Northern Lights first Cabinet, Suggestions.

From Experience cardboard boxes are fine if your using CFL's, Fluoros or LED's CFL's dont get hot enough to set it alight (I had 2 whopping 300w CFL's in a cardboard box pretty much touching the top of the box)

there's even a whole group "ghetto growers unite" or something most of those guys use cardboard boxes

And so long as you put the reflective stuff on the inside water isn't a problem either.

Other than that the only cheap easy things I can suggest is some sort of Ikea cabinet, I made one out of a chest of drawers that cost £25.

Ikea you say. Also, I don't have a heating pad but I turned the lights off with my seedlings awaiting for a sprout, than I can start lights? Or do I need lights for the seed to sprout?

no you just need heat for the seeds to sprout, put them on an xbox or a tv or just somewhere warm... pretty much as soon as you see green they need light

1 of the 6 party cups I have noticed a fuzzy seed has popped to the surface. Not a sprout or raised, it looks like a seed but raised to surface. Can I keep it in dark still until it sprouts?

fuzzy seed ey? most likely the seedling hasn't lost its shell, sometimes they come up like that eventually it'll drop the seed casing and be fine. might as well have the lights on now cause it just means it'll need it soon

and pics would help to clarify things! XD

Stay frosty!

fuzzy is bad ditch the seed, soil cup, inall, yes seedling will hold there seed cases but it shouldn't have fuzzy mold on it, adverage cfl run around 140* cardboard will ignite above 250* your safe bro if it wasnt i would not have said to do it, as there are enuff idiots posting bad advise on the internet, last thing you need is turning into a crispy critter in your sleep cause your shit burst in to flames

I've noticed the soil and cups seem to get too compact. I have a picture on page 1 of my soil. It has perlite in it but when I water it tends to get too hard. I've tried spraying the water and using bottled water directly from the bottle. I'll take some pictures of the cups. I just put around 8 seeds into a cup with water in warm, dark place for germination soaking. My next post will show the cups and seeds.

I've had this cab for two months, in those two months I've managed to germinate 1 seed and none of my bag seedlings have ever sprouted in these two months. I think the two only answers is:

1) Soil isn't soft enough when watered. It doesn't have enough oxygen and the soil is too hard for the seed to break through?
2) The seeds I found in the bag weren't seeds, or were immature?

I know seeds are usually brown or dark colour but all the seeds I have seen are white or light. I'm still waiting on my Northern Light seeds to arrive, maybe I'll just go with NL.

Here is my 6 cups + 1 cup of seeds and water + small cardboard box to hold cup of seeds to warm them through warm air vent.

Once seed sinks do I plant sideways in a new cup of soil? (If they are seeds)

Do you have decent drainage holes in the bottom of them cups and is the perlite mixed in properly?... I can't see a fuzzy seed to determine if its bad or not lol

And they look like some weird ass seeds to me man, rather deformed imo.

Nice job on the box (are the shots of the cups in the cardboard box) you'll appreciate the extra space, just drape something over it for insulation in the winter and if you need to stealth it up a bit.

The box was used for germinaton, cut some flaps for air from the air vent. The seeds... that's another paragraph.

The seeds are bag seeds. I'm not even sure they are seeds. They were hard like a seed and felt like a seed. They are still floating.

I put the cup of water and seeds into the grow cab with lights on. The cup is covered end side up a computer cd holder (the white paper kind) covering the cup. Good idea? As soon as seed sinks, I plant in new cup, same soil?

1 seed sank. I grabbed a new party cup, cut 4 slots for air at the bottom. I put the soil in, did not pack down, looks fluffy.

UPDATE:

With Christmas coming up I need a list of items under $400.00 to build/ improve my cab/ new cab.

My current build is usable but I really want to upgrade it. I'm so tempted to buy a cab online but it's cheaper to build.


-Either buy a cabinet from Walmart, any store.
-Use same cabinet and try to improve on.
Parts in use:
-(2)Powerbars for lights
-CFL Lights (I have 5 x 2700k and 5 x 6500k)
-Light Socket Plugs for CFL
-(2) PC Fans + (2) 12v cell phone charger attached
-powerbar connecting to all plugs
-extension cord connecting to powerbar
-Duct Tape, electric tape

I need a list of items under $400.00 that will improve this cab or build a new cab. I can re use the parts listed above. I wanted to improve the outside as well to make it look nice. If anyone could help with a list of items that would be great!

Thank you!

Bump, any ideas?

Also, my northern lights arrived, using paper towel method for three seeds. Tomorrow I'm picking up new soil from home depot and pots. I know its not a hydro store but there isn't any near me so hd will do. Does anyone have a soil they would recomend from home depot for a beginner? Eventually I will go organic, but that's another grow when I have more experience.

Ill be looking up some more info. I'm going to be using lst for the plants to keep them short. id also like to make the cab cleaner looking inside and out. I have a feeling my wife is buying me a new cab for christmas to work on but in case I don't get a new cab I'm looking at what to improve.

I will be building light filters and a carbon filter for the intake and outake. Everything is wired properly but I need to keep fixing the ceiling of the cab to make sure the lights and powerbars stay firmly to the top. I probably should put some reflector covering the powerbars connecting the lights but I think it will be okay for now.

Another thing I've noticed is there's a good 2 inches between the ground and the floor of the cabinet.... maybe I should buy the pots I will be using and measure the middle circcumfrence and cut circle holes to fit them. I'm not sure what tool to use to cut circle holes wood material. I'm not much of a handy-build man but working on this makes me want to become that. I have much respect for the builders on this forum. Its a lot harder than it looks.

So anyways, someone please respond to this post and my previous post about gift ideas to improve or help build a new cab. I know hps and led are better lights but for now I'm sticking with cfl. Also, if I do get a bigger cab, I'm tempted to find out how to have the same setup but have the lights lower and raise using a pulley or something. Any suggestions there too?

The box looks nice buddy!! I have not read all the post so sorry if i repeat anything! I wouldnt use the Clear Cups for your plants, something to do with light getting in the soil can mess up the plants! Are cabinets have alot of similarities, do u ever have problem with ur temps being to high? I have 8 CFLS 28watt to 75watt Daylight Bulbs for VEG and when i was using a comp fan the Temps stayed very high, i ended up having to buy a 6 in duct fan for the Cab (works great, i was also able to attach 6in duct flex to the back and install a carbon filter on the end). My temps now are 70-80 degrees just depending on how i set my fan. Also i would recommend the biggest Cabinet you can get away with, mine is pretty decent size but i still wished it was bigger!!

Can you tell me how to attach the ducts and such?

Soil: Tossed my current soil and bought perlite, verm something and old farm soil. Mixed 30% perlite, 15% verm and the rest the potting mix. My Northern Light seeds are 24 hours into germination with the papertowel.

I cannot find the perfect pot size. I bought 3 pots but my cab only holds 2 and it was covering half of my cab. What is the perfect pot size in this? I'm thinking 3 pots and doing LST and scroging. Should I do more at once and which pot sizes?



UPDATE: Can I use a small heighted, wide rectangle pot? http://images.tradekool.com/136000500/Plastic-Flower-Pot-rectangle-Shape.jpg

So I took some pictures. One of them shows the gap between the cab floor and the actualy floor. I think I may be able to use a hole saw or some type of circle cutting device to make 4 holes for the pots to go into. This will create more flower room and also place a baking pan or something to get the drainage from the plants. I think this opens opportunity later on for hydroponic room and the air root technique.

I have another issue, the light leaks. I think my "door" is a bit bigger length and width wise for the cab. It fits but it pushes the back and top up creating light. I think I need to cut it better. I'm just worried about messing up the door too much.

Inside temps are good and with my new pots comes another new surprise. I purchased perlite, verm and a potting soil of the name of "Alltreat Farms," all purpose potting soil.

I mixed 30% Perlite, 15% verm, and rest all purpose soil. Perlite might be 40% in one of the pots since I didn't measure percisely.

Once I head to bed I'll turn the lights off for 6 hours and get them back on. Maybe I'll have my first sprout tomorrow morning. This is so exciting, right around Christmas too!

Questions: How can I fix these light leaks? Is this soil combo good? What tool can I use to cut wood/ cork material circles for the pots to fit in? Any other suggestions?

Thank you,

2 of the plants sprouted! I finally sprouted a seed! Victory party tonight!

Heh, ill take some pics later. I noticed the sprouts haven't raised straight up yet. They seem to have the seed on their top still.

Bad news and good news.

Good news: 2 sprouts are straight up and one of them has 2 bright green leaves coming.

Bad news: I killed a small spider in the cab, I believe it was.... a spidermite!

Is my plants done? Game over? How do i fix this?

Hey buddy! sorry i have not messaged u back about the Duct! I only get on here and update once every three days! I have Sub'd up to ur thread!! woot!
The duct work is fed from the top of my Cab via 6in HV duct fan which pulls all hot air from the top out the Duct work into a Carbon Filter attached to the end!


Dont worry about a silly little Spider in ur Cab, if u notice ur plants looking like they have Webs/Mold on them, Id worry but just follow the right steps along the process, keep ur area clean and u should be good to go!

Very nice. I may need to hire you to build me one. lol.

I bought another pot and I will be adding it inside the cab. So four pots, hopefully 2/4 female. We will see.

I will be adding pictures soon.