Northern Lights first Cabinet, Suggestions.

Xoshua · Nov 16, 2011

I built my cabinet. It was a fun project but it didn't turn out as perfect as I thought it would. Before I post the pictures I'll give a brief details of each part I used and what I can do to improve.

So I ordered some Northern Light seeds from 420-seeds.com, anyone try them?

Strain: Northern Lights
Cabinet dimensions:
-height:22 inches
-l: 21 inches
-w: 15 inches

Materials used:

-Reflect: car window reflectors from Canadian Tire
-Air in: 12V PC powersupply fan connected to 12v cell phone charger
-Air out: 12v PC fan connected to 12v cell phone charger
-Lights: 4 CFL 6500k 26W and 1 CFL 2700k 23W (Also have more 2700k for flowering)
-Soil: I posted the picture of my soil
-Power: 2 powerbars connected to light sockets and cfls; another powerbar to plug in the fans and 2 powerbars from lights; extension cord for powerbar.
-Misc: Duct Tape, water, not sure on food yet

Questions Listed Below

-Does anyone have experience with Northern Lights? Can I LST/ SoG successfully?
-Veg time and flower time of northern?
-Will the soil work?
-How can I fix my light holes from my door and fans?
-Can I build and attach a carbon filter to this cabinet? Where?
-If I did everything perfect, how much can I obtain from this in grams?
-Is fire an issue? How can I fix this? I used electrical tape and those orange twist things to put together electrical wires. I also have had this cabinet on for many hours without too much heat. The only heat concern is the lights and powerbar are a bit warm. It's also a bit warm if the lights have been on for a while at the tabletop.
-Can I add some sort of lock?
-What can I do to improve?

Thank you again for any answers. Even if you can only answer one of the questions, as long as I can figure everything out.

chester12 · Nov 17, 2011

hi well done for the construction looks like you should have a reasonable grow if you get females
i don't think fire is an issue unless they are touching something combustible, if you are still worried use wire nuts as these work extremely well.

Xoshua · Nov 17, 2011

Awesome! Rep+ for an answer. Anyone else have any suggestions? All are welcomed and rewarded.

Xoshua · Nov 18, 2011

Bump. Maybe I should find someone to move this thread to grow room design and setup. Anyone?

GreenRedneck · Nov 18, 2011

Nice looking grow chamber, clean and tidy. I'm personally against pre-nuted/time released soils. Neutral potting soil with a mixture of perlite (50/50)is better, nutrient application should be under your control. Length of veg time could be an issue cause of your limited grow space; flowering plants are going to increase vertical growth and end up 1.5 to 2 times veg heigth. Generally, 4 to 6 weeks veg time maybe; harvest when ready basically.

Xoshua · Nov 19, 2011

Awesome answer! I can go pick up soil but I'm not familiar with 50/50?

The "Your" emphisis meaning each grower makes their own? Any other suggestions?

-Can I add some sort of lock?
-What can I do to improve?
-How can I fix my light holes from my door and fans?
-Can I build and attach a carbon filter to this cabinet? Where?
-If I did everything perfect, how much can I obtain from this in grams?

GreenRedneck · Nov 20, 2011

In a pot(s) mix 50% soil and 50% perlite. The soil acts as a medium to contain the nutrients, but using only soil won't allow for good drainage and root exhaust (the perlite provides this). You will see the difference after you mix it. After you mix it thouroghly, you should be able to run your hand down into the medium with not much resistance.
The emphasis on Your means that you feed the plant when you want to/need to, and the pre-fertilized soil not releasing nutrients when the plant doesn't necessarily need to be fed. Check out the posts on security/carbon filters, there are many helpful posts here. Lightholes can be corrected with dark colored weather stripping. The amount your plants yield depends on ...too many factors to list. Good lighting comes to mind first when you are talking about yields. Cfls are okay for veging, but for flowering you want a HPS bulb for the red spectrum which is ideal for flowering. Look forward to seeing the grow.

'neck

DrManhattan77 · Nov 20, 2011

Xoshua said:
I built my cabinet. It was a fun project but it didn't turn out as perfect as I thought it would. Before I post the pictures I'll give a brief details of each part I used and what I can do to improve.

So I ordered some Northern Light seeds from 420-seeds.com, anyone try them?

Strain: Northern Lights
Cabinet dimensions:
-height:22 inches
-l: 21 inches
-w: 15 inches

Materials used:

-Reflect: car window reflectors from Canadian Tire
-Air in: 12V PC powersupply fan connected to 12v cell phone charger
-Air out: 12v PC fan connected to 12v cell phone charger
-Lights: 4 CFL 6500k 26W and 1 CFL 2700k 23W (Also have more 2700k for flowering)
-Soil: I posted the picture of my soil
-Power: 2 powerbars connected to light sockets and cfls; another powerbar to plug in the fans and 2 powerbars from lights; extension cord for powerbar.
-Misc: Duct Tape, water, not sure on food yet

Questions Listed Below

-Does anyone have experience with Northern Lights? Can I LST/ SoG successfully?
-Veg time and flower time of northern?
-Will the soil work?
-How can I fix my light holes from my door and fans?
-Can I build and attach a carbon filter to this cabinet? Where?
-If I did everything perfect, how much can I obtain from this in grams?
-Is fire an issue? How can I fix this? I used electrical tape and those orange twist things to put together electrical wires. I also have had this cabinet on for many hours without too much heat. The only heat concern is the lights and powerbar are a bit warm. It's also a bit warm if the lights have been on for a while at the tabletop.
-Can I add some sort of lock?
-What can I do to improve?

Thank you again for any answers. Even if you can only answer one of the questions, as long as I can figure everything out.

Since nobody has answers for you I will give it a shot
#1. I work with Northern Lights flowering with me is between 55-60 days but I do use x2 600watt hps and a SCROG setup. Using CFL it will be hard to say what your flowering time will be it will be allot slower then if you used HID`s but you will still get bud. but also hard to say yeald I would guess not much using CFL`s. Yes you can LST/SOG that is the way to do it. For blocking the light from escaping most hardware stores carry foil tape this is great thing to have for building grow environments it will stop the light from escaping and seal that cabinet up better.
You can put a carbon filter on just hang it on the outside side of the cabinet and run your exhaust to it using flex duct.

Hope this helps some happy growing :joint:

qaws83 · Nov 20, 2011

hey just a few notes of concern: 1. you might want to set up the lightes a bit different unless your doing a scrog by which i mean against the wall high as they'll go without touching anything 2. the amount of plants you have will more than likely over crowd that before you are able to check sex so your probably going to want to water the once every other day if not less to keep from strecting until you sex them 3. the box itself looks good but you should make less light able to enter and exit with some weather stripping and light traps for fans this will ensure no messing up your flowering cycle in later stages. otherwise this is a great stealth set up and im pullin my chair up for an update keep us posted.

Xoshua · Nov 21, 2011

Awesome answers! Thank you!

I put some window reflector with duct tape where the door comes out. That's another problem, the door doesn't have hinges yet, just take it out and put back in when I'm finished. I tried adding a hinge but it wouldn't connect straight/ correctly. Another little issue I have it the back. The back where the plugs go out of, where the exhaust fan is, its made of a cardboard/ barely wood material. Will that be alright for now? I have foil tape but I need to find a guide to build the light filter.

For the door I'm having a hard time thinking of how to fix it...

Matchbox · Nov 21, 2011

Looks good man, a tad untidy but it's no biggy I've grown in a cardboard box before. Only thing is with a small space it'll be difficult with that many plants, I'd say 1 or 2 MAX in a ScrOG setup, you'd be surprised how big they get even 12/12 from seed. as for your questions

-Does anyone have experience with Northern Lights? Can I LST/ SoG successfully?
Personally I have no exp with this strain but most strains respond well to any type of training.

-Veg time and flower time of northern?
Try to keep veg as short as possible for micro growing, you can even do flower from seed.

-Will the soil work?
Yes, just be careful with feeding, time release ferts are somewhat temperamental.

-How can I fix my light holes from my door and fans?
With the Door, the best solution is duct tape, duct tape and duct tape

it works beautifully.
As for the fans you can make cheap light traps out of tissue boxes or any kind of cardboard box. literally just stick the boxes open side against the outside where your fans are and cut a few holes for ventilation in the side that faces the floor.

-Can I build and attach a carbon filter to this cabinet? Where?
simply put yes... look into home made filters as a 'real' one? might be a bit too big for the box. also look into an ionizer, they work well for small grows. Ona Gel as well is good at neutralising odour.

-If I did everything perfect, how much can I obtain from this in grams?
anything from 2 grams to an ounce or so, impossible to tell... don't.

-Is fire an issue? How can I fix this? I used electrical tape and those orange twist things to put together electrical wires. I also have had this cabinet on for many hours without too much heat. The only heat concern is the lights and powerbar are a bit warm. It's also a bit warm if the lights have been on for a while at the tabletop.
No particular fire issue, one improvement I'd say is try to get the reflective stuff attached a bit better to the sides, spray mount or staples will work. so will good ol' duct tape!

-Can I add some sort of lock?
More than likely if yo can get your hinges sorted, even without them you can probably put 2 or 4 of them slidy bolts (not the technical term lol) to keep the door latched.
or a fold over type thing with a padlock, once your light leaks are sorted just put a coat or summin over it and you've got a rather inconspicuous grow probably wont need securing.
It'd be a bit more suspicious if I were to go up to a plain ol' box with a lock on it. If you get where I'm coming from.

-What can I do to improve?
Tidy up the light leaks, make sure your wiring is safe'ish remember there's going to be water around them.
READ, Research and learn as much as you can

Hope this grow goes well for you!

And CFL's for Veg and Flower are fine, just remember the more light the better as long as you can control temps your fine!

Good Luck

Stay Frosty!

Xoshua · Nov 21, 2011

Wow nice post! This is my first build and it didn't turn out as nice as I wanted it to. My next concern is heat. Not inside the cab, inside its around 80. Where the two powerbars are connected to the cfls is warm. The 2 bars are warm and the table top is warm as well. Not burning but very noticable to touch. Is this normal? Anything I can do to fix it? My next cab I want to build will be the most fire safe grow cab. Not sure what material to use or how to even begin.

DrManhattan77 · Nov 22, 2011

Xoshua said:
Wow nice post! This is my first build and it didn't turn out as nice as I wanted it to. My next concern is heat. Not inside the cab, inside its around 80. Where the two powerbars are connected to the cfls is warm. The 2 bars are warm and the table top is warm as well. Not burning but very noticable to touch. Is this normal? Anything I can do to fix it? My next cab I want to build will be the most fire safe grow cab. Not sure what material to use or how to even begin.

try checking this thread out put up by Stealthy its the absolute best way to do a cabinet grow take time to read through it he takes you through the entire cab build and his latest is looking sick this will defiantly start you in the right direction. Good Luck keep us posted and happy growing :weed:

Matchbox · Nov 22, 2011

Xoshua said:
Wow nice post! This is my first build and it didn't turn out as nice as I wanted it to. My next concern is heat. Not inside the cab, inside its around 80. Where the two powerbars are connected to the cfls is warm. The 2 bars are warm and the table top is warm as well. Not burning but very noticable to touch. Is this normal? Anything I can do to fix it? My next cab I want to build will be the most fire safe grow cab. Not sure what material to use or how to even begin.

Yeah CFL's get pretty hot but I wouldn't worry about it... 1 way to lessen the heat would be to put some sort of insulator in between to power thing and the top of the box.

And Definately check out stealthy's stuff!

DrManhattan77 · Nov 22, 2011

DrManhattan77 said:
try checking this thread out put up by Stealthy its the absolute best way to do a cabinet grow take time to read through it he takes you through the entire cab build and his latest is looking sick this will defiantly start you in the right direction. Good Luck keep us posted and happy growing

Sry forgot to post you a link to it here it is there is allot there but worth every min of reading https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/320402-stelthys-600w-hps-project-new.html

Happy Growing :weed:

Xoshua · Nov 22, 2011

Oh very awesome. Just at work but after ill go through it. I searched his posts and spent a good hour reading his other post. Very good info there. I would love to one day be as good as stealthy.

LT1RX7 Drifter · Nov 22, 2011

wow you got a few good post but really you need to make a trip down to sears and see if they have a box from a dryer of a washer it will more then double your space and you can get them for free as sears has to pay to have them hauled away, use the same reflextix material on the inside like you did do it in one piece if you can, run a passive intake and mount your PC fans on the top corners on the back against the wall you can make a light trap for the fans out of cardboard and foil tape, grow them in 1 gallon pots scrog that shit till you fill the screen 60-70 %, if you can swing it get a econowing cfl reflector and a Watt veg and flower bulbs the heat on the power-strip and cords is due to overload get your self one light light I noted above, i would use some fox-farm ocean forest and feed with a tea as the grow will not be very long in comparison to a normal size grow, you can paint the grow box or wrap witha cool wrapping paper, or lay 1/4 plywood on the top and make a light duty table, as for a door maybe cut the door and add 2.5" strips of cardboard around the cut door opening and use self adhesive Velcro strips to hold the door shut tight add a dresser knob for a handle never done a micro grow but i seems to be better tip/advice then most the rest hit me up if you need any help

Xoshua · Nov 22, 2011

Oh nice post! Ok so sears box. Is it fire safe? Is it made of cardboard or something else? I was also looking at walmarts cab. Its white, 2 big doors swing open, costs 89 dollars. I'm really tempted but at the same time I need something a tad smaller than the walmart cab. I also saw some cool storage cabs made of metal and have a lock. I would love to build a cab from metal but I wouldn't even know where to begin for cutting it.

I like steathys new grow but it seems to professional to do at my skill level in construction. That's why I'm sticking to basic/ intermediate builds. My current build is currently in seed/ sprout stage. I soaked the seeds in water until they sank, than did the papertowel method for 24 hours. They are now planted in the soil but still hasn't sprouted and its been 24 hours. I have yet to sprout a seed.

Lights are on 18 hours, 6 off. Anyways, I'm keeping my eye out on craigslist and kijiji for a cab to work with.

I feel discouraged.

LT1RX7 Drifter · Nov 22, 2011

turn the lights off put the cups on a heat pad onlow till they break the soilit can take up to4-5 days to breakthrough, the boxes i speak of are cardboard used for shipping and delivery, use that 89$ to go toward a good light of any supplies you might need like foil tap, velcro, as for locking it, lock the room that its in i have done a 3x3x5.5ft cabinet scrog 600watt ebb and flow grow that netted me 1.5lbs of white rhyno in 45 days

Xoshua · Nov 22, 2011

As the sears box sounds good, cardboard, water and electricity make me uneasy. I was told not to build boxes from carboard. Any other suggestions of other cabs/ ideas? I've seen people use rubbermaid to build but its not very stealthy. Pcs are too small for me too.

I like your post though, id be happy with an ounce a month. Just for me.

I use cfls for veg (high k rating like 6500), and flower is cfl 2700k. Eventually ill try led or hps.

I wanted to build within a furniture so I can place it with the other normal furniture. Maybe I should look for a carpender and ask them to build and cut everything for me lol.

Northern Lights first Cabinet, Suggestions.

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