The perfect cabinet design for AF's only

[Chiya]

OK Guys .. I am taking the plunge! I have been lurking here for a couple months now and voraciously reading everything I could on everything but most especially the auto flower.

What I would like is for you guys with all your experience to help me design the “PERFECT” cabinet for growing only AF’s. It must be no larger in dimensions than I already use and preferably instead of the 18” deep to be only 12” deep and use only the 150w HPS with maybe a couple CFL’s for lower level foliage.

I built a grow tent using panda film and pvc. (a temporary get by) Dimensions are:
36”w x 42”h x 18”d
SILVERSTONE FM121-B 120mm Case Fan w/110cfm on exhaust (unless I turn it way down to low it keeps the panda film sucked in)
3 3.5” passive intakes
4 socket bath vanity with Y splitters to accommodate 8 26w CFL
5” fan blowing between plants and cfl’s

I am very surprised I haven’t killed the freebie short stuff seeds I am using to learn on. I started them in tiny Dixie cups then moved them to 16oz cups. When they started looking a bit bedraggled I checked them to find I had over watered them. At that time I moved them into fresh soil and 2 gallon bags. You won’t believe it but they are finally looking not to bad at all. I have to say tho the bag seed I am playing with growing in Miracle Grow with fertilizer (in far too small cups) is much nice looking than the Short Stuff in Jungle Grow organic. Fertilizer I am using is chemical.. I know I am defeating the purpose of organic .. but it’s all I have atm. I just can’t see ordering in the fox farm soils and nutes and there is no where locally to obtain it.

I can only put 6 cfl’s in there without temps soaring so I ordered a 150w HPS that I expect in tomorrow in hopes it will be better light and easier to control temps.

I anxiously wait for all the accumulated years of experience in growing AF’s and lessons you can teach me.

I do have a pic of my little much abused Short Stuff uploaded to an album but can't figure out how to put it in here. Every time I try to drag it over it wipes out all my writing

 

[IceColdCrickets]

Welcome to the AF experience!
we would love to see pics of the CAB. As for your dementions they are ok, but would have been much better if you made a square to get even light coverage for your 150watt HPS you are going to put in there. A 2x2ft cab would rock that 150watt HPS.

bummer you cant get the FoxFarm products,, it is worth it to drive somewhere to get them, Did you check your local Nursery? They are available other places then Hydro Stores, You can use Black Gold products aswell with good results.

As for the uploading pics, there are threads on this, do a search is very easy.

Again welcome, ICC.

 

[Chiya]

Thx ICC

I think I have the picture thing sorted

 

[TheGreenBastard]

You would be much better off with some bigger CFL's, at least 42w's or 65w's. From my experience their is a significant boost in penetration power when upgrading from 23w to 42w or higher. I would get 2 65w 6500k CFL's for your blue spec, and maybe 2 42w 6500k's too.
Then use the remaining 23w's to get to spots receiving less light.

 

[Chiya]

As you can see my panda film pvc set up is just a quick throw together but it's serving the purpose of helping me learn.

The 150w hps is only going to cover a grow area of approx 2'x2' .. is that right?

SOOOO... for my perfect cabinet build I need to set it up to be 24" x 24" .

What about height .. it looks like the Mossy Jems are a taller plant than say Easy Ryder and I want to be able to accomodate either of these ... looks like I need to put the utility area above the grow/bloom area. So what would be your recommendation of a height?

I really don't intend to grow out more than a couple or three at most at the time. Will it be ok for that?

 

[TheGreenBastard]

If your only doing that many you will be fine. AF's need more root space than anything, in fact that HPS should be enough on its own. I used to use a 400w HPS with over 300w's of CFL's (mostly blue spec) and I could put as many AF's as I could fit and never had any problems with light. I could have done with out the HPS but I wanted to pack on the weight and density so I decided to use it.

 

[Chiya]

Fantastic!

Thx for your input GB. The auto flower is the perfect answer for me. The short grow off time and the improvement in them are just what I have looked for.

My temporary cabinet will be scavanged for parts as soon as I figure out how I want to build this next one. Well and as soon as this batch is harvested.

 

[TheGreenBastard]

That is what got me interested, that and the fact that you can breed so many generations so quickly. They are defiantly going to be the future of breeding and general cultivation.

 

[Chiya]

I absolutely agree and find it so hard to listen to those putting the AF down. If they would only read a little they would see what a big improvement and change it has made and is making.

Over the years I have grown a few outside and even tried inside growing a few times but with the bag seed available and my limited knowledge I can't say any of them were really great. (and hey I have been accused of having a green thumb)

The AF will give many more people a chance to try growing their own that would never even try with the normal old strains.

 

[Stoner4Life]

I got the burned out fridge for free, the rest of the
conversion cost about $400 including the Vortex
fan and activated charcoal filter.......

​

 

[dimodz]

Good idea
​

 

[Chiya]

Wow!

very nice setup

 

[dargo]

nice one Stoner4Life! did you have to pull all the guts out the old fridge before you converted it or is it still a complete (non working) fridge?

I have been thinking about doing something like this for ages......

 

[BooleanCisco]

Talk about stealth.. Who doesn't have a fridge in their garage? Nice setup man!