Cushpak's 534W CFL Grow Cab! AK-48, Killing fields, El Monstre, Irene kush, and more

Wasup everybody. This will be my second (or third) try at my mission to grow my own medical MJ. I'm basically tired of paying top dollar for less than top quality commercial "exotic strains". My first attempt failed due to noob mistakes. The second attempt went very smooth with good genetics, except I was only able to successfully maintain and harvest only one plant. This time around I want to try and keep a steady supply to support me and the misses personal habit.....


For those like me with no hydroponics Store, are afraid of ordering online, or are short on cash but can afford a few dollars to invest. This grow will only use materials that can be purchased at a local commercial home improvement store. The only things I will order will be my seeds.

So this is the grow cabinet
veg chamber equipped with 4-40w for 200w of 6500k, 2-23w and 1-13w for 39w of 2700k inside of the veg chamber total:234w 24/7

The bottom flowering chamber has 2 - 6 bulb bathroom vanity fixtures($19.99 a piece) from the local Home improvement store equipped with 12-23w($20) for 295w of 2700k total......12/12

Around $200 in all from local hardware store(mostly lighting, fans, timer, nutes , soil, etc.)
I'd say i came out saving quite a bit
cab alone was $50
58Hx20Dx48W in all.

I gave the veg chamber about 22"of height. And the Flowering is around 36"high

Ok on to the goodies

I'm growing out 3 seedbankstrains 1 commercial strain and alson unknown bagseed

i planted 5 Nirvana Ak48 about 10 days from sprout just topped today . I've been foliar feeding these babies for the last 3 days with diluted fish emulsion as Jorge Cervantes suggest

I also germed 3 Killing Fields fem and 3 El monstre freebies. Here they are about 2 days from sprout......(they're the smallest 6 in the back far left) sorry about the cam

I am also running some unknown bagseed from A-1 middies that are about 21 days into flower in order to work out any kinks in my setup and nute schedule. So i guess I'll call em "lab rats" lol. I planted BS along side all my strains as well to guage the seedbank strains progress....

why not just buy a 250 watt or 400 watt instead of all those cfl's. im sure those cfl's get way hotter then the hps would be. the hps would be easier to move around,less heat.

Good point Rasta, well the answer is I lost alotta sleep on that debate. From my last experience CFL's run alot cooler. I've grown with a 400w in the past in a much larger space (closet) and cut a hole in the top of the closet where i had a much larger fan than I have now (2 pc fans per chamber) and it got ridiculously hot in there 90Fdegrees and up. In my cab now I run 82-85F degrees.

My MH/HPS lighting fixture was too noisy last time as well

I also cannot modify the room the cab is in and it has no ventilation. Only leaving the door to the room open during when it is safe...

Plus money was an issue and I already was over budget and an expensive exhaust setup was not an option. I'm getting pretty good internode spacing w/very little stretching.

Last but not least I was inspired by the great grows I've seen here and convinced it could be done

I've confirmed 5 females and 2males so far from the BS. 2 sativa and 3 indica phenos. A couple of the Sativa phenos(1male) are getting purple stems.(nute deficiency?) I'm feeding Alaskan fish emulsion (5-1-1) during veg and shultz cactus formula(2-7-7) N molasses(1-0-5) during flowering. The shultz has iron mangnese and zinc. I've already supplemented them with a feeding of epsom salts. I'm growing in Jungle Growth pure organic potting mix with a ph of 6.8
This is the male.....I also have a very similar female that is also turning purple.... just wanna stay on top of things...I know it could be genetic. and I can vaguely remember taking seed from buds of color mainly. I don't know what the night temps are but the veg cab drops about 5 degrees When the flowering chambers lights are off. I have a few plants doing this in veg as well.
Any ideas, comments...suggestions? (there is an example of some mid-grade bud that the seeds came from, you can see the purple stems if you look hard....)

How are you cooling your box with all those watts? Small bulbs but plenty of them? I have a couple 85w (big boys!) but can't get my box under 100 degrees. At least thats what the thermometer says!

yea KTO I think the smaller the bulb the cooler they seem to run. I used to have the big $50 flourex 100wCFL but it was hotter than the smaller bulbs. the 23watters are just right. I have a 42 W CFL bulb too and can tell the diffence in heat easy. Plus you can get a 12pack of 23 watters for $20 and 1 42 watter is $10

As for exhaust I'm using passive intake in the flowering chamber with 2 pc fans for exhaust and a 4"clip on fan for circulation. One hole at the bottom of one side and two holes at the top of the other side to let cool air in and hot air out.

Veg chamber has 1 pc fan for intake and 1 for exhaust for a total of 4 pc fans and one clip on. I have to leave the room the cab is in open at different times through the day for about 30 min(when safe) to keep things from getting too stuffy(no A/C vent) which will make Cab temps rise.

tin foil is just to direct airflow away from plants . So it doesn't blow directly on one plant

oh yea the circulation fan in tthe flowering chamber stays the same height as the lights to kind of "air cool" the bulbs in order to get them closer to the girls.....

Like I said earlier I'm trying to work out any kinks I might have in my plan to have enough personal stash on hand to keep me happy. So this means I have to get the hang of this cloning thing. This was my only failure the last go around which left me with no smoke for months. So I need to get the hang of it with the BagSeed ladies before I butcher my known strains :/

I've taken 4 cuttings from the bushy female in the pic earlier

I put them directly into my soil mix using Bontone rooting powder . I open the dome 10 min everyday increasing it longer by the day and mist the dome not the clone
here they are day 3. so far so good?.......Advice, comments?

Oh yea I used peat pellets and a heating pad the first time with 0% success

cushpak said:

oh yea the circulation fan in tthe flowering chamber stays the same height as the lights to kind of "air cool" the bulbs in order to get them closer to the girls.....

Click to expand...

Nice grow im subbed. Starting my first grw this weekend. ? , my box is about 2ft tall x 2ftwd x 2ftdeep, do i have enough space to grow, and how many 23watters can i fit in there? Would i be able to use party cups ? And how many plants would fit? I guess u could caall this a super micro-grow...lol

Thanx, I'm pretty sure that's plenty room I've seen alotta of pc case grows on the web and theres a party cup thread around here somewhere by a member by the name of SICC i think with some nice size budz. but I heard the bigger the pot the better. This is the dilemma I'm stuck with I can fit about 20 1.25 Ltr. pots or 10 2-3 gallon pots. seems like the more the better but I kno plants need roots My best plant gave me around 4 oz in a 5 gallon bucket. I'm still looking for help with this one.


I think you could get at least 6-8 bulbs in there If you get the smaller (3-4 bulb)version of the fixtures I have sold at Lowes or Home depot for about 10-12 bucks a piece( which when you do the math is the same as the sockets by themselves ($2.95) and they are already mounted and wired together. they can screw in the wall( like they're supposed to be in a bathroom or hang 'em with chains and hooks like i did so u can move them up and down easily. You just have to cut up a old power cord and badabing-badaboom!

cushpak said:

Good point Rasta, well the answer is I lost alotta sleep on that debate. From my last experience CFL's run alot cooler. I've grown with a 400w in the past in a much larger space (closet) and cut a hole in the top of the closet where i had a much larger fan than I have now (2 pc fans per chamber) and it got ridiculously hot in there 90Fdegrees and up. In my cab now I run 82-85F degrees.

My MH/HPS lighting fixture was too noisy last time as well

I also cannot modify the room the cab is in and it has no ventilation. Only leaving the door to the room open during when it is safe...

Plus money was an issue and I already was over budget and an expensive exhaust setup was not an option. I'm getting pretty good internode spacing w/very little stretching.

Last but not least I was inspired by the great grows I've seen here and convinced it could be done

Click to expand...

I can flatly confirm that a 400 watt hps ran 10-12 degrees hotter than 450 watts of cfl's for me.

cushpak said:

I've confirmed 5 females and 2males so far from the BS. 2 sativa and 3 indica phenos. A couple of the Sativa phenos(1male) are getting purple stems.(nute deficiency?) I'm feeding Alaskan fish emulsion during veg and shultz cactus formula N molasses during flowering. The shultz has iron mangnese and zinc. I've already supplemented them with a feeding of epsom salts. I'm growing in Jungle Growth pure organic potting mix with a ph of 6.8
This is the male.....I also have a very similar female that is also turning purple.... just wanna stay on top of things...I know it could be genetic. and I can vaguely remember taking seed from buds of color mainly. I don't know what the night temps are but the veg cab drops about 5 degrees When the flowering chambers lights are off
Any ideas, comments...suggestions?

Click to expand...

Nice numbers, nice strains. Hope to see some nice buds.

thanks man that really helped....i was thinking about using powersrips and plug in sockets with 2-way adapters, but ill start out with six bulbs and put 2 more under or around plant..damn, why cant they just legalize this plant, this stealth shit is for the birds....but like u im tired of payin these high ass prices for "exotic"....keep on growing!!!!

rombomb420 said:

I can flatly confirm that a 400 watt hps ran 10-12 degrees hotter than 450 watts of cfl's for me.

Click to expand...

yea I didnt have a thermometer in my last setup and kinda played it by ear but I'll never forget how hot it used to be when i opened that door nowhere near what it is now....

rombomb420 said:

Nice numbers, nice strains. Hope to see some nice buds.

Click to expand...

Thanx me too. I'm really trying to invest more time and pay more attention to detail this time. I grew out nirvana's jock the last time around and despite the heat stress and a noobie gardener. It gave me plenty of top shelf smoke(lost it due to losing apt. ). Everything I have going now has some Jack in it.

bgsixxxniner said:

thanks man that really helped....i was thinking about using powersrips and plug in sockets with 2-way adapters, but ill start out with six bulbs and put 2 more under or around plant..damn, why cant they just legalize this plant, this stealth shit is for the birds....but like u im tired of payin these high ass prices for "exotic"....keep on growing!!!!

Click to expand...

No prob and whats great about them is they take 100w bulbs so u can put 2-way splitters in all of the sockets.
Yea they really should legalize this plant. My fiance refuses to take OTC meds and pills and relys on the herb . It's natural and nowhere near as bad 4 u as alcohol

Nice setup, currently im going to use 6, 42 watt daylight bulbs for vegetation and 6-8 2700k cfls for flowering, does that sound possible and will the yield be decent, i only plan on growing 2 females in a small area that could deffinetely fit them from seed-harvest.