"Micro" 400w armoir

[rollinmachine]

i was growing with cfls for over 3 years n decided i needed to upgrade my setup and i had a armoir layin around.
i went and picked up a 400watt light/ballast/reflector and went to work... basicly a test of carpentry n building skills...lol.
This is what i ended up with...

it started off a 40"w x 18"d x 60" h armoir that had 3 very well built in drawers and 3 compartment bins at the top. all drawers had a extra panel between each drawer that was very well built as in old not the new cheap stuff. took 3 days to gut it out.
Mother area is 13"h x 17"w x 16"d.

Drying/Intake area is 13"h x 18"w x 16"d.
filter on the back to keep the nasty stuff out. with string at the top to hang them as they dry.

The flower area is 48"h x 33"w x 22"d (at the deepest point 16"d at base)
2x 5gal buckets. dont mind the newports... had to use the carton as a light difuser/air director for the mother chamber. theres also 2x 4" intakes at the bottom and a 4" exaust hole at the top with a 6" duct fan reduced at both ends to 4".

need to get a ocilating fan/timer/ and thermometer and im good to go i belive. let me know what u guys think.

 

[heady blunts]

awesome

so are you gonna do dwc?

 

[rollinmachine]

yes sir dwc with either 2 5 gallon buckets or sumthing similar. i pulled the guts out of the top drawer and glued screwed it in place so behind the doors is all grow space and the space where the top drawer was is the base of the flower cab holding the dwc buckets. the addition on the back of the flower cab is both of the bottom drawers liquid nailed and braced together. it was added so the light coverage was optimal (from front to back). if that wasnt added the light would went from side to side. it also adds a nice shelf to hold the air pump and a fan. mothers are gona be in dirt. i was doin mothers in very small dwc containers but they seem to grow way to fast for what i need and had to keep an eye on em because they only held about a 1/4 gal of water. bubble cloner for clones(had lot of success cloning this way. last few times i just cut n stuffed in the cloner no hormone or anything and they rooted within a week.)
im usin maxi-gro for moms n clones... or will be when the time comes.
maxi-bloom/kool bloom for flower (been usin the same bag of maxi-bloom sence i started 3 years ago...lol)
Plans are 2 plants dwc 1 in 1 out every 4-5 weeks letting the 1 going in a veg for a few weeks.(figure that out as i find out what i got in beans to start off with) using some fire bagseed from a veriety of strains that i got lucky enough to find a seed in over the past few months thinkin all this up. i have 1 bean that cracked in the dirt and 7 others sittin in a paper towel germing.
Only thing im woried about is the exaust fan and if it is strong enough to keep the 400s temps down. my current exaust fan is a suncourt 6" inline duct fan (rated from 160cfm-200+cfm... not sure whos tellin the truth about the specs on this) with a 6"-4" reducer on both ends of the fan. that will be upgraded with time as i plan on building a scrubber and possibly grabbing a stanley blower fan and mod it to fit my cab with the scrubber.

 

[rollinmachine]

ur grow is awesome heady... would of never thought to stick a light that big ina space that tight and pull what u pulled out of it. thats like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow instead its a bowl of green.

 

[rollinmachine]

heres a few pics of my last grow using only cfls sence i dont have anything curently growing and still waitin for some action...

this was a staggered harvest with 5 plants ina 3gal dwc rubermaid sweater box using maxibloom and koolbloom . 1 harvested at 8 weeks 1 at 9 and 3 at 10weeks of 12/12. will not do this again as the roots get ALL connected n twisted together... hey i learned sumthing...lol. i harvested just under a qp when i weighed it dry. (what was left after smoking a few nugs that didnt get weighed so it may have been over a qp) trim is still sittin waiting to be made into some butter. from what i have seen this was a nice harvest using only cfls with the fattest nug the size of a newport100 cigg pack(dried)and the longest the size of a smaller sized bannana with the same thickness(before the last pic was taken and all were trimmed to fit into jars.)
Enjoy

 

[all4theluvofit]

looks good man, I like how you have veg, flower, and drying all in one!

 

[rollinmachine]

thanks all4theluv. it was a toss up between a utility room and a drying room. utility room having the exaust n electrical but the top where it coulda went had 3 bins that got ripped out because they were holding the drawers that were behind the doors in. didnt want to run the exaust out the bottom so i cut the back out and made it a big pasive intake for the flower and mother rooms doubling as the drying area so the humidity from the grow doesnt effect the drying and alowing some room for upgrades like a single exaust for the whole dresser n such as i see necessary. the cords in the dresser are ran out threw the exaust duct to keep some of the heat down along with the ballast and the power strip both outside grow area. only plugs in the dresser is an extension cord for the 2 airpumps (1 for flower area/ 1 for cloner) and an ocilating fan for circulation. ill also use the cloner to veg as i have before. works great no medium just make sure not to let the roots tangle.

 

[all4theluvofit]

Maybe you will get to use that storage space next! Looks like your def on the right path with this set up tho! I have had a few dresser set ups in the past, and they are a lot of fun. They where all CFL SCROG. My currents project is my first with HPS as well as first withe vert.
Good luck, and show us some pics of lovely ladies when you have them!
-Luvit

 

[rollinmachine]

thanks all4theluv. good luck to u too on ur hps adventure.
Well as for the ladies im hopin for i got 1 that broke the soil this mornin #2 is right beind "her" can see the bean breakin the soil. #3 sprouted a tail and was put into soil... rest are sitting ina paper towel waiting for some tails to crack out. i will put some pics up when anything exciting happens. but for now i just impatiently wait...

 

[Robotrumble]

looking good rollinmachine. I'm loving that you have everything in one...even a drying chamber. I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

 

[all4theluvofit]

thanks all4theluv. good luck to u too on ur hps adventure.
Well as for the ladies im hopin for i got 1 that broke the soil this mornin #2 is right beind "her" can see the bean breakin the soil. #3 sprouted a tail and was put into soil... rest are sitting ina paper towel waiting for some tails to crack out. i will put some pics up when anything exciting happens. but for now i just impatiently wait...

YaYu They are a start!

 

[Secrecy]

Looks great! DWC ftw

 

[rollinmachine]

was doing even the mothers in dwc before this build they just grew fast. way to fast for my needs as i had to trim atleast once a week n throw 10+ potential clones away. woulda been good for a perpetual sog (harvest every 1-2weeks). got stuck outa town for 2 weeks and lost the mother to the plants grown in the above post along with 6 clones that were fully rooted and ready to go into flower.would of loved to see what this plant would of done under the 400 considering what i got from the cfls. clones wernt a big deal but the mother diying killed all progress i had n had to start again. hence why i decided to upgrade my setup from cfls to hps and from a ghetto cab with cardboard front n back to somthing thats not so ghetto. if ur gona do it, u might as well do it rite n take ur time so u dont screw it up for later additions if need be. also planting mothers into soil instead of doin dwc in hopes that if the same situation occurs i can keep them alive with an auto waterer or someting along those lines.

As for the grow... pics would just look like a timelapse as 1=not showing yet 2=bean breakin surface 3= sprout about 1/2" above surface shedding the seed 4= sprout about 1 1/2" above surface lookin nice n green. oh yea forgot to add that im using miracle-gro cactus (palm and citrus) soil for the seedlings and i got a bag of miraclegro moisture control for them when they get bigger and need transplanting. using miraclegro because i have it and need to use it so its not taking up space and only using it for the mothers.

 

[Secrecy]

was doing even the mothers in dwc before this build they just grew fast. way to fast for my needs as i had to trim atleast once a week n throw 10+ potential clones away. woulda be...

Lols i was thinking of holding a mother in a pc case dwc but now that you mention it ill just stick to soil thanks!

 

[rollinmachine]

yea... its hard to throw away hand fulls of perfectly good and healthy potential clones.

 

[someotherguy]

yea... its hard to throw away hand fulls of perfectly good and healthy potential clones.

You could always store 'em in the fridge until you gifted them to someone.

Nice job on the build, it's clear you did your homework.

Also, considering you're already feeding K.I.S.S. style, have you researched 'hempy-buckets' and coco? ...the growth rate is similar to DWC only WAY easier to work with and no moving parts or pumps to fail.

Anyway, again, nice job on the cab, ...although I warn you, you WILL run out of space and need another cab before you know it, I started out just wanting one and now I have three AND a new tent, lol.

Have fun with the grow, SOG

 

[all4theluvofit]

...although I warn you, you WILL run out of space and need another cab before you know it, I started out just wanting one and now I have three AND a new tent,

This is very true! It all started for me with throwing a bag seed in a pot and sticking in a window, not thinking it would grow. Next thing I know, I have 2 CFL cabs, a full CFL closet, and a outdoor gorilla patch! Years later,a new state and new project, and I'm all ready planning on building another 600watt! Start making plans for that storage room!

 

[rollinmachine]

thanks someotherguy...
i definatly did my homework and "AloT" of trial and error. did a few in hempys threw flower and i liked dwc better. had a few ph problems in the hempys but with dwc and maxi i dont need to adjust tinker or mess around tryin to get the ph right all i have to worry about is if i over feed them or if they arnt getting enough. I've read alot on the coco on this site and seems like a posiblility for later on if i go organic.

as for the fridge idea... im not too big on letting living evidence leave the house as its alive and had to come from someplace thats keeping it alive. and besides none of my freinds grow or they have kept it a very good secret and still buy it off the streets...lol.

Ohhh this is like a mansion compared to the 1 room hotel my plants were renting out...and yea im not too sure ill want another cab. i had 2 before a mother/veg/clone and a flower box ... i can fit 2 of the same sized boxes that i was using to flower with cfls in this flower area. i left enough adjustability in the cab so i didnt need to get another box. but u made me think of a veg box just to let the plants go for a few weeks longer then they could in the mother chamber i have now as it might get a lil crowded if all 6 seedlings turn out female. all will be topped and cloned for sexing and most likly keeping the best 2-3 if they are female for the time being untill i get "real seeds".

 

[rollinmachine]

This is very true! It all started for me with throwing a bag seed in a pot and sticking in a window, not thinking it would grow.

This is how i started too...lol. then with 2 42watt cfls and that turned into 250+watts of cfls in flower and another 70 or so in the mother area i had. it goes on n on. but this is the end for me unless i build a walkin grow with locks n all to keep my son n dog out of it. my pitbull eats the leaves n i dont want to imagine what my boy would do in there... would look like a huricane came threw my box. thats why i got 2 locks on this. 1 on the flower area doors and another lock on the mother/drying door to keep people and pets that i dont want in there out! so if i put together a veg cab lock and key is a must.


if theres a lil action in the cab tomorrow ill throw up some pics. only 3 that broke the soil as of today. 4th is on its way i can see the seed tryin to push out the top. 5 and 6 (6 only seed that i got a name to...buddy of mine said it was Cherry Kush) sprouted tails and were put into the soil today.

 

[all4theluvofit]

I'm going to go out on a limb, but my guess is that most the growers out there started the same way! Some dumb luck, and bag seed stuck in window pots and back yards!

I also like to lock my stuff up. My wife and I don't have kids yet, but we throw parties and what not, so it's nice not to have to worry about people opening things i don't want than to know about!

A veg room would not be a bad idea at all. I opted for no moms, and just clone off my vegging girls. Since I train/prune for SCROG always have clippings. This saved my lack of space for growing some real heady ladies (that's the plan in my head any ways)!