Grow Room First grow box build

[Upstate_indoor]

This is our first ever grow box build, any advice would be great! We're currently testing it out with 4 GG#4 autos and are tweaking environmental controls as we go. First time build, first time grow

We decided to build a box out of plywood and 2x4's using .25" cabinet grade for the walls and .5" cabinet grade for the floor and ceiling. It was framed on the outside for smoother walls and placed on pavers to keep it off the floor. With semi-limited space, we went with a 4x5x5 size giving use roughly 100 sq. ft. Inside (we're hoping to fit the full allowed 6 plants but started with 4.) We painted the entire interior with a white, anti mold/fungus paint before lining. We are growing in a soil medium for now in 3gal pots.
The hardware we went with:
-4" inline duct fan with a screen and mesh filter for air intake (rated at 100 CFM)
-4" inline exhaust fan vented outside with dryer house and lock plate (Rated at 100 CFM)
-A 2000w, full spectrum, LED grow light with built in cooling fans and separate lighting controls for Veg and flower stages. It also has a ratcheting harness for hight adjustment.
-Indoor/outdoor timer outlet for the light and intake fan.
-6mil diamond mylar for interior
-Circulation fan x1, wall mounted,
-Digital thermo/hydrometer with remote sensor and external display.
-Warm mist humidifier with built in hydrometer.

We also got digital Ph readers for both soil and water as well as a handheld 60x-120x handheld microscope, and an auto water pump system incase we leave for a while. I'll put up construction pics.

We plan to grow autos and my main concern is that 3gal pots will grow them too tall for the box. We have the temp stabilized at 68F and humidity at up to 73% but adjustable down for veg/flower.

 

[Jon Fitts]

Nice build. I have a superstar from supercloset grow box. It's only a 2x2x5. Small but works great so far. Interested in how your grow goes and learn. Having a hard time finding much info out there fir grow boxes.

 

[myotis]

This is our first ever grow box build, any advice would be great! We're currently testing it out with 4 GG#4 autos and are tweaking environmental controls as we go. First time build, first time grow

We decided to build a box out of plywood and 2x4's using .25" cabinet grade for the walls and .5" cabinet grade for the floor and ceiling. It was framed on the outside for smoother walls and placed on pavers to keep it off the floor. With semi-limited space, we went with a 4x5x5 size giving use roughly 100 sq. ft. Inside (we're hoping to fit the full allowed 6 plants but started with 4.) We painted the entire interior with a white, anti mold/fungus paint before lining. We are growing in a soil medium for now in 3gal pots.
The hardware we went with:
-4" inline duct fan with a screen and mesh filter for air intake (rated at 100 CFM)
-4" inline exhaust fan vented outside with dryer house and lock plate (Rated at 100 CFM)
-A 2000w, full spectrum, LED grow light with built in cooling fans and separate lighting controls for Veg and flower stages. It also has a ratcheting harness for hight adjustment.
-Indoor/outdoor timer outlet for the light and intake fan.
-6mil diamond mylar for interior
-Circulation fan x1, wall mounted,
-Digital thermo/hydrometer with remote sensor and external display.
-Warm mist humidifier with built in hydrometer.

We also got digital Ph readers for both soil and water as well as a handheld 60x-120x handheld microscope, and an auto water pump system incase we leave for a while. I'll put up construction pics.

We plan to grow autos and my main concern is that 3gal pots will grow them too tall for the box. We have the temp stabilized at 68F and humidity at up to 73% but adjustable down for veg/flower.

Nice work man,
With some Lst you will be fine hight wise doing autos in your space, 6 autos in there would grow well
I had no option but to build mine in a 6ft hole and cover it over making an underground weed bunker, heres a link incase you find anything useful for your build
https://www.autoflower.org/threads/underground-diy-bunker-grow-lol.86200/

 

[Upstate_indoor]

Nice build. I have a superstar from supercloset grow box. It's only a 2x2x5. Small but works great so far. Interested in how your grow goes and learn. Having a hard time finding much info out there fir grow boxes.

Thanks, we've made some pretty big mistakes with the grow so far but it's a learning curve.
We did a water germination and then put the seeds in peat pellets without understanding how much you had watch them because they dry out badly if you aren't careful, probably won't use them next time. We also had some bad temp and humidity spikes while we balanced the fans/light/humidifier/etc. Had to move them to larger pots after 2 weeks to try to unshock them.

 

[Upstate_indoor]

Nice work man,
With some Lst you will be fine hight wise doing autos in your space, 6 autos in there would grow well
I had no option but to build mine in a 6ft hole and cover it over making an underground weed bunker, heres a link incase you find anything useful for your build
https://www.autoflower.org/threads/underground-diy-bunker-grow-lol.86200/

Were going to see how they do without LST; they're autos so they should be shorter but we want to get a regular grow cycle in that goes well before messing around with LST so when we make mistakes, we'll know what to look for and how to fix it.
How did underground work out for you? I would worry about mold and mildew but its an interesting concept. Idk if it would work for us in NY, temps and humidity in winter would be rough.

 

[myotis]

Were going to see how they do without LST; they're autos so they should be shorter but we want to get a regular grow cycle in that goes well before messing around with LST so when we make mistakes, we'll know what to look for and how to fix it.
How did underground work out for you? I would worry about mold and mildew but its an interesting concept. Idk if it would work for us in NY, temps and humidity in winter would be rough.

Harvest time in 2 weeks and everything has been successful, were I live its always raining in N.I
I do lst but only tie down the side branches to let the light get to the buds and defol any thing shading the buds, your set will produce you a nice load of bud man.

 

[Upstate_indoor]

Harvest time in 2 weeks and everything has been successful, were I live its always raining in N.I
I do lst but only tie down the side branches to let the light get to the buds and defol any thing shading the buds, your set will produce you a nice load of bud man. View attachment 1446720

Yours are looking nice! I think our setup has what we need, I did a lot of amateur researching. The main issue we have now is ourselves lol. Its our first grow ever and the next will go 100% better with just what we learned so far but we stunted these ones badly. I wanted to see what temps and humidity hit with passive humidity aids and it wouldn't get over 45%. I also expected more heat from the light and it runs so cool the temps wouldn't go north of 50 at first. Seedlings didn't like it at all of course. We knee-jerked and put a humidifier in that put the temp/humidity up to 75/90 while we were at work. I have no doubt we shocked them. Now we can keep it an even 70F/70-75 and adjust the humidifier down in stages through veg. We also dried them out in peat which didn't help. We aren't giving up on them until they give up on us, but it won't be any cup quality from this run lol.

 

[Upstate_indoor]

First pic is after 2 weeks and it has no fan leafing. The 2nd pic is one thats struggling but still alive

 

[Upstate_indoor]

We moved them into 3gal pots and dropped the peat pellets right in; they seem to be doing much better after only a few days. The twisted one straightened out. I did break a peat pellet by accident, but the seedling seems to be doing ok for now.

 

[Upstate_indoor]

Just an update, we put 1" foam insulating board on the box so we could drive the temps up and keep it more consistent. Pretty sure we shocked one of them too much but the other 3 seem to be stunted (about a week behind) but going much better. I'll put some 3 week pictures up: anyone want to chime in on if these are going to flower in the end? (I'll add that this grow is mostly for equipment balancing and learning so if they don't, it sucks but I'm ok with it.)