat and humidity. This Inkbird is the one that I use and it works great.
 
T

ted1080

Member
Just Be said:
Ted, you can have control humidity with one of the numerous small humidifiers available on amazon. Like this one, or this one. Both can be hooked up to a controller such as this one that will automatically shut the unit off when the RH reaches your preferred level. A small tube heater (like this one) can be hooked up and should provide enough heat to keep an insulated frig unit warm enough. If you decide to buy a small humidifier AND a small heater, you might want to consider getting a controller (similar to the one I linked above) that controls both heat and humidity. This Inkbird is the one that I use and it works great.
Click to expand...
Now if I put the heater like that inside of the fridge could I grow in the winter? I don’t know if it would provide that much heat or not? But I will look at those thank you
 
Just Be

Just Be

Well-Known Member
That kind of heater could very well keep the temps up but opening the door to maintain the contents probably wouldn't be too good for your plant(s). I'm not sure what your consumption level or time frame is like but have you considered maybe working with a relatively quick growing autoflower that you could grow in 70 days or so while it's not freezing cold outside and not too hot. For example, start in the beginning of April and have that run done by early June. Wait for summer to pass and then start another in Late August/Early September. Just a thought.
 
T

ted1080

Member
That’s what I figured but I wanted to clarify. More for when it’s nice during the day but still a little cold at night. Thanks everybody for the help.
 
T

ted1080

Member
As I’m processing this through I realize that it wouldn’t be that hard or expensive to heat my shed up to the proper temperature before I open the door to maintain the plants. And I really don’t think you need to do that more than once a day right? If I can figure out the proper heater it probably wouldn’t be that expensive to heat a refrigerator box 24 hours a day.
 
T

ted1080

Member
So then with that plan can I put a small space heater in something as small as a fridge or would fry my plants? Obviously I’d be using the temperature controller
 
Skidmarx

Skidmarx

Well-Known Member
For the fridge interior, look for a micro grow which has used an interior heater and copy. I think most of the micro grows I have seen are indoors as oppoesed to outdoor sheds.
Condiser posting a question for Merlowe111 on his "climate controlled grow fridge" thread.
While he is super advanced, I am sure he could offer you a solution.
If ever you find your thread slows down with no replies jump on someone else and ask politely no one will mind.
 
T

ted1080

Member
I have settled up building a 5’ x 4‘ by about 7 1/2 foot tall insulated box. The grow fridge will be inside of that box. The insulated box will be heated and then the air will be sucked through the fridge and vented outside of the box. I assume I will need an inlet vent with a filter on the 5x4 box but I’m not sure how big I need.
 
Just Be

Just Be

Well-Known Member
Good idea about building the box around the fridge. As for an air inlet maybe you could make something large enough to slide a 16x25x1 furnace filter over.
 
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Skidmarx

Skidmarx

Well-Known Member
Nice move. Some folk get stuck waiting for exact answers. As your fridge is sealed tight I would give this thread a Look.
Air
It's a long post but thorough. I'll to find the easy one's I used to calculate for my first tent.
 
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