HerbalRemedy
Well-Known Member
I've wanted to get into growing for personal use for a while now and finally decided to put something together. I chose to put as less money into the grow as possible while maintaining a functional and useful growing area.
I was given an old television cabinet. You know the old wooden floor model tv's with built in speakers. I assume in its day it was top of the line. I was originally going to sand it down and install an lcd but a friend of mine mentioned it would make a nice grow cabinet. I sat on the idea a few days and decided to go with it. The television, speakers, and wiring was removed. The few shelves inside the cabinet were also removed. Basically the entire cabinet was gutted and all that was left was an empty television cabinet with a decent set of doors as well as wheels for mobility when needed.
The inside of the cabinet was jet black so I re-painted the entire inside with some left over white paint. I had some mylar too but honestly, its a pain in the ass to work with when trying to attach it to the walls of a cabinet. I didn't feel like it was going to make a drastic improvement anyways. Some of you may beg to differ but I felt like white paint was more user friendly and maintaince free than sheets of mylar attached to the walls.
As I said before this grow was and still is on a budget so I came up with the idea of using one of the old shelves as a reflector. I had about a dozen or so of compact fluros around the house. I went to lowes and found an adapter that plugs into an ordinary wall outlet and allows for standard light bulbs to be screwed in. I bought ten at 1.50 cent each. I took 4 surge suppressors and daisy chained them together and mounted them on the shelf. One on each side of the shelf and two in the middle. I then added mylar over the entire area of the exposed shelf. I wish the suppressors had the outlets spaced out more but in the end I'm able to get 10-12 cfls on the reflector. I thought about mounting the suppressors so that the bulbs would be horizontal in orientation but the idea just added more work and more redneck engineering. Simple is most of the time better so I just mounted the easiest way possible. I originally had velcro attached to the bottom of the suppressor and reflector area but it proved to be unreliable at keeping the entire surge suppressor from eventually falling off the reflector. I went to lowes and found a package of clips that are used to attach electrical conduit or pvc to the side of something. 1.50 cent for a package of six. I bought two packets and used two for each supressor. One on each end. The idea has proven to work flawlessly.
The entire reflector is held up by chain. I found a package of heavy duty hooks for around a dollar. I have a 1.5 inch hole drilled into the top back of the cabinet for running things like electrical cords. I stuffed a black sock in to prevent light leaks. I also mounted a surge suppressor on the back wall of the cabinet. I ran across a cheap timer at walmart for around 5 bucks so that takes care of the light situation.
I ran a trial run and noticed a lot of light leaks at the doors. I installed some weather stripping around the perimeter of the doors and this fixed the problem.
I knew compacts would produce heat but didn't realize how much. I was surprised to see that temps would sore to 108 degrees. The bottom of the cabinet already had port holes to help keep the television and components cool. I had to get that hot air out of the cab so I decided to install a blower system. I bored a 4 inch hole into the top of the cabinet. I found a blower at Harbor Freight for 25 bucks. If you have one of the stores close by I recommend you check them out. The box claims 1300cfm and I honestly believe that. You can also use another well known fan called the Stanley Blower. I think you can pick one up for 30-50 and found at walmart or lowes. I took 12 inches of dryer duct, duct taped one end to the intake of the blower and the other end to the top of the 4 inch hole in the cabinet. The blower on its lowest setting dropped the temps by 30 degrees. I was amazed. The cab is running 72-75 degrees with the lights on. I can live with that. If I ever decide to install more intense lights I can just turn up the blower.
My buddy found a small 4 inch fan built by massy from walmart for about 5 bucks. Its actually very high quality for the money and plan on getting another for the other side of the cab. The fan helps keep the bulbs cool while providing artificial wind for the plants. it also pivots so I can orient the fan a number of different ways.
I've never grown with soil before and the entire mixture was formulated by a friend. I know it has some cow shit, worm castings, and some name brand potting mixture. The mixture seems to be doing well so no complaints from me. I would have personally used some off the shelf potting mixture entirely but I guess everyone has their unique way of growing. I have a total of six plants in 2.5 gallon buckets. The one in the back has been in veg for about 2 weeks longer than the rest. All of the plants are bagseed so I'm not really concerned about the yield. I have switched the lights to 12/12 with no remorse. I think its a little soon but again I am anxious to start my new grow with some intense white widow seeds. Its been a work in progress and getting anything off the bagseed will be nice seeing that I'm slowly getting the cabinet in order. I hope I can get 4 females out of the six.
As soon as these are done I'm switching to a hydro system. It takes a bit more money to for a setup but i'm very interested in hydroponics.
All in all I'm happy with the setup. Its not a stealth as I'd like it to be but I've had numerous people come into the room and never eyeball the cabinet. Maybe because the entire room is basically a shop but thats beside the point. I will post a few specs below and hope that everyone comments.
Cab: Dimensions. 4'H 2'D 3'W
Lights: Ten CFL's at 23Watts at 1600 lumens 230Watts 16000 Total lumens (Not HPS intensity but cheaper and more readily available)
-10 GE Helical 26W 6500K Daylight Bulbs for VEG.
-10 Great Value Soft White 23W 2700K for Flower (Walmart Brand, We'll see how well they do, 6 Bucks, 4 in a package can't beat that!!)
-Modified Harbor Freight Blower for venting
-2.5Gal. buckets per plant.
Hopefully I can pull some nice bud and stop paying outrageous prices.
I was given an old television cabinet. You know the old wooden floor model tv's with built in speakers. I assume in its day it was top of the line. I was originally going to sand it down and install an lcd but a friend of mine mentioned it would make a nice grow cabinet. I sat on the idea a few days and decided to go with it. The television, speakers, and wiring was removed. The few shelves inside the cabinet were also removed. Basically the entire cabinet was gutted and all that was left was an empty television cabinet with a decent set of doors as well as wheels for mobility when needed.
The inside of the cabinet was jet black so I re-painted the entire inside with some left over white paint. I had some mylar too but honestly, its a pain in the ass to work with when trying to attach it to the walls of a cabinet. I didn't feel like it was going to make a drastic improvement anyways. Some of you may beg to differ but I felt like white paint was more user friendly and maintaince free than sheets of mylar attached to the walls.
As I said before this grow was and still is on a budget so I came up with the idea of using one of the old shelves as a reflector. I had about a dozen or so of compact fluros around the house. I went to lowes and found an adapter that plugs into an ordinary wall outlet and allows for standard light bulbs to be screwed in. I bought ten at 1.50 cent each. I took 4 surge suppressors and daisy chained them together and mounted them on the shelf. One on each side of the shelf and two in the middle. I then added mylar over the entire area of the exposed shelf. I wish the suppressors had the outlets spaced out more but in the end I'm able to get 10-12 cfls on the reflector. I thought about mounting the suppressors so that the bulbs would be horizontal in orientation but the idea just added more work and more redneck engineering. Simple is most of the time better so I just mounted the easiest way possible. I originally had velcro attached to the bottom of the suppressor and reflector area but it proved to be unreliable at keeping the entire surge suppressor from eventually falling off the reflector. I went to lowes and found a package of clips that are used to attach electrical conduit or pvc to the side of something. 1.50 cent for a package of six. I bought two packets and used two for each supressor. One on each end. The idea has proven to work flawlessly.
The entire reflector is held up by chain. I found a package of heavy duty hooks for around a dollar. I have a 1.5 inch hole drilled into the top back of the cabinet for running things like electrical cords. I stuffed a black sock in to prevent light leaks. I also mounted a surge suppressor on the back wall of the cabinet. I ran across a cheap timer at walmart for around 5 bucks so that takes care of the light situation.
I ran a trial run and noticed a lot of light leaks at the doors. I installed some weather stripping around the perimeter of the doors and this fixed the problem.
I knew compacts would produce heat but didn't realize how much. I was surprised to see that temps would sore to 108 degrees. The bottom of the cabinet already had port holes to help keep the television and components cool. I had to get that hot air out of the cab so I decided to install a blower system. I bored a 4 inch hole into the top of the cabinet. I found a blower at Harbor Freight for 25 bucks. If you have one of the stores close by I recommend you check them out. The box claims 1300cfm and I honestly believe that. You can also use another well known fan called the Stanley Blower. I think you can pick one up for 30-50 and found at walmart or lowes. I took 12 inches of dryer duct, duct taped one end to the intake of the blower and the other end to the top of the 4 inch hole in the cabinet. The blower on its lowest setting dropped the temps by 30 degrees. I was amazed. The cab is running 72-75 degrees with the lights on. I can live with that. If I ever decide to install more intense lights I can just turn up the blower.
My buddy found a small 4 inch fan built by massy from walmart for about 5 bucks. Its actually very high quality for the money and plan on getting another for the other side of the cab. The fan helps keep the bulbs cool while providing artificial wind for the plants. it also pivots so I can orient the fan a number of different ways.
I've never grown with soil before and the entire mixture was formulated by a friend. I know it has some cow shit, worm castings, and some name brand potting mixture. The mixture seems to be doing well so no complaints from me. I would have personally used some off the shelf potting mixture entirely but I guess everyone has their unique way of growing. I have a total of six plants in 2.5 gallon buckets. The one in the back has been in veg for about 2 weeks longer than the rest. All of the plants are bagseed so I'm not really concerned about the yield. I have switched the lights to 12/12 with no remorse. I think its a little soon but again I am anxious to start my new grow with some intense white widow seeds. Its been a work in progress and getting anything off the bagseed will be nice seeing that I'm slowly getting the cabinet in order. I hope I can get 4 females out of the six.
As soon as these are done I'm switching to a hydro system. It takes a bit more money to for a setup but i'm very interested in hydroponics.
All in all I'm happy with the setup. Its not a stealth as I'd like it to be but I've had numerous people come into the room and never eyeball the cabinet. Maybe because the entire room is basically a shop but thats beside the point. I will post a few specs below and hope that everyone comments.
Cab: Dimensions. 4'H 2'D 3'W
Lights: Ten CFL's at 23Watts at 1600 lumens 230Watts 16000 Total lumens (Not HPS intensity but cheaper and more readily available)
-10 GE Helical 26W 6500K Daylight Bulbs for VEG.
-10 Great Value Soft White 23W 2700K for Flower (Walmart Brand, We'll see how well they do, 6 Bucks, 4 in a package can't beat that!!)
-Modified Harbor Freight Blower for venting
-2.5Gal. buckets per plant.
Hopefully I can pull some nice bud and stop paying outrageous prices.
