peggylikesplants
Carnivore
Converting IKEA cabinets into “greenhouses” has become a pretty prominent trend in the houseplant community. In mid-January, I climbed on the bandwagon. It’s a great and (relatively) affordable way to provide a high-light, high-humidity growing space that’s aesthetically pleasing. To be able to sit at my dining table every morning, drink my coffee, and see my plants all nicely lit up has been such a pleasure.
Conditions: the cabinet has been consistently around 25-27 degrees during the daytime, cooling to around 20-22 at night, with 65-80% humidity depending on how recently the plants inside have been watered.
Details:
(I’m not going to add prices for everything, just some of the more relevant big items. Maybe when I’m not on my phone I’ll add in links)
The cabinet itself is an IKEA MILSBO tall ($229). I drilled a hole in the bottom to snake cords through. The cabinet comes with three glass shelves, but based on my plants’ sizes and lighting requirements I decided to only use one shelf to divide the cabinet into two compartments.
Each compartment has a computer fan (AC infinity Multifan - comes with two attached already so it was only one thing to plug in), a Monios-L T5 light fixture from Amazon ($42.99 each https://www.amazon.ca/Monios-L-Spectrum-Replacement-Integrated-Hydroponics/dp/B07QJXK6XD) hung using neodymium magnets, and a “rose gold” wire grid. These grids and accessories are great for hanging plants along the back wall. As these plants are closer to the lights, I picked higher-light plants like Hoya and Nepenthes to stay up there, getting around 500-800 foot candles while more sensitive Aroids stay at the bottom, getting 300-400 at first but more as they grow. I know foot candles aren’t perfectly accurate, but I do not have a PAR meter at my disposal. I did specifically choose these lights based on my plant placement plans and the manufacturer’s PPFD diagram. I do think my Nepenthes ‘Viking’ miiiiiight be getting a bit too much, though.
To maintain humidity inside the cabinet, I applied weatherstripping foam to the doors. I don’t want the air inside to get stagnant, even with the fans, so I make sure to open the cabinet multiple times per day. I want to look at the plants anyways!
I run the lights on a manual switch timer from 6am to 11pm. Maybe a bit much? It’s not distracting when around at night, though. I did take one of the reflectors from the top light and secure it to the front to double up to further shield the LED from view while seated on the couch nearby. I’m using a manual timer because getting a smart timer to work with my “smart wifi” is a pain and sometimes I *don’t* want to use apps for everything.
As it’s only been a month, I can’t say too much about the results of the cabinet, but all of the plants inside are putting out new growth. Larger growth, too. I’m pretty happy with how things are now, though I could probably try to hide the cables for aesthetic reasons. I might try using extra strong suction cup hooks or magnetic hooks to hang more small Nepenthes on the sides of the cabinet.
Labelled plants:
That’s it, I think! I had a lot of fun making this and hope to do more projects like this in the future, probably with a used cabinet from Facebook Marketplace or something.
Conditions: the cabinet has been consistently around 25-27 degrees during the daytime, cooling to around 20-22 at night, with 65-80% humidity depending on how recently the plants inside have been watered.
Details:
(I’m not going to add prices for everything, just some of the more relevant big items. Maybe when I’m not on my phone I’ll add in links)
The cabinet itself is an IKEA MILSBO tall ($229). I drilled a hole in the bottom to snake cords through. The cabinet comes with three glass shelves, but based on my plants’ sizes and lighting requirements I decided to only use one shelf to divide the cabinet into two compartments.
Each compartment has a computer fan (AC infinity Multifan - comes with two attached already so it was only one thing to plug in), a Monios-L T5 light fixture from Amazon ($42.99 each https://www.amazon.ca/Monios-L-Spectrum-Replacement-Integrated-Hydroponics/dp/B07QJXK6XD) hung using neodymium magnets, and a “rose gold” wire grid. These grids and accessories are great for hanging plants along the back wall. As these plants are closer to the lights, I picked higher-light plants like Hoya and Nepenthes to stay up there, getting around 500-800 foot candles while more sensitive Aroids stay at the bottom, getting 300-400 at first but more as they grow. I know foot candles aren’t perfectly accurate, but I do not have a PAR meter at my disposal. I did specifically choose these lights based on my plant placement plans and the manufacturer’s PPFD diagram. I do think my Nepenthes ‘Viking’ miiiiiight be getting a bit too much, though.
To maintain humidity inside the cabinet, I applied weatherstripping foam to the doors. I don’t want the air inside to get stagnant, even with the fans, so I make sure to open the cabinet multiple times per day. I want to look at the plants anyways!
I run the lights on a manual switch timer from 6am to 11pm. Maybe a bit much? It’s not distracting when around at night, though. I did take one of the reflectors from the top light and secure it to the front to double up to further shield the LED from view while seated on the couch nearby. I’m using a manual timer because getting a smart timer to work with my “smart wifi” is a pain and sometimes I *don’t* want to use apps for everything.
As it’s only been a month, I can’t say too much about the results of the cabinet, but all of the plants inside are putting out new growth. Larger growth, too. I’m pretty happy with how things are now, though I could probably try to hide the cables for aesthetic reasons. I might try using extra strong suction cup hooks or magnetic hooks to hang more small Nepenthes on the sides of the cabinet.
Labelled plants:
That’s it, I think! I had a lot of fun making this and hope to do more projects like this in the future, probably with a used cabinet from Facebook Marketplace or something.
Popular choices are the MILSBO, DETOLF, FABRIKOR, KLINGSBO, and RUDSTA cabinets. 
