Before and After: Just finished my grow cab and its better than I dreamed...

Hey guys!

Well its been many months of planning (since May) but they have payed off. I have finally finished my grow cabinet!

I picked up the cabinet for fifty bucks at the first Goodwill I stopped at and transformed her into a pot factory. I'd love some feed back considering this is my first grow and am a newb.

Overall the project too about 20-25 hours of solid work which was ALOT longer than I thought it would take.

-Started by cutting the styrofoam panels to the dimensions of the box and attached them with screws and washers.
-Then taped all of the cracks and lightproofed the doors with weather stripping and extra styrofoam.
- Then I had to buy like ten pad locks and just use the circle part of it and attach it to the ceiling of the cabinet. These are the little metal loops that hold everything. (Alot of measuring and cutting of Styro)
- Then I insulated my new 4 inch carbon fan with tape and insulation and connected her to the top with bungee cords (unlike the lamp(150 watt) which is on chains)
- After that I hooked up the carbon filter with bungee cords and hooks in the ceiling and attached it to the fan with metal, bendable ducting. The ducting leads out the back of the cabinet. This is all right by my A/C duct which will provide cool, fresh air.

Yeah it was alot of work but alot of fun. My next step is to head to my local hydro shop (Espositos!) and pick up a list of items: Fox Farm Ocean Forest, Fox Farm Nute Trio, Perlite, Trowel, Thermometer/Hygrometer, pH tester, pH adjusters (dolomite lime, sulfur), a tarp, a measuring cup, and a couple of heavy duty timers.

What do you guys think? The first few pics are the before pictures while the pics from the blanket pic on are after. Total Cost: 500 ish

'n soon

Looks good man - out of curiosity, what are the rough dimensions of the cabinet (heightXwidth)?

Also, would you mind showing how you applied the weather-stripping/Styrofoam on the doors and if you've had any problems with it?

SableZen said:

Looks good man - out of curiosity, what are the rough dimensions of the cabinet (heightXwidth)?

Also, would you mind showing how you applied the weather-stripping/Styrofoam on the doors and if you've had any problems with it?

Click to expand...

one thing im not keen on... and youve done it. extension leads in a grow room i think is asking for trouble.. so close to your pots... well one slip of a watering can and you may wish you hadnt..

I would really urge you to reconsider this

looks good, plan on getting smt very similar going myself.

any reason you didnt go for a 250w, thats what im gonna use...gonna be warm for sure but a good strong vent fan should sort it out...

also, whats the reason for the styrofoam lining?

cheers m8

SableZen- the rough dimensions are about (and i mean about) 3 feet wide by 3.5 feet high by 21 inches deep.

The weather stripping was no problem (just peel the plastic off and apply) and it did a great job getting rid of the light leaks (tried pounds of tape and it DID NOT WORK).

The horrible part was the styrofoam. (They have great panels of styrofoam for house insulation at home depot for 6 bucks.) Had to measure each piece and cut it to the appropriate size. Now to keep them to the wood,, i made starter holes with my drill and put long screws through the foam and into the wood. The screws have washers as well so they do pull right through the foam. No BIG problems yet, but the biggest prob would have to be the tape becoming unsticky. Hope this answers your question. If not ask some more...

hiroshima- great observation, i really didn't notice/think of that. I;ll have to ponder over this one. I don't plan on watering my plants in the box so that might help but idk...

Shiva 71- I didn't get the 250 watt because I am in college still and my parents pay my power bill. I am gonna be running a 150 watt hps and an 80 watt inline fan for 18 hours a day so my bill is going high already. And my cabinet area gets hot, even with just a 150 watt and the fan on!

The styrofoam was for reflectiveness and to get rid of light leaks. I had light leaks all around the box so i just added a layer of foam on the inside and they are all gone. Also it does a good job of insulating the sound from the inline fan

take a look at my pics here
https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/240737-my-setup.html#post3073141

Styrofoam wont give you great reflection... bear in mind it has a rough surface. you would be better off with mylar?

Looking good LOWNskater52!

I would like to watch your grow's progress.. Are you going to start a journal?

Thanks for sharing!

yeah i'll def be starting a grow journal once i get my seeds in. haven't ordered them yet because i lost my credit card and it is taking fucking FOREVER to get here. I plan on buying from the attitude tho (Big Buddha- Cheese Feminized).

Just got back from my local hydro shop and i gotta say that place is sweet as hell. Easily had everything i need. I am low on cash so i only bought some Fox Farm Big Bloom, a Thermometer, and a ph meter! All pretty good prices.

I put my thermometer in there and turned it on for bout an hour and it got up to 86-88 degrees... wayyyy to hot for cute little cannabis plants. So I switched the passive air intake (which was above the exit duct) with the hole i had my extension cord leading out of (below the exit duct near the very bottom) in order to get more cold air from the floor/A/C unit. The temp immediately dropped to 80-82 degrees. This is not IDEAL for my future plants (76-78 is prob ideal) but i can work on it with some circulation fans.

More to come!

p.s. meaghan and kate were the first two girls i ever loved so i thought it was appropriate

just got the seeds today...starting germ and grow journal soon