$40, 80W 4-ft fluoro mother and clone tent

The Design

Basically this is a 5" x 1.5" x 4 " high frame made of ¾" PVC pipe. The frame is covered with white/black poly (4 mil?), and held in place with duct tape or velcro fasteners for the door. It's about the size of an upright piano, or the same width as one of those 65" plasma TVs.




Grower Requirements

Fluorescent tubes are great for starting clones and maintaing my mother plant, but I couldn't find a good cabinet. I had been using my bedroom closet, but some upcoming house guests forced another solution. After getting inspiration from killabrown420's http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=22822 "Box of Unknown Purpose" construction thread, I decided to design and make my own.

I have a countertop (I think it's a Do+Able from OSH) in my garage, next to my other cabinet. It's 19.5" wide, just wide enough for my fluoro, flood and drain table and 10 gal res. My goal is to use this countertop for mother and clones.


The garage is unheated, which can get down to 40 F during a Bay Area winter. But I'm hoping a seedling heat mat under the tray, a humidity dome and an aquarium heater should do the trick.

My plan is to have one 40W fluoro along the back support, as pictured. Another one will suspend down from the top. I also have a 150HPS that I could add for more light and warmth, if necessary.

Supplies

Hydro store ($11.00)

* 8' x 10' ft white/black poly

Lowes plumbing/irrigation section ($29.00)

* Four ¾" x 10' PVC pipe
* Twelve small Velcro fasteners
* Six ¾" x ¾" x ½" 90° junctions
* Six ¾" to x ½" adapters
* Four ¾" T junctions
* Two x ¾" 90° elbows

Construction

1. Cut the PVC pipe the following sections (these dimensions already account for the junctions):

1 x 59"
3 x 57"
2 x 43"
2 x 30"
2 x 16.5"
2 x 11.5"
4 x 7.25"

2.Assemble the frame as shown in the diagram. The ¾" to x ½" adapters support all the horizontal supports, except for the back support that's mounted by the T junctions.



Stretch the poly around PVC pipe and duct tape it. It will stretch a bit, seems to have high tensile stength.


Use the T-junction at the back to support the middle reinforcement (the same piece of pipe that I connect the fluoro with bungee cords).


Lowes doesn't seem to sell any ¾" to ¾" to ¾" junctions (maybe they don't make 'em, I could not find any when making my scrog screen either). My compromise is to use a ¾" to ¾" to ½" junction. I then connect a ¾" to x ½" adapter.


I pulled a bit of a stoner move, and bought the 2 extra ¾" x ¾" x ½" junctions for the front, when 90° elbows would have been better...I'll change it next time I'm out shopping

After all the pipe pieces are in their junctions, hit them with a hammer to tighten the connections.

3. The covering is just 2 pieces of poly:

* One piece (about 9' x 4.25') wraps around the sides and back
* Another piece (about 6' x 6') covers the top and is a roll-up door

I cut a piece about 9' x 50" to wrap around the sides and back (the height of this box is 46"). I attached one edge with a Velcro fastener, but duct tape would have worked just as well. The poly is stretched over the top and bottom of the frame, wrapped around the PVC pipe and duct-taped.

The second piece (appox 6' x 6') is duct-taped along the top, then falls over the front of the box. Velcro fasteners along the side secure the front.

Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts and critique. Also, I'm happy to answer all your questions and let me know if anything in this description or pictures is unclear. I'm going to move a mother plant next week for a pilot run, and then move it into my garage if all goes well.

Happy growing!

Super sweet bro, my very first grow was in a makeshift pvc box. Post some pics of some clones and mothers in it if you can.

Hmm... thanks for the inspiration!
I need a place to keep mothers too and I was hesitant because I didn't want to have to cut a bunch of wood.

Looks great!

I tested this box for light leaks last night. There are some minor light leaks at the back near the bottom but they can be easily fixed by tucking the poly under some more or strategicially tucking other articles for camoflage.

Also, I ran a 40W fluoro in there for 1 hour an the temp inside the tent just rose 1 degree above the ambient room temperature. I'm quite sure it provides some insulation, so I'm confident that winter temperatures will be OK in there despite the unheated garage.

I took advantage of a flush and nute change to move my mom out of the closet and into the tent for a 2 week trial. Tent is set up in my kitchen (!), if all goes well it's into the garage.



So far, so good! It's a few degrees warmer inside the tent, but that's good for me since it's going to be in an unheated garage through the winter. I'm running a fan to keep the air moving. It seems there's zero sound insulation, during the flood time it's really noticeable.

I'm thinking of stringing wires across between the vertical supports and then training my mom's branches to compensate for the height shortage. Whatever it takes to keep the mom a health donor of clones for the next round.

Looks awesome!

Sweet lil mom cab bro, NICE!

very nice bro

pontiac, killabrown420, UmphreyMcgee420, thanks for the props! The 2-week pilot went fine, and tonight I moved the mom cab into the garage. Tomorrow, I'll rearrange one of my bookcases and stealth it up a bit.


There are 2 nice additions to my harem - a sensi star and a mango that I picked up from a med club. I plan to grow one of each for my next crop and also take clones for mothers.

Has ventilation not been an issue with this? I would imagine some sort of fresh air exchange is needed every so often. How would you go about adding that to this? (This thread is old, I know)

I've got a small fan inside the tent moving the leaves around, but no continuous way of exchanging the air. I do check on my plants once/day, so they get fresh air at that time. I haven't noticed major problems with the ventilation, but you're right, they'd be better off with a good exchange of air.

The tent can't support mounting any fans, so I guess you'd have to hanging suspension wires from the ceiling....

I've been making/using those tents forever...if u have enough airflow the walls will suck in a little too much, and you will need strong string, wires or whatever to keep the walls back where they should be. But in those temps you won't need that much airflow....what about a space heater??? The cold will cause health problems down the road i.e. powdery mildew.

Yes...suspension wires, bungees, chain, string etc.

Last night it got down to freezing outside, which is about as cold as it ever gets here. I put a DIY 150 HPS buld inside the tent for extra warmth and light, but temps are still around the low to mid 50s. So yeah, I probably should get a space heater.