My cabinet grow journal!

My cabinet is an old filing cabinet with a flip up top that opens to a storage area the size of the top drawer. My specs are as follows:

(2) 125 watt compact flouro.'s
(1) PC fan exhaust
LOL!!! White printer paper
(1) dish washing tray- (wal mart $2.00)
Soil- Miracle Grow soil from lowes



I have my babies on an 18/6 light schedule and plan on adding more 60 watt compacts on the sides for more all around light.

I'm currently in my first week under the lights and can't wait to see these babies grow!!!!!



This is my second attempt at growing, my first was cancelled short due to an angry ex-girlfriend!!!

Please add any comments or suggestions, i need all the help i can get!!!


Here are some pics of the setup.......

in the future avoid planting more than one plant in a single container. when growing the roots could get tangled and when you try to transplant this could hurt your plants pretty bad, slowing or even killing your grow. use plastic cups or something then transplant. you could also plant your seeds individually in the final container.
oh and i dont think your going to be able to grow more than two plants in that cabinet, another thing, youll need more light before its all over. im using flouros+cfls cuz i cant afford an hps right now but hps seems to be the way to go if you can ventilate the cabinet pretty well.

thanks for the reply.....
My thought was to eventually move the whole container to a bigger rubbermaid tub and go with the scrog method. This way it doesn't matter if the roots grow together right? I could be wrong, but this cabinet is pretty much just for vegging., anyway, then i have a place to move them for when they get bigger.
I will also be getting more flouro.'s when i move (i.e. four foot shop lights with compacts all around.

Anybody got a suggestion for what size light to go with for these?

I don't want them too tall, i'd like to stay at about 3 foot total size through harvest.

I like my Flouro's for vegging, but i want a HID for flowering, any ideas on what the best thing would be, without spending alot of money?

Couldn't sleep last night, so i added another PC fan to the back, right in line with the plants and lights. I hope this helps decrease temps a little bit.

I should be moving these to another spot, in about two weeks, where they will finish their life cycle untill harvest. I need bigger lights and potting materials!!!!

Any ideas guys?

Tonight I swapped my intake and exhaust fans because the ibtake was not enough to drop the temps.
Since this the temps have gone down, and thanks to an idea from....."SAYWORD"..... My humidity is up to 65%, with the help of a cup of water sitting in the box with the plants.

Greta idea.......I love this place!!!!

lilmafia513 said:

Anybody got a suggestion for what size light to go with for these?

I don't want them too tall, i'd like to stay at about 3 foot total size through harvest.

I like my Flouro's for vegging, but i want a HID for flowering, any ideas on what the best thing would be, without spending alot of money?

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Looks like those work lamps with reflectors would be great with some CFLs, thats what im using in my cab right now for vegging. Cant see what you got in them now, but ide go with some 42w, 6400k cfls. there like $15 a piece but work great especially with mylar.

Rooter said:

Looks like those work lamps with reflectors would be great with some CFLs, thats what im using in my cab right now for vegging. Cant see what you got in them now, but ide go with some 42w, 6400k cfls. there like $15 a piece but work great especially with mylar.

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I currently have (2) CFL's that I believe the package said were 125 watt, but that could be the equivalent to incadescent.

I plan to increase the lights when I move the plants for flowering by adding more CFL's in a strip on all sides of the plant, with four rows over the plant.

Yeah those are deffinetly incandescent equivs cause a 125w cfl doesnt fit in a regulare light socket, it requires a special mogul socket. My 42w are 150w incad equivs, so your probably looking at 30-32w. Going with 42w now would be kinda pricey jsut for vegging, ide wait till you make the switch. What you got now will do you just fine till then.

Rooter said:

Yeah those are deffinetly incandescent equivs cause a 125w cfl doesnt fit in a regulare light socket, it requires a special mogul socket. My 42w are 150w incad equivs, so your probably looking at 30-32w. Going with 42w now would be kinda pricey jsut for vegging, ide wait till you make the switch. What you got now will do you just fine till then.

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Thanks man, I believe we have the same lights, I believe the 125 watt equivalent is what i have also. But thanks again, I will be getting more lights for the future.

Today i got home and seen alot of growth today. One plant is still really small compared to the rest, but the other three look good.

One has some light brownish/yello spots on both of the new big leaves. It's the close up shot below......

Any ideas what this may be from?

lilmafia513 said:

My thought was to eventually move the whole container to a bigger rubbermaid tub and go with the scrog method. This way it doesn't matter if the roots grow together right?

Click to expand...

This not correct. Four plants grown together in a single container will yield less than if they were in separate containers. The roots intertwine and the plants have to compete for nutrients, water and oxygen. It also increases the possibility of hermies. Since your plants are still young and small, get them out of that one container and replant them in individual containers. I promise you it will save you future headaches and aggravation.

rolla8 said:

This not correct. Four plants grown together in a single container will yield less than if they were in separate containers. The roots intertwine and the plants have to compete for nutrients, water and oxygen. It also increases the possibility of hermies. Since your plants are still young and small, get them out of that one container and replant them in individual containers. I promise you it will save you future headaches and aggravation.

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Thanks man......nough said, I will be moving them soon into seperate pots.

Do you think I should just go for the 5 gallon buskets for a transplant or something smaller first?

You could go directly into 5gal containers, but I think you'd be better off moving them into something smaller at first. I use 16oz plastic cups for the first 2 weeks, then I transplant into 1/2gal milk bottles for another 2-3 weeks. From there, I do one final transplant into 3gal grow bags. I think the 3gal containers are better for indoor growing, but of course, this is just my opinion. By using 3gal containers instead of 5gal, you save $$ on soil and you use less nutes. Personally I find that doing it this way is overall more efficient.

I was thinking I Will just put them back in to cups, untill I transplant for the move in a week or two. The big red plastic cups should be cool!!!!

I have to watch the one with the funny colors on the leaves, this could be why it has spots on it. Too much soil for the little plants.....?

today I got home to my babies standing straioght up and looking nice and healthy, except the one with spots.......but for the most part they look good and healthy!!!!!

hey man, since you wanna go HPS for flowering, if you are at all a do-it-yourselfer check out this 150w HPS for $20. http://www.e-conolight.com/Product/EProductDetail.asp?ProductFamilyID=7&FGNumber=E-MT6H151G
you'll have to click the link twice

there is actually a thread on it called "skip the cfl's"

i am currently using this light in my grow cabinet along with 23w CFL's and since i got it my plants have responded significantly!

it's 15k lumens. for reference your two lights currently are putting out about 4000 lumens total i'd estimate.

the real beauty of HID lights like HPS is penetration though, helps with lower leaf development and side cola's

lilmafia513 said:

I was thinking I Will just put them back in to cups, untill I transplant for the move in a week or two. The big red plastic cups should be cool!!!!

I have to watch the one with the funny colors on the leaves, this could be why it has spots on it. Too much soil for the little plants.....?

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Hey!! are u using the pre-treated soil w/nutes in it?? That could be the prob with the yellowing! My SW's got rocked by that soil!!
Good luck with this grow!!

were did you get your avatar pic? Oh yea the lil ones are looking good

jesus420 said:

hey man, since you wanna go HPS for flowering, if you are at all a do-it-yourselfer check out this 150w HPS for $20. http://www.e-conolight.com/Product/EProductDetail.asp?ProductFamilyID=7&FGNumber=E-MT6H151G
you'll have to click the link twice

there is actually a thread on it called "skip the cfl's"

i am currently using this light in my grow cabinet along with 23w CFL's and since i got it my plants have responded significantly!

it's 15k lumens. for reference your two lights currently are putting out about 4000 lumens total i'd estimate.

the real beauty of HID lights like HPS is penetration though, helps with lower leaf development and side cola's

Click to expand...

What's up man!!

Thanks for the link, I checked it out............................and I like it!

How many of those will I need for the number of plants I have?