grow cabinet: wardrobe

Hello everyone, my grow op has been under construction for a few weeks now. I'll be updating this post with the progress.

my space is a portion of a wardrobe. the dimensions are: Height 191cm (75.4in) x Width 58cm (22.8in) x Depth 45cm (17.7in). I have added some metal strips to assist in light blocking, which has reduced the inner depth to 40cm (15.75in).This space is divided into a veg space above 64.8cm (25.5in) in height, and a flower space below 125.5cm (49.5in) in height.

Lights (if temps can hold):
veg: three 6500k 85w cfl's (about 300-350w equivalent, i believe)
flower: four 2700k 105w cfl's (400w eq.)

My first issue is this: I'd like to flower 4 plants in the space below, but I'm worried about the area that I have being too small. I will have to build custom boxes to economize the space. I will LST the plants to keep them as dense as possible, and the lights as close as possible.
Please see the attached image below (with a frisbee for scale) and the attached diagram. Each box is 3 gallons in volume. I don't anticipate the plants growing beyond 3 feet in height with LST, as I will flower when they are about 6-8 inches in height.

Questions:
- are each of these boxes too small in area to flower a plant?
- can 4 plants somehow be flowered in this small of an area?

Thanks in advance for any helpful responses! +rep!

I thought I'd post up my light fixture I designed and built for the veg + another for flower lights. After a lot of searching, I found a metal works place that builds custom ductwork pieces, and they sell and bend metal very cheap. The aluminum reflector piece, i bought from a metal supply store, total $9 for veg and flower pieces. The alum. for both frames totaled about $10. The reflector only covers the bulb, while the frame is open in the back to let the heat from the ballast rise to a fan above (yet to be installed). I have basically the same thing for flower box, with 4 cfl connections. I covered each reflector on the inside with chrome spray paint. Everything was done with a drill, hacksaw, and nuts/bolts. Three 85w cfl's will go in this one.

Nice hood. I'd say 4 is too much. I'd go with 2.
Daniels

thx Daniels. Yah, i'm realizing that 4 is stretching it, but i'm growing from seed, and I want to have more chance of getting a female. They don't show sex till about 4 weeks into flower right? (want to avoid putting 6-7 weeks into 2 males, ya know?) I thought maybe a scrog or something would work for 4 plants in this space, but this will be my first grow, and i'm probably already asking a lot of my low-skills to do LST.

bohicular said:

thx Daniels. Yah, i'm realizing that 4 is stretching it, but i'm growing from seed, and I want to have more chance of getting a female. They don't show sex till about 4 weeks into flower right? (want to avoid putting 6-7 weeks into 2 males, ya know?) I thought maybe a scrog or something would work for 4 plants in this space, but this will be my first grow, and i'm probably already asking a lot of my low-skills to do LST.

Click to expand...

Well I'd start plenty of seeds, in the veg area. Then put them in small pots (maybe 4" square). Once they get 6"-8" flip them to 12/12 and a week or two should show sex. Then I'd ditch all males, then back to 18/6 (or 20/4). Re-veg and top them for 4 Main Colas. Then you have 2 or 4 to flower in the lower chamber. No wasted Flowering of males. I'd veg up top then pick the best 2 (but that's me). Even 3 with different shaped boxes. I guess your strain choice is key too. Good luck.
Daniels

Yeah with that heighth box, you would be better off with 2 plants in 3 or 5 gallon buckets. 4 plants in 1 gallon buckets wont yield as much. You have the room, so Id use it to your advantage.

well, with my design above, each of those square buckets are 3 gallons.. but thats the minimum required, i think. 4 plants would be pretty dense in that area. I want to keep the height as low as possible, mainly just to keep the cfls as close as poss., but i could add side lighting if temps permit.

the strain i will start with is "sativa diablo" from kindseeds - its fast for a sativa (7 wk flower), and supposed to be relatively easy.

Daniels - thanks again for the help, i think i will try to re-veg and top any females above 2 that will go into flower. I am hesitant about topping, which, from what i have read, is a large debate. Also, I am trying to harvest asap, as i live in an area where it is literally impossible to buy weed that is green. Will germinate in mid june, after a trip (the only thing holding me up).

Sativa's are known for tall and stretched. I'd go more Indica. Remember that their flowering times are their call (the seed company). I've heard of sativas going 14 to 16 so their 7 sounds like a pipe dream. (or lack of while waiting 3 weeks) It's all about selling more seeds for them. Not too sure about a debate on topping. It's scary the first time, but the technique works just like UB shows. Check out my Main Garden or my Fridge. I topped 3 out of 6. 1 is in my Main and 2 are in the Fridge. I should have done all 6. My main Flowering chamber I planned for 6. 4 stuffed it. (I'm 11 days into flowering) I have a mother plant of Hash Plant/Haze or Lemon Skunk and I'm not going to use it for my next crop because it's sativa pheno's scare me.
Daniels

Yah, indica would be better for size, but I much prefer the high of sativa, and am willing to risk yields to do sativa. I read your entire fridge post, and congrats man, its looking great! Bob Vila and shit.... I cant believe you were able to control the temps so well, although it seemed to have taken some work. I have two 120mm computer fans rated at 58 cfm that will go into each chamber of my cab as exhausts with a passive intake, which i hope will be sufficient. It HAS to be as quiet as possible. I dropped $22 a piece on these 18 decibel fans from austria that have great ratings on multiple sites. (counting on the bavarian quality here)
About the topping debate, i've read that some people think you just get 4 smaller colas vs. one huge main one- i have read a lot of naysayers. Yah, I admit, it comes down to the fact that i'm scared of it, but i'll try. My plan is to LST like hell - i'm putting in some screw hooks all over the walls to tie to.
I hear you on the seeds, who knows what the flower time will be, i'll base everything on trich color- - and maintain zenlike patience.

4 seeds are in germination now. Using the cup of water method. I have planted 2 of them, which have split but not yet rooted (they have a white line along one side of the seed). Pls wish them luck! Hoping to get 2 girls to keep in the veg room

ok, putting 4 seeds into water gave me one seed that cracked in about 24hrs, which I put into soil. The other 3 seeds have yet to do anything. After 3 days in the water, I tried the paper towel method. After about a day and a half, with no results, I put those 3 seeds into soil.

After doing some reading, I realized my 3" pots are too shallow to start seeds, so as I transplanted into larger pots, the cracked seed has about 1-2 inches of tap root going (I trnsplnted very carefully, hopefully i didn't fuck it up), but the other 3 seeds still have yet to change at all! I just put another new seed straight into soil and put some water on it (Uncle Ben's method).

Any suggestions are immensely appreciated!

-Cabinet temps: 78-82 degrees F with lights on (18hrs), 69-74 degrees F with lights off (6hrs) with about 50% humidity
-Have been using one 58w CFL (200w equivalent)
-I had plastic over the pots, but I took it off today after reading UB's method
-I have been lightly misting the top of the soil to keep it moist, but trying not to drown the seed
-seeds are Sativa Diablo from kindseeds

good stuff....thats the nicest diy hood ive seen so far.

Thanks Yung! I just started a journal, it should be in my signature