vertical for new cabinet

Hi All: It's been a while since I've been around IC, but some research led me back and I'm really impressed with what's been happening in the vertical world. I've been thinking of a building a new cabinet in the 36" square range. I'd like to put a 400 watt HPS and 4 plants in it. I was thinking I could fit a vertical scrog setup in that space.

I made up this sketchup model for what I had in mind. I'd like do a modular scrog attached to each pot and wondering if the diameter seems about right. Trying to aim for 6" clear between bud and bulb. Is that about right for a 400? With the modular setup I can pull back or push closer if needed.

The rest of the setup would be what I've been running the past couple years - coco in airpots with blumats.

Appreciate any comments or suggestions.

OK, not much interest in cabinet design it seems. I guess I'll just build it and see what happens.

What I was trying to figure out is should the screen be on the inside of the plants or the outside, seems like I see people doing it both ways. My first thought was to run the plant on the outside and poke the branches through the screen to the light. But it seems most of you are putting a screen on the backside and tying the branches to it so I've decided to push the screen out as far as I can and go this route.

I also got to thinking about the training that will be needed and getting access to the back of the cabinet. Which got me thinking about being able to rotate the plants. I've seen references to this sort of setup but didn't find any details

so I came up with this I'll mount some casters on the floor panel and build a turntable with a guide ring to keep everything aligned. I can route water lines and electric cords between the casters and up through the hole in the center of the turntable.

So with the pots and screens it will look like this sort of a rolling doughnut, eh?

and in the cabinet it will look like this

Bought parts for the turntable and screen yesterday so I'm going to get started building and see if it works.

Sup TOG... Nice ta meet you.... Good desing bro... Work some magic....

Id say both is a the best option for you design...
Id also say look into bamboo sticks across the canopy into the back screens...
Working great for me....

2 Cents...

Thanks for the suggestions AD. I've been running a cabinet scrog for the past few years so I'm all too familiar with the challenges of canopy control. I'm looking forward to trying the vertical.

But first I gotta build stuff. It will take a while to build the box but I got started yesterday. I had some leftover 3/4" plywood so I decided to get the floor and turntable part worked out first. It came out great!

I cut the plywood to the size needed for the floor panel and did some layout. I set 8 casters in a circle approximately under the center of the pots.

I cut the plywood for the turntable and guide ring, glued and nailed the ring to the bottom and it works like a charm.

Also got started on the screen panels. I wanted to curve the top piece so I spent some time with a hair dryer and bent the PVC pipe around a barrel that was the right diameter. I'll let it sit like this for a few days until the curve sets.

Alawys likes me a good, DIY. . Rock on, brother. ..

Great, how is the project going

early_bird said:

Great, how is the project going

Click to expand...

Unfortunately it has stalled. There was not consensus in my house that a new cabinet was needed at this time. Too bad, I have completed the curved screens and I thought they'd work great. In case this might be of use to anyone else I'll continue with the screen build.

From my sketchup model I knew I was going to need about a 4-1/2" offset from the screen frame to the pot on each side. I found some 45 deg long sweep PVC elbows in the electrical conduit section that came out perect. I got the 90 degree els from the plumbing section, it's all the same size pipe. The screen is intended to be attached to each pot.

First I did a layout with the components to determine where to attach the supports to the airpot.

For frame supports I sanded the end of a dowel so the PVC elbow would fit snug. Then I attached the dowels to the airpot with zip ties.

I set the frame on the airpot and zip tied some 2x3 fencing to the frame. Gotta love them zipties.

Did an upside down test fit to see how it works. Then put them all away for another day, sigh...

I still feel this need to be vertical so today I am redoing my current cabinet to rip out the hood and drop a bulb down the middle. It's only a 14" x 24" flower chamber with a 250 watt HPS so it will be interesting.

I've used vertival lights on a circular design before...it penetrates the jungle when horizontal beams directly down. Can you do both, see which performs best for your household? Best of both worlds. Looks like you have a great prototype!! Grow on!!

Vertical for an old cabinet

Vertical for an old cabinet

I made some progress yesterday on the cabinet remodel. I gutted the old hood, revised the electrical a bit and designed a screen that sits on a frame that will carry 2 - 1 gallon grow bags. I had 4 clones ready to go so I've decided to try 4 with a short veg this first time to see how it works. 1 gallon isn't much but I'm using coco with a blumat drip system so I think it will be OK.

The screen frame forms a half ellipse

Attached more 2x3 fencing to the frames and set everything in place for a test fit.

The space in the center is just enough for a 4" fan I have. It's on a speed control so I can adjust.

I can see already I am going to have a problem with the heat. The the old setup with a separate air cooled hood only had a 50 CFM fan for cabinet exhaust that draws through a carbon filter tray, I'm guessing 30 CFM net. I patched the old hood inlet and outlet so the cabinet is sealed again and set up the fan and light for a test run. Temps hit 95 pretty fast so I pulled out the filter and I'm playing with fan speed. In the end I think I'll need a bigger exhaust fan.

Thought I would post a little update on the cabinet remodel.

The temperature problem went away for the time being. We are in a cold snap that lowered the ambient temp of my garage enough so the cabinet has been running in the mid 70s all week. No filter but the girls aren't very smelly yet.

In the meanwhile I bought a new fan that should keep the cabinet cool with the filter in place. I will get it installed after the weather gets a little warmer. As a backup plan I also got a 150 watt ballast just in case I'm still having problems or if we get a hot spell in the summer.


I transplanted the clones into 1 gallon grow bags with straight coco and hooked up the blumats. I couldn't find the correct tees for the 1/4" ID tubing on the day I was doing it so I patched it together with garden hose parts until I get proper fittings, which arrived yesterday. Another little project to be done when I get the time.


The cold seemed to slow down growth a bit or perhaps prolong the transplant shock. But the girls have now recovered. They are looking happy and are growing. The strain is OGer99 by Dutchgrown. Been growing this one for the last 4 years, she's a favorite. Feeding H&G Cocos with Bonicare Calmag and Drip Clean.

I think I'm going to love this setup. At this point in the horizontal scrog I would be fighting every day to keep them horizontal. But they really want to be vertical and it is so simple to just tie back to the screen in a few places. I know it will still require maintenance but so far I'm liking it!

I've sorta moved this thread to the micro forum but wanted to post over here about how much I am loving this change from scrog to vertical. I'm a little over 2 weeks into flower and it has been such a pleasure not to fight with the girls trying to keep them horizontal when it is not their nature. The stretch is slowing and the cabinet has filled up real nice. It only took minimal training and tying to fill out the screen, so much easier than scrog. Don't know why I didn't figure this out years ago.


A couple shots 2 days ago at 14 days. Buds are just starting to set and I've still got about 6" to the ceiling for them to grow. I think I might have timed the flip just about right. The one in the photo is at least another inch or so taller this morning so it should work out pretty close.

From concept, ... to day 16 of flower. Well done.

As an epilogue to this thread I thought I'd post the results of the first run as compared to previous runs with a horizontal scrog.

The girls are now dried and in the jars. Came out to 160 grams which for 250 watts is only .64 g/w but it is 33% better than the 125 gram average I was getting with the horizontal scrog. My cabinet is only 2.7 SF footprint so a 250 watt in there is really overkill. I was fighting high temps from the light and I am thinking I could get almost as much yield with a 150 setup. Better g/w and less heat. Tweaks for the next run...


The cabinet filled up nicely, the girls topped out right at the ceiling and the buds filled out really nice too. This was at 55 days. The trichs were ambering pretty fast on the inside so I chopped at 58 days.


Sorry for the crappy photos but in the end, the half doughnuts got pretty thick. I defoliated about 3 weeks into flower but should have done alot more. I also let some branches get too close and had a bit of bleaching. Lessons learned.

Overall really I loved this change to vertical. The work to control growth is across the vertical screens is practically nothing compared what I was doing before. It is a challenge to do it in a small cabinet of less than ideal proportions but this run was good and I think the next one will be better.

Wow that looks great man! Love the original design... hope you get the full thing operational.