First Grow - Beg, Borrow & Steal - Advice Wanted

ikeathesofa

ikeathesofa

Member
I'm setting up a grow in a closet space: 3ft 6inch long, 2ft 8inch wide, 4ft high.
I'm super poor, out of work. I'll probably have about $50 bucks for equipment, I have a number of things already and could probably re-purpose some things to make everything work.

I have some pots, lumber to build a box (plywood cut into 4ft x 32inches with one piece on 2 x 4's to get it off the ground), potting soil, bone mill for nutrients, 6 45w CLF lights, PH strips. Pictures included at the bottom. Will most of this stuff work?

I'm planning on buying computer fans, making one of the activated carbon filters ($3 DIY kind), buying Y light socket, some socket with cord attached to plug them into, some foxfarm nutrients, mylar (or paint white), screws, wood-glue, hinges.

I'm looking for advice for cheap ways to make a decent grow space for one or two plants. Any and all advice on how to build the box, what parts to use, how to use them happily accepted.

Any slick but cheap ways to suspend the CFLs from the top of the box?

I'm going off of "Marijuana Buds for Less: Grow 8 oz. of Bud for Less Than $100 by SeeMoreBuds"

Anyone ever heard of seed exchange or people gifting seeds? Waiting for some seeds from cannabis seeds .com but I gather that was a bad choice from all I've read since then. I only had the $19 bucks so I went with them and figured it was a toss up.

Thanks in advance for any help or comments. :blsmoke:
 

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growone

Well-Known Member
cfl's are a great way to do a small inexpensive grow
the 45w bulbs, is that actual watts or equivalent? i'd suspect equivalent, in which case you want 100w equivalents(which can be had very cheap)
and hanging cfl's from a power strip is a cost effective way to use them
 
ikeathesofa

ikeathesofa

Member
growone said:
cfl's are a great way to do a small inexpensive grow
the 45w bulbs, is that actual watts or equivalent? i'd suspect equivalent, in which case you want 100w equivalents(which can be had very cheap)
and hanging cfl's from a power strip is a cost effective way to use them
Click to expand...
Its 45 actual watts (150 watt equivalent) : 2800 lumens. I got them originally for photography lighting. http://www.amazon.com/ALZO-Digital-Full-Spectrum-Light/dp/B00198U6U6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306288875&sr=8-1

How would you suggest to hang them from a power-strip? Can you point me to some photo's or diagrams?

Thanks for the reply.
 
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growone

Well-Known Member
ikeathesofa said:
Its 45 actual watts (150 watt equivalent) : 2800 lumens. I got them originally for photography lighting. http://www.amazon.com/ALZO-Digital-Full-Spectrum-Light/dp/B00198U6U6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306288875&sr=8-1

How would you suggest to hang them from a power-strip? Can you point me to some photo's or diagrams?

Thanks for the reply.
Click to expand...
then you're in pretty good shape for total light
since you've mentioned doing a bit of scrounging, you may be able to dig up some old lamp sockets/fixtures
but one cheap setup is called the power strip fixture
power strip has some cords/sockets from which the cfls hang - let's you drape the lights nicely over a plant
there is a thread in the DIY subform(under the general marijuana growing forum) somewhere
 
ikeathesofa

ikeathesofa

Member
growone said:
then you're in pretty good shape for total light
since you've mentioned doing a bit of scrounging, you may be able to dig up some old lamp sockets/fixtures
but one cheap setup is called the power strip fixture
power strip has some cords/sockets from which the cfls hang - let's you drape the lights nicely over a plant
there is a thread in the DIY subform(under the general marijuana growing forum) somewhere
Click to expand...
Looked for the DIY power strip fixture, didn't see anything. I did some scrounging and I found some of those paper lantern light fixtures that are meant to hang from the ceiling inside a paper lantern to light a space. Stripped off the paper lantern and they seem like they could work well for my setup. Question: the lantern light fixtures say that anything above 75 watts risks fire, I'm planning on putting two 45 watt CFLs in each. Is an extra 5 watts really a fire risk in this setup? It seems like these fixtures are the same as a lot of others I see people using and putting multiple high watt bulbs in. Whats the risk here? Anyone know?
 
ikeathesofa

ikeathesofa

Member
Another question: Does anyone have a suggestion on how to build the box? I'd like to have 2 maybe 3 plants at most, probably one most of the time. Space is 3ft 6inch long, 2ft 8inch wide, 4ft high.
 
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growone

Well-Known Member
ikeathesofa said:
Looked for the DIY power strip fixture, didn't see anything. I did some scrounging and I found some of those paper lantern light fixtures that are meant to hang from the ceiling inside a paper lantern to light a space. Stripped off the paper lantern and they seem like they could work well for my setup. Question: the lantern light fixtures say that anything above 75 watts risks fire, I'm planning on putting two 45 watt CFLs in each. Is an extra 5 watts really a fire risk in this setup? It seems like these fixtures are the same as a lot of others I see people using and putting multiple high watt bulbs in. Whats the risk here? Anyone know?
Click to expand...
75 watts is small wattage for a fixture, but when it comes to safety, don't compromise
a fire isn't worth it - a new inexpensive socket with cord could be made for about $5(this could require more scrounging or shopping)
but sounds like you have a good start in a setup
 
ROBSTERB

ROBSTERB

Well-Known Member
i think the fire risk might mean the paper thats around the fitting, youve took that off so should be ok. i take it the frame is metal?
 
Xcon

Xcon

Active Member
You can get bare sockets for $1.25 at lowes, they have a section for fruity people who like to build their own artsy lamps out of bottles and such. The cord they sell for the sockets is just a stripped extension cord which you can find for $1. CFL's are .2 amps, so you can string 20 of them together no problem. I've got 16 of them on one extension cord, check out my sig. Been using it 24/0 for about a year now no problems.

ikeathesofa said:
Another question: Does anyone have a suggestion on how to build the box? I'd like to have 2 maybe 3 plants at most, probably one most of the time. Space is 3ft 6inch long, 2ft 8inch wide, 4ft high.
Click to expand...
On building your box... use 1x1 to frame it, then add your panels. It's easier to cut your ventilation holes and mount your fans before you put them up. Dimensions are up to you but don't forget to attach scrap wood for light and fan mounts. Caster wheels on the base if you want to wheel it in and out of a closet. Sounds like a fun build!!!
 

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ikeathesofa

ikeathesofa

Member
Xcon said:
You can get bare sockets for $1.25 at lowes, they have a section for fruity people who like to build their own artsy lamps out of bottles and such. The cord they sell for the sockets is just a stripped extension cord which you can find for $1. CFL's are .2 amps, so you can string 20 of them together no problem. I've got 16 of them on one extension cord, check out my sig. Been using it 24/0 for about a year now no problems.

On building your box... use 1x1 to frame it, then add your panels. It's easier to cut your ventilation holes and mount your fans before you put them up. Dimensions are up to you but don't forget to attach scrap wood for light and fan mounts. Caster wheels on the base if you want to wheel it in and out of a closet. Sounds like a fun build!!!
Click to expand...
I looked at your closet, looks like a sweet setup. I think I'd like to copy your veg cfl setup. How did you string the cfls together? I can't quite see from the pictures. Thanks for the advice on box build, will follow.

rep+
 
ikeathesofa

ikeathesofa

Member
Looking around the net I saw this answer given to a person wondering the max watts to put in a fixture:
"250V/660W is the maximum electrical rating of the socket itself.
250W is the power rating of the fixture as assembled, based on the amount of heat a 250W incandescent bulb would create."

If this is correct, and incandescent bulbs create more heat than CFLs, than my fixtures could handle 75 watts of heat from an incandescent, I imagine they could handle the heat of two 45 watt cfls. Especially since I'll have ventilation cooling them off. I might use two per fixture then. However over the next month or so I plan to construct a board that looks similar to Xcon's vegetative setup (cause it's pretty sweet). Money is the only barrier at this point.

All is a work in progress, will build the rest as money allows.
 
ROBSTERB

ROBSTERB

Well-Known Member
that looks like it means the socket so i wouldnt go above that. your proberly right cfls give off less heat so you should be fine
 
Xcon

Xcon

Active Member
ikeathesofa said:
I looked at your closet, looks like a sweet setup. I think I'd like to copy your veg cfl setup. How did you string the cfls together? I can't quite see from the pictures. Thanks for the advice on box build, will follow.

rep+
Click to expand...
When you strip the cord, follow the skinny plug for the "hot" wire. Cut out some insulation on the wire, and hook it under the "hot" screw on the socket. Do the same with the other wire so that they both end on a socket. This is a pic of an older cfl board I made, only 200w but you can see how I stripped the wire for multiple sockets.

edit: the socket will tell you which screw is hot, mine was the gold screw.
 

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