First ever wardrobe grow.

Gregor Eisenhorn said:

I've been thinking a lot on whether or not I should try my hand at hydroponics, and unfortunately I have come to the conclusion that it would just cost too much at the moment. The ph tester, TDS, air pump, bucket etc. etc. would completely exceeded my budget. I already spent a lot on the lights, fan, cables, pertol etc. so I wasn't able to afford the extras for the hydroponic set up. So unfortunatly with a heavy heart, I had to back up with the DWC grow... for now... mwahaha. Sooooo I'm back to soil. I'm dissapointed, because I was really into (and still am) hydroponics. The good news is that in a month or so I'll be able to get the items I need, and since my HPS bulb is for grow + bloom, I'll be able to stick my hydro setup in there with my older plant!

I've even heard that it is possible to tranplant a soil grow plant into a hydro setup like DWC, although the probability that the shock will be too severe for the plant is really high. There have been a lot of cases where the plant would just die. I'll have to think about it, although like I said, I definitely will stick a DWC setup in the cabinet.

Click to expand...

It's cool, save up and be sure you have all the right stuff and HYDRO will pay you back double !

fishdeth said:

It's cool, save up and be sure you have all the right stuff and HYDRO will pay you back double !

Click to expand...

Exactly, I don't want to go around buying cheap digital pH testers, only for them to stop working in a few months (or worse, carry on "working" but giving me dodgy readings). I would like to have everything from the middle/top "shelf", so a little saving up is starting from now. A month or so and I'll be back in the hydro buisness.

Alrighty then, I have successfully cut the hole for the outtake. That was really fun, I have never done it before. This is the day I have been waiting for a long time, finally I can DO something with this cab, not just sit around with my thumb up my...

So I have been thinking a bit... I have a dilema when it comes to the usable height in the cabinet. 250 HPS should have around 6 feet of space and that is the total height of the cuboard. Now, I won't be growing a 6 foot monster inside this cab, I'll be Scrogging, tying down and generally training my girl to keep her at a reasonable height.

So now my problem, should I keep the natural height or change it to a... 150cm/ 4.9 feet like in the picture below. I'm going to have to cut two more intake holes at the bottem, so that's why I'm pondering on the height.

Also, do you have any suggestions where I should keep my power strip? Can it be inside or will the humidity cause it to short out or something like that? What about the ballast? I've heard it gets hot...

On second thought, I made the cable to the fan really short... ;_; so probably the power strip will be hung in the middle of the grow box... live and learn.

Setting up the ballast... looked much harder yesterday. All suggestions are welcome.

Also, I'll keep the ballast and it's power strip on top of the cupboard. I also made a new hole for the fans cable to go through the top. I don't have to worry about any electrical devices inside the cab.

HE HE! It's finally done. I still have a few tweaks to do. For instance the door doesn't stay shut, so I'm going to have to buy some magnets or hooks. I'll also have to somehow air seal the frame around the door. There are microscopic light leaks coming from it and I'm worried it might mess up the passive intake. The fan is not working as I hoped, but it isn't that bad. The temperature is around 28 C/ 82 F, a bit high yes, so I'm going to get a small oscillating fan. I hope that'll knock the degress down a little bit.
Also, the HPS bulb didn't explode when I switched it on, so I believe I did a good job with the wiring.

Apart from that, I'm quite happy, first time I ever built something like this.

And don't worry about the strings holding the reflector. Tomorrow I'll get some type of chains. This is just for demonstration.

Any suggestions and critisism is highly appreciated.

Tomorrow I'll begin to germinate the seed, I went with Goddess Kali. I will also moisten the All mix to get the microflora active and ready for the seedling. I can't wait to start growing.

Thank you everyone for all the help!

Gregor Eisenhorn said:

Also, I'll keep the ballast and it's power strip on top of the cupboard. I also made a new hole for the fans cable to go through the top. I don't have to worry about any electrical devices inside the cab.

Click to expand...

good job brother, way to get in there and get it done, chop and cut, strip wire, glue paste what ever it takes, and believe me both @fishdeth and I both have made changed to our grow boxes each crop, and you may also, do soil this go, and be ready for hydro on the next, its all good, I like how you put your ballast and strip on the top, power strips inside are ok, but the ballast heat on the outside is good, nothing wrong with temps in the low 80's, min flurished this summer with temps under 90, it was growing great when it was 85,, one day I hit 91 and they were wilty,, so ya,

Gregor Eisenhorn said:

HE HE! It's finally done. I still have a few tweaks to do. For instance the door doesn't stay shut, so I'm going to have to buy some magnets or hooks. I'll also have to somehow air seal the frame around the door. There are microscopic light leaks coming from it and I'm worried it might mess up the passive intake. The fan is not working as I hoped, but it isn't that bad. The temperature is around 28 C/ 82 F, a bit high yes, so I'm going to get a small oscillating fan. I hope that'll knock the degress down a little bit.
Also, the HPS bulb didn't explode when I switched it on, so I believe I did a good job with the wiring.

Apart from that, I'm quite happy, first time I ever built something like this.

And don't worry about the strings holding the reflector. Tomorrow I'll get some type of chains. This is just for demonstration.

Any suggestions and critisism is highly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Hey !
It looks pretty good !
Are you worried about the light getting out of those 2 intake holes.... i.e.: stealth?
Oh yea, what Tim said, put the ballast on the outside with spacers to keep it off of whatever you are mounting it to, so air can flow all the way around it. Heat is ANY electronics worst friend.

Gregor Eisenhorn said:

HE HE! It's finally done. I still have a few tweaks to do. For instance the door doesn't stay shut, so I'm going to have to buy some magnets or hooks. I'll also have to somehow air seal the frame around the door. There are microscopic light leaks coming from it and I'm worried it might mess up the passive intake. The fan is not working as I hoped, but it isn't that bad. The temperature is around 28 C/ 82 F, a bit high yes, so I'm going to get a small oscillating fan. I hope that'll knock the degress down a little bit.
Also, the HPS bulb didn't explode when I switched it on, so I believe I did a good job with the wiring.

Apart from that, I'm quite happy, first time I ever built something like this.

And don't worry about the strings holding the reflector. Tomorrow I'll get some type of chains. This is just for demonstration.

Any suggestions and critisism is highly appreciated.

Click to expand...

hey that 250 watt bulb is going to rock this space, you wont be sorry at all,, and be sure to have a temp gauge under that reflector near the top of the plants, thats where you want temp readings, I have thermometers in 3 places in my box, and they generally are about the same with the fan mixing the air up, but that bulb will put out the heat, and you may have to take that reflector off so the heat can rise up faster if its a problem, and dont worry about lumens, its going to bounce off all those walls and be like the carribian sunhine in there

fishdeth said:

Hey !
It looks pretty good !
Are you worried about the light getting out of those 2 intake holes.... i.e.: stealth?

Click to expand...

I think its a hold over from his PC growing he does, using computer fans and such, but your right, if you want light traps just use some pvc water or drain pipe from the hardware store and push it together to form and S bend,, either inside or outside the box, I have also seen guys use a TEE fitting on the light trap and have the T fitting pointing downwards, put a panty hose over each end of the T and then fill it with carbon,, and Bam home made carbon filter

Tim Fox said:

I think its a hold over from his PC growing he does, using computer fans and such, but your right, if you want light traps just use some pvc water or drain pipe from the hardware store and push it together to form and S bend,, either inside or outside the box, I have also seen guys use a TEE fitting on the light trap and have the T fitting pointing downwards, put a panty hose over each end of the T and then fill it with carbon,, and Bam home made carbon filter

Click to expand...

Dang... GOOD idea !
I love this site..... just sayin....

Hey man you should look into Hempy's method, it's a form of growing via passive hydroponics. It'll take some of your hunger pains away, and from what i've seen and read its a step above soil.

DankTankerous said:

Hey man you should look into Hempy's method, it's a from of growing via passive hydroponics. It'll ease your hunger pains by little though.

Click to expand...

Dude that hh hempy thing is way cool

Thank you all for your kind words. They mean a lot.

Tim Fox said:

good job brother, way to get in there and get it done, chop and cut, strip wire, glue paste what ever it takes, and believe me both @fishdeth and I both have made changed to our grow boxes each crop, and you may also, do soil this go, and be ready for hydro on the next, its all good, I like how you put your ballast and strip on the top, power strips inside are ok, but the ballast heat on the outside is good, nothing wrong with temps in the low 80's, min flurished this summer with temps under 90, it was growing great when it was 85,, one day I hit 91 and they were wilty,, so ya,

Click to expand...

Thanks Tim, I'm also glad I put the ballast on top, I don't have to worry that the humidity might get into the cables or something like that. Also, it really does heat up, not what I expected but at least the it won't be causing problems inside of the grow box. I'm going to install a much better outtake fan soon... I'm really dissapointed with the one I got. I mean it does the job, because when I close the cab and place my hand near the intake holes I can feel a lot of suction. Now I know it's better to order fans from specialized electrical shops, in Poland at least.

fishdeth said:

Hey !
It looks pretty good !
Are you worried about the light getting out of those 2 intake holes.... i.e.: stealth?
Oh yea, what Tim said, put the ballast on the outside with spacers to keep it off of whatever you are mounting it to, so air can flow all the way around it. Heat is ANY electronics worst friend.
View attachment 3507242

Click to expand...

Tim Fox said:

I think its a hold over from his PC growing he does, using computer fans and such, but your right, if you want light traps just use some pvc water or drain pipe from the hardware store and push it together to form and S bend,, either inside or outside the box, I have also seen guys use a TEE fitting on the light trap and have the T fitting pointing downwards, put a panty hose over each end of the T and then fill it with carbon,, and Bam home made carbon filter

Click to expand...

I forgot to add more pictures, but I actually installed some ducting to the intake holes... although there are still light leaks. Probably not enough ducting was used. Anyway like you said Tim, I'm going to get some elbow pipes like yours and that should do the trick.

@fishdeth thanks a lot for the idea with suspedning the ballast, I'll think of something straight away! I'm sure I have some [arts lying around here somewhere...

Tim Fox said:

hey that 250 watt bulb is going to rock this space, you wont be sorry at all,, and be sure to have a temp gauge under that reflector near the top of the plants, thats where you want temp readings, I have thermometers in 3 places in my box, and they generally are about the same with the fan mixing the air up, but that bulb will put out the heat, and you may have to take that reflector off so the heat can rise up faster if its a problem, and dont worry about lumens, its going to bounce off all those walls and be like the carribian sunhine in there

Click to expand...

You know, at the beginning I didn't think that a 250Watt HPS would put a lot of heat out compared to a 400/600 or even 1000W! But never have I been so wrong in my life, that bulb heats the place up so fast, it's actually amazing! Well.. in a way, I'm out to buy a small oscillating fan today, I hope that'll keep things in check. But I might have to resort to taking the hood off as you suggested... I've heard that placing glass between the light and plant helps.

More or less done for the moment. I'm really proud of those chains suspending the lamp. It takes no effort in adjusting the height. Apart from that, all I do now is wait. I moisened the soil and prepared it for the arrival of the new seed. I have a bit of mylar left So I ws thinking of putting it on the walls. It absorbs heat I think, so it should come in handy.

That beautiful yellow glow.

Gregor Eisenhorn said:

You know, at the beginning I didn't think that a 250Watt HPS would put a lot of heat out compared to a 400/600 or even 1000W! But never have I been so wrong in my life, that bulb heats the place up so fast, it's actually amazing! Well.. in a way, I'm out to buy a small oscillating fan today, I hope that'll keep things in check. But I might have to resort to taking the hood off as you suggested... I've heard that placing glass between the light and plant helps.

Click to expand...

if you do change fans, try to get a 4" inline type fan, then you can do like @fishdeth and place a glass tube over / around your bulb and then use that vent hose ( like you have in the bottom of your box) and make yourself an air cooled vented hood, using your own parts, you can use those glass tubes that are on old gas lamps, or a glass vase, use a glass cutter and take the bottom off, venting your bulb will give you many possible heat adjustments if neccasary
your coming along good, refer back to my old man in the wardrobe thread for ideas on how to light seal your box, Fish had it easy a little easier because his refriderator doors already had seals, but he still had to seal other holes he drilled, it can be done,,
your coming alone very well,
DIG THE SEED SPROUTING!