SBG's First Grow Cabinet Under CFLs (Wish Me Luck)

[SBG]

Well I've been a looky loo long enough and have collected so much info from all that I thought it was time to post something here, so here goes.
Picked up a good sizes cabinet for $25.00 dollars and filled it up on the cheapish side with what I think should give me something.
Starting with a few Clones off of an outdoor plant that I have on my nice sunny deck. footnote ( this years outdoor crop was just about a complete flop, usually I have about five nice plants outside but problems occurred and I'm down to one nice plant and a runt I'm experimenting with LST.)

Info-
- Unknown clones from unknown plant.
- Currently in Veg stage.
- Indoor cabinet
- Soil - Ocean Plus Earth by Cinnabar Valley Farms with Vermiculite added.
- 1 gal black plastic pots
- CFL's 12 - 23W Daylight for Veg and will add some warmer CFL's for flowering.
- Fan cooled 2 - 110 CFM fans on cabinet and 1 - CFM bathroom fan on DIY carbon filter box
- Temp Max 29c/ 84.2f Min 17c/ 62.6f
- RH 37% - 48%
- PH 6.5 ish
- watering once every 2 days aprox.
- Ferts Bio Thrive 4-3-3 at half strenth for now.

The Cabinet

The Cabinet open

The bottom section ( will be Veg at some point)

The top section (will be the flowering)

All thoughts and comments are accepted and needed at this point.

thanks and lets have some fun out there.

 

[Antics]

Not a bad set up. Simple and effective.

I would get rid of the foil on the doors and paint them white, if they're not white already. The reflectiveness of the foil can create hot spots and cause burns and/or heat stress to your plants/leaves.

Keep an eye on your plants. If you see any signs of nutrient burn, repot with standard potting soil ASAP. Fox Farms makes a soil, Fox Farms Ocean Forest, and it has been proven in numerous cases to be too hot for seedlings, and since I haven't read anything about this particular soil, just keep an eye on them to make sure.

 

[SBG]

Thanks for the comments Antics. The doors on the cabinet I forgot to take down the cheap shit mylar I first put up and paint them. Next on the to do list. I had started the clones in some Costco potting soil which was way to hot. this is not fox farm soil since I'm North of the 49th. but the clones picked a day or two after I transplanted them into their new soil.

 

[Antics]

Another thought came to mind for this cabinet. You want to set your shelf at one level and leave it there. Then seal the gaps between the back and sides with a strip of duct tape so NO light gets through. Then I'd stick a strip of foam weatherstripping along the front edge of the shelf to eliminate light leaks there.

If your 18/6 light gets into the 12/12 flower area, you can cause some problems for the plants. If you use the room the cabinet is in, with lights on in the room during lights off time for either of the plants, I would attach a little thin foam on the inside edge of one door (the part that faces the other door) to make sure when the doors close, they seal out as much light from the room as possible.

 

[armoire grow]

Looking good SB, I like the light fixture. Looks like You have good space in there, how big is it.?I have a few questions.
Where is your air intake?
Which one is going to be your flowering chamber? The top one look to have a good hight, I would use this one.
Light trap? not sure but I see light coming out the back. If light comes out, it can come in.
Perpetual growing, like Antics mentioned you're looking to have lights running for 6 extra hours on the veg. Chamber, don't want to have a light leak in there. You would also want to block out lights if you have to open for a few minutes, just to spray your clones or whatever the case. HD sells good windows screens that can cut to sizes.

Looking forward to see your results.

 

[SBG]

Thanks for the comments folks. The shelf is a permanent one so no light leaks there.Have been trying to think of a way to stop the light by the doors opposite the shelf as the shelf is recessed by 2 inches or so.
The Veg section measures 22"Dx35"Wx27H and the flower section is 41"H. As for intake venting the top section has 3-2" holes just above the floor of the section and the bottom section has 4-2" holes near the floor and both sections have a 110 CFM fan venting near the roof of each section going into a DIY carbon filter attached to the back with a 70 CFM bathroom fan incorporated into it. will up load a sketch if your interested. Since stealth is not that much of an issue I was not that concerned about a bit of light but now that Armoire mentioned it I should reconsider something better than just deflecting the light down.
thanks for the advice Armoire and Antics

 

[SBG]

Question about this poor little clone, not sure if its getting to hot or what. but the leaf curling or crinkled new leafs it growing well but????
any thoughts I did raise the lights a little and waiting to see how the next set of leaves show up.

 

[armoire grow]

Yeah definitely would like to see the vent. On the clone just keep watering with p.h adjusted water and wait until you see it's ready for nutes.

 

[SBG]

Oops. I gave her a diluted mix of the above mentioned ferts. I'll take a photo tomorrow and post it. Thanks.

 

[SBG]

Well I couldn't wait for tomorrow soo here are my Vent holes ( no funny comments, lol)

upper cabinet. 2" holes

Lower cabinet 2" holes

 

[SBG]

Having heat issues a little now that both sides are lit up 30c . Since armoir mentioned my vent holes (haha) sorry little twisted humour. I thought instead of 2" holes how about a 2" wide strip? Mhhhh thoughts might help with heat?

 

[Antics]

30C is a little high, but some plants CAN tolerate it, and others will flourish in it.

As long as the exhaust fans are running, and the ducting is sealed you shouldn't have any issues. 110CFM and 70CFM should be more than adequate to cool the areas. You might want to at least cover the vent holes from the outside with a piece of black cloth or something to prevent light leaking into the grow area.

Exhaust is at the top of each compartment I assume?
You shouldn't need a filter on the Veg section, only the flower section. You won't get much, if any odor from Vegging plants. It certainly won't be detectable a long distance away.

With a decent soil, you shouldn't have to feed nutes for 3-4 weeks.

Age of clones? Have they grown roots yet?

 

[SBG]

Thanks Antics.
The clones are about 4 weeks old and do have roots they were in smaller pots to root and they all have a nice healthy root network started. They have been in the 1 gal pots for about 1 week of the 4.

I think I might make the intake vents a bit bigger by connecting the holes and making a long 2" wide strip on both sections. Also make a better light trap for both instead of just deflecting the light downwards, I have lots of flat black mattboard around for construction.

Thought of redirecting the exhaust vent away from the back of the cabinet incase the cabinet is just recycling the old warm air.

 

[armoire grow]

Yeah heat will be kind of an issue with having a microgarden, environment change quickly and heat built up. The way I manage to work through this is by having a active intake and I have my intake near the a/c exhaust. I don't have ideal temperature max I get is 86-88 on veg and 76-79 on flw. but my ladies seems to have adapted to this environment. I do practices heavy on my IMP , filtering intake air, using azamax and cleaning the rooms every 4w. wouldn't want to get any bug's in there and since I grow in a perfect temperature environment for bugs I prevent them in first place.

 

[Antics]

Redirecting the air away from the cabinet sounds like the best place to start, instead of making more cuts.

The clone looks like it COULD be heat stress in some areas, but other areas I'm not quite sure yet...

 

[SBG]

Well I've drop the temps by a few degrees in the cabinet by putting a few more passive air hole in the upper chamber and placing a spare computer fan in front of the holes to draw more air in, temps have gone from around 31c to around 27c. also cut myself a few new light traps out of some spare black mat board light problem fixed. As for the future light problem around the middle shelf and the door I realized that the Cabinet came with 3 adjustable shelves problem fixed, paint it and move it forward with the pipe insulation on it like armoire had suggested and done. Whats next.

Thanks for the help folks.

 

[SmokerJoe]

Subscribed. Just reading to see whats been going on so far

 

[SmokerJoe]

Your temps are a bit hot as some have mentioned. A lot of plants can take this heat depending on where the strains native climate is to compare to your own. Since you dont know the strain the guideline are 74-85. You want the temp to fall during lights out my no more then 15 degrees ideally 10. The cooler it is when the lights are on the more compact your nuggets will be. You never want the temps to dip below 65 as this will stunt the plant and eventually cause tissue damage. Even if that 65 is well within the 15 degree difference you dont want to go any lower or your final yield will suffer.

When cloning as you know it takes awhile for them to root. The roots grow laterally and rely on those to support it and doesnt have the taproot. If you are able to keep the soil around 75 this will help the roots to form faster. If your plants are a bit leggy you can use scissors or a razor blade to peel off the outer stem and bury it more roots will form as the plant triggers those hormones. You can also split the bottom part you will bury up a inch or two and this gives thew roots more surface area to deal with which will allow your clown to grow better faster and yield more then the next person.

Hmm this should be enough for now unless you have specific questions for me. Im heading out the a fair to get a bite to eat so if I dont answer right away I will when I get back. Thank you for the invite

 

[armoire grow]

sounds like you're heading in the right track. Also a problem that I experience in the beginning was the exhausted hot air was being pulled in by the intake, I had to route the air for it not to be pulled back in.

 

[SBG]

This whole journal thing is great, it's like having friends and experts looking over your shoulder and helping you along the way.
Thanks SmokerJoe for looking in. I think I might have the temp thing under control for now.

and a Thanks out to Armoire as well it was you that got me started in this and your cabinet got me hunting one down of my own.
Re-aiming the vents away from the intake holes helped greatly.

the Adventure continues North of the 49th.