Which Cabinet Would You Go With ?

Ok guys I need some help in picking a cabinet out....I really wanted stealth here....It will be sitting in my cellar....We actually sell stuff and that cab will be down near the stuff...I was thinking that cherry cabinet might be so nice someone may want to open it up and look at it, lol (but I will put a lock on it)....I could paint it white or something though to give it a more "utilitarian" look....there will be a compartment up top for electric and fan...Scrubber will be homemade and attach to bathroom fan up top. So the scrubber will be flat like a pancake....

So here are the Cabs:

White Home Depot Cab: 71 3/4" x 48" x 20 1/2" - made of some kind of composite material....Doors don't always line up perfect when put together so there might be some tweeking.... I was going to put wheels on this thing so I could wheel it around.

Cherry Entertainment System: 70" x 45 1/2" x 26" - obviously much better build quality though I lose 2.5" on the width and 1.75" on the height....This is what I was worried about....BUT, I gain a whopping 5.5" on the depth which might off-set those losses....This is what I was debating....

My plan is to divided to cab in the middle from top to bottom....So one side is roughly 30=something inches wide, and the other is around 12" or so.....The flowering side of the cab will hold 2 plants and grow to the top of the cab is need be.

The vegging side of the cab will have two separate vegging compartments...One above each other....These will be for the next set o plants, clones, mothers, etc....

I am growing starting in party cups, but soon will be transferring to air-pots.....So I may have two air-pots in vegging chamber at a time...The problem is determining what size (how wide) the vegg chamber will have to be....

So my transplant stages will be:

Party Cup ---> 1 gallon airpot ---> 3 and/or 5 gallon air-pot

Air-pot sizes : 1 gallon - 9" tall x 7.5" wide....3 gallon - 10" tall x 10.5" wide......5 gallon - 13" tall x 11.5" wide

Question: I forgot can we transplant during flowering ?

Question: Who's good at math ? What is the minimum size space I would need to put 2 of each said size off air-pot....Obviously the two pots would be kitty corner to each other in a square space in order to save space.

Question: So after reading all of this, which cabinet would you pick, and why ?

thanks, SC

i like the look of the cherry. i know that a lot of people used those home depot cabinets before the whole tent craze, and they were very successful with them but i love that cherry wood. good luck with the choice.

You didnt include the price. So until then my question is, why dont you just get this?

http://www.amazon.com/Aviditi-PTU-67-Reflective-Hydroponic-T-Zipper/dp/B004U6WBGG/ref=lp_3480699011_1_2?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1388879331&sr=1-2

white one

it is white u do not need to paint or line with reflective stuff
it is cheap so modifing it is no big lose
it is cheap and if something breaks u can get the parts easier

the size of the plant is limited only by your room and feed u give it .................i have 1 plant that is a whole 4x4x6 tent whole tent (so high i cut the main cola off due to light burn)

given this ..........look up SCRoG methods this site here has some good info .............this will take out the width factor since u trim it and lollipop the lower parts


and as for transplanting .............start it then put it in its main for the life of it plant pot.......transplanting cuases stress on the plants and doing it so offen can get u males plus your root system will not full develope along with the right ratio of microbos and good fungi

soil growing is simple 1 gallon of soil is 1 month of growth time ( for that month the plant has enough feed in the soil after that month is up it is all depent on what u feed it ) ........so if u are growing a photo for 4 months use a 5 gallon bag .....if u are a auto then the 3 gallon bags work

m4s73r said:

You didnt include the price. So until then my question is, why dont you just get this?

http://www.amazon.com/Aviditi-PTU-67-Reflective-Hydroponic-T-Zipper/dp/B004U6WBGG/ref=lp_3480699011_1_2?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1388879331&sr=1-2

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they both are around a hundred bucks so price doesn't matter.....I don't want a tent...The whole point of turning one of these cabinets into a grox cab is for stealth reasons....If I have a tent set up in my basement people are surely going to ask what it is.


Also white paint doesn't matter...Either box is going to be lined with mylar.

I'm having a hell of a time trying to edit my original post...It won't let me correct grammar errors saying not enough characters...grrrr....

Oh, and I thought with the Home Depot cab I would put casters on it so I could roll it around if need be...I think casters on the Cherry Cab would look odd....

Is anyone familiar with fluorescent tube lights ? I was wondering if they would help if I put one in each corner ?

I briefly searched lights and I found this 6500k tube...85 watts and 5600 lumens...that's an extra 340 watts in lights coming from the corners ! I will probably have about 12 to 20 something cfls above plants (23 to 26 watts)

http://www.1000bulbs.com/product/4669/FHO-072D.html

the flowering light tube was not as powerful

here are the flowering tube specs : 2700k, 36 watts , 3350 lumens....

http://www.1000bulbs.com/search/?filter[category]=1957&filter[color+temperature(int)]=0..3000

anyone think it would be good to add the corner lights ?

t5 lights work well

2 foot is 2000 lumens .......4 foot are 5000 lumens .................they are very low heat and do not need much wind to keep the area cool ..........u can get with in like 2 and half inches of the tubes

if u are going hidden ..............look at LED lights the hanging one/UFO ....................they do cost more but the depth u get from them and the power of them is worth it (600w LED is equaled to a 1000w HID) .....................this will get u the most power out of your area plus keep the area cool so no need for alot of noisey fans to keep cool

did the math on the white one rounded it all up to feet .............u only need a cfm of about 30..........so one of those 4 inch inline boosters would be more then enough power (they are 80cfm) and pretty quiet..............u can hang a carbon scrubber inside above the light and use a passive intake .............then on the ducting out apply a muffler or a hidden vent point (like it dumps it all in a box or u tie it to the sewer vent/drier vent)

Let me share.. as someone who bought two 8 bulb T5 units thinking I had a good heat-management approach... I wish I had went less aggressive with area of coverage and just went LED out of the gate...

Let me share.. as someone who bought two 8 bulb T5 units thinking I had a good heat-management approach... I wish I had went less aggressive with area of coverage and just went LED out of the gate...

I think I'm going to be ok with the heat issues...The cab will be in the cellar which is cooler....The cellar is of concrete....I plan on putting the passive intakes either on the floor of the grow cab, or near the bottom some where....I feel this will help with cooling....Maybe I should just go with two fluorescents to start with, and see what the temps are ? I didn't think 4 fluorescent bulbs would add that much heat to the cab...Maybe I am mistaken.

Fan is already on the way....I went with a Panasonic Ceiling Whisper....80 cfm....and I believe it was .3 sones

Funny you mention that white cabinet. I was at home depot the other day and saw that very same one on hold for a customer who had bought it. I opened it up and thought how great of a grow it would be. I really like the cherry wood but based on the fact that people may see it, you want wheels on it and to be stealth so no one really looks hard at it I would go with the white cabinet. The cherry would have me looking twice just for the beauty of the wood. The white cabinet I would not even glance at if I saw it in a room.

MOON SHINER said:

Funny you mention that white cabinet. I was at home depot the other day and saw that very same one on hold for a customer who had bought it. I opened it up and thought how great of a grow it would be. I really like the cherry wood but based on the fact that people may see it, you want wheels on it and to be stealth so no one really looks hard at it I would go with the white cabinet. The cherry would have me looking twice just for the beauty of the wood. The white cabinet I would not even glance at if I saw it in a room.

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Ya, I was thinking the same thing....In fact, I thought that if I do go with the Cherry Cab that I would paint it to make it look uglier so it looks more like a utility cab or something....And yes, wheels would look fine in the Home Depot Cab but pretty odd on the Cherry Cab. Tough call for me here...I am still debating.

I would go with the white cabinet. In MHO The white utility may be more suited. I have seen the composite material in cheap stuff swell up and fall apart when it gets wet. Maybe the utility cabinet could withstand more moisture.

You're going to have some frankenstein looking cabinets either way if you try to run separate light cycles in either one of those. Save yourself some sanity and buy two cabinets.

supchaka said:

You're going to have some frankenstein looking cabinets either way if you try to run separate light cycles in either one of those. Save yourself some sanity and buy two cabinets.

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I was thinking of doing two cabs but the prob is then I don't want to have to buy two sets of fans and scrubbers.....

Not sure what you mean by Frankenstein....I will take my time and do a respectable job of building it....It won't look Frankenstein at all from the outside...The cab will look just like it does now.....

Plus, I am not trying to grow huge amounts....A perpetual grow with like 1 or 2 plants at a time......

If perhaps I needed more space I was thinking I could pun the fan and scrubber on top of the cabinet and enclose that in something - maybe a homemade wood box or something.

When you try and light tight the two sides from each other that is where frankencabinet will begin! Just speaking from my own experience, I'd love to see you pull it off though!

Before you buy either look at the doors really well and pre-plan how your going to do it

ok for this to work u have the intake(passive vent ) must always be low

if your intake is on the lower left part of the cab then u want the exhust at the upper right (this way the air has to cross the whole room ) later on u can use a clip on fan and 4 inch flexie ducting (put the ducting in as the pas and put it right under the fan so when the air is sucked in the fan blows it around )

i own a t5 8 bulb 2 foot ..........the intake is around 65-68 the ehust lvl the air is about 79 81 that is all 8 lights going


buddy we are really tring to help u and save u money ............i wish i listened and got the 1000w instead of the 600w
invest in some LED like this
UFO
Hanging

Black Star and BlackDog are the 2 best LED markers ............if u are selling off your spare smoke these will recover the investment in the first grow

growing with T5 lights your bud comes out fluffly (i got a oz of each plant) growing with a LED or HID will increase this greatly (4 oz off same strain same everything but the light was 6oow hid not t5 )
a 600w led is the same grow power as a 1000w hid system

supchaka said:

You're going to have some frankenstein looking cabinets either way if you try to run separate light cycles in either one of those. Save yourself some sanity and buy two cabinets.

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I agree. Light leaks could cause major problems. Have you thought about a smaller 2nd cabinet with just enough space for 1 small mother and clones if you are trying to do a perpetual grow? I grow in a 2 x 4 ft area myself and get around 7 oz each grow with a 400 watt HPS and do a new grow when I feel like it. I would hate to be tied down caring for them every day 365 days a year.

Well I want to be as stealth as possible...second cab means second fan going which will be heard - I will have to keep it on the down low, needs power, etc etc etc....

I say perpetual but I don't have to grow 365 days a year...I can take breaks....

I already have the cfls from a previous grow so that's what I am going with for now.....I had to cut that grow short and that plant was doing super.....So in my mind I still have something to prove with my light setup. ...Thanks for your info on the LEDs though...

Maybe someday i will add or change just not at the current moment in time

The t5's were only to supplement what cfls I will be using....

As far as blocking the light from chamber to chamber I will make sure no light is coming through before I get my grow going...It can't be all that tough to do...I have a bunch of different tools, and feel like I am handy...

SpaaaceCowboy said:

Question: I forgot can we transplant during flowering ?

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I know this one! I know this one!! Yes! I have carefully transplanted young budding plants with no ill effects.