Stealthish CFL box

This is a box i made out of 3/4" plywood. The dimensions are 24" W x 20" T x 8" D. I have a compartment on the right side of it that will house my power supply and timer and some other things.

I still have not installed fans. Im thinking 2 exhaust 2 intake, both 120mm & 80mm.

Gonna test out some bagseeds for my first grow.

Just seeing what you guys think. Lemme know. Thanks.

by the way, this has a door for it. it is just not in the picture. so it looks like a normal wooden box, at least until the fans. but its going under my house, so light getting out is not a big deal. ill take pictures of its location soon. if anyone gives a shit. :]

Hey! Looking good! I've got a similar set up. A little bigger. What I've found running 6x23w CFLs in a 36"h x 31"w x 16"d cabinet is that a lot of fans isn't as good as even a little free flowing air. I have 2 80mm intake and 2 80mm exhaust fans with 2 small desk fans circulating air inside and the temps tend to creep above the 85˚F mark. But having the door off so there's fresh air just drifting in and hot air going out keeps things right around 80˚. If you've got some bag seeds to experiment with I'm sure you'll be able to dial everything in by the end. And yes, I'm very interested to see how everything looks!!!

You're going to be VERY surprised at how much heat a CFL will create in a confined space.

nice! My box is almost like yours. I have 4 CFL's and only one intake fan. I have no exhaust fan, just an exhaust hole lol It's winter here so I don't need an exhaust fan just as yet. Will get one when summer comes! my box stays at 75~80F

thanks for the replies, what could i do to keep the temps down?

the box isnt quite complete yet, so there will be updates when changes are made, just needed an outside opinion. thanks.

Just make sure there's somewhere the hot air can leave. Cut a hole out the back as high up as you can. I'd say 3-4" high x 12" wide. That's what I wish I had to allow the door to actually be closed during lights on! Haha! Good luck!

Well my seeds are gonna be going into their new homes soon. goodbye to the paper towel. When do you guys think i should put them into soil based on these pics that were just taken?

Also ive made some changes to the box, im hoping to get that done tomorrow(pics will follow), seeing as my girls are gonna be in there soon.

I put the seed that looks like a slug is coming out of it in the paper towel, thinking that it would be my only seed, and that i would maybe get lucky with it, and i ended up finding 2 more seeds at my friends house, so who knows what those are.... but i put those two next to each other. we'll see.

I'd plant them a.s.a.p. (but without the urgency). I've been germinating quite a few seeds recently (kinda picky) and it seems that after 48 hours, the tap root emerges and after 96 hours, you'll start to see a sprout. If they stay in the paper towel too long, they grow all kinds of crazy and make it a pain to get them planted.

Looks good heres a few tips from ( a fellow cfl grower) Now im pretty new to cfl's but here it is. Cfl,s are hot the veg are a little hotter than the flower bulbs, you are gonna need an exhaust fan, lowes bathroom exhaust fan is 13 bucks, get one and install it, thank me later. now the space your using is tiny so reaserch LST and SCR.O.G. (screen of green) to optimize the amount of limited space, light and height. cfl's tend to make a plant stretch and get tall especially bag seed so make sure your veg time is very short maybe even go 12/12 from seed, thus utilizing the grow space to its full potential with out problems such as stretching, you dont want to have to top the main cola bud cause it got to tall for the box, rite? the space that i have is 4 feet from the top of my hydroton rocks to the ceiling of the room. I have a plant growing rite now that i veg'd for 28 days, rite now its in the end of the fourth weeks flowering (its bag seed) that has only 5 more inches of room before it grows into the ceiling so please keep your veg time short, again thank me later when your two weeks into flowering and that little plant triples in size, hit me up if you got any questions or need me to elaborate on anything that i said /peace/

thanks for the info guys, i am definitely gonna be making changes to the box today/tonight, im not sure how long it will take. but i will post pics of that of course.

as far as when i should put the seedlings into soil... i am still kinda confused. im going to put some more pictures up that i just took of them. 24 hours after the pictures above. I am gonna wait another day before i put them into soil.

i have done the research for lst, not so much scrog, but lst seems like the easiest way to go, and im just going for easy right now, it being my first grow and all.

Made some changes to my box.

3" exhaust fan (black)
4" intake (blue)
Thermo
42w 2700k right in the middle

took awhile because i had to take apart parts of the box to make the cuts for the fans to fit. But i think it turned out decent.

Lemme know what you guys think.

not bad, as long as you keep the plant bout 2 inches from your lights everything should turn out fine (knock on wood).


p.s. a few seeds look fine for planting bout now, but might wanna wait till they all ready tho to put em in soil

Thought i might chime in here as i am doing a CFL grow and spent quite a while working on my cab. Firstly have you thought about how you are going to get your plants up near the lights early on as if they sit on the base of that cab they will stetch like MF. To test the heat you really need to leave the lights on, door closed for about 4 hours. The CFLs heat up over time and testing for 15 minutes or so is meaningless. Another thing is if you plan on using various things to get the pots up higher to the light you will be lowering the volume and therefore the heat will also increase. Your thermometer should be placed near the top of the plants as this is where heat is important. The proximity to the lights will give you a reading which is not accurate.
With those seeds i would get them in some medium. No point in pushing it as you will end up with some rott setting in if left too long. Anyway i am subbing to see how it turns out.

To get the plants up close to the lights i have a piece of wood(much like the divider in the box) that is white that i plan on putting stuff underneath to make taller.

And as far as the thermo goes. It has velcro on the back, so i can adjust whenever i need to, but for now, it is sitting there so i can get the temp right next to the lights, far away from the exhaust, seeing as that is the hottest place in the box. and it is sitting at about 72-74. I have looked at it 3 seperate times since i put the fans in to check the thermo. and those were all 4 - 8 hours apart. but we just had a cold couple of days here. living in florida i am interested to see how the high temps here will effect the temps inside the box. because it is going in a part of my house that is like a shed, or garage, so the air in there isnt much different than the air outside.

just have to wait and see, like everything else...

The seeds have gone into some medium. They are in the box. I will be taking pictures tonight.

Thanks rocksteady for the advice, any youve got, send it right on over.

ps. after germing the seeds, how long after putting them in medium does it typically take to see something sprout?

dirtydrukqs said:

ps. after germing the seeds, how long after putting them in medium does it typically take to see something sprout?

Click to expand...

Mine were pretty quick. I didnt put mine in paper towels or anything but straight into my medium and they were breaking the surface in 2 days. Yours should be much quicker. Some take longer than others but it looks like yours are already a long way there. One of mine grea out upside down but straightened itself.
Just on temps outside the box. As i am sure you know it does effect it a lot. I am in Aus and we have 40+C days and it makes it near impossible to cool the cab. It means the air being sucked in, that runs over the lights, is still bloody hot. Unless you have air con it can be a bit tricky. Still having the air flow is good for the plants. For that exact reason i am choosing to start my grow as winter approaches but that may not be an option for you.
Pop up some pics when they break the surface. What type are they again?

Well I put mine into medium on the night of the 21st. They havent broken the surface yet. But im being patient.

Yeah, the temps outside of the box are effecting it too much. Plus another problem could have started that i completely forgot about. and thats bugs. so the box is getting a new home in my closet today.

Pics will be up right when they break the surface. They are bags seeds. Ive got 3 going and 1 of them is a little bit better strain than the other 2.

Heres some pics of the seeds in medium and fiber pots.

looks good for now...im on my 1st grow too...started out small and now I find myself buying a 400w hps with an expensive fan and filter. Shits addicting man.

Definitely go with the lst, it will pay off. Id also top them.

Whats the strain? hopefully one turns out female.

good luck!

Yeah, i can see myself buying a much bigger light set up in the future. but i think im gonna get a few grows under my belt before i move onto anything bigger.

LST is definitely going to happen. I have thought about topping them too, need to do a little more research into that.

the strain is "good ole bag seed" haha. and yes, lets hope for at least 1 female.