Grow cab setup

T

ThatGuyThai

New Member
Hey all!

I have a cab that is 80 cm wide, 55 cm deep, 180 cm tall. With all that height im wondering if I should do a 3 chamber instead of 2 (1 veg, 2 flower) using SoG method to maximise my harvest. What do you all think?

First grow, first cab build, first post. Looking forward to joining the community and chatting with all of you.

Thanks!
 
Welcome to :420: Guy

Glad you decided to join us :) I would suggest just the 2 chambers. Between pot height, plant height and distance above for lights, they soon take up a fair bit of height. I started with a split cabinet grow in a 1m x 1m area. The lower part was about 90cm and the upper about 1.1m and I ran out of room and had to take the shelf out for flowering as my plants were getting too close to the light.

Consider starting a journal once you get going. Its a great way to document your grow and ask help from others :)
 
I was thinking of using CFL's since HID's can radiate a lot of heat in the small space. I should have pretty good air flow though; i'll be using a few computer fans in each chamber for air circulation, ill be bringing in air with a fan on top and a carbon filter/fan I built to exhaust out the bottom so heat MIGHT not be a problem. I was thinking about using 1 gallon pots and trying SoG but like I said, this is my first build/grow and I'm very open to suggestions on how to properly set this up.
 
CFLs will allow you to have your plants quite close to the lights, LEDs are another option that are low heat and have much better penetration than CFLs and are quite cheap to run.

Other ways of keeping your canopy flat/low are: Main Lining, Flux, and SCROG, all of which require few plants.

With any of these methods you could use CFL in the lower cabinet at 70 cm or so height and then use CFL or LED in the upper cabinet with the remaining height for flowering.
 
Great. Thanks for the info! Ill look into mainlining and flux more to see what I'd like to try. Mainlining seems like a great simple method which could be good for my first time around. Ill also start a journal; I don't know how helpful it'll be for others but I'm sure I'll be able to get a few laughs at whatever missfortunes might arise from my lack of experience.

Thanks again!
 
Just from my own experience, I started under CFLs before buying an LED to flower under. I used 25 x 23w CFLs in an area 1m x 1m and mixed them, 16 were 6500K and the other 9 were 2700K. For your area, I would suggest somewhere around 10 x 23w for flowering, mixed mostly 2700K bulbs and 5 or 6 bulbs, mostly 6500K for vegging. 25 bulbs was more then I needed for vegging but they grew QUICK and tight nodes :)
 
Depends on what you want out of your grow. I still intend to use my CFLs for vegging of some plants. CFLs will flower your girls, many people use nothing but CFLs. If you want denser, rock hard buds in greater quantity and better quality, then you should look at HIDs or LEDs.

I went with LEDs for flowering because the model I bought had A LOT more light/penetration than the 25 CFL hood I was using, used less electricity, ran cooler, and cost wise was only about $100 more than building a second CFL hood LOL

I went with Mars Hydro LEDs, they are a sponsor here, and although they may not be the best light on the market, the quality you get for the price is outstanding.

I went with a M2 900 that cost me about $450CDN delivered to my door for my 1m x 1m space.

For your space, you could use a Reflector 96 for about $250 CDN or a couple of the M2 400 for even better light but about double the price. If you are serious about growing and con afford to buy and LED, then that is a good way to go. If money is tight (often is for most of us LOL) then continue with the CFLs, they will produce decent smoke, and save your pennies for future expansion :)
 
Thanks WS

I was flying blind when I started and learned so much from others on here that I try to pay it forward and help others just starting out :) Offer options, some of which I didn't even know existed when I started, and let them decide what they think will work best for them :)
 
Thanks again Corey! I've done quite a bit of research, read a lot of forums, some grow bibles to try and get the best base knowledge possible but it doesnt always stick until you do it, repeatedly haha

At the moment I am pinching pennies, being my first grow, I'm clearly still having to pay for my bud until my first harvest.

I'll probably stick to the CFL's for now until I'm a couple harvests in and saving a bundle on the cost of buying.

Love the east coast btw. I have a cottage out by Amherst that I visit each year in the summer.

I'll be putting my cab together this weekend and will try to take pics as I go long to post my project here. I'm mostly using stuff I scavenged from my and my in laws garages so it'll be a cheap build. Should be fun.
 
TheCelt said:
Thanks WS

I was flying blind when I started and learned so much from others on here that I try to pay it forward and help others just starting out :) Offer options, some of which I didn't even know existed when I started, and let them decide what they think will work best for them :)
Click to expand...

It's amazing having mentors on here, the help and information I have got on this site is priceless. I hope one day to, I, may also pay it forward:Namaste:
 
Hey guys! Got a journal set up for my build and grow. Check it out! On another note, it got really hot in the veg chamber and I noticed that the air intake wasn't working right (turned off at some point) so I fixed that and took out a couple bulbs as it got up to 95°F (the soil was drying up FAST). Any suggestions on how to cool it down in there? Add another air intake? Take out more bulbs?

Thanks!
 

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