"The Baked Potato" Homemade grow tent, Comments? Suggestions?

Hi everyone I'm new to growing, But I've taken the time to do my research, and build what I believe to be a cost effective setup for vegging my ladies. Let's start with my design. I took a metal frame that is 5ft tall , 5ft wide, and 22 inches deep. I lined the inside with mylar (Emergency heating blankets) and put another layer of light insulation on the outside. Inside, my light fixture is composed of dual 40 inch cool blue tube flourscents with a 20 inch wide spectrum tube flourscent, supplemented by 2 CFL's each with their own reflector and a higher power CFL on the opposite side of the extra bar light. with it's own cone reflector. The total calculated (Conservative) Lumen output of my lights are 11850 covering 10 Square feet. I have 9 plants flourishing in the vegetative stage and was wondering if I've got enough light. The setup has the lighting on pulleys so it can be easily raised and lowered. I was wondering if my setup is adequate to complete my veg cycle, I was planning on building an identical setup for my flowering, Except I was going to use HID lighting and more advanced ventilation. I know it's hard to judge without pictures but any constructive criticism would greatly help.

Here is a diagram of my exact setup.

Real pics coming soon.

Pics would be great. I like CFL's better than the tubes. I believe you can get much better light and results. I veg with CFL's and just upgraded from 1 600w to 2 600w for flower. This last run I got an MH for the 600w to veg with it for a couple weeks before 12/12. Good luck and let's see some pics. Don't bother asking if we want pics because we always do haha.

I'm working up some diagrams and pics right now, I only went with the tubes because they were cheap and added an extra 6500 lumes to the setup. I'll post some detailed specs.

Pretty snazzy diagram you have there. Nice attention to detail. I hear you about the tubes, we do what we can. And then upgrade. My garden has changed quite a bit in a little over a year. Looks good but how about some real pics though. What are you thinking of for HID lighting? Consider using 2 smaller lights instead of one big one to help spread the light better? I use soft white and bright white CFL's because they are a larger bulb and put out more light. The greater amount of light seems to make more difference that having the daylight color. The 42w are mostly what I have but also a couple 65w. Those are the biggest I can get local . Looks like you have a good start though. What do you plan on using for nutes? And keep the lights as close to the plants as you can. Almost touching them.

I was thinking of making a custom hood with maybe a few lower cost HPS or Mercury Vapor incandescents, I figure I could rig up something cool for under 100 bucks. There's tons of 10-20 dollar bulbs out there that have the wattage needed, I think the hard part is finding a socket that can handle them, I've got tons of computer fans and sheet metal to play with, I'm not sure how much success people have had making custom HID setups. The flower tent is going to be the exact same size. I agree the main light bar now needs some upgrades, I want to line each side of the 40'' rig with 4 CFL's on both sides, extend the reflector. But I was saving all my HID for flowering. I was thinking of making a carbon filter out of a old Dryer Tube, Fill it with a mixture of rocks and carbon (Charcoal) and put a decent 120v fan to the front so it pulls smelly exhaust into the tube, working its way outside the tent. Maybe even as a replacement for the exhaust system im using now.

Mercury vapor is no good for growing. People have had a lot of success making custom set ups. Keep an eye out everywhere you go, people throw away lots of stuff you can use. I got a nice metal cabinet that way. You have tools to work with? You need more than a bulb and socket and those are easy to get. With HID you need a ballast of the right size for what you want. The magnetic ballast's are the cheapest but put out more heat. I make a lot of my own stuff too. I posted some stuff over on this thread for computer fans and a filter to make using cat litter. May it can give you some ideas. Page 25+26 several different posts https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/221128-dwc-lowryder-attitude-seed-bank-25.html

And welcome to Rollitup too.

Hash Lover said:

And welcome to Rollitup too.

Click to expand...

Excellent to meet another fellow tinkerer, I am constantly on the lookout for junk to re-purpose, Thanks for the info on the bulbs, and the link, I'm reading up as much as I can, and double checking before I actually do anything. I figure if you're gonna do something, do it right. And thanks for the welcome!

I agree on that. I like it to look good and be safe as well. I do home remodeling so I get all kinds of material from jobs too. No time now but later tonight I'll post a link where I posted my set up. Easier that way than to post it all again. And maybe some bud porn??

I've cleaned and neatened my workshop (the room housing my grow box, and hoard of computer case metal and components.) I'm also charging my digital camera.....so I'll have pics of the actual rig, and of my ladies (Pics are part of my spreadsheet growing journal) cool profession for somebody with this kinda hobby eh? lol

Ya, I like photography myself. Especially close up's of buds. I have an older Minolta Z-6 and it does pretty good. I would like to upgrade to an SLR when I can but always seem to spend my money on my hobby. You should post the spreadsheet pics in an album so we could see them. Being a carpenter and also do plumbing and electrical have been a good thing for my hobby also. It's nice to have all the tools I would need to build my stuff. Here's a link to a thread that I've posted on a lot. Your welcome to come over and check it out also. Greenearth is just getting started on a new grow again and is about where you are except with more lighting. I posted a bunch of pics (any advice on pics and way's of taking them would be great) of my setup. Starts on pg 82 and a little on 83. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/150849-bb-ssh-hydro-grow-82.html

Sorry, that is a closed thread. This is the one I have been on mostly now.https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/221128-dwc-lowryder-attitude-seed-bank.html

I'll head on over, I've got a new design in the works that triples my space and gives me room for flowering, But in the mean-time wanna check out my week 3 grow journal? I've detailed the hell out of the thread

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/248085-project-babylon-week-3-journal.html#post3148692

will be keeping up with this thread

I'll be posting some updated pics soon. Just to much to do tonight. I'll post them on the other thread in the next couple day's. Let's see some pick of your setup.

The old setup? I've began moving parts into place for the new setup, But i suppose I could snap a few of the old one. here's what i'm planning....

The old grow tent makes up the right wall of the new grow "Cubicle" I'd use the whole room but it's easier to control the environment in a smaller area and who could afford to cover that much wall, floor and ceiling in mylar lol

Stage 1. (Beige represents light proofing. Silver is the mylar)


Stage 2.



The gaps are just because I drew the whole thing using line tool and it was hard to judge how to close them and hard to provide 3d depth while doing so, other diagrams I'm working on shows what the inside will look like, I plan on putting up shelves on the back and side walls for more plant space.

Thats all I've drawn so far. from now until thursday i'll be moving parts into place, Then thursday ill head on over to home depot for some mylar and 16(or more) CFLs to supplement what I have now for my vegging area. I'm still going with a HID 400watt for flowering, but i'm gonna have at least 2 months to save up for that.

Looks good, be sure to post pics. It's nice to have some extra room to work. Ya, just some pics for now of your plants under the lights.

I've got those pics of my plants under the lights, It was kinda tough , luckily I've got a nice old 4.0mp Nikkon that has a neat swivel lens, it's pretty old, but had to be expensive in its time, It still uses COMPACT FLASH lol. Anyway here's my pics.

Plants Illuminated


full view 1


Side View (Showing the side CFL's)


Full view 2 (Showing more lighting)



Hope that provides some insight, And thanks a bunch for the advice, it's been helping alot!

Ya, it's nice to see them in their natural habitat. And your welcome, glad I can help. That's a nice little set up. You should see a big difference with the CFL's. You could save those tubes for seedlings or cloning. With cloning you don't want a very strong light. You think that's old I still have my last film camera. Don't use it any more though. And I remember black and white TV too. Only when I was really young though.

love the DIY, cant wait to see pics, keep it brother