mayorofthdesert
Active member
Cabinet, get it? Cabinet members: 2x65w cfl. 2x150w HPS, autopots, coco/perlite mix, RO water, and a whole bunch of Nirvana seeds.
Stealth is very important - if my constituents (the rocks and cactii mostly) find out I am growing, next election every vote will cost me an 8th oz. I tried to think of what sort of large container wouldn't seem out of place being in a closet and locked permanently. I could only think of two a safe or a gun cabinet. Gun cabinet it is! I just had to find one that worked with my closet dimensions and gave me as much interior space as possible. It's only a minor hassle that I can't have both sides open at once, no biggie.
As you can see, I have a cupboard above and a drawer below, nothing whatsoever looks amiss inside either of those even with the drawer out. For some (WONDERFUL!) reason my house's interior walls are plywood rather than drywall or plaster which made it really nice for running the ventilation. there's a stud in the wall right at the mid-point of the flower side so the cool tubes pull in air from one wall space and exhaust it into the neighboring space. For the cabinet's actual exhaust, a 4" duct goes out the top of the veg side & up into the attic. The fan & carbon can are placed inside a cardboard box that's lined with carpet. Open the attic & it looks just like one of many boxes of junk. I did have a lot of vibration from the fan. I think it may have a tiny imbalance and/or my plywood walls just make the house reverberate. I took two pieces of plywood and sandwiched a bicycle inner tube in between then I set the box containing the fan on that. Worked like a charm. There's an intake in the bottom of the veg side and another larger one at the bottom of the flower side. Inside the wall the fire blocks keep the cabinet's cool air intakle from mixing with the exhaust or cool tube air. The cabinet draws air through a vent in the wall in my bedroom (opposite side of the wall) and/ or through the drawer in this room so long as it's left open a crack. In the summer if necessary I can pre-cool whichever room I want to use for the cab's intake if temps rise. Both rooms have a tiny window a/c.
Veg side:
moms & clones on the bottom, single vegging plant on top. the top section is a little shorter than the flower sides, I figure I can get the screen right up to about an inch below the cfl, then when the many tops start to form buds and grow upward they'll still have some space in the larger flower chambers.
Engine Room:
I painted it all black and the shelves act as light baffles (see the glow behind the resevoir? - air comes up behind there, then goes around to the front of the res before going up to the engine room where it leaves the cabinet. I lined the engine room with some of the sticky foam that came with the gun cabinet, how thoughtful of them to include this for me!
Flower side:
The screens are 14"square. exactly the width of the door opening. I'm thinking that once they're in their flower room I'll let them overgrow around the edges of the screen and form a bit of an inverted dome shape to make use of all available light & increase yield.
So I figured with a gun cabinet some AK-48's would be an appropriate strain to start with. First time around I'll grow 4 individual plants, no scrog. I'll take cuttings from each (that's something I've studied ZERO about yet) & after smoking I'll decide which will be the mom for future generations. Originally I wanted to keep the grow to 4 plants, no more. So i went with femmed seeds. Now I really want to play with genetics a bit so I'm not sure if i'll keep to that plan or not. we'll see. I was just going to pop one seed at a time, scrog it, harvest & let it's genes go. But I thought for the first go-around I'd do 4 plants quick to get a stash, taking cuttings of each until I decide for sure what I'll do next. I also have femmed Bubblicious, blue mystic, super skunk, ice, and non-fem NL & Chrystal. I'm thinking of keeping moms of my faves until I get some males, then making seeds for posterity. I'm thinking of relocating in the next few years, someplace where stuff grows outside besides rocks and poisonous critters.
I'm anxious for any advice. When I get into something new I'm voracious about learning, a LOT of thought has gone into this, but as of yet I have nearly no real experience. I think I've covered most bases, but i'm sure i'll run into stuff I hadn't forseen. If you have any questions, ask away! You think 4 oz off one screen is overly optomistic? I smoke about an ounce a month if I'm trying to conserve, an ounce and a half if I'm not worried about it. I'd like to grow for a couple years, get a stash built up then be able to take a year off growing to sell my place, move and get set up somewhere else. Thanks for taking the time to read and maybe give a pointer or two.
Stealth is very important - if my constituents (the rocks and cactii mostly) find out I am growing, next election every vote will cost me an 8th oz. I tried to think of what sort of large container wouldn't seem out of place being in a closet and locked permanently. I could only think of two a safe or a gun cabinet. Gun cabinet it is! I just had to find one that worked with my closet dimensions and gave me as much interior space as possible. It's only a minor hassle that I can't have both sides open at once, no biggie.
As you can see, I have a cupboard above and a drawer below, nothing whatsoever looks amiss inside either of those even with the drawer out. For some (WONDERFUL!) reason my house's interior walls are plywood rather than drywall or plaster which made it really nice for running the ventilation. there's a stud in the wall right at the mid-point of the flower side so the cool tubes pull in air from one wall space and exhaust it into the neighboring space. For the cabinet's actual exhaust, a 4" duct goes out the top of the veg side & up into the attic. The fan & carbon can are placed inside a cardboard box that's lined with carpet. Open the attic & it looks just like one of many boxes of junk. I did have a lot of vibration from the fan. I think it may have a tiny imbalance and/or my plywood walls just make the house reverberate. I took two pieces of plywood and sandwiched a bicycle inner tube in between then I set the box containing the fan on that. Worked like a charm. There's an intake in the bottom of the veg side and another larger one at the bottom of the flower side. Inside the wall the fire blocks keep the cabinet's cool air intakle from mixing with the exhaust or cool tube air. The cabinet draws air through a vent in the wall in my bedroom (opposite side of the wall) and/ or through the drawer in this room so long as it's left open a crack. In the summer if necessary I can pre-cool whichever room I want to use for the cab's intake if temps rise. Both rooms have a tiny window a/c.
Veg side:
moms & clones on the bottom, single vegging plant on top. the top section is a little shorter than the flower sides, I figure I can get the screen right up to about an inch below the cfl, then when the many tops start to form buds and grow upward they'll still have some space in the larger flower chambers.
Engine Room:
I painted it all black and the shelves act as light baffles (see the glow behind the resevoir? - air comes up behind there, then goes around to the front of the res before going up to the engine room where it leaves the cabinet. I lined the engine room with some of the sticky foam that came with the gun cabinet, how thoughtful of them to include this for me!
Flower side:
The screens are 14"square. exactly the width of the door opening. I'm thinking that once they're in their flower room I'll let them overgrow around the edges of the screen and form a bit of an inverted dome shape to make use of all available light & increase yield.
So I figured with a gun cabinet some AK-48's would be an appropriate strain to start with. First time around I'll grow 4 individual plants, no scrog. I'll take cuttings from each (that's something I've studied ZERO about yet) & after smoking I'll decide which will be the mom for future generations. Originally I wanted to keep the grow to 4 plants, no more. So i went with femmed seeds. Now I really want to play with genetics a bit so I'm not sure if i'll keep to that plan or not. we'll see. I was just going to pop one seed at a time, scrog it, harvest & let it's genes go. But I thought for the first go-around I'd do 4 plants quick to get a stash, taking cuttings of each until I decide for sure what I'll do next. I also have femmed Bubblicious, blue mystic, super skunk, ice, and non-fem NL & Chrystal. I'm thinking of keeping moms of my faves until I get some males, then making seeds for posterity. I'm thinking of relocating in the next few years, someplace where stuff grows outside besides rocks and poisonous critters.
I'm anxious for any advice. When I get into something new I'm voracious about learning, a LOT of thought has gone into this, but as of yet I have nearly no real experience. I think I've covered most bases, but i'm sure i'll run into stuff I hadn't forseen. If you have any questions, ask away! You think 4 oz off one screen is overly optomistic? I smoke about an ounce a month if I'm trying to conserve, an ounce and a half if I'm not worried about it. I'd like to grow for a couple years, get a stash built up then be able to take a year off growing to sell my place, move and get set up somewhere else. Thanks for taking the time to read and maybe give a pointer or two.
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