Need to choose between turnkey type grow cabinet - please help.

[C Sprite]

Hi everyone at 420mag. I live in a medical marijuana state and have a valid mmj card. I am tired of having to purchase my meds through dealers or dispensaries...it's too expensive and you never really know what you are getting or how it was grown. I have a long laundry list of health problems with chronic pain being first and foremost. I have had over 40 surgeries including a kidney transplant and have multiple autoimmune-type diseases. I am disabled and have little to no diy-type skills, but I really want to grow. Therefore, I would like to purchase an all inclusive type of turnkey grow cabinet.

I have been looking online for awhile now and have narrowed down my choices to three:

1) from growboxusa: the LED Fullback with cloning chamber

2) from the hydroponics group: the LED Bud Buddy

3) from supercloset: the LED Deluxe 3.0

Do any of you have any experience with any of the above cabinets? If so, I would really appreciate your opinions of any or all of them. Good or bad, either way I would like to know.

 

[HunterHunt]

C Sprite i am definitely a newbie still so take it as you want... I was in your position about 5 months ago... I dont know what your requirements are really on grow rooms. Mine was stealth to start with. I was looking at all those turn key cabinets and those outrageous prices. Long story short i ended up building a cabinet and my plant out grew it very fast. Same specs as some of the ones you listed.

To give you some tips.... After spending $1300 on my hobby i believe i finally have what i want now. If i could do it again this is what i would recommend for you.

1- A grow tent.. I wished someone would have recommended them to me... They are awesome and portable if ever needed. And better yet inexpensive. You can get them any size you want. I have a 4X4x7.

2- In-Line Duct Fan 6 in 440 CFM they are around $70 for the cheaper one all you will need.

3- Carbon filter ( if smell is an issue) I went with a Phresh it was around $100

4- What ever light you want. If you go with HID you can run it with a cool tube with your fan. Or LED you wont need anything else.

5 - Soil if its your first time... I started Hydro and wasted a lot of money on things i didnt need. Soil is simple, plant and forget for 3 days then water.... But thats up to you if you want to have a go at hydro... Hydro has been great for me.. But my 2nd grow is now soil...

If you get along the lines of this you will get out very cheap and have quality equipment in my book. I have wasted hundreds and hundreds of dollars. But hey its a hobby and you have to learn.. I dont like those cabinets as a tent works better and a lot cheaper for me!! Good luck!

Give me some feedback and let me know what you think. Ill answer and questions if i can.

P.S. if you ever do decide to go with a tent make sure it has METAL joints... not plastic. this is the biggest mistake when someone buys tents.

 

[CO Finest]

Well I showed up a little late on this one. HunterNitro has said what i was going to throw out there. Very well posted HunterNitro...

 

[C Sprite]

C Sprite i am definitely a newbie still so take it as you want... I was in your position about 5 months ago... I dont know what your requirements are really on grow rooms. Mine was stealth to start with. I was looking at all those turn key cabinets and those outrageous prices. Long story short i ended up building a cabinet and my plant out grew it very fast. Same specs as some of the ones you listed.

To give you some tips.... After spending $1300 on my hobby i believe i finally have what i want now. If i could do it again this is what i would recommend for you.

1- A grow tent.. I wished someone would have recommended them to me... They are awesome and portable if ever needed. And better yet inexpensive. You can get them any size you want. I have a 4X4x7.

2- In-Line Duct Fan 6 in 440 CFM they are around $70 for the cheaper one all you will need.

3- Carbon filter ( if smell is an issue) I went with a Phresh it was around $100

4- What ever light you want. If you go with HID you can run it with a cool tube with your fan. Or LED you wont need anything else.

5 - Soil if its your first time... I started Hydro and wasted a lot of money on things i didnt need. Soil is simple, plant and forget for 3 days then water.... But thats up to you if you want to have a go at hydro... Hydro has been great for me.. But my 2nd grow is now soil...

If you get along the lines of this you will get out very cheap and have quality equipment in my book. I have wasted hundreds and hundreds of dollars. But hey its a hobby and you have to learn.. I dont like those cabinets as a tent works better and a lot cheaper for me!! Good luck!

Give me some feedback and let me know what you think. Ill answer and questions if i can.

P.S. if you ever do decide to go with a tent make sure it has METAL joints... not plastic. this is the biggest mistake when someone buys tents.

Hi Hunter Nitro...thank you for answering my post. I do appreciate what you've said and that CO Finest agrees with you. My biggest concern is that I am unable to put together much of anything and I also don't know anything about venting and the million other things that go along with assembling a grow tent. Even if I purchase what you've suggested, I am not physically able to put the things together. I cannot even bring my right hand above my shoulder due to failed rotator cuff surgeries, and this is only one of my physical issues.

I would love to save money and really pick and choose the items that go into really nice grow tent. If I had someone here to put it all together for me, that would be even better. Unfortunately, wishing doesn't make it so. That's why I think I'm pretty much stuck with purchasing a pre-assembled type turnkey system that I can plug and play, so to speak.

Just out of curiosity, which tent(s) have metal joints? I have never seen any of them advertised with them.

 

[HunterHunt]

Im sorry about your physical conditions and completely understand what you are saying! Just thought i would throw that out there as an option for you.

As far as tents with metal joints! I personally use Lighthouse Hydro tents as they have metal joints! Another tent that i know of is the gorilla Tents but they are superb quality and price. My 4X4 tent only cost 134 with free shipping! Im sure there are others out there but these are the two i know of.

Sorry i cant recommend a all in one box as i have never purchased or have experience with any!

 

[VitaminGreen]

I am sorry, but how will you be able to hang the lights or do any minor maintiance work? What if you need to move the plants which can weight up to several pounds depending on your pot size? I made the mistake of purchasing a cab and have basically been forced to deal with such until I can buy all the parts for a tent. This IS gardening, and so some work is going to have to be done regardless of how turn key it is, even if its hanging the buds up to dry at the end! I wish I could walk into a dispensary though, I am def jealous of that.

 

[C Sprite]

I am sorry, but how will you be able to hang the lights or do any minor maintiance work? What if you need to move the plants which can weight up to several pounds depending on your pot size? I made the mistake of purchasing a cab and have basically been forced to deal with such until I can buy all the parts for a tent. This IS gardening, and so some work is going to have to be done regardless of how turn key it is, even if its hanging the buds up to dry at the end! I wish I could walk into a dispensary though, I am def jealous of that.

I figure that I can still use my left arm well enough and with a step stool, I should be able to hang the lights and/or buds. Right now I'm leaning towards hydro, so I wouldn't have to be dealing with lifting pots with soil and heavy plants. I also have a wheeled cart that raises/lowers, which I figure would help me with changing the reservoir or moving anything else around that may come up. As the saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way. Over the years, I've had to come up with some unusual ways to do things based upon my limitations. Thanks for the concern.

Btw, I checked out your journal...nice grow going on.

 

[VitaminGreen]

Thanks! If you have that ability I do not think a tent would be too difficult? The other thing you need to think about is how heavy these cans are. It will be a paint to move it even to its final resting place. A tent really is easy and I would totally recommend that!

 

[C Sprite]

Thanks! If you have that ability I do not think a tent would be too difficult? The other thing you need to think about is how heavy these cans are. It will be a paint to move it even to its final resting place. A tent really is easy and I would totally recommend that!

I'm not sure what you're referring to when you say that I need to think about how heavy the cans are. Did you mean cabs? If so, the cab that I'm leaning towards purchasing is the first one I mentioned from growboxusa. It has optional gliding casters that the owner of the company said could be installed at the factory so that it could be wheeled out of the shipping box/crate. I also asked my long-time friend of 26 yrs to help me get the cab to where I would want it when the time comes. I am also favoring this cab because it comes with a chiller, where the other ones do not.

I totally appreciate your feelings about me getting a tent, but my physical limitations coupled with diy skills that are practically non-existent, makes a tent a no go for me. I feel that getting a turnkey system will challenge me physically enough as it is.

I really wish there were some growers here at who could answer my initial question so that I could get some feedback on what I actually want to buy. I realize that most people either have dedicated grow rooms or tents, or perhaps smaller stealth speaker boxes, PCs and such, but those are not for me.

 

[cannateer]

I would have to take some time to read a bit more on the other setups, but it seems like the growboxusa is pretty impressive, actually. They even sport advanced leds, yet dont supply a humidifier, or ph monitor. Those are essential imo. You could just pick them up for 150 extra, tho.

Good luck.

 

[C Sprite]

I would have to take some time to read a bit more on the other setups, but it seems like the growboxusa is pretty impressive, actually. They even sport advanced leds, yet dont supply a humidifier, or ph monitor. Those are essential imo. You could just pick them up for 150 extra, tho.

Good luck.

Thank you for the input. I'm definitely leaning towards the growboxusa also. Yeah, I realized there would be a couple of things I would have to purchase extra. I know they offer the 3 in 1 blue lab monitor (pH, ppm and temp) but it's $300+. Not sure if it's worth it or not. I already have a humidifier, but not a dehumidifier.

 

[HunterHunt]

I dont really understand why you would want to do hydro with your physical conditions as it is much harder. You will have to carry gallons and gallons of water daily and change 15+ gallon reservoir every week and carry and dispose of the water.... Not to mention mixing and adjusting water levels and ppm DAILY.

That being said you can find cheap PPM and PH "pens" online for around 10-15$ each. You can also find that pH, PPM, And temp meter for around $175 if you look around on the internet.

I wish you the best of luck. Soil you only would have to carry 1 gallon of water and water every 3 days or so according on your pot size. Dont take this the wrong way but i believe you have your priorities mixed up. You are spending $2000+ for something thats going to be harder for you. Thats just my two cents and dont want to get off the subject of your questions but like to throw these ideas at you so you have options and understand what its going to take.

I know you want your answer... well answered, sorry i cant help out more. If you received good customer service from the growboxusa then you might want to go with them. I would also do the LED upgrade if possible. More light with a healthy plant means more medicine! =)

I hope you the best! Keep it green. And like always we are all here to help you and each other out!

 

[tadlawid]

Dear C Sprite,

Your experience can be very successful without spending lot's of money, just searching good stuff at good price, all of this based on our experience

I disagree a bit, if you're a curious person and a bit logical hydro is not a difficult stuff to practice.

So,

If the goal is to have a recurrent grow so first of all how many plants do you want to manage ?

As flowering cycle now is around 8 weeks, it means you need to have a 8 weeks stock in your fridge.

a box with a veg space and a flowering space is the best choice to do. with 4 plants vegging and 4 plants flowering without any special train you may have a 4*20 Gr grams dry per plant for first yard and 40/50 per plant with experience.(based on the average 50g per plant breeders often give on their websites)

first box you chose has a cloning space but seems to be too little for both veg and flower Same thing for second and third one

You know what ! maybe you may search for two cheap 3' x 3' tent as i did. 3' x 3' is ok for for plant and perfect for a 400 W led panel .

Buy two topled Mars II 400 one standard spectrum and one flower spectrum.

Carbon filter 250m3 extractor per tent, and go for the environment, one little fan per box.

After you have to choose between growing medium, and as i can manage the PH and EC control daily (and i discovered i loved that and it"s not as barbarian as it looks) i personally chose hydroponic buckets, cost about 50 $ each.

i find the water easier to carrier than soil, and when i watered accidently the floor i just take a towel, not the hoover, no mopping also. Soil involve to change the size of the buckets and change media too, two to three times, that mean go to the shop and buy several heavy soil bag.

Here i've got a 5 litres bottle and i do all with that. Need to go back to the kitchen 5 times to fil the bottle ??? , no problem as i can open 5 times the fridge to take some chocolate : ganjamon:

Moreover, you can proceed step by step as you will only need to manage a veg stage for first 8/12 weeks. and buy the flowering stuff in minimum 7 weeks.

Good hydro nuts, roots stim, PH and EC pen, PH + and PH - and go.

have the assurance we will sit in your yard

 

[Renegade69]

I dont really understand why you would want to do hydro with your physical conditions as it is much harder. You will have to carry gallons and gallons of water daily and change 15+ gallon reservoir every week and carry and dispose of the water.... Not to mention mixing and adjusting water levels and ppm DAILY.

That being said you can find cheap PPM and PH "pens" online for around 10-15$ each. You can also find that pH, PPM, And temp meter for around $175 if you look around on the internet.

I wish you the best of luck. Soil you only would have to carry 1 gallon of water and water every 3 days or so according on your pot size. Dont take this the wrong way but i believe you have your priorities mixed up. You are spending $2000+ for something thats going to be harder for you. Thats just my two cents and dont want to get off the subject of your questions but like to throw these ideas at you so you have options and understand what its going to take.

I know you want your answer... well answered, sorry i cant help out more. If you received good customer service from the growboxusa then you might want to go with them. I would also do the LED upgrade if possible. More light with a healthy plant means more medicine! =)

I hope you the best! Keep it green. And like always we are all here to help you and each other out!

Hunter that is very good advise. Something the rest of us take for granted....the lifting and carrying things around.

Sprite, based on Hunters input and your abilities I have to agree with him. I'm not a soil guy but know everyone here that does soil can guide you through the process. As for tent verse cabinet...if you own your own place and stealth is not an issue then a tent or two would be best. They all can be set up at minimal cost.

We're here brother just reach out and ask....

 

[VitaminGreen]

I would def look into Hempy buckets. Seems like it would fit the bill nicely.

 

[Renegade69]

Are hempy's portable???

And what about a 2-3 gallon res?? Still have to lug water but at least it's a small res. And you don't want to go less than a 2-3 gallon because of size needed for roots. Tad I believe you got a nice small bucket system and I was looking at GrowLand Hydroponics and still may get a set so I can do 2 plants at a time in separate res's.

GHE Waterfarm 15L | growland-hydroponics.com

All told my complete setup minus the cabinet which I already had cost me around $500. A few other minor things for about $25.

$100 for the Reservoir
$170 for LED
$99 for exhaust
$24 for timer
$80 for mister and RH pen
$21 for PH kit
$22 for PH pen
$45 for GH's Nutrients

Forgot to add that all above items except for Res and LED were purchased thru Amazon. My one and only go to store for just about everything....

 

[C Sprite]

I dont really understand why you would want to do hydro with your physical conditions as it is much harder. You will have to carry gallons and gallons of water daily and change 15+ gallon reservoir every week and carry and dispose of the water.... Not to mention mixing and adjusting water levels and ppm DAILY.

That being said you can find cheap PPM and PH "pens" online for around 10-15$ each. You can also find that pH, PPM, And temp meter for around $175 if you look around on the internet.

I wish you the best of luck. Soil you only would have to carry 1 gallon of water and water every 3 days or so according on your pot size. Dont take this the wrong way but i believe you have your priorities mixed up. You are spending $2000+ for something thats going to be harder for you. Thats just my two cents and dont want to get off the subject of your questions but like to throw these ideas at you so you have options and understand what its going to take.

I know you want your answer... well answered, sorry i cant help out more. If you received good customer service from the growboxusa then you might want to go with them. I would also do the LED upgrade if possible. More light with a healthy plant means more medicine! =)

I hope you the best! Keep it green. And like always we are all here to help you and each other out!

First of all, I appreciate everyone's opinion and do not take offense whatsoever. However, I know my limits and feel that a pre-made system would be best for me.

As of yet I have not totally decided if hydro or soil is the best way to go. Each method has it pros and cons. Since I am home all day almost everyday, daily monitoring of pH and ppm is not an issue. Lugging around water or soil is. There is no way in hell that I can lift a bag of soil (no matter what size) to get it out of my car, then out to my back yard to mix with whatever else that is needed, etc. Water is also heavy, but it is available inside my house and can be put in any size container (that I can carry or put on my wheeled cart if need be). However, hydro has a lot of mechanical parts involved and if one thing breaks, then the whole grow can go down the tubes. That doesn't happen with soil.

That being said, the cabinets that I'm looking at can be used for either soil or hydro. The soil versions are less costly for obvious reasons. So before I can decide on what growing method I'll be using, I first need to have the growing environment set up. And yes, I am totally sold on LEDs...would never consider HPS/MH in the high heat area that I live in. (Today's high is 105F)

As always, I appreciate your input. Even when opinions are expressed that are opposite of your own, great ideas can come from it! Keep growing green HunterNitro...

Oh, I forgot to mention, thanks for confirming for me that the $300+ price tag on that 3 in 1 monitor was outrageous.

 

[C Sprite]

Dear C Sprite,

Your experience can be very successful without spending lot's of money, just searching good stuff at good price, all of this based on our experience

I disagree a bit, if you're a curious person and a bit logical hydro is not a difficult stuff to practice.

So,

If the goal is to have a recurrent grow so first of all how many plants do you want to manage ?

As flowering cycle now is around 8 weeks, it means you need to have a 8 weeks stock in your fridge.

a box with a veg space and a flowering space is the best choice to do. with 4 plants vegging and 4 plants flowering without any special train you may have a 4*20 Gr grams dry per plant for first yard and 40/50 per plant with experience.(based on the average 50g per plant breeders often give on their websites)

first box you chose has a cloning space but seems to be too little for both veg and flower Same thing for second and third one

You know what ! maybe you may search for two cheap 3' x 3' tent as i did. 3' x 3' is ok for for plant and perfect for a 400 W led panel .

Buy two topled Mars II 400 one standard spectrum and one flower spectrum.

Carbon filter 250m3 extractor per tent, and go for the environment, one little fan per box.

After you have to choose between growing medium, and as i can manage the PH and EC control daily (and i discovered i loved that and it"s not as barbarian as it looks) i personally chose hydroponic buckets, cost about 50 $ each.

i find the water easier to carrier than soil, and when i watered accidently the floor i just take a towel, not the hoover, no mopping also. Soil involve to change the size of the buckets and change media too, two to three times, that mean go to the shop and buy several heavy soil bag.

Here i've got a 5 litres bottle and i do all with that. Need to go back to the kitchen 5 times to fil the bottle ??? , no problem as i can open 5 times the fridge to take some chocolate : ganjamon:

Moreover, you can proceed step by step as you will only need to manage a veg stage for first 8/12 weeks. and buy the flowering stuff in minimum 7 weeks.

Good hydro nuts, roots stim, PH and EC pen, PH + and PH - and go.

have the assurance we will sit in your yard

Hi Tadlawid, I'm glad you stopped by.

Since I would be growing for myself only, I figured one or two nicely trained plants a couple of times per year would be plenty for me. All three of the pre-made cabs that I've been looking at have vegging and flowering areas at the same time, which allow for a flowering area of about 4 ft. The growboxusa also has a version without the veg chamber, so the flowering area would be 6.5 ft minus the height of the reservoir or pots. The Bud Buddy has a shelf that is totally removable, so you can have more height if needed. The supercloset is not adjustable, but I've read some of stealthgrow's journals and even though his model is different, he's done a helluva job producing some nice meds (the one I'm looking at is like the left half of his model). I also have an AeroGarden, which after reading Renegade69's journal, I think I could use for seedling/early veg stage if need be.

I've thought about getting 2 smaller cabinets (something like 2'x1.5'x4') and have veg and flower separate, but not with tents. Since I don't believe that I can handle 1 tent, 2 tents would be double trouble.

I totally agree with you about carrying the water vs. soil. I can make multiple trips if need be back and forth from my kitchen sink, but I would try and stay out of the fridge...gotta try and keep my girlish figure!!

 

[C Sprite]

Hunter that is very good advise. Something the rest of us take for granted....the lifting and carrying things around.

Sprite, based on Hunters input and your abilities I have to agree with him. I'm not a soil guy but know everyone here that does soil can guide you through the process. As for tent verse cabinet...if you own your own place and stealth is not an issue then a tent or two would be best. They all can be set up at minimal cost.

We're here brother just reach out and ask....

Thank you for stopping by Renegade69

Yes, I do own my house. Stealth is not a requirement, but I still would like to keep it low-key. Cost is not the issue with me. The issue is my inability to put the tent with all of it's components together due to my physical limitations.

I feel so thankful that you and others here at are so willing to offer your help. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. Oh, and for future reference, I'm of the female persuasion.

 

[C Sprite]

I would def look into Hempy buckets. Seems like it would fit the bill nicely.

I have already been looking at some hempy grows and it just might be the best of both worlds, esp if done soilless. I would need to see how heavy the perlite and coco coir are and see if it is feasible for me. I forget now who's journal I was reading, but I saw the hempys done in 2 liter bottles, which I believe I could manage, as long as I don't have to buy huge heavy bags of growing medium.

First though, I need to purchase one of the cabs. Decisions, decisions.