[Help Needed] MISSINGNO000's First Grow Project: Grow Cabinet Extravaganza

Hello, rollitup. I'm in the planning stages of my first growing project. This thread will document my project from this moment until I, hopefully with your assistance, get to smoke a sample of my own homegrown bud.

I've been doing some research over the past few weeks, just got finished reading Greg Green's Cannabis Grow Bible and I believe I have a good grasp of the basics of growing at this point. However, I still need loads of help planning and building a grow room that suits my needs.

The Goal: To produce high quality cannabis as effeciently as possible in whatever finite space I can afford. This means I want to produce as much bud per square inch as a can and have it grow to harvest as soon as possible.

The Plan: Currently the plan is ultimately put together a cabinet that will allow me to perpetually grow and harvest clones as efficiently as possible. I've not yet decided whether I'm going to be using the SOG or ScrOG method or wether I'm going to grow in soil or hydroponically. I'm currently planning on buying AK47 seeds from a local shop (10/90$CDN) but I'm open to suggestions on different means of obtaining seeds as well as different strains (I'd like to grow a nice stoney kush if I can).

I found a cupboard in the back of my basement that I think could be used for this project. It's far from air/light tight but some caulk and duct tape should take care of that. My only concern is space. Its dimensions are: h31.5in w24in d23.5in. it has two shelves measuring at a height of 16in and 15.5in. The cupboard can be turned on its side of necessary.

I also have a closet (heightt: 6ft8in width: 5ft7in depth 2ft 2in) but it has no door so I would have to make one if I were to use it. I would prefer to use the cupboard. I'm also flirting with the idea of finding another cupboard off craigslist if necessary.


front of cabinet (outside)



front of cabinet (inside) [those shelves are far from light tight. fix with caulk perhaps?]





top of cabinet [as you can see, the top is open and needs to be boarded up]

The plan is to have one compartment for flowering, one for veg, a small compartment for seedlings and clones (if necessary) and one for the mother plant (if necessary). I'm going to bite the bullet and at the very least invest in some HPS lights for the flowering stage, MH for veg if I can afford them, otherwise I'll just stick with flouros for my first time. There will be an exhaust and an inline fan and I'll be using a light timer to keep the proper lighting hours. I will also build a nursery for the clones/seedlings based on Green's recommendations in the book. I'm not sure what I'll be using for reflection if anything. The top of the cabinet is missing but I don't think I need to do more than patch it up with some particle board and paint.

Assistance Needed: What I could use from fine people in this community is help designing a blueprint of my cabinet, a bit of direction on the supplies I need (such as where to purchase, good brand names) and just a reminder for anything I might have forgotten. I could also use some advice on installing the lights and fan/exhaust and making sure it's light tight.

I have a small budget and virtually no carpentry skills (however a neighbour that I trust does) but I'm hoping with your help I can make it through this project with some killer bud!

Additional Questions:

1. Is it possible to start growing clones before the first harvest? Can I do it as soon as I find a strong female?
2. My friend said he can get me a clone for $20. Would this be a better idea than buying seeds? What questions should I be asking him to ensure the clone is good quality.
3. SOG or ScrOG? Which method would be more efficient in my space?
4. How about hydroponic growing? Is it more difficult and/or expensive than soil growing? Would it make sense for me to grow my bud hydropnically on my first try?
5. Can I keep my seedlings in the veg compartment or do I need to build something seperate? How about the mother plant?
6. Do you know of any good seedbanks to buy seeds off of if you think I should go with something aside from the AK?
7. I've read repeatedly that I will notice an increase on my hydro bills but approximately how much is it going to increase?
8. Is the white surface of the cabinet good for reflection or should I cover it with something else?

p.s. I posted this on a couple other cannabis growing forums but I figured the more advice the better.

I only have one thing to say...when did you break into my house and steal one of my kitchen cabinets?

Hmm, a couple things that come to mind when looking at this.

Youll need to take plant height way into consideration on this one. Also, take into consideration the height of the pot itself and how low the light will hang down if any. You may not have that much overhead grow room, but they are ways to tackle that problem. Multiple ways to train and overcome, yet you have to be willing.

$20 seems a little steep to me if i may say. If its one of those holy grail, clone only strains, then possibly...Ive only ever ordered from the Attitude. Ever. Takes 6 days to get to my house and im on the East Coast.

The white from the cabinet will be fine for now.

Also, take into mind if your doing hydro, your res, lines and wires will have to go somewhere as well.

Do you have anything figured out for ventilation yet as well?

Just trying to tackle the main things here.

You can have the seedlings and clones all in the same area as veg. The clones and seedlings wont need as much light, but you will be able to tell when the seedlings are wanting/needing more light.

After some consideration, I have a new plan that involves just building several grow boxes from scratch, for cloning, veg and flower. My friend can easily put that together with me. It's just too much unnecessary effort to convert that cabinet. Also I'll start with soil growing on the first rotation to get a feel for the plants but once I start my SOG grow, I'm going to switch to a hydro system. I've been researching how to build a diy ebb and flow system and it seems pretty simple. I've already thought of a design to incorporate it into the box(es). I also have a fairly good idea of my materials. I will draw up blueprints for everything shortly. Stay tuned.

Okay, here's a rough blueprint of my growroom:



The dimensions are 4ft width x 4ft depth x ??? height. I'm not quite sure how tall to build it. Ultimiately I'll be using SOG so I won't need that much height and I'd like to make the unit portable (so I don't have to build a new one when I likely move in a few months). The flowering and veg boxes are the same except one uses HPS and the other CFL (for now).

The number of ventilation and cooling units and their strength depends on my needs which I've yet to determine. The items listed are a rough guess as to what I need. This is probably sufficient for the veg cab but not for the flowering cab. I could use some advice as I'm not sure.

The ventilation system will be made light tight with a pvc elbow for a light trap.The air intake holes will be a few inches from the bottom of box so I can install my hydroponics system when I'm ready to take my grow box to the next level.



This is a modified ebb & flow system based on those I've seen made on various forums. There will also be two air stones to aerate the water (not pictured). Additionally, I'd also like to make a clone room based on this design. I have no idea about the dimension/lighting requirements but I assume it's a lot less than the other two boxes.

looks good so far... so, missingno, since i found u are u goin to give me infinite rare candies??? lol
to answer at least one qt, i think scrog works best for utilizing the most space....

No, now I make your game short out and explode. I'd like to look into exact figures on the sog vs scrog yield numbers. I wonder if there's a way to calculate it or if I will just have to experiment and see.


I forgot to mention I'm also not sure whether to paint the box white or cover it in some sort of reflective surface.

ull prolly have to experiment....ull need to do both EXACTLY the same

IMO you'd be wasting space and light on having a veg and cloning tent a 4ft t5 would be enough for both I know this by experience my girls have been under a t5 for almost a week and are loving it to the point one of them is touching the light which will more than likely start flowering this week and clones are loving it! but if you got the money why not? lol anyway most people say paint the walls white is just a alternative for light reflection I'd recommend mylar! I've never used the computer fans but I know with a 600w running your gonna need some serious exhaust looking at your blueprint I don't see one maybe.. you should look into a inline fan
here's a few places I shop for my stuff
for seeds
Attitude Seedbank as far as equipment:
htgsupply.com
amazon.com
ebay.com

Guides:
Topping: https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/151706-uncle-bens-topping-technique-get.html
LST: https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/323066-ultimate-real-time-lst-guide.html
Cloning: https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/340070-newbie-tips-cloning.html
Pruning: https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/8736-pruning-supercropping.html
NOTE: I take no credit for any of these guides and may or may not have used them

Also Welcome to RIU feel free to ask me any questions and assuming this is your first grow you'll learn that the best way to learn is by trial-and-error you'll make mistakes just as fast and you learn from them good luck on your grow man REP++ just for starting it

First of all theres absolutely no way outside of laboratory tests to make sure you're getting a good clone. Even at dispensaries you could walk in with a clone from a cutting from a seed from a dirtweed sack you found and raised and cloned and sell it as some Super Silver Haze. Its a damn crapshoot.

I'd go with seed personally you never know whats hiding in a clone first of all. It could have powdery mildew or something else roaming around you won't see for a while. I got a clone brought it home introduced it to some of my gals. A month down the road, screwed powdery mildew axed all my ladies. This little incident led me to add another rule to my grow list.
"No bringing home strange women because you never know what she'll have."

I would get an air coolable hood with a glass cover and make sure to just run the exhaust out of the cabinet, duct it directly so that all the heat never hits your girls. In confined spaces heat is going to be the biggest problem. Go with a 600w though because when you want to upgrade you'll already be set with you most important investment.

Thanks for the great gudies, Derrick! I think I might be able to get away with the computer fans for the CFL grow room but not for the HPS. I want to spend the extra money in order to ensure the plants turn out very well but I'm considering using a T5 for flowering because the HPS is such a huge investment.

Sweet'nHeavy said:

First of all theres absolutely no way outside of laboratory tests to make sure you're getting a good clone. Even at dispensaries you could walk in with a clone from a cutting from a seed from a dirtweed sack you found and raised and cloned and sell it as some Super Silver Haze. Its a damn crapshoot.

I'd go with seed personally you never know whats hiding in a clone first of all. It could have powdery mildew or something else roaming around you won't see for a while. I got a clone brought it home introduced it to some of my gals. A month down the road, screwed powdery mildew axed all my ladies. This little incident led me to add another rule to my grow list.
"No bringing home strange women because you never know what she'll have."

I would get an air coolable hood with a glass cover and make sure to just run the exhaust out of the cabinet, duct it directly so that all the heat never hits your girls. In confined spaces heat is going to be the biggest problem. Go with a 600w though because when you want to upgrade you'll already be set with you most important investment.

Click to expand...

The person I would be buying the clone from is a close personal friend so I'm not too worried about being ripped off. The mildew is a concern though. I think I'm going to start with seedlings either way.

I saw a build with the air coolable hood/glass cover in a diy grow cabinet design somewhere. It seems like a good idea if I'm going to be getting the HPS. I found this deal online and it seems quite good. It's actually cheaper than any 600w HPS pack for some reason. I will upgrade to the bluestar if I buy it because it has a air cooled reflector.

EDIT: Upon further consideration, I'll just build a single cabinet for the for both vegetation and flowering for my first grow attempt. Then, once I have a mother plant picked out and I'm ready to set up a SOG grow, I'll have enough saved up to build the second flowering cabinet with the hps light as well as the cloning machine.