Tips for wardrobe growing?

[xxplosiv]

Hey guys first time grower here and first message on this board!

 

I've managed to find a really old wardrobe at a junk yard which i'm about to "reapproriate"

 

My thoughts are as follows: Spray paint the entire inside matte white, make use of an old pedestal fan to put in the top corner oscilating up and down, put a 250w hps light kit in there and use metal halide for veging and hps for flowering.

 

The wardrobe is 1100w x 480d x 1600h in case you're wondering, should even be big enough to grow a short sativa at some stage.

 

The bar across the middle where you're meant to hang clothes will come in handy for hanging the light!

 

I have a couple of questions. How big of a hole would I need to cut in the back of the wardrobe at the top to let air in for the fan? Would I also be ok to cut another hole the same size at the bottom to exhaust air out? Does that orientation sound ok or would the fan blowing downwards not be enough to properly exhaust air out the bottom?

 

A couple of things, I'd prefer cutting the holes in the back rather than the sides for stealth. Will look better against the wall in the garage. Will put mesh over them to block a bit more light. I have 2 2 week old northern lights plants in soil so I think the 250 watt setup should be enough, do you? I don't want to go too crazy, just a bit of a hobby and all for personal use. Don't want to spend a mint and don't want a crazy power bill spike is my reasoning behind 250w.

 

Can the ballast be positioned close to the plants for warmth on cold days?

 

Thanks for reading, any suggestions appreciated for a curious beginner!

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Welcome to OS.  Soil's fine, especially for 1st time, so long as it's a well draining fairly light mix, and preferably not cheap potting mix.  There's guys here who grow in soil who can give you more specific advice.

 

250w should be ok in that space, there's a lighting calculator in Cannaversity to help with that stuff.

 

Flat white paint's fine, or you could be lazy like me and go to Bunnings and grab some mdf with white on one side to line it with. 

 

The oscillating fan is good for moving the air around and strengthening your plants, but you will need an exhaust fan to move fresh air in and stale out, along with some heat.  Best to hook it up to a carbon filter when you start flowering unless you want all and sundry to know about it.  The size of your holes will be dictated by the size of your exhaust fan, 100mm might do it, but 150mm would be better.  Best to have intake in the bottom, and exhaust out the top.  You can also do things like putting a couple of bends in your ducting to control light leakage.  But you do need a fan that actually pushes air out in order to create ventilation.  If you don't want to spend money, and you're not worried about the smell, buy an inline exhaust fan and mount it in a hole up top and cut an equal size hole down bottom.  Good way to control light leaks with that would be to build a labrynth box over each hole (2-3 overlapping boards with the gaps at alternating ends if that makes sense).

 

Unless you're in Tassie or something cold days aren't likely to be a big issue at the moment, more likely keeping temps down in the cupboard.  Could be wrong but I've heard that ballasts are best looked after by not being inside the grow space, not to mention not wanting electrical items in an area where water is involved as spills can and do occur.  Be thoughtful of electrical and fire hazards with your setup.

 

MH is supposed to be better for veg, but a lot of growers just go HPS all the way through, and in a small space like that you probably won't be vegging for very long, probably want to flip the lights to 12/12 as soon as they reach sexual maturity, usually around 5-6 nodes.

 

Plenty more for you to learn, but I don't want to spoil your fun by telling you everything.  Check out Cannaversity, and a few of the grow journals on the site, try to see where people went wrong as well as drooling over the good results.  Good luck, and post a journal of your grow, best way to get feedback etc, plus we all like canna porn.

[xxplosiv]

Thanks for the reply mate, had a look at the grow calculator and 250 watts is perfect so I'm happy about that.

 

With regards to ducting and how to do it properly, where would be a good place to find info on that? Again, it's not going to be anything major, I didn't even consider doing that to be honest. I was just planning on putting an intake and exhaust fan in along with a pedestal fan to blow the air around and be done with it. Would that even be possible or do you really need to do it properly with ducts and that?

 

I'm hoping I can get ducting and stuff from a place like Bunnings as there arn't any special "hobby" stores where I live.

Another consideration I'm going to need to think of is attaching a carbon filter to the exhaust fan, so I'll need a fan that's able to have that done.

 

Any more thoughts?

[SpaceMonkey23]

Your grow situation sounds very similar to the one that I'm in the process of setting up! 250w light in a cupboard in the shed, painted white on the inside (using an $8 500ml sample pot from Bunnings - you have to ask for them at the counter but they're great value). I've got the ballast in a side compartment. Still waiting for a 100mm exhaust fan from eBay. Will be mounting this as an outlet at the top. 

 

I'm going to try growing hydroponically in perlite. I've had some luck doing this with regular outdoor plants - it seems to be a very good medium to grow in. I have found that a very aerated medium is extremely beneficial to the plant. 

 

Good luck with your grow! I'll be interested to see how it goes for you. 

Edited October 15, 2013 by SpaceMonkey23

[caterpillar]

painted white on the inside (using an $8 500ml sample pot from Bunnings - you have to ask for them at the counter but they're great value).

 

I believe the reason they're such good value is because they're not 'real' paint. They really are just meant to be for tests, and a proper flat white ceiling or bathroom paint is what most people go with, as it will last longer, be easier to clean and possibly have some anti-mould properties.

[Lenore]

Personally I use matte white ceiling paint with the anti mould stuff in it. It's designed for bathrooms in mind.
Not too exxy and works a treat.

Don't forget a carbon filter. You're going to need it ESPECIALLY in flower. And remember, it's better to suck, not blow. That is, you want the fan sucking air from the filter as opposed to blowing it THRU the filter.
You CAN blow thru but it's more strain on the fan and you end up with all manner of dust inside your filter.

I've been down the soil indoors track, and while it's completely do able, I don't recommend it.

IMO, you're better off going with coco, it is MUCH more forgiving!
I use bricks which cost about $2 from Bunnings and expand to make 7-9 litres of medium.
With a decent flush, it's an awesome medium, but that's just my personal opinion.

 

But having said that, if you use coco, you're going to want to use coco specific nutes.
 

I've not used any duct from Bunnings, but I saw how cheap an nasty the ducting is from Masters and I wouldn't waste my time. You can get it on eBay.

Best of luck!


Katt.

[Cheddar]

The key to successful cupboards is Air - The more the better in my opinion.

Alot of Hydro shops etc wouldn't believe me when i would tell them where i was growing, (back then it was a cupboard) and how much light you can put in one safely, and also how much you can yield from one.

If you go by there rules, 1 400w is MAX for a cupboard, and you should expect 6-12 oz, this is what i was being told continually and so i believed them.

 

Well it turns out, you can use 800 w, (with adequate circualation - and this was a standard 2 door clothes cupboard) and with good methods of feeding, tipping and tying down, you could easily achieve anywhere from 20oz to 30 oz, and in my book that is a huge difference and a massive leap.

 

So just think, the more air you take out, and replace with fresh, the cooler it will be. Experiment, play around and see what you can do, marking down temps etc, so when you are ready to actually get it rockin you wont have any unexpected temp changes etc.

 

Anyways i hope i have helped in some way, just remember you can get alot more out of your plants than most would let you believe,

 

Cheers!

Edited October 29, 2013 by Cheddar

[The Hash Nibbler]

Cool cheddar, can we see some pictures of ya 20-30 oz, 800w  2 door cupboard then?  I call bullshit. It would wanna be a bloody HUGE cupboard, or ya weighing it wet, or like a cop , with the roots attached....

And thats over a gram a watt too. Please enlighten us......

 

Nibbler.

[Lenore]

What Cheddar said about air and circulation is right. You want to be sure you're changing the air out often enough, not just to keep the temps down but to give the plants fresh air, they kinda need it....

One suggestion I would make ESPECIALLY for a drobe is to get a cooltube.
I'm running a 400w in my drobe (1.2m x .5m) and temps are stable at about 26/27 deg.

[Cheddar]

Cool cheddar, can we see some pictures of ya 20-30 oz, 800w  2 door cupboard then?  I call bullshit. It would wanna be a bloody HUGE cupboard, or ya weighing it wet, or like a cop , with the roots attached....

And thats over a gram a watt too. Please enlighten us......

 

Nibbler.

Thats ok Nibbler - You can call bullshit , has no effect on me, i know what a plant is capable of, im assuming you perhaps may not if you find that so unbelievable.

 

I dont actually use a cupboard these days, i upgraded, that was some time ago now, although i do still have the custom made tub for the cupboard, the custom made shade, and the cool air humidifier, if i ever so choose to knock it up again.

It contained, 800w, of hps in a custom built shade, had 5 computer fans strategicaly placed, one main exhaust and a custom made tub.

 

See, we were doing dwc when apparently you would drown a plant, so nibbler, i ve been told a hell of a lot you "cant" do with a plant, just not a whole lot of what you can, so we figured it out orselves..

 

Anyways , to appease you and your curiosity i shall see if  i can dig out a pic or two just for you..

 

 

cheers

 

PS - Straight to the cop thing hey.. .. and how old are you?