nnep
Member
First time here, hello everyone. I recently came upon some seeds and too much time on my hand so i took up this beautiful, beautiful hobby. I transformed a former small utility cabinet you can get at any home retailer, the kind with pegged adjustable shelves into my first micro grow cab. I planned to get feedback on this micro-grow setup, but i've also decided to detail my first grow extremely well for anybody like me out there who is considering starting themselves. Please follow along and feel free to offer advice and watch my beauties grow into strong independent women!
Chapter 1 - Supplies and Construction
Chapter 2 - We begin! Intro and Strategy.
Chapter 3 - And We're Off!
Chapter 4 - Adding Sisters
Supplies and Construction
Meet my Cabinet, dimensions approx 15"x15"x30"
I found this on the side of the road, 1/3 of the back was destroyed but it was in beautiful condition otherwise. It's about perfect for small, bushy indica grows. I originally planned to grow 2 plants with tons of growth room, but i've decided I can get about 4 mid-sized to large square planters in there with ease. The inside is all matte white which means i don't have to paint it or mess with foil/mylar and it has adjustable pegs that fit into holes which run vertically up all 4 corners of the cabinet. This means i don't have to mess with an adjustable lightning system, which is great as a noobie with limited electrical knowledge and using CFLs.
Next I was off to buy a few fixtures, as stated above i decided to go with CFLs, I've seen tremendous results with CFLs and who am i kidding, this is more of an experiment and hobby than an operation. By all means don't think you need to run out and buy a fancy HID system for your first grow, you're bound to make mistakes, make mistakes on cheap equipment!
My first choice were the flimsy light duty desk clamp lights, these actually worked quite well and could adjust easy, however in the end they were too much trouble and a little too light duty. I then decided to go with medium duty utility sockets with dual socket splitters. Drilled some holes in the top with just enough to hold the thickest part of the socket on the top and let the actual bulbs hang down. This allowed me a tiny bit of wiggle room to adjust the lights if needed. I used a 1 1/2" drill bit to achieve this.
Ventilation, everyone needs it! I decided again, as my first time, to go the little bit more expensive route instead of messing with splicing, (which i broke down and did later) so i went over to my good friend ebay and found two lovely 70cfm electrical cabinet fans for exhaust and airflow. Anything more is overkill for my cabinet. I mounted these both on the bottom and top left, i choose these positions because it gave me the best airflow/pressure system with the top back of the cabinet damaged and left open. I anchored them in there, hit them with some great stuff then taped them up to make sure they didn't go anywhere.
After monitoring the temps for a bit I found a large heat pocket next to a cluster of my CFLs. I decided to combat this with a ducted exhaust. First i suspended the duct, secured it with the bungee cord and ported it though the damaged back half for an easy diy exhaust duct. I spliced an old CPU fan and taped it right up with an old portable fan 3v AC adapter. This worked like a charm and Voila! A fully adjustable cabinet with mounted lights, a perfect temperature/humidity level crow cab for about 100 bucks (minus the actual cabinet itself).
Total Supplies and Prices (will keep updated):
-Cabinet (free in my case) $40
-5x Corded Utility Sockets $25
-5x "Y" Adapters $8
-2x Cabinet Fans $25
-1x 4"x5' flex Duct $5
-1x Old CPU fan (free in my cae) $4
-2x 6 pack CFLs 6400k $12
-1x Mech. Timer $12
-2x Power Strips (everyone has these laying around) $15
Total: approx $145~ investment
Wattage: 260Watt
Future Updates 9/27
I love the internet! I found these perfect 14x14" grids that will be perfect to replace my big clunky pieces of wood for shelves, and will allow airflow to be unrestricted.
2 for 3 bucks! Not bad at all! I also plan to replace my old CPU fan with a 140~ CFM high output fan.
Chapter 1 - Supplies and Construction
Chapter 2 - We begin! Intro and Strategy.
Chapter 3 - And We're Off!
Chapter 4 - Adding Sisters
Supplies and Construction
Meet my Cabinet, dimensions approx 15"x15"x30"
I found this on the side of the road, 1/3 of the back was destroyed but it was in beautiful condition otherwise. It's about perfect for small, bushy indica grows. I originally planned to grow 2 plants with tons of growth room, but i've decided I can get about 4 mid-sized to large square planters in there with ease. The inside is all matte white which means i don't have to paint it or mess with foil/mylar and it has adjustable pegs that fit into holes which run vertically up all 4 corners of the cabinet. This means i don't have to mess with an adjustable lightning system, which is great as a noobie with limited electrical knowledge and using CFLs.
Next I was off to buy a few fixtures, as stated above i decided to go with CFLs, I've seen tremendous results with CFLs and who am i kidding, this is more of an experiment and hobby than an operation. By all means don't think you need to run out and buy a fancy HID system for your first grow, you're bound to make mistakes, make mistakes on cheap equipment!
My first choice were the flimsy light duty desk clamp lights, these actually worked quite well and could adjust easy, however in the end they were too much trouble and a little too light duty. I then decided to go with medium duty utility sockets with dual socket splitters. Drilled some holes in the top with just enough to hold the thickest part of the socket on the top and let the actual bulbs hang down. This allowed me a tiny bit of wiggle room to adjust the lights if needed. I used a 1 1/2" drill bit to achieve this.
Ventilation, everyone needs it! I decided again, as my first time, to go the little bit more expensive route instead of messing with splicing, (which i broke down and did later) so i went over to my good friend ebay and found two lovely 70cfm electrical cabinet fans for exhaust and airflow. Anything more is overkill for my cabinet. I mounted these both on the bottom and top left, i choose these positions because it gave me the best airflow/pressure system with the top back of the cabinet damaged and left open. I anchored them in there, hit them with some great stuff then taped them up to make sure they didn't go anywhere.
After monitoring the temps for a bit I found a large heat pocket next to a cluster of my CFLs. I decided to combat this with a ducted exhaust. First i suspended the duct, secured it with the bungee cord and ported it though the damaged back half for an easy diy exhaust duct. I spliced an old CPU fan and taped it right up with an old portable fan 3v AC adapter. This worked like a charm and Voila! A fully adjustable cabinet with mounted lights, a perfect temperature/humidity level crow cab for about 100 bucks (minus the actual cabinet itself).
Total Supplies and Prices (will keep updated):
-Cabinet (free in my case) $40
-5x Corded Utility Sockets $25
-5x "Y" Adapters $8
-2x Cabinet Fans $25
-1x 4"x5' flex Duct $5
-1x Old CPU fan (free in my cae) $4
-2x 6 pack CFLs 6400k $12
-1x Mech. Timer $12
-2x Power Strips (everyone has these laying around) $15
Total: approx $145~ investment
Wattage: 260Watt
Future Updates 9/27
I love the internet! I found these perfect 14x14" grids that will be perfect to replace my big clunky pieces of wood for shelves, and will allow airflow to be unrestricted.
2 for 3 bucks! Not bad at all! I also plan to replace my old CPU fan with a 140~ CFM high output fan.
I like small cupoards.
, I'm only about 60% what strain i'm actually growing at the moment. I started with two seeds, a pure NL strain given to me by a friend and a bagseed. I plopped them both in the same cup before i could specify which was which, and before i knew it both had sprouted. Sadly only 1 made it, i'm guessing it's the NL but i can't be for sure. My general strategy is more experimental than maximum growth, as this is a first time experience i want to actually make mistakes and get my hands dirty so to speak. I plan to eventually convert this into a small Scrog cabinet eventually when my other plants begin to bloom. My current light schedule from sprout has been 18-6 and the plant is loving it. I just recently recieved my Auto-AK47/LR#2s and plan to sprout those immediately and add them to my cabinet. I will then convert to 20/4 and do my best to maintain my NL while my LRs catch up. Then eventually i plan to 12/12 both which will be a bit experimental since LRs typically don't get that much period of darkness.
