400W SOG Cab Grow. From Start to Finish. Lots of Pics.

Hey guys, some of you might already know me, I've been micro-growing for a while now, but after taking a little break, I decided to come back a little bigger and better...so I built a new cab to play around with!

If you'd like to check out my old cabinet grows, follow this link...

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=105050&highlight=stealth+sog+cab

Anyways, on to the new cab. I started with your basic closet wardrobe/cabinet that I found off CL. The footprint is only 22" x 28". At 5 feet tall, it was a bit of a chore to fit a 400w HPS, a 4" vortex fan, and a can 2600 filter in it while still leaving some room for growing. That said, I got it all in there (barely).



Before I talk too much about the plants I think it best to give a few details about the cab construction process.

In order to have a 400w hps confined in such a small space, I knew I would have to aircool it. Unfortunately, the interior dimensions of my box are too small to allow an air-cooled hood and ducting to fit. So I searched IC and came up with the idea to use a "bake-a-round" pyrex tube off ebay.

You can see below how I used the "rack" the tube came with to attach it to my generic HTGsupply cheapo hood.





The only problem now was, "how do I suspend the bulb in there so that I can pull starting from the carbon filter like so...?"

carbon filter ----> cooltube---->fan---->Exhaust

Well, I took the socket or "mogul base" or whatever its called, and cut it out with an angle grinder to make a set of "ears" on it.







^^Now you can see how I was able to use the "ears" to place over the bake-a-round tube and hoseclamp in place. This allowed me use 4" ducting throughout the cab (Saving a ton of space). It's convenient that the bake-a-round tube is the PERFECT size for that HTG socket and 4" ducting!

Here's a good shot of the back of my cab.



You can see the darkroom louver on the bottom that is used as a passive intake (NO light leaks!) and the tail end of the 4" vortex fan protruding out the top. From there, the hot exhaust air was vented out of the room.

A couple other things worth mentioning. To get this baby really light tight, I had to caulk all the seams, and I had to build a sort of frame on the interior side of the doors for the doors to butt up and shut against (with weatherstripping of course--visible in 1st pic of post).

I also added a small desk fan bolted in the top of the cab, and a digital temp/rh meter that gets temps at 10" below the lamp (where I usually keep my plants).

Now on with plant pics and genetic lineup...

I had 12 plants in there, flowered between 6" and 8" tall. 4 strains in total (3 of each). The pots are 6x6" squares that fit in there perfectly and hold just under 1 gallon of medium.









Cherry AK-47







Cannalope Haze





Blackberry Bubba Kush







Final yield was 156 grams dried and cured. Pretty crappy for 400w, but not bad considering my small space and mix of strains. The blackberry bubba kush yielded the most and looks the dankest. Followed by cherry ak47 which smells and looks ridiculous but grew very branchy with lots of small nugs for me. I liked the Cannalope Haze a lot but I think it could have done better with more veg time. The chemdawg d I think may have been a bunk cut because I was unimpressed. I've yet to smoke it, but by looks alone it has the least bag appeal.

Anyways, thats it for now, I'll have more pics next time around. Should be better!

Roughnice420 That's whats up...I will be ordering from htg soon how do u feel about there light set up's and shipping ect.....

And also what are u growing in foxfarm or roots organics???Iam using roots right now and loving it better then the fox farm....

nice post. this could be a good reference for people looking to make their own DIY cooltube. i'm sure you can get your yield up on the next one.

Nice. How long did they flower?

nice work

Sure, you can yield more than 156g, but that's still 156g of premium homegrown, and it's still I hope my first run in my cabinet is as successful as that one!

Edit: Wow I didn't realize it was a small footprint and only a 4" Vortex. This is very encouraging because I'm about to set up a cabinet with a 400w and a 4" Vortex and was a bit worried about temps. Awesome Grow!

Wow man, GREAT STUFF!! Was the cherry AK from clone? Serious Seeds stuff, or?

how many months in total for this grow? how many weeks in veg and flower

Wassup guys thanks for all the kind words! Sorry I've been late to respond, I've been busy doing a few things (I've got more up my sleeve to unveil in the coming months!)

Rushoe--HTG is badass. Cheap prices, fast, discreet shipping (comes in a plain box with only a little HTGsupply.com logo in the corner), and their service is top notch. I once got a defective bulb, and they sent me a new one the next day, no questions asked! On top of that, you get a lighter with every order (I wouldn't use it when tokin' with friends though, unless you want to raise some eyebrows, lol!) AND the Roots Organics is the SHEET! I was using the Foxfarms forever, but now that I've switched to Roots, I'm never going back. I've still been using some foxfarms nutes (cuz I got some left), but I'll be replacing it with the Roots Organics lineup as the need arises.

theratings--thanks for the props man. I just started flowering 12 more plants about 2 weeks ago. 10 Cannalope Haze and 2 Blackberry Bubba Kush. This time around, I know the strains, and my clones are much more uniform. Hopefully I break half an elbow this time!

phatboyfromla--I flowered these girls 66 days! I started harvesting the Cannalope at 62 days (which is actually done at 52-58 days) but I saved the AK's and blackberry bubbas until the end.

GrnMtnGrwr--I've looked over your thread thoroughly man, and you've got it dialed. You shouldn't have any problems. If it works in my little cab (sitting next to another 250w cab--check my thread in the micro forum if interested), all in the same closet, with the door closed, then you aren't gonna have anything to worry about!

etinarcadiaego--the Cherry AK was from clone picked up at a So Cal dispensary. I'm not growing it again only because it doesn't suit my growing style, but it is an excellent strain that I think would be wonderful, especially if you want to grow big plants or perhaps SCROG.

bigezfosheez--I vegged for just under 2 weeks and flowered for 9. Using a separate veg cab, you could shorten it up as much as whatever strain your growing permits (if you check out my other thread in the micro forum you can see my mini file cabinet mom box that I do bonsai moms/take clones in)

Looks great!

thanks Teddy! I'll probably throw some new pics up soon, my plants are looking great!

Nice DIY cab. How did the chemdog smoke?

Awesome looking grow man!!
I have a tent 2' x 4' x 5' with a 400 as well and a 4 " vortex, but only seem to be able to grow 2 plants at once....I really like what you have going on...I may have to switch from my 11 L pots and try the 6"x6" you use. It looks alot neater and easier to maintain.
Great looking plants..

severian--The chemdawg is pretty good smoke, it has a very pleasant high and its smooth. But, I didn't like the way it grows. The nugs weren't dense and it didn't look that great honestly. I think it may have been a bunk cut (got it from a dispensary) as I've heard that there's some s1 chem fakes floating around...

00bladerunner--thanks man! I'm a big fan of the SOG technique in small cabs, it allows you to get a nice tight even canopy and really use maximize your light. Also I made small wood blocks of different sizes (sections cut from a 4" x 4") that I can place under the individual pots so that I can still have an even canopy when running multiple strains.

Great pics man! Don't be discouraged, at least you got something, my 1st grow didn't produce shit cuz I had crappy lighting....now I got 2, 400w HPs and 3, 14w LED's and 1, 50w LED....and I just bought a bunch of 10w & 20w individual LED's so I can build my own 100w+ pannel....we shall see....I may have won a UFO or 2 on ebay too but idk yet...

Rushoe said:

And also what are u growing in foxfarm or roots organics???Iam using roots right now and loving it better then the fox farm....

Click to expand...

I also JUST switched to roots organics, and I am VERY impressed

buh bye fox farm,.......who's quality went DOWN, while their prices went UP.

not a good business idea


156 g's aint bad at ALL for your setup, don't knock yourself too hard.
I also had a chem dog D cut, and was very NOT happy with that thing, it looked terrible, yielded worse, crap bag appeal, and although the high was very intense, I got used to it in a week.

I won't EVER be growing that again.

I bet you and me had the same cut I reckon! (pun intended)

I've got an epic SCROG going right now...clone only OG KUSH about 20 days into flower, my screen is full and then some! I'll take pics when she starts to fill in a bit more...