First Cabinet Setup, First Grow Too

Hey guys, this is my first post. Great site! Very informative.

So, after looking at the pricey pre-made options, to save money I've decided to make my own grow cabinet. I will be placing this cabinet in my room or closet depending on space. I live in a privately owned home, owned by my roommate who is cool with my lil project too.

I'm a tad concerned about ventilation and climate control. My room gets pretty hot because of poor circulation, and it has 2 windows which face the sun most of the day but I have curtains up. I have a Vornado fan that I use in the room to help circulate air and keep the temps down. The closet has a window next to it, but not in it, however being on the front of the house, I dont think itd be a good idea to have any ducting sticking out there.

I will be basically building my own Mini Cool Cab, using these parts:

14 Plant HydroFlora System $129
Sandusky 42" Storage Cabinet $174.99
Sunlightsheds Power Plant Lighting System $299.99
-includes switchable 400W MH and HPS ballast with bulbs
-6" inline cooled reflector
-Timer
-Automatic Light pullies
-Reflector cooling fan
Activated Carbon Filter $59
TDS Meter $32

That puts the total at about $695. I realize I still need a bathroom ceiling fan, a couple more computer fans, and oscillating fan, diamond sheeting/mylar, power strip, and maybe an ionizer. Am I forgetting anything crucial? Will this be a good setup for a first time grower? Anyone have any other suggestions or bits of wisdom? Any help is a appreciated!

Drizzle, nice plan. It's key to have a well thought out plan before growing. One recommendation for you: your cabinet is way too expensive. You can get bigger cabs from HD or Lowes. In fact, I have my eye on a cabinet that's over 7' tall, 2' deep and a width of about 46" and it only costs about $85. Good luck.

hearmenow said:

Drizzle, nice plan. It's key to have a well thought out plan before growing. One recommendation for you: your cabinet is way too expensive. You can get bigger cabs from HD or Lowes. In fact, I have my eye on a cabinet that's over 7' tall, 2' deep and a width of about 46" and it only costs about $85. Good luck.

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Yea, the cabinet did seem a bit pricey. I will check out what Home Depot and Lowes have available on my lunch break, thanks man!

OK, just got back from Home Depot and Lowes. Home Depot didn't have much. They had the plastic Workforce brand that I saw on there website, but I want something that isn't such an eyesore.

Lowes had these Coleman brand Tuff Duty storage cabinets that look pretty nice, with reinforced metal corners, and a diamond plate trim. My concern though, is about the material the cabinet is made from. I wonder how hard it will be to cut the holes I need in it. Apparently its made from their "Workshield" laminate which they say is resin based. Unfortunately, Lowes didnt have one out on display. Think I will have any trouble cutting into it with a Dremmel or hole cutter bit with a power drill?

Price $95

Don't go to the garage or outdoor section. You need to look in the closet storage section. Here is the link to what I am talking about. Not easy to find from the websites. It's on sale for $109.

70-3/8"H x 47-1/2"W x 20-1/2"D
Ready to assemble
Durable White finish
1 fixed, 3 adjustable shelves with 2 hang rods
Cabinet hardware included

48" White Multi-Purpose Storage Cabinet

For a small time grow (one of 2 plants), you can have a separate vegg and flower section.

That one is nice. I like the obvious benefit of having separate light areas, and a spot on top for a cloner. This does seem to bring more money into the situation, even though I would save some on the price of the cabinet. I would need another ballast and reflector, and possibly more odor control? I guess I would need that water garden I saw on eBay for $59 to keep the mother in too.

Would I need more ventilation for the 2 lights also? It seems in that setup, the lights wouldn't move, and would have a straight breeze entering one side of the cabinet passing through both inline reflectors and exiting the other side?

It is tempting though, that is the setup I ultimately want. My room is kinda small though, the other plan will be to see if my roommate is cool with me keeping the unit in the garage.

I will just warn you guys I had one of those I used just for my houshold stuff and it was real cheap and not very sturdy, the shelves fall down like it nothin and you will not have your sections light tight unless you buy light tite plastic. and put it all over the place

I would recommend getting these grow tents:



What I did was just buy a strong metal shelve and then made my own light tite tent to go around it and install a light tight zipper to the whole thing. although this woul be an eye sore less it was in you closet.

Just a though you are going to use the closet and theres a window next to it.I would get an old ac unit that dosent work and pull the unit out and put the can in the window like it was working.Vent into it from inside.You can spilt the closet into with black&white poly,and have veg & flowering room.Put the carbon filter in the ac can and that way nobody smells anything.Good vent and light and half the battle over. Pace

Tokecrazy said:

Just a though you are going to use the closet and theres a window next to it.I would get an old ac unit that dosent work and pull the unit out and put the can in the window like it was working.Vent into it from inside.You can spilt the closet into with black&white poly,and have veg & flowering room.Put the carbon filter in the ac can and that way nobody smells anything.Good vent and light and half the battle over. Pace

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Thats not a bad idea either. Ive been thinking about getting a working one anyway since my room gets hot as balls even at night, just from the lights in my room cause there is no circulation.

I stopped by HD this morning again and there're 2 cabs that would work. The one I am eyeing is about 71" tall, 30" wide and 21" deep. It does not have the partion between the 2 sections (for separating veg and flower) but that works better for me, as I already have a separate veg cab. The other cab has same dimensions except it's 48" wide and does have the separate compartments. The 30" is $89 and the 48" is $109. As far as light bleeding through, that's not a deal breaker for me - there are numerous methods to prevent that. Panda, my reflector with bulb only weighs about 10 lbs - I have a remote ballast and I'll only have 4 plants at most in there, so I'm not concerned about breaking the cab from too much weight. I love your grow tent idea but I'm going for stealth and that would stick out like a straight guy at a Village People convention.

Damn, while my roommate and I were at the store, he decides that the 75" high cabinet is too tall, and that makes him nervous. He thought it would look more obvious and had pictured me getting the 42" cabinet.

So, I ended up getting the smaller one, unfortunately.



Maybe after a harvest or two, he will see its not a bad idea to go a lil bigger, so I can fit a cloner, and mother. We'll see.

Anyways, I ordered seeds from Nirvana. I'm trying the White Widow, and Northern Lights x Big Bud. How long can you keep seeds for until they go bad?

I have some bagseeds that I germinated and placed in rockwool cubes last Saturday. They are popping up but look really weak. The embryonic leaves are not opening up and just kinda curling over back into the rockwool. They also seem to be bruising, or browning on certain places. I have just been pouring mineral water on them with a lil cloning gel mixed in. Should I not have added the cloning gel? I figured it would help root development, but I wonder if I burned them?

No mineral water and cloneing gel.Just water for the frist two weeks and than 1/4 strenght and build up slowly to full strenght.After you get going you can get another cab like the one you got now and work from there. Peace

drizzel
you getting some great advice here have fun growing and keep us posted.

Just a suggestion dude, is it possible to hook up your ventilation through the atic?

Most closets have an access hole or something you can poke your exaust up, works for me.

Royal said:

Just a suggestion dude, is it possible to hook up your ventilation through the atic?

Most closets have an access hole or something you can poke your exaust up, works for me.

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I've considered this. I moved the grow to my closet completely. There is no existing hole in the closet ceiling, but I might make one about 3-4" diameter to vent to, then when I move out I'll put a light fixture in it's place or something.

I did the cabinets and now am moving to a bigger room...used the 6'x4'x24" and did a few grows.

Tried to do twelve plants, six in each 14 gallon hydro tub and it was too constricting for the plants...every time 6 died, so 8 plants max for that size (if you veg for three weeks in cabinet)....4 in each 14 gallon tub is working better