Oh, I forgot to mention a step. Before I screwed down the board I cut a piece of roofing style tar paper and laid it down on the floor directly below the elbows. This way any light that made it through the elbows would strike the black tar paper. HHHG, yes I screwed it down but I was only pleased for a short time. It worked very well at stopping the light leaks. However, I wanted more. I was not yet truly satisfied with the intake system. I wanted something that would filter the incoming air and keep the dust down in the veg and flower cabinets. Dust may not seem like a big deal to some people but it is an issue for me. With the dust probably comes mites. Then there's all kinds of microorganisms too. Then there's the matter of the leaves getting dusty and whatnot. Plus I do not feel like having to clean the glass on my air cooled hood every week or two. I wanted something that would prevent the dust from entering in the first place. It was back to the drawing board. After I removed the panel. I ran to Depot and picked up a package of 6" duct sleeve. It was $5.99. I cut it lengthwise and used it to wrap the 4" dryer duct. It was not problem that the sleeve was larger. I just overlapped it a bit, then I cinched it down with some extra large sized zip ties. Then I sealed it with some foil tape. I also packed in some insulation between the dryer duct and the intake ports as shown.
This one is somewhat difficult to answer. I have heard folks say that everytime your air flow makes a U-turn that your CFMs are cut in half. My air flow is not making a bunch of U-turns but it is making a bunch of 90s. The problem is that I have no way of measuring the CFMs and I have no way of knowing the amount that may have been lost. All I can really do is measure the temperature and my temps have not changed. This leads me to believe that the air flow system is probably not constricted too much. I hope... ...because there's about to be even more resistance when the filter is installed; not to mention the future light-proof air flow system between the veg and flower cabinets.
I went down to my local air conditioning supply company and bought a 16" x 16" fliter grille. I then framed in a box for it and screwed down a piece of OSB board. Again I used the 2.5" hole saw, but this time I made 12 holes. That way I could get more air flow as well as even distribution across the air filter. I also made a partition between the intake area and the outlet shown on the right. Next I screwed down some more OSB panels to close off the wall. The plant shown here is finally beginning to do well. It's five months old! It loves the new HPS. I am happy with the new air filter. The light leaks through the intake ports have been eliminated completely and the dust is under control as well. There will be pics posted of the veg cabinet construction coming very soon.
I built a shelf above all the pipes and conduit. It is finally leveled and screwed in. I sealed around the edges of it with Liquid Nails construction adhesive. I love the stuff! You can't see it because it's in the back. I stlll need to do the front edge. Lately I have been reading quite a few posts about people's relatively new digital ballasts burning out. With that in mind, I opted to forego the remote ballast option. I want to keep my ballast cool, even if it means the grow room will have more heat to deal with. The digital ballasts are supposed to run cooler than the magnetic ones, and this one is noticeably cooler than my 400W MH high bay light. Nonetheless, this Lumatek digital 400W HPS ballast is still quite hot to the touch. As you can see I have elevated the ballast on bricks so that it can cool itself more effectively. I also picked up a heavier duty, outdoor, 15 amp digital timer for the HPS lamp and mounted it to the wall. My other timers don't even have three prong outlets! Edit: Thank you for the kind words LionLoves420. As for the new timer, I'd like to mention that I got it at Lowes. In my opinion, Lowes has a greater and better selection of light bulbs and timers than The Home Depot does.
Cool idea :thumbsup: You're pretty handy. I wish I had help with my setup, but I don't plan on ever telling anyone about my secret closet so I just do the best I can, which is never right the first time. Trial and error and error.
Thats why were all friends here HHHG. We can help you along. I got a bulk of my ideas from you fine folk. The closet I built, the idea came from weedwacker. The scrubber came from....well everyone who built a DIY scrubber. and a lot of little things that I can't think of right now. But most of all the help and guidance from post after post of all of you.....well most of you.:laughing1:
School has started again and this semester has been a real kicker. I haven't had much spare time to update the thread for quite a while. Meanwhile, I have finished the veg compartment. Essentially it was constructed using a frame made of 2X2s and little elbow brackets. The brackets were 43 cents each and I forget how much the 2X2s were but they were cheap too. I got them at The Home Depot. Since the top of the veg cabinet also serves as the floor of the flower cabinet, it needed to be sturdy. I predrilled through the 2X2s and then used some long screws to secure them to the under studs, wherever they were available. For the top of the veg cabinet I used real ply wood rather than the OSB. Reason being, the ply wood holds up better with moisture.
Dang, the battery in my camera just died! Stay tuned! Coming up next, installation of the door and lighting system within the veg cabinet. Plus, the latest photos of the the babies. When we return...
Here's a pic of the veg cabinet with the door installed. I used door hinges rather than cabinet hinges because I had some door hinges on hand and I didn't feel like running down to buy cabinet hinges. Plus they are sturdier. I then installed two hasp style hinges to close and/or lock the cabinet. The cabinet-within-the-closet design greatly reduces the light leaks and provides an additional barrier of protection for the plants inside.
As for the door, I again used ply wood since I had some extra left over. Initially, I was a bit disappionted that the wood grain of the door did not match the rest of the unit, but I got over it. I'll be painting it sooner or later anyway. With construction of the veg cabinet complete the plant from previous posts was now too tall so I had to torture her further still. This plant was the product of poor lighting conditions and lots of stress. She was infested with spider mites. She was chopped and eliminated to make way for future plants.
The Future Plants Mrs. Gardener and I purchaced a 10 pack of Nirvana's Northern Lights. The seeds looked rather small to me. After germination, only 6 sprouted. We vegged the six for a while, took 30 clones, and then flipped the original six. Four of the six turned out to be males. Here are the two remaining ladies in 12" square pots.
Inside the Veg Cabinet With the heavy construction complete it was time to make a house into a home. The babies needed their lights, fans, trays, etc. So it was time to do some interior decorating. Ok, so I'm not the best interior decorator but it'll have to do for now. In this configuration the veg compartment can hold 30 Solo cups in three trays. The lights are 24" T5s with my homemade reflectors. The lights are spaced 6" apart. I can fit 6 of these lights in the cabinet. As you can see, I have plucked out the 2/3 that were clones of males. This left me with 9 female clones. They don't look too great at the moment but they are looking better every day.
This is the product I used on the back wall. I didn't want even screw around with mylar. I am very satisfied with this product. I attached it to the wall using a staple gun. It doesn't rip or tear at all. It can be wiped down without doing any harm whatsoever to its surface. The texturized surface facilitates light distribution and dispersal preventing hot spots. It was also $5 cheaper than Ultraflect for the same length of product, but yet it was 54" wide whereas the Ultraflect was only 48" wide. Need I say more? Sure it's pricier than 1 mil mylar but well worth it. I only have it on that one wall right now but it will soon be covering them all.
When the cuttings get more established they will be transferred into 6" square white pots, each having a capacity of a bit less than a gal. They will finish out their veg stage in those at that point. I'll post a pic at that time. I am beginning to work on a similar style cabinet for the flowering area. For now though I am just keeping an eye on the babies and watching them grow.
Building your own garden is the only way to go :thumbsup: LST is awesome in small spaces. I use square 3 liter hempy containers and grow tall sativas by JOGing. JOG requires a longer veg time but it's easier to manage a few medium plants than many small plants.
Thanks HHHG, though I would rather not LST because it's a bunch of extra work and extra care. The veg room has 28" from floor to ceiling. When the lights in there are at their highest point, then they hang down about 4" from the ceiling, leaving 24". The square pots I will be using down there are 8" in height, leaving 16". Therefore, the plants growing down in the veg cabinet can reach a height of ~12" and the tops will still be ~4" from the lights. My plan is to veg until they get about a foot tall, then move them up into the flower cabinet. There's enough room in the flower cabinet for them to tripple in height if needed, and still be a foot from the HPS. I built the cabinet such a way so as to hopefully not HAVE to LST. The two plants that are in the flower compartment now (shown a few post back), are in 4.75 gallon pots. Mrs. Gardener and I selected Northern Lights because it was a short growing strain. I wonder how tall these ladies will get? They are 18" tall right now, and they are in their 2.5 week of flower (They have been on 12/12 since Oct 1st). They are under a 400 watt HPS, they are in Fox Farms soil, and get FF nutes as well, according to schedule. So what kind of maximum height should I expect? What about dry yield? Anyone want to take a shot at this one????
