Cabinet for starting clones and vegging.

Here’s the new Clone/Veg cab I put together this weekend. For the past two years I’ve been using two of these cabs for starting clones, vegging and keeping mothers. Each cab is 24” wide, 15” deep and 36” high. I use 54w compact T5s for bulbs and it’s cooled with PC fans.


It’s worked well but I had a few issues.

1. With only two cabs and it being used for three things, I was having to move things around a lot.
2. I love the 54w compact T5s for vegging but even one of the bulbs is overkill for starting clones and mothers.
3. I didn’t have much vertical space for vegging. Hasn’t been a problem since I don’t have a lot of vertical space in my flower cab but I plan on getting a second flower cab with more vertical space which means I needed a taller vegging area.

First a few caveats. The room these cabinets are in stays fairly cool so I don’t need a lot of ventilation. I also don’t need to worry about odor.

To keep things simple again I headed to Home Depot and picked up the following.

• 24”x15”x72” pre-fab cabinet
• A sheet of ¾” plywood cut vertically
• Register vent filters
• Gallon of flat white paint
• 2 foot, 2x14w T5 light fixture

For tools I used

• Circular saw
• Drill, bits and hole cutter
• Screwdriver

On with the show.

First pick shows the frame of the cabinet built before the back is attached. Door is to the side.


Here I’ve attached the plywood back. I prefer to use ¾” plywood instead of the flimsy back the cabinet comes with to give it extra stability. I sometime have to move the cabinets around and this makes sure they stay in one piece.


Here’s a shot from the inside. I painted the inside of the back before I attached it.


I then painted the inside of the cabinet and let it dry overnight so sawdust wouldn't stick when I start cutting all my holes.

This pic shows my passive intake holes cut.


And now I’ve cut the exhaust holes for the fans


Here’s what it looks like from the inside. I've also installed one of the adjustable shelves. By design there's supposed to be a fixed shelf installed but I didn't like it's placement so I left it out.


Time to start finishing up. Here I’ve got the fans mounted, holes cut for the lighting wires to run and attached the register vent filters over the passive intakes. I just used some packing tape to attach the filters.


Here’s a closer shot of the fans, filter for the upper portion and the holes for the lighting cords.


From the outside with the door closed


From the back


From this inside with all the lights installed and my clone starter tray/dome for scale.


Shot of the clone starting area. As you can see, my new T5 fixture was a very tight fit.


Shot of the vegging area

Thank You for giving me a idea run with. your thread is the first thread i have checked out. i do hope they r as indepth as yours.

Can you give us more details on that pre-fab cabinet?

It's a ClosetMaid 24" 1-Door Storage Cabinet. Model # 12281 Store SKU # 617557. $85.00 at Home Depot.

Figured I should add a photo of it actually in use. Started up six clones yesterday.

Can you find the t5 bulbs needed to grow with at HD? I thought you needed T5HO, but you aren't using them from what I can tell.

Can you give me specs on your bulbs for cloning/veg? I'm looking to grow some romaine in a smaller cabinet like your top half and peppers below in the lower portion since they need different light schedules.

bump1987 said:

Can you find the t5 bulbs needed to grow with at HD? I thought you needed T5HO, but you aren't using them from what I can tell.

Can you give me specs on your bulbs for cloning/veg? I'm looking to grow some romaine in a smaller cabinet like your top half and peppers below in the lower portion since they need different light schedules.

Click to expand...

They aren't an easy bulb to find here in the States, as I understand it, they are more popular in Europe. Here's a link to the actual bulb http://www.atlantalightbulbs.com/ecart/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=FT55DL.865. The thing I like about these bulbs is they put out almost as many lumens as the 4' T5HO but are only 21" long. I did have to build my own reflector however. I use three of these bulbs in they veg portion of my cabinet.

This is EXACTLy what im doing, yours is just alot more legit, but litterally from the t5s to the fixtures, i have a single t5 for seedlings then have a top cabinet with big 8bulb t5 for vegging with 600 w hps in my closet, good shit mayn

Thanks for sharing the info and the pics. Looks very simple and very neat aswell. Nice work, thanks again for sharing.