First grow in new cabinet

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Let's all take a step back for a moment.
Let's go over the high points.
Providing a suitable environment for growing can take money. That's a fact. I wish it wasn't so.
An example of our problem here;
Jimmy gets on a classic F-body Camaro forum. He has a 1967 Camaro he wants to restore/rebuild/ fix/ whatever. Jimmy goes and asks advice about some things he has questions about. Then he gets mad because everyone is telling him to spend money. That's the name of the game. It takes money to get results. I'm sure we all would rather grow for cheap and still get good results.
Back to now, I get you want to be frugal. I'm as cheap as they come. That's a fact. I've been wearing free boots to work in for two years now just because I don't fix unless it's broke.
You are trying to grow mj indoor with almost no income. You sound determined. Go for it, make the best that you can. Can you do outdoor??
These folks here take growing very seriously. What your asking is to do this grow "halfway" in their eyes. When someone is passionate about something, they tend to do it right, no matter what the cost. So you can see why you might get the responses you are getting.
 
I get what you're saying, but when someone is truly passionate about something they don't let anything stop them from doing it, even if they have to fabricate things out of stuff they have laying around. Say jimmy has a '29 model T; it needs a new header, but jimmy can't afford one....he has a welder, tubing bender, and scrap exhaust pipe and metal. He asks how to make that work and everyone says you can't you have to buy a header......they would be dead wrong. That is actually what is happening here, I know what needs to be, just not quite how to get there with what I have. Slugs, snails, leaf hoppers, grasshoppers, a massive infestation of whiteflies, cutworms, and Jerusalem crickets make outdoor a much worse choice. I understand why I'm getting the responses I'm getting, it boils down to no one being creative enough or driven enough. Its not that they're so passionate they can't bear to see it done "wrong" its that they are too lazy to put the work in to do it in an unconventional way. I'm growing with practically zero income, turning in recycling or selling what few possessions I have is the only way I get any money at all, so growing is the only way I can stay medicated.
 
OK, well let's talk about temps. What temp range do you normally see later in the year? Is your home cooled at all? If not its cool, ive did that for 4 years. With an upstairs room facing the western sun to boot!!!
Look up the diy online for a swamp cooler. Might be called a sump cooler. Also, you can make a cooler with frozen gallon jugs and a 5 gallon bucket with fan. Should be cheap to make. This might help solve your temp problem.
Lights.
Maybe you could find a shop light fixture and toss a few t'8's in there. Might help you, and it wouldn't cost much. You can probably dig around and find a fixture for little to nothing. New costs $13 at wallyworld. Then you would still need to buy bulbs. IIRC, about $15 or so.
 
I get what you're saying, but when someone is truly passionate about something they don't let anything stop them from doing it, even if they have to fabricate things out of stuff they have laying around. Say jimmy has a '29 model T; it needs a new header, but jimmy can't afford one....he has a welder, tubing bender, and scrap exhaust pipe and metal. He asks how to make that work and everyone says you can't you have to buy a header......they would be dead wrong. That is actually what is happening here, I know what needs to be, just not quite how to get there with what I have. Slugs, snails, leaf hoppers, grasshoppers, a massive infestation of whiteflies, cutworms, and Jerusalem crickets make outdoor a much worse choice. I understand why I'm getting the responses I'm getting, it boils down to no one being creative enough or driven enough. Its not that they're so passionate they can't bear to see it done "wrong" its that they are too lazy to put the work in to do it in an unconventional way. I'm growing with practically zero income, turning in recycling or selling what few possessions I have is the only way I get any money at all, so growing is the only way I can stay medicated.

You cannot run the Grand Prix with a Yugo, no matter how determined you are. Unfortunately, there are certain things you absolutely HAVE to have. You can DIY things yourself, but they have to be the right things you are trying to DIY. If someone does not have an expensive welder, they cannot fab up a header. You do need the correct things to get certain jobs done. It is no different with growing. No matter how dedicated you are if you do not have good light, medium, nutrients, and ventilation, you are not going to be able to grow a great plant.

And I am a little hurt that without even really knowing us or what we have done you have called us lazy. Okay just to give you an idea. I am a 63 year old woman. I live on less than $1000 a month. I made a dual 150W HPS for about $20 a piece. I found 2 old 150W security lights at a yard sale for $2 each. I bought 2 bake-a-rounds to make cool tubes (Pyrex round tubes intended to bake round loaves of bread in). Redid the wiring, moved the sockets from the light, left the ballasts and wired sockets to the cool tubes. Used the metal from no-hub plumbing couplings to connect together and a place to put a hanger. Made a reflector out of roofing metal. Lights that actually were the type of lights meant for growing.
So, yes you can DIY stuff for inexpensive, but you have to be trying to DIY the things that will actually work for your grow--i.e-Jimmy can make a header with a welder, metal, and the knowledge. Jimmy cannot make a header with cardboard and duct tape, no matter how determined he is.
 
You cannot run the Grand Prix with a Yugo, no matter how determined you are. Unfortunately, there are certain things you absolutely HAVE to have. You can DIY things yourself, but they have to be the right things you are trying to DIY. If someone does not have an expensive welder, they cannot fab up a header. You do need the correct things to get certain jobs done. It is no different with growing. No matter how dedicated you are if you do not have good light, medium, nutrients, and ventilation, you are not going to be able to grow a great plant.

And I am a little hurt that without even really knowing us or what we have done you have called us lazy. Okay just to give you an idea. I am a 63 year old woman. I live on less than $1000 a month. I made a dual 150W HPS for about $20 a piece. I found 2 old 150W security lights at a yard sale for $2 each. I bought 2 bake-a-rounds to make cool tubes (Pyrex round tubes intended to bake round loaves of bread in). Redid the wiring, moved the sockets from the light, left the ballasts and wired sockets to the cool tubes. Used the metal from no-hub plumbing couplings to connect together and a place to put a hanger. Made a reflector out of roofing metal. Lights that actually were the type of lights meant for growing.
So, yes you can DIY stuff for inexpensive, but you have to be trying to DIY the things that will actually work for your grow--i.e-Jimmy can make a header with a welder, metal, and the knowledge. Jimmy cannot make a header with cardboard and duct tape, no matter how determined he is.
Very good THC. Much smoother than what I was trying to say. I get op wants to do cheap. Me too! Who doesn't? But you can only cut certain corners without sacrificing the whole deal.
 
You cannot run the Grand Prix with a Yugo, no matter how determined you are. Unfortunately, there are certain things you absolutely HAVE to have. You can DIY things yourself, but they have to be the right things you are trying to DIY. If someone does not have an expensive welder, they cannot fab up a header. You do need the correct things to get certain jobs done. It is no different with growing. No matter how dedicated you are if you do not have good light, medium, nutrients, and ventilation, you are not going to be able to grow a great plant.

And I am a little hurt that without even really knowing us or what we have done you have called us lazy. Okay just to give you an idea. I am a 63 year old woman. I live on less than $1000 a month. I made a dual 150W HPS for about $20 a piece. I found 2 old 150W security lights at a yard sale for $2 each. I bought 2 bake-a-rounds to make cool tubes (Pyrex round tubes intended to bake round loaves of bread in). Redid the wiring, moved the sockets from the light, left the ballasts and wired sockets to the cool tubes. Used the metal from no-hub plumbing couplings to connect together and a place to put a hanger. Made a reflector out of roofing metal. Lights that actually were the type of lights meant for growing.
So, yes you can DIY stuff for inexpensive, but you have to be trying to DIY the things that will actually work for your grow--i.e-Jimmy can make a header with a welder, metal, and the knowledge. Jimmy cannot make a header with cardboard and duct tape, no matter how determined he is.

:yeahthat: Well said Hemp Goddess
 
Thank you gantt for your suggestions. I don't know why I didn't think about a diy swamp cooler, that could help significantly with my low humidity. I'd be worried about using it during flower....another idea I had was to convert a mini refrigerator into an a/c similar to the 5gal bucket and frozen jugs, do you think that would work? Or would I be risking getting too cold? With lights, I have a couple of t12 fixtures with bulbs, but they don't quite fit inside........maybe I could turn the sides of the cabinet into the light fixtures with the sockets and ballasts?

THG.......yes you can run the grand Prix in a yugo if you wish, you won't even come close to winning but you could have fun. Yes you can fab a header without an expensive welder (you can fab a welder) gantt is the only one that has actually given me anything real significant that I can use. I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings, but I was under the impression we weren't sugar coating things.
 
Make it fit. Do what you got to do to make it work.
 
Swamp coolers can be a great solution, but they can also work "too well". Be careful using swamp coolers in a small space. They are meant for large spaces and if in a small space, you can get your humidity way too high, which is worse than too low. Cannabis can actually do just fine from about 30% to 60%. You are worrying about little things and ignoring the big things, like light and ventilation.

No we are not sugar coating things, but I have grown for decades. It can be done inexpensively, but there are certain things you have to have. And you cannot qualify for the Grans Prix in a Yugo and therefore, you could not run a Yugo in the Grand Prix. Fabricating a welder would be a huge under taking--I lived with a professional welder for many years, did a bit of welding myself and do understand what a welder is.

And as we are not sugar coating things, I am through here. I am not even sure why you came here at all. You do not care to take anyone's advise, as you seem to know it all already....
 
I was worried about the swamp cooler being in a small space. I use one at work. I go through 15 gallons of water in an hour sometimes. In a small space I bet it gets rather humid
 
Based on what we have discussed thus far I've decided on a hybrid setup of sorts. Using a fountain pump and copper tubing I had laying around in conjunction with an ice chest. It will run similar to an a/c but with water in the lines rather than refrigerant that will be cooled via ice in the chest/water reservoir. That should keep temps down better without causing too much humidity to build up. Thank you again so much gantt. Btw, I remeasured my inside height and I'm actually at about 3.5ft instead of the 4ft I thought it was, I'll eventually raise my ceiling height to accommodate 4ft tubes, but as of right now I want to stop baking the plant first.
 
Fabricating a welder would be a huge under taking--I lived with a professional welder for many years, did a bit of welding myself and do understand what a welder is.

You can make a welder out of a car battery and jumper cables or even an old microwave.....
 
You can make a welder out of a car battery and jumper cables or even an old microwave.....
True, but dude that doesn't sound safe. You ever seen a battery explode? I have. And I'm damn glad it wasn't me who was screaming.
 
True, but dude that doesn't sound safe. You ever seen a battery explode? I have. And I'm damn glad it wasn't me who was screaming.
I didn't say it was safe lol my college automotive instructor had plenty of stories of batteries exploding due to overcharging and igniting the venting gasses.
 
Currently have the light 13" above the plant, humidity is much more manageable and the new growth from where I fimmed is pretty tightly clustered. I mixed about four quarts of perlite into the bottom soil (tedious process with a growing plant) the soil feels nice and spongy now.
 
Glad its going a little better. Keep us updated.
 
I will for sure, thank you for sticking around. I'll be focusing on temps from here, its looking like I'll have to start working on editing my intake/exhaust again. While my cooling system is efficient, it is too efficient for the ice chest I'm using. The water tends to be 80°+ in only 5 hours of operation even with frozen bottles having been used.
 
I should be able to start my grow in 4 weeks or so. Tired of having to watch others at work.
 

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