My First Grow Cabinet

pimmpinit

pimmpinit

Active Member
OK so I have this great idea to build a grow cabinet. I want to start off by thanking everyone on this site from the people that update their grow journals to the people that just stop by. I appreciate any help and advice anyone has to give. To start off I'll show you my parts list then explain what I'm trying to build.

Part's List:
1X Closetmaid 2 Door Organizer Cherry
1X GE CFL Light Bulb: 13 Watt (60W Equivalent), 12-Pk
1X Intermatic Easy to Use Digital Lamp Timer
2X Prime 2-Pack, 6-Outlet Power Strips with 3' Cord
12X Wall socket to lamp socket
1X Extension Cord

OK with these parts I would like to put 4 power strips on the inside roof of the cabinet with three wall socket to lamp sockets on each strip. This allows me to put three CFL's on each strip. I have a total of 12 CFL's and I want to use them all the best way. I will plug the 4 power strips into one extra power strip that's controlled by the digital timer. For now I'm going to use aluminum foil to line the inside top to bottom. I'm growing Hydro bubbler, starting with clones that I'm not sure the sex of yet. I will post picture of the parts later in the day as I go buy them. I would like to keep this my main Grow Journal updating frequently. Any advise on the cabinet I picked? Is it to small or is there something better for a good price? I was aiming for something that would blend into my room. Not to mention that my lights are mounted to the inside roof, that means I would need to be able to move the shelves up and down closer or further from the lights. Somewhat stealthy.

Other then that I'm also building a new bubbler. I have to buy a container, air pump, air stone, air hose, hydroten, rockwool, 6" net pots, and a few small travel bottels for my nutes. I cant wait to Show you guys and gals what I can do. I've read up on so many threads and I'm mad jealous for good reasons. But now its my turn to show everyone I was paying attention. I attached two pics I took with my Blackberry. Its the Mother on the left and a test clone on the right in the first pic. The second is trimed leaves from the mother.
 

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420Roller

420Roller

Active Member
Wow that cab looks perfect, my suggestion to you from reading on these and other fourms is to not line the cab with aluminum foil, will cause heat spots that can damage the plant, use a material called mylar, its cheap at walmart. Its the same material they use for emergency blankets.
 
pimmpinit

pimmpinit

Active Member
Thanks 420R, the funny thing is I have a few hydroponic stores in my area (NY/NJ). I just didn't want to go only for Mylar. I already had the hydroten and net pots sitting around from a previous attempt. Also I decided that foil was to much hassle to work with, Mylar is easier.
As of now I bought just about everything I need to get started.
Sorry about the pictures they were taken with my blackberry. I think its easier for me to keep this journal alive.
Here are a few pics:
 

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pimmpinit

pimmpinit

Active Member
Quick question. I have 12 - 6500k CFL lights that are 26watts each. The box that it came in says its equivalent to 100watt bulbs. Is my total 312watts or 1200watts? I know that I'm actually using 312watts but when I'm building my cabinet do I go on lumens or watts? If i was building on lumens I would just go on the highest watt number but if i was building on watts then I'm deffinitly picking 312watts cuz its small cab. Thats assuming they both do the same job. Before anyone says it I know not to use CFL's, I have a few HPS and MH bulbs but I bought those for my DWC/Aeroponic/Hybrid I built.

So far I built the Cabinet and relized that the doors are not flush. I'm gonna try to patch it up as best as possible with mylar and foiltape. Maybe use alittle bit of card board from the box it came in to cover any larger gaps. Today I'm starting to pre soak my rockwool and hydroten in tap water and paroxide. Can I use superthive on clones? Before I rush and put my clones in I'm gonna do a 24 hour dry run just to make sure everything works the way I planed. Sorry about the crap pics, but its just of the parts list. When I get the plants in I will try to use my SLR(Lazy).
 
Otacon

Otacon

Well-Known Member
Your total is 312 Watts. This might be interesting, subscribed, and good luck with the grow mate :)
 
H

Hauvert

Active Member
seems like you know what your doing for your first grow. i will subscribe since i might be doing to exact same grow cabinet.
 
pimmpinit

pimmpinit

Active Member
Hauvert said:
seems like you know what your doing for your first grow. i will subscribe since i might be doing to exact same grow cabinet.
Click to expand...

Lol, Thanks Hauvert. I did a lot of over night research for about a year while I got my shit together. Please Please Please try to build your own I would love to see someone else build one.

While the site was down I didn't waste time waiting so I already bought a few more things to add to my shopping list. I went to home depot and walmart to pick up:

Home depot:
Foil tape
3M spray adhesive
Screws

Walmart:
5X Emergency blanket

It was stupid of me to go out and buy the foil tape and 5 blankets but I got to excited. I never played with foil tape but now I want to use it on everything for no reason. The emergency blanket was big enough for me to only use one and a half. Everything seems to be done now the only thing that I purposely left out was my ventilation. For that I plan on running my cab for a night without plants to see what temps I get. I did notice that when I turned on my light to see if it worked after I let the light warm up for 5 minutes I felt wram heat coming from them. That's just 5 minutes I wonder what an 18/6 will do. I think no matter what I'm gonna put two intake fans at the bottom and two exhaust fans on the top side. I want to use computer fans but I cant think of a clean way to power them. If I can find 4 12volt fans then I might just buy a power adaptor thats 12volts around 6 amps. im not to worried about the smell, I want maximum air flow though the cab. if things get out of hand later I will build a carbon filter. Anyway let me tell you how much of a bitch it was to glue that damn emergency blanket to the wood. Its was like static cling heaven! Thank god I'm done with that. Also having to screw the power strips in was a head ach trying my best to line it up. I presoaked my hydroten, rock wool and air stone in GH Floragrow, GH Microgrow, GH Florabloom, and Hydrogen Peroxide.

By the way guys I totally have a few hydro stores in my area but I felt the need to make this more fun (lol). I wanted to use things I can find around town then go to one store for everything. Even if this fails at least I had fun building it and writing this journal. I keep thinking to my self that just maybe my plant may be a male. I had 11 seeds and I had this EPIC idea to germ 10 of them ( I lost one ). Bad idea! Within two three days everything looked good but after moving them into rockwool everything went south. They were dying for light and proper watering. At the time i didn't have anything. needless to say they R.I.P. now. But then one day I found number 11!!!! That would be the "Mother" I have in my first post. If it isn't a female then I'm gonna have to ask friend to hook a bro up with a few clones.

I've kept all my recites so when I am fully done with the main parts I will post the items, bar code, and price. If I'm not wrong I think I already spent $200 USD.

You can see the size of the emergency blanket in one of the pics. Its on a queen size bed. I'm happy that all lights work and I didn't set anything on fire.
 

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H

Hauvert

Active Member
pimmpinit said:
Lol, Thanks Hauvert. I did a lot of over night research for about a year while I got my shit together. Please Please Please try to build your own I would love to see someone else build one.

While the site was down I didn't waste time waiting so I already bought a few more things to add to my shopping list. I went to home depot and walmart to pick up:

Home depot:
Foil tape
3M spray adhesive
Screws

Walmart:
5X Emergency blanket

It was stupid of me to go out and buy the foil tape and 5 blankets but I got to excited. I never played with foil tape but now I want to use it on everything for no reason. The emergency blanket was big enough for me to only use one and a half. Everything seems to be done now the only thing that I purposely left out was my ventilation. For that I plan on running my cab for a night without plants to see what temps I get. I did notice that when I turned on my light to see if it worked after I let the light warm up for 5 minutes I felt wram heat coming from them. That's just 5 minutes I wonder what an 18/6 will do. I think no matter what I'm gonna put two intake fans at the bottom and two exhaust fans on the top side. I want to use computer fans but I cant think of a clean way to power them. If I can find 4 12volt fans then I might just buy a power adaptor thats 12volts around 6 amps. im not to worried about the smell, I want maximum air flow though the cab. if things get out of hand later I will build a carbon filter. Anyway let me tell you how much of a bitch it was to glue that damn emergency blanket to the wood. Its was like static cling heaven! Thank god I'm done with that. Also having to screw the power strips in was a head ach trying my best to line it up. I presoaked my hydroten, rock wool and air stone in GH Floragrow, GH Microgrow, GH Florabloom, and Hydrogen Peroxide.

By the way guys I totally have a few hydro stores in my area but I felt the need to make this more fun (lol). I wanted to use things I can find around town then go to one store for everything. Even if this fails at least I had fun building it and writing this journal. I keep thinking to my self that just maybe my plant may be a male. I had 11 seeds and I had this EPIC idea to germ 10 of them ( I lost one ). Bad idea! Within two three days everything looked good but after moving them into rockwool everything went south. They were dying for light and proper watering. At the time i didn't have anything. needless to say they R.I.P. now. But then one day I found number 11!!!! That would be the "Mother" I have in my first post. If it isn't a female then I'm gonna have to ask friend to hook a bro up with a few clones.

I've kept all my recites so when I am fully done with the main parts I will post the items, bar code, and price. If I'm not wrong I think I already spent $200 USD.

You can see the size of the emergency blanket in one of the pics. Its on a queen size bed. I'm happy that all lights work and I didn't set anything on fire.
Click to expand...

GUINES! lol cabinet looks real nice.
 
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