DIY $100 Grow Closet!!!

The $100 Grow Cabinet

JACKEL AUGUST 12, 2013 22

As medicinal and recreational use of cannabis becomes more widely accepted, many cannabis users are choosing to grow their own. For those who can grow outside this is easy enough, but if your only option is to grow indoor, setting up a grow room can seem a complicated and expensive undertaking. I am going to show you how to build your own mini grow room for under $100. This grow cabinet can be assembled in minutes from common items you can discreetly purchase online and at your local walmart.

This $100 grow cabinet is perfect for those who want to grow for personal use and have limited space or a limited budget. You won’t be growing monster plants or harvesting tons of marijuana, but if used correctly, you can harvest enough for personal use and have fresh high quality herb every few months.

At Marijuana Growers Headquarters you usually see us going big. I’m not going to say don’t try that at home, but here are some real advantages to keeping it small.

• Low overhead means you can harvest good cannabis with very little start up cost.
• Negligible increase in energy use means no suspicious spike in your utility bill.
• Low maintenance, plus you can easily spot problems before they get out of hand
• You won’t harvest so much you are tempted to sell it and risk getting in trouble.

I designed this small cabinet grow room for making feminized seeds from my favorite mothers but the design worked so well I had to share it. For those wanting a simple, affordable and effective mini indoor grow room I can’t think up an easier solution.

Grow Cabinet

I wanted a grow cabinet that could be easily moved, easily cleaned and because I’m hard on things, durable. I found a plastic Sterilite 2 Shelf Storage Cabinet at Walmart for $44 that fit all of my needs. It was inexpensive, light weight, strong, and easy to assemble. The plastic was soft enough that I could use a pocket knife to cut holes where needed. I wouldn’t have to worry about water damaging the cabinet if I over watered or got a little out of control while foliar feeding the plants. Plastic is also less likely to grow mold and can be easily sterilized with a little bleach and water in a spray bottle.

The cabinet I chose measures 35-¾” tall, 19” deep and 25-¾” wide. It just snaps together and requires no tools to assemble. I used one of the shelves to mount my light and still have space to store some tools at nutrients. The seconds shelf was not needed so it went in the garage with my other treasures.

Grow Light

I have seen growers use multiple household compact fluorescent lights in grow cabinets but combining multiple outlets and all those tangled cords seemed like a nuisance. I have been eyeballing those big CFL’s at the growshops for some time and this was my excuse to try one. I purchased my 125 watt CFL from a nearby grow shop but you can buy them on amazon just as easily. These lights require a Mogul Socketand won’t fit in a normal lamp. Most mogul sockets are made to hook up to a ballast but I was able to  find them online already wired with a 120 volt plug.

I cut a hole in the top shelf just big enough for the socket of the light to fit through. I then set the shelf at the highest possible position so the plants would have as much room as possible to grow. I cut a hole in the side of the cabinet above the self to run the cord through. If I was a bit smarter I could have done this before wiring the plug and made a much smaller hole. I plugged the cord into a inexpensive but reliable timer and this little grow cabinet had light.

Ventilation

Even though CLF’s run pretty cool they do produce enough heat that a small space can get warm pretty quick. In addition to controlling heat, a little airflow is always required to replenish depleted CO2 levels. I wanted my airflow to be quiet, reliable and affordable . This 120mm computer fan I found on amazon delivers on all counts. With a pocket knife I cut a hole in the wall of the cabinet a little smaller than the fan. I drilled some small holes with a cordless drill and bolted the fan to the inside of the cabinet. Because the computer fan is 12 volt, I had to find  AC to DC adapter that would work with the fan plug. Once complete, I plugged it in and my little grow room had ventilation. I live in an area where it is usually on the warm side so I leave the fan on 24/7.

So there we have it, a grow room with light and ventilation in about an hour of assembly time. Lets add it all up and see where we stand.

Cabinet $44.08
125 Watt CLF $24.99
Mogul Socket $10
Timer $7
Computer Fan 12.96
Total $99.03

By the skin of my teeth as usual, but a perfectly functional grow cabinet for under $100. If I can build it, so can you. Go get some clones or seeds and get to growing.

Remember to switch your plants to a flowering light cycle before they get too big. If you let them get any taller than about 8 to 10 inches before switching I suspect you will have height problems before they are done flowering. Sticking to indica dominant hybrids will help since they don’t usually grow as much vertically once they begin to flower. Going with a shallower but wider pot will help give you a few extra inches of headroom as well.

I hope this design is simple enough to get you off your duff and growing your own cannabis. It can be a fun and rewarding project, and who knows, maybe you’ll find you have a green thumb after all. If you need assistance, please feel free to ask any questions in our forum.