Armoire grow. 6x6x2. questions

[Guest]

Hello Ambre, no worries on the time. It's a work in progress. We have nothing but time.

I wanted to note real quick, the freezer is 30" high. However, there is a small cube, on the top right of the floorspace, that houses the motor for the freezer. That's the thing that is 11" tall.



Freezer
Right now this is what I was thinking. (with the aid of a few hits just now...so bare with me.) Run 4 - 8 buckets on the right side of the freezer. where clones will veg. prob. 1 Will they be movable (easily for a novice, and safe for the roots.) from those buckets to bigger buckets in the box when they are ready to flower. prob 2. is there room for them to veg for 25-30 days in there? I know you said you can do it fine with 30", how wide is your space? I'll only be working with 26". All the pictures I see of clones growing via dwc, are usually quite big.

on the side infront of the motor cube thing, I was thinking we could have the cloner set up there.

I would like to have a res for the vegging side, I can run tubbing into the freezer and have a tub sitting next to it?


Stealth
The armoire does lock, so we are alright there.

Electrical
It will be the only thing in the room using power. I still need to investigate what the specs are for the room. I'll report back when I do. 2 400hps cooltube light system with a 6inch vortec fan, and any other? electrical things involved in a 2 sided scrog. That's what would be running. And I would assume we will be doing 12/12 on one side while dark on the other.

Ventilation
It's okay if ducting is showing above the cab. this room gets used so litte, and it's usually my gramma, who sleeps there, she wouldent give it to thoughts. so a large exhaust with a scrubber could be on top if we choose. Just gives us more options to work with. Only problem is, the top is not very strong wood. so weight could be a concern on top.

Design

Whats a good price on these liners? I havent searched yet. just ballpark so I know what to look for. harvesting on both sides, using the freezer to veg sounds good. I'll know for sure in a bit if we are going to do dual 400's or not. but I think we will.

Thanks for the great input. I've learned so much about my design and options in just a few days.

Great work

-ms

Ambre: You're grows are looking great. I love that pvc frame set up.

 

[Guest]

Right now this is what I was thinking. (with the aid of a few hits just now...so bare with me.) Run 4 - 8 buckets on the right side of the freezer. where clones will veg. prob. 1 Will they be movable (easily for a novice, and safe for the roots.) from those buckets to bigger buckets in the box when they are ready to flower.

Are you planning on putting more than one plant in a bucket? If so, make the holes in the lid of the bucket large enough to safely remove the roots. If you put the plants fairly close together, the roots can become tangled. You can prevent this by lifting the lid & separating the roots every day or two or you can just not worry about it and kind of tear them apart when you are ready to transplant. As long as you don't butcher them, they won't be hurt by losing a small amount of their roots.

If you are only putting one plant per bucket, then your only worry is to keep the plant from falling over as you lift it.

prob 2. is there room for them to veg for 25-30 days in there? I know you said you can do it fine with 30", how wide is your space? I'll only be working with 26". All the pictures I see of clones growing via dwc, are usually quite big.

My space for vegging is 25" x 30" x about 30" tall. The size you let the clones get depends on how many plants you want to flower at once. You can flower clones from about 1 week after rooting to as large as you want. I tend to start my clones flowering at about 12" tall (depending on variety - some varieties stretch 2-3X their starting height when flowering and some stretch
less than double their original height). This is something you'll have to observe during the first round with each plant so you know how big to let them get for the most efficient use of the SCROG space in future grows. I also top the clones & start bending the taller branches to encourage them to bush out so they are ready for the screen when I move them to flowering.

In your flowering space, I'd guess that 2-3 plants is the most you'd be able to fit. If you let them veg longer, one plant could fill the screen. I don't know the laws where you live, but you usually run less risk of penalties with fewer plants.

on the side infront of the motor cube thing, I was thinking we could have the cloner set up there.

That would probably be the ideal spot for it. Not much else will fit in that small spot!

I would like to have a res for the vegging side, I can run tubbing into the freezer and have a tub sitting next to it?

Yes, you can do that. I assume you will be doing recirculating buckets - keep in mind that the res has to be lower than the buckets in order for them to drain and you will need to drill holes through the freezer to run the lines (drain water won't run up over the lip of the freezer; it needs gravity to pull it back to the reservoir). Your feed lines can be run up because the pump will keep the water moving, but as long as you have to drill a hole for the drain line, you might as well run them through the hole, too. It will be less stress on the pump.

It will be the only thing in the room using power. I still need to investigate what the specs are for the room. I'll report back when I do. 2 400hps cooltube light system with a 6inch vortec fan, and any other? electrical things involved in a 2 sided scrog. That's what would be running. And I would assume we will be doing 12/12 on one side while dark on the other.

If you are going to alternate the lights, then you can probably get away with a 15 amp circuit. A 15 amp circuit can handle about 1440 watts load total, so a 400 watt light + 50 watts for the extractor fan + maybe 50 watts for internal circulation fans, some air pumps, and a water pump if you will be using a reservoir - that isn't going to overload your wiring.

If the cabinet has only a single door and you run the lights alternately, you'll need to put a lightproof curtain or something over each side separately so you don't let light into the dark side when you open the cab to work on the lighted side.

It's okay if ducting is showing above the cab. this room gets used so litte, and it's usually my gramma, who sleeps there, she wouldent give it to thoughts. so a large exhaust with a scrubber could be on top if we choose. Just gives us more options to work with. Only problem is, the top is not very strong wood. so weight could be a concern on top.

You can put a piece of plywood on top of the cabinet for strength if needed. My blower fan is about 12 lbs and the carbon scrubber is maybe 5 lbs; a piece of 1/4" or 3/8" plywood would be more than enough reinforcement.

Whats a good price on these liners? I havent searched yet. just ballpark so I know what to look for. harvesting on both sides, using the freezer to veg sounds good. I'll know for sure in a bit if we are going to do dual 400's or not. but I think we will.

If you buy the emergency blankets from WallyWorld, they are about $2 each. I'd put two layers in because they are fairly thin and let light through; two layers is much better.

If you want to insulate the cabinet as well as add reflectivity, take a look at "reflectix" brand insulation at Lowes or Home dePot. A roll of 48" x 10 yards is about $45. It's what I used on both of my PVC framed garden units. I used leftovers to insulate windows on the house (cut a piece to a bit larger than the window, covered it with some fabric so it didn't look so much like a spaceship, and stapled it over the windows - lightproof and insulation in one).

For sealing up light leaks in the cabinet, use caulking on the seams and weather stripping on the doors. If you need light proof air intake vents, look into the vents they sell for photographic darkrooms - these are designed to stop light but allow air to travel through.

When you are designing your setup, keep in mind that you will be working with it every day. You want easy access to the plants and the reservoirs. When you plan the SCROG screen, leave enough room under and above it to get your hands in for moving branches around (about 12" from the top of the bucket to the screen seems to be minimum). Also remember that the buds are going to grow above the screen when serious flowering starts, so you need to allow at least 8-12" above the screen for the buds.

I use a piece of dowel as a dip stick to see if a reservoir needs water added (as I fill the reservoir the first time, I put the dip stick in with each gallon and mark the level with a permanent marker). Make an extra hole in the top of the buckets so you can easily check pH and TDS levels (I use a bulb-type turkey baster to pull some nute solution out into a cup for ease of getting these readings and then pour the solution back when I'm done). You can also use a funnel and top off water levels through this extra hole. It's a lot easier this way than to try to pry the lid off when you have a large plant in it!

If the buckets in the flowering cabinet won't be using a reservoir, you might want to put a drain spigot in the bucket for ease of nute changeouts. You can use a siphon if you don't want to risk the possibility of a leak from the drain (I try, whenever possible, to build my gardens without any holes below water level).

 

[Guest]

...
this info comes courtesy of Sugabear who is an awesome cyber-friend and is more than willing to share his knowledge of cabinets.....some have remarked that his cab setups are the best ever.....maybe someday we will have enough freedom to open up a Wal-Mart for Cab Enthusiasts!!! hehehe.....

well gee guineapig that was awfully nice of you to say about my little cabinet (blushes)

so yeah it's me the ol' bear and I wanted to drop by and say high and point you to the person who taught me alot. He has managed to re-create most of his original thread here... so here's the link - it's pretty much the same size armoir - he's using a 150

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=21514&highlight=tiny+bubbles

he really knows what he's doing.

I'll post some pics and a thead on my unique hydro DWC scrog method and come back with a link later.