Hi folks
Had to stop growing November 2009 for various reasons, but now I am rolling again and the 9 month break I endured has renewed my enthusiasm for this wonderful hobby of ours!
I decided to put this thread here in the UK section as I most enjoy discussing things with fellow UK growers as we have the same products available, often US folks have a whole different set of stuff available and it does make exchanging info that wee bit harder, but I welcome input from everyone!
The cupboard is a piece of office furniture that is 1.25m tall, 850mm wide and 470mm deep internal dimensions, made of really thick MDF with 13mm back so it's really solid, should be cos it cost 175 quid and came flat-packed, but it's much better quality than the sort of flat-pack stuff you run into in large stores.
I lined it with some sunbathing roll mats the local supermarket were selling this summer, they are made of bamboo slivers and one side is covered in mylar, I attached it to the cupboard with 12mm staples. At the top I made the corners curves to better reflect the light.
There are two passive 100mm inlets at the bottom, I fitted lightproof baffles I got from Screwfix, the fresh cool air flows in around the pots to keep the roots nice and cool.
There is a 150mm cooltube mounted in the top, I kept this from my old 250W wardrobe grow. It is connected to 100mm acoustic ducting via a plastic reducing collar I also got from Screwfix. I robbed a roll of silver foil tape from work and used this on all the ducting connectors, it's really reflective, just like mylar.
The ducting exits out the back at the top left, I chose to use acoustic ducting to keep the noise down.
The ducting connects to a small cupboard sat on top which contains the fan and filter, it's a Ruck 100mm inline fan.
The smaller cupboard fits the fan and filter inside with about 2 inches of room to spare on each side, I stuffed loads of soundproofing material onto all 6 sides of the fan to keep noise down further, just like an acoustic box fan but much cheaper, the cupboard was only 25quid and the soundproofing material is just offcuts of the outer part of the acoustic ducting, it works a treat to keep the noise down. I cut a whole in the back of the cupboard for the filter to vent through, the front has a door with a lock, all in all, it's pretty stealthy.
The cupboard came with three shelves, and I cut two strips of one of these and fastened them in place at the top and bottom to lightproof things, the mylar matting covers the gaps where the doors and hinged either side, so it's pretty lightproof.
Eight 7-litre 22cm diameter 30cm deep rose pots fit nicely in the cupboard, it took me ages to find a gravel tray the rightsize and shape, so there isn't one in this pic, I was just checking how many pots would fit.
With the 400W HPS running (Osram SON-T bulb and Magnetic ballast) the temps are 18 lights off, 24 lights on, which I feel is just about perfect. Humidity stays in the range 45-55, which again, is about perfect imho.
So there ya go, a quick pictorial of my setup, tomorrow I will detail my soil mix and organic nutrient regime.
Had to stop growing November 2009 for various reasons, but now I am rolling again and the 9 month break I endured has renewed my enthusiasm for this wonderful hobby of ours!
I decided to put this thread here in the UK section as I most enjoy discussing things with fellow UK growers as we have the same products available, often US folks have a whole different set of stuff available and it does make exchanging info that wee bit harder, but I welcome input from everyone!
The cupboard is a piece of office furniture that is 1.25m tall, 850mm wide and 470mm deep internal dimensions, made of really thick MDF with 13mm back so it's really solid, should be cos it cost 175 quid and came flat-packed, but it's much better quality than the sort of flat-pack stuff you run into in large stores.
I lined it with some sunbathing roll mats the local supermarket were selling this summer, they are made of bamboo slivers and one side is covered in mylar, I attached it to the cupboard with 12mm staples. At the top I made the corners curves to better reflect the light.
There are two passive 100mm inlets at the bottom, I fitted lightproof baffles I got from Screwfix, the fresh cool air flows in around the pots to keep the roots nice and cool.
There is a 150mm cooltube mounted in the top, I kept this from my old 250W wardrobe grow. It is connected to 100mm acoustic ducting via a plastic reducing collar I also got from Screwfix. I robbed a roll of silver foil tape from work and used this on all the ducting connectors, it's really reflective, just like mylar.
The ducting exits out the back at the top left, I chose to use acoustic ducting to keep the noise down.
The ducting connects to a small cupboard sat on top which contains the fan and filter, it's a Ruck 100mm inline fan.
The smaller cupboard fits the fan and filter inside with about 2 inches of room to spare on each side, I stuffed loads of soundproofing material onto all 6 sides of the fan to keep noise down further, just like an acoustic box fan but much cheaper, the cupboard was only 25quid and the soundproofing material is just offcuts of the outer part of the acoustic ducting, it works a treat to keep the noise down. I cut a whole in the back of the cupboard for the filter to vent through, the front has a door with a lock, all in all, it's pretty stealthy.
The cupboard came with three shelves, and I cut two strips of one of these and fastened them in place at the top and bottom to lightproof things, the mylar matting covers the gaps where the doors and hinged either side, so it's pretty lightproof.
Eight 7-litre 22cm diameter 30cm deep rose pots fit nicely in the cupboard, it took me ages to find a gravel tray the rightsize and shape, so there isn't one in this pic, I was just checking how many pots would fit.
With the 400W HPS running (Osram SON-T bulb and Magnetic ballast) the temps are 18 lights off, 24 lights on, which I feel is just about perfect. Humidity stays in the range 45-55, which again, is about perfect imho.
So there ya go, a quick pictorial of my setup, tomorrow I will detail my soil mix and organic nutrient regime.