Lo-Pro Gro - The Beginning

[4.20]

Hey there. There's a post on this site by v4nz on a wardrobe-turned-micro-gro-op that I was privileged to be a part of. I learned a lot. And now that I have my own place, I need to find a source of herb. v4nz had the right idea: grow it yourself. Not to sell. Just for personal consumption. Smart. It costs you the nutrients and the electricity.

And it's very, very discrete.

So I stole the idea. Outright thefted it. Yoinked it right out from under him. With his complete and total knowledge of the crime, of course. Hehe.

So here is my low profile grow cabinet build. Hope ya like it. Feel free to leave your thoughts.

 

[anonymousgrow]

It always starts small....

 

[4.20]

Lo-Pro Gro Part 1 - The Foundation

Lo-Pro Gro Part 1 - The Foundation

The foundation for this project is a standard 4' wide, 6' high, 2' deep wardrobe found at most major department stores. The reason for this is discretion. Once the doors are closed, it's just a cabinet. I also have mine in a storage room in the basement, so it's completely out of the way.

 

[4.20]

Lo-Pro Gro Part 2 - Control Center

Lo-Pro Gro Part 2 - Control Center

The top of the cabinet has an opening about 14 inches high that is perfect for all the electrics and ventilation.



The fan will go in on the right, connected almost directly into the filter. And all the timers and power bar are on the left. I cut a hole in the back panel near the left side for routing electrical cords. The black things you can see on the shelf are 4" pipe parts that will be used for the ventilation system.

 

[4.20]

Lo-Pro Gro Part 2b - Controls

Lo-Pro Gro Part 2b - Controls

I installed a power bar on the left wall of this opening and cut a hole in the back for the electrical wires to go through. The cords for the two pumps, the CFL and the T5 array will all come in through this hole and be plugged into timers. In this picture, the hole is right behind the CFL fixture. You can't see it, but I assure you, it's there.


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Here is a shot of the state-of-the-art custom-altitude-micro-adjustment suspension system I installed. Its other name is a chain on a cup hook.

This type of chain is great. Credit to v4nz for this one: when you cut the chain to length, the link you cut becomes a hook. Very handy if you lose your hand to a crocodile.

 

[4.20]

Lo-Pro Gro Part 3 - Grow Holes

Lo-Pro Gro Part 3 - Grow Holes

The rest of the cabinet is divided up into 4 sections. Two for plants to live in, and two for keeping those plants living.

This is the flowering hole. I was calling it the Flowering Compartment, but that's just too long to keep typing over and over. So hole it is. In an earlier picture you can see the CFL base hanging in the control cavity. Here's the bottom of that very same CFL fixture, protruding into the flowering hole.



Here's the whole hole:


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On the right is a slightly smaller compartment for vegging.



Both of these have been lined with poly. I actually considered just painting the walls, but there are a number of reasons not to do that. Paint is chemical and I'd really rather not have that inside with my plants. Yuck. Poly is cleaner and easier to keep clean. It's also highly reflective. And it doesn't have to be applied with a brush.

 

[4.20]

Lo-Pro Gro Part 4 - Seal Your Joints

Lo-Pro Gro Part 4 - Seal Your Joints

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the tuck tape sealing before the poly went in.

Basically, everywhere inside a grow hole where two pieces of plastic-coated-pressboard come together gets a line of tuck tape to seal the space where they join. Here's a picture showing the very end of the tape, to give you an idea what I mean:


This particular piece went in the upper-right corner between the back panel and the front edge. In other words, along this edge:


Then, once you've got the tape on, line the entire compartment with poly. I cut these pieces to match the depth of the cabinet, then installed it on the side walls, floor and ceiling. I cut a separate piece for the back wall. This piece was actually cut larger than needed. The back panel of these cabinets is nothing more than a thick piece of dense cardboard. Not all that strong, and not the best thing to staple into. The extra size overlapped the compartment walls, floor and ceiling, so I could staple into the thicker material.

Seal all your joints. Good advice, that.

 

[4.20]

Lo-Pro Gro Part 5 - Electrical

Lo-Pro Gro Part 5 - Electrical

As this is ultimately going to be a hydroponic system, I needed a way to get water to and from the plants. I also need to route various wires in each compartment. Each light will be installed on a separate timer, so I can have the veg side on 24-hour or 18/6, and have the flowering side on 12/12. Since plants can be fed on the same schedule during both vegging and flowering, I can hook both pumps to one timer. To control the flow of water, I'll be installing a valve on each feed line.

I actually cut most of the holes before the poly went on. Here's a trick I discovered completely by accident. I cut the hole for the CFL to hang into the flowering side, then installed the poly, then cut the poly in an X pattern A BIT SMALLER THAN THE HOLE. When I pushed the CFL through, the poly stretched enough to let it through, but stayed snug against the fixture. This is handy for keeping out unwanted light.

Here's the picture of the CFL coming through the hole into the flowering compartment. Shouldn't have any stray photons getting through there.


Here are two shots of the back panel. You can see the holes that I cut for wires.



Each grow hole will have a fan blowing constantly, so those cords will come out these holes and be plugged into a second power bar on the floor behind the cabinet. That will help keep the control cavity clutter-free. The two pumps and the T5 array will be plugged into the timers, so those cords will come out the bottom holes and go in the top one. The CFL is housed and powered entirely inside the control cavity.

 

[4.20]

Lo-Pro Gro Part 6 - Ventilation

Lo-Pro Gro Part 6 - Ventilation

I wanted the ventilation to as good as possible, so I went with smooth pipes instead of corrugated ducting. The ducting was used to connect the smooth pipe to the fan, and to connect the fan to the filter.

On the flowering side, I just shoved the pipe through a hole in the wall.



The vegging side has a T to provide an input and connect to the left side. The T goes directly into the elbow, which goes through another hole into the control cavity.



There is a small length of straight pipe connecting the two elbows, then dryer ducting to connect the elbow to the fan.



I also used the dryer duct to connect the fan to the filter. The fan and filter are hung on bungee cords suspended from hooks in the ceiling. It took a bit of playing to find the right combination of bungees to get them to hang at the right level.



Using bungee cords means the fan and filter are not touching the cabinet through anything solid. Well, as little as possible anyway. This lowers the amount of noise that is transmitted outside the cabinet.

 

[4.20]

Lo-Pro Gro Part 7 - Lighting

Lo-Pro Gro Part 7 - Lighting

The lights on the vegging side are 4 T5s (6400k). I wanted a way to raise and lower the lights easily, so they could be adjusted as the plants grow. I considered using the same setup as I have for the CFL, but having to adjust 4 chains every time was asking too much.

I found a nice piece of green clothes line in my shop, left over from the dude who lived there before me, I guess. I figured, since it was green, and not the standard blue, it was obviously meant to be included in this project. So I cut four pieces, looped both ends of each and routed them through some holes in the ceiling of the vegging compartment and through a couple eyelets. I installed a series of cup hooks on one wall of the control cavity. The loops at the bottom of the cables are attached to hooks in each corner of the plywood.



The loops at the top end of the cable are attached to the hooks in the wall.



The cables are routed through holes and eyelets. I also have the two front cables taped together on the right, and the same for the rear two cables. This means only having to move two cables instead of four.



To adjust the lights, I just have to unhook the loops from the hooks on the wall and move them up or down. The array itself fits quite well, so it moves freely up and down.

 

[4.20]

Lo-Pro Gro Part 8 - Lighting II

Lo-Pro Gro Part 8 - Lighting II

Once the plywood was fitted and the cables installed, I took the plywood out again and lined the bottom face with a piece of poly to increase reflectivity.



The lights were mounted evenly across the plywood. These particular lights came with cables to daisy-chain them together. Unfortunately, these connectors are supposed to plug into the ends of the ballasts, but the ballasts fit almost perfectly in the space, so there was no room to install the connectors. I ended up hard-wiring them together.



And as testament to my soldering skills, they worked first time.

 

[cannadiancream]

Hey there, everything looks good there. I see one problem though with the design and it pertains to the exhaust system. When the doors are closed where do you plan on sending the heat from the fan and filter. With the filter inside the upper compartment there isn't alot of room for the air to go. So are you hoping that it will push it way out the cracks or what. Might have to create a passive vent for the air to escape easier or rework it.

 

[not4n]

looks awesome!!

what kind wattage cfl are you going to be flowering with?

are you planning on doing a SoG? that would be sick!!

as far as expelling hot air that has already been scrubbed, maybe put a 4" hole in the back and havea axial fan blowing it out..but then ya, you would need some kind of intake too. You obviously have everything under control. Can't wait to see what you do here!!!

Best of luck dude!!!

 

[not4n]

also, what are the dimensions of your four separate cabs in there?

 

[4.20]

Thanks!

cannadiancream: You're right. There was a small hole in the back for the electrical cords to get into the upper compartment (for timers). But certainly not enough for actual venting.

not4n: I'm not sure what the wattage will be - most of this is still fairly new to me, so I'll be discussing this with my local expert.
And not sure what SoG is... ?

I've added another 4" hole directly behind the fan and filter. That should allow the heat to exhaust. If it's still a problem, I'll mount a computer fan on that hole to blow the air out.

 

[4.20]

not4n, here are the dimensions. (The depth of the whole cabinet is 19.5")

Upper Compartment: 46"w x 14"h (Note: the opening is only 11" high)

Middle Left (Flowering): 22.75"w x 33"h

Middle Right (Vegging): 22.75"w x 26.25"h

Bottom Left (drain): 22.75"w x 20.25"h

Bottom Right (feed): 22.75"w x 26.75"h

 

[not4n]

youre set, man!! you're gonna have more than enough smoke for you and a few buddies!! keep us updated!!


state-of-the-art custom-altitude-micro-adjustment suspension system
LOL...AWESOME!!!

 

[4.20]

Lo-Pro Gro Part 9 - Irrigation

Lo-Pro Gro Part 9 - Irrigation

Ok, I now have a hole in the back of the control cavity for venting. I also managed to get the drain plugs in and the vegging cabinet plumbed.



I've got a submersible pump in the right-hand feed bin, with a pipe that goes through a small hole into the vegging compartment. The natural curve of the pipe makes it easy to route it over into place. I have a small hole cut in the front of the bin for the pipe to stick through to keep it from moving around. I don't have all the barbs I need yet, so I only have the one line connected thus far. Eventually there will be at least 4, perhaps 8; have to talk to my local expert first.

The line around the base of the clear tub is wood.



I used small strips of wood that I found in my shop to prop up the edge of the tub. When I screwed the drain plug into place, it pulled the bottom of the tub down flush with the floor. The steeper angle will allow for better drainage.

Here's a close-up of one of the drain plugs.



The slot in the center used to be flush with the top of the plug. I figured that didn't make much sense - what's the point of cutting a slot into the face of the plug if it doesn't go any lower than the top? So I used a hack-saw and lowered it. The low point of the slot is now about 1/4" from the bottom of the tub. That should allow for good drainage and minimize the amount of standing water.

 

[v4nz]

4.20 - Lookin awesome, man! You've definitely got the nicer of our setups, now something to be said from learning from someone else's mistakes, eh?

Going to take a few pointers from this for the next iteration of upgrades to my cabinet ( https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=278849 ) In particular, the T5 adjustment setup. Love that.

Also, the edge-propping of the tub, to increase drainage. That looks like it will work perfectly.

Got a few babies here that are just about ready to be sent your way

 

[4.20]

Update... really really late.

Update... really really late.

Ok, so this is kinda dredging this post out of the past, but I wanted to post some recent pictures of this particular setup. I've made a few changes in the top cabinet to reduce heat, but not worth pictures. However, v4nz hooked up my second auto-pump while I was out of town. Thanks kindly. Here's a shot of the bubbling pair of feed bins.


Ok, so now onto the results. Unfortunately, I don't have shots of the first batch, since I didn't have anything but my phone (ie: portable google device) to take pictures. But now I have a digital camera so here are some pictures of the second and third.

The two in bloom are both Blueberry. I've numbered them for reference. #1 on the left has a nice sweet/spicy funk. #2 on the right is just downright delicious.