Grow cabinet for under $100 bucks

Well after trolling this forum for a few months I decided to register and become a member. After seeing everyone else's creations and the monster buds their plants were yielding I decided it was time to give indoor growing a try. My budget for this was a hundred dollars which I know is very cheap but this is my first setup and if I fail my losses are minimal.

For a grow cabinet I went to a few different thrift shops and second hand places but had no luck finding something affordable and small enough for my needs, I ended up purchasing a storage cabinet from walmart for $30.00


Now that I had my cabinet I went to Lowes and browsed through their lighting section and found these. A Sylvania 120W Spot Gro bulb $9.00 and (2) 18inch GE plant and aquarium flourescent bulbs and fixtures $25.00.




I also picked up a thermometer and powerstrip and aluminum foil $10.00.



I figured this would make an alright start and I do still have a few things on my list like a small fan and some tubing for ventilation but I will get that tomorrow. I am growing regular seeds from a good bag I had and I plan on having two plants I am waiting on more seeds to germinate. Please add any input and let me know if this was just a total waste of money or if it will produce some bud. Thanks for any advice and or positive input.

First off , throw away the aluminum foil and get some cheap flat white paint.

get you a temp/humidity gauge, they come in handy and are not expensive. use weather stripping , the foamy strip kind.. on the doors to block all light from escaping or enter. that's what i did in my cabinet.





subbed for this build/grow

It's unlikely that you will be able to do much more than veg a plant in a box that size with those lights. For now it could serve that purpose, but you will need to invest in or build a bigger box and buy an HPS light eventually. It's very difficult to get decent size high quality buds under fluorescent lights. I'm not saying it's impossible, but don't expect to get what you see in a lot of pictures if you use that box to flower the plant.

You also need a fan

What kind of light cycles should I be doing at this point? 24hrs on or 18/6? Also when I add a fan should a make a port to help circulate or just open the doors every once in a while? Thanks for all the input!

you got ripped off bro, them plant lights are worse than anything else you could use, they put out light that makes the plant look greener and i guess people would assume healthierlooking, its a scam. take them back and get some cfls, your not gonna have nearly as much success with those lights.

I would take those fish lights back to the store. You're not going to grow anything but algea.
Before you spend any more money, read thru the other journals and stickys. There is a lot of good info on here. But you do have to read. If you keep asking questions without doing some research , people are going to start being a smartass.
READ READ READ.

I am not a led user, but they might work best in that tight space.
if not cfl's are your best bet.

Ok well thanks for the advice and I was looking at some hps lights on eBay last night, do you think what I have now will suffice for a couple weeks until I can afford to purchase a nice bulb? Also I am looking a 600w so when I get a bigger grow cabinet I won't have to upgrade lights again. I hope I am moving in the right direction

no way a 600 watt light is going in that small cabinet, it will insta cook anything you try to grow.

You might be able to do a 250w hps in there if you cool tube it and remote ballast it, for a box that size i think cfls would work best. Not to say you shouldnt look into hps and start your plans for your next box, just that your gonna have some problems with heat and that. look at it this way, when you do get your hps box all set up you can use this one and the cfls for vegging and clones(some people will say color spectrum in veg is important but in all my experiences a red spectrum light vegges just as well as a blue, a mixed spectrum is better than either by itself) and go perpetual. Just so we are clear you do realize you need a special ballast for hps bulbs, right?

darkdestruction420 said:

You might be able to do a 250w hps in there if you cool tube it and remote ballast it, for a box that size i think cfls would work best. Not to say you shouldnt look into hps and start your plans for your next box, just that your gonna have some problems with heat and that. look at it this way, when you do get your hps box all set up you can use this one and the cfls for vegging and clones(some people will say color spectrum in veg is important but in all my experiences a red spectrum light vegges just as well as a blue, a mixed spectrum is better than either by itself) and go perpetual. Just so we are clear you do realize you need a special ballast for hps bulbs, right?

Click to expand...

Ok well this is the bulb setup I looking at purchasing for my flowering box I am in the works of planning http://cgi.ebay.com/400-WATT-HPS-DIGITAL-GROW-LIGHT-SYSTEM-400W-SUN-LAMP-/270584851222?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f001d2b16. I have rearranged my current box according to all the advice I have gotten, I have added a large computer fan and replaced that huge halogen with a 13 watt cfl I had laying around the house. The halogen "grow" light I had nearly destroyed all my seedlings. I am going to purchase three or four 45watt cfls tomorrow and i will update with pictures. Thanks everyone for the support and great advice.

That set up is a lot better. It will work great if you can keep the heat down. Maybe should look at a 250W and do two plants. It will be plenty strong enough for your set up and easier to keep cool with summer coming. Get a cheap timer with the pins for the lights. And no such thing as too many fans in there.

Sounds good, I'll be watching.....