Cheapest & Best Growroom Tools

[Pandemic]

The multi-thousand dollar grow room controllers are awesome.
Ph/EC combo meters and chillers are neat. Light movers too.
All this cost loot!

Growers out there are working with some basic tools. So basic that it's silly.
They think this is so simple "everyone knows this".
Well, lets just make sure MacGyver.

I want to see what you all have, that you use every day and that cost you next to nothing.

Let's try and keep it under 10 bucks.

3 Dollars
Desk calendar.
These have big squares to write in and you can see a lot at once.
I have two, one on my desk and one that I have deconstructed and hung the pages in my hall.
I can look at my whole grow (or year) on the wall.
I highlight alternating water (blue) and food (green) weeks.


3 - 5 Dollars
Veterinary syringe
I have 20ml and 60ml syringes.
Attach a 6" piece of airline tubing and I am accurately measuring out my nutrients and Ph +/-...no spilling!
Remember that your tubing will hold a ml or two.


2 Dollars
1 Foot extension cords
These are so valuable when using big boxy timers. 1 timer was covering up 4 outlets before.
Now I can make use out of every outlet!

 

[badugi]

• Contactless voltage sensor / detector, $5 - $10. I think my Sperry non-adjustable (something like 50-1000 VAC) pen was ~$9 @ Home Depot.
• $0.99 snap-off blade knives (paint dept. @ Home Depot)
• ~$0.35/ea dual 15A receptacles (10-pack), and $0.25 plastic receptacle boxes
• Sharpie pen - $0.99
• 5 gallon pail, always comes in handy whether for holding liquids, storing solids, or flipping upside-down and sitting on - $2.78 @ Home Depot ($4 for a heavy-duty solid black @ hydro store)
• Foam gap filler can - ~$6 @ Home Depot (16oz "Great Stuff", red can is best for most applications)
• Zip ties @ "dollar stores"
• Velcro plant zip ties (also useful for non-plant tying) - ~$3 @ Home Depot
• 250' roll of 14/2 Romex, always handy - $45 @ Home Depot, probably a lot cheaper elsewhere... as usual. Not exactly under $10, but 250' goes a long way and a 50' roll is something like $27.
• Rotary tool like a Dremel (basic, single-speed is fine... I almost never need to slow down the motor below highest RPM). I can get most jobs done with cut-off discs (+ mandrel), Tungsten-carbide cutting bit, and sanding wheel / drum. Can't be caught without one, but probably in the $25 - $30 range for tool + basic tips.
• Soldering iron (done it with paper clip & lighter, too), $8 for a whole (35w?) set @ Home Depot

 

[killabrown420]

How about cheap little PC fans and A/C adapters found at the local thrift/habitat for humanity store. They fit just about anywhere and are nearly silent. Great for gently swaying young seedlings so the stems harden off faster.

PC Fan - ~ $1 (ebay)
A/C adapter (used) $.50

 

[NiteTiger]

How is it no one has mentioned the number one top of all cheap grow needs?!

Duct tape, of course

 

[Uncle Remus]

Something I use constantly, mini bungee cords...I buy them at Walmart like 20 of em for $3...I have my Stanley blower and my scrubber held with them...Use em to hang fans, my intake ducts, all kinda shit

Almost forgot the aluminum tape stuff as well...Great stuff as well

 

[Mackawber]

Remote themometers. Last time I checked they were 20 bucks at ACE Hardward. They are probably only 10 bucks now. Great for letting you know what the temp is in your grow without having to actually go into it. You know your lights came on cause there's a temperature rise. You know the lights went off cause the temperature dropped.

 

[Old Yeller]

My Weigh MX-500H digital jewelry scale - $23.00 including shipping from Ebay. Plus it's made from hemp plastic composite!

 

[one Q]

a cut of plastic coated wire, sat 10ft, costs $2, for training. Cuts to any length, bends and holds its shape, keeps things where you put them. Once you cut it all up, you have a variety of lengths for reuse.

Masking tape for lableing premixed nutes.

711 cups of all sizes, quart cups from the paint dpt at the HD...

 

[Mr Celsius]

UV sunglasses ($5)

Zip tie mounts ($10 for a bunch of them)

PVC cutter ($9)

 

[Snagglepuss]

A few that crossed my mind

1 Vertical Blind from home depot or trash $7.00-$12.00 Hundreds of plant tags.

1 month pill storage container 28 compartments in 1 square for seed strains $5.00-$8.00

1 container of paper ph test strips from american scientific $5.00

 

[badugi]

I always cut the plant tags / markers in half, and get them in a variety of distinct colors to differentiate strains and/or types of strains. I think $2.50 for 100, turns into 200 fairly quickly with tin snips. Not because I'm cheap (I am), but because they fit better and more easily when marking cuttings, and no need to re-label them with new tags when they get bigger.

 

[Sleepy]

a pencil or a chopstick for many uses, including tilling soil, stirring things...

empty gallon jugs for storing water...

used plastic bags for trash...

empty trays from a case of beer/soda/water fortrimming...i use threeone for buds, one for crystally trim to run thru the tumbler, and one for trash.

'free' latex exam gloves lifted from any doctors' office for trimming...hehehe

 

[Mr. Bongjangles]

Vitamin C for Chloramine / Chlorine Treatment

Vitamin C for Chloramine / Chlorine Treatment

I use Vitamin C tablets to treat my tap water for chlorine & chloramine (which does not go away when left out like chlorine).. 1 500mg vitamin c tablet will treat 20 gallons of water for chloramine at a safe estimate of 1ppm, so I'm basically treating 5000 gallons for 5-6 dollars.

This is really saving me money because otherwise I would need to use some kind of filtration for the chloramine, which would most likely work out to more than 1/10th of a cent per gallon or whatever it costs with the vitamin c.

My method is to fill up a 20oz bottle half way, so about 10oz of water, then add 3 vitamin c tablets. After the tablets break down, I remove the extra stuff in the tablets with a coffee filter. Then I keep the bottle in the fridge and use 1 tsp (5ml) per gallon to treat for the chloramine. Scale up based on your needs.

My plants have been very healthy using this water, so I recommend it as a plant-safe and super-inexpensive treatment for chlorine and chloramine.

Oh yeah, avoid the cheaper tablets with rose hips.. You want just "Ascorbic Acid" as the source of vitamin c.

**Post 50% recycled cause i'm too lazy to type this stuff twice :smile:

 

[Old Yeller]

Nice one Mr. Bongjangles - runnin' to the store today for some C...
I went way over budget with my scale recommendation so i'll add -
No-Pest Strips - $6.00 from Walmart.

 

[razor ridge]

empty 2lb coffee container, makes a great pot from going to cup up to next size....free

 

[Haps]

Clothes pins, to clip one leaf to another for training, and I also use them to hang branches in paper yard bags for drying. And the yard bags for drying plants work great.

Cheap 6-7 inch clip on fans, I use these to remove the heat from lights, clip them where needed to blow, instead of a cool tube. Keep extra's on hand, one year or less life span.

Insulation, bubble wrap, styrofoam, anything that works. You do not have to cool water that never gets hot. Pipe insulation is perfect for feed lines in e&f buckets.

I like the tiny bungees too, I use over fifty of them, also larger bungees are handy. And of course, duct tape rules!
H

 

[reefa cheefa]

rubbermaid bid $5
air stone $1.50
pump $10
tube $2
Cloner
all at walmart or petco

 

[Pandemic]

Was reading through BIG GROW! SOG and found this pearl tucked away.

Was reading a few pages back about panda film walls. Here's a ghetto DIY thing that I do... I call it the shower curtain light saver: I hang a line/rope lengthwise (up high around the ceiling) from one end of the table to the other...then head to wally world and get some shower curtain hangers (79 cent for 20) and a couple of WHITE shower curtains. Hang the curtains on your line and boom...you have just recovered many otherwise lost lumens...You'll also have easy access to any section of that area without a lot of hassle. I hang em on both sides to kind of "box in" my grow. I'm sure it doesn't reflect as well as panda but it's damn sure easy, cheap and makes a difference! Happy belated 420 everybody!

 

[Luther Budbank]

I love my moisture meter. $5 and keeps the plants happy.

 

[scifreak69]

99 cent store for plactic containers for perlite wick cloning or diy water cloners