Awesome score!
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I should send you some Uncle Festers Skunk to grow in there! Old school bud in a phototron! Yes
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I think I payed $200.00 or $300.00 for mine in the late 70s early 80s, that was the first time I tried to grow indoors back in the day because the HID lights were too much.
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don’t sleep on the side-lighting aspect of it. really nice in flower. a well-trained plant might surprise you
I remember those from around 1989.
Came with sphagnum moss type medium and some nutrients for like $250. or so,
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sounds like what I bought. An all in one growing tower. It has very detailed growing instructions.
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This is incredible
I remember seeing one for the first time on a tv show called “the most expensivest” with a rapper Two Chains.
has to be a hashplant type plant ran in there something squat and fat !
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Excellent score!
I probably would have broken my arm…
…by reaching for my wallet too fast… 
and it’s the full package to boot!
That ‘U’ shaped T-12 is rarer than fur on a frog
For a suitable 90’s vintage weed I’d suggest G13…
Cheers
G
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I say put a LED garage light inside like one of those UFO joints or a single quantum board up top, run some prewired LED strips down the fluoro channels, and buy yourself some Jacks fertilizer, a 20-20-20 for veg and a 10-30-20 for flower (All-Purpose and Bloom Booster). A big pot of ProMix HP and you’re cooking with an updated weed spaceship!
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Some sativas can get very short too, I have a line of Durban from a guy in Alaska who kept it for many years indoors and he says it hits about three feet and stops like an indica at this point despite being kept pure sativa.
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I think after 30 years of sitting in a box, the ballast took a dump. The lights lit for a second then went dead. The U shaped bulbs have been removed, along with all the connectors and the ballast. Leaves lots of room in the bottom for a power strip. Easy peasy with just one plug.
I think I’ll set it up with LED lights. I love the design and size of it and can’t wait to get it going.
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I have always thought one of those would make the ultimate stoner chill room accessory with an auto in it so you don’t have to worry about lights out, just like something to look at the way my grow shop has clone mothers in a tent with the window open
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The Phototron would look cool in the Man cave
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Yeah man just set it up with really cool LED lights inside it would grow so much better than the fluros
You know I remember seeing those when they first came out like in the mid 70s I think I didn’t have any money and I really wanted one but I thought they were like six or $700 I guess I was wrong looking back at it I don’t see how anyone could possibly grow anything in that thing I know it’s been done I’ve seen pictures but I promise you I couldn’t do it I wouldn’t have a clue how to do it in that little box not a clue
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I think you could squeeze one of these inside for a 2023 upgrade way beyond its original power, for $60
it’s 100w of Samsung LM281Bs, at 13.4” x 11”
You might want to read this old article about them, it’s the most in depth thing I’ve ever found in one place:
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I have a similar light that I could do that with. I was originally thinking of just replacing the U shaped side lights the led grow strip lights - maybe 3 of them. But I like the idea of wiring up a panel led light in the center. Thanks!
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Yeah! I can’t wait to see what you do with it man
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You should check out the LED Strips thread here if you haven’t, there’s a ton of good info on using them for stuff besides top lights, like on the walls of tents or as under lights/intracanopy. The Bridgelux strips come in various power levels and diode density per foot, so you could probably really customize it for your cab and even do like spectrum control or whatever with different color temp strips mixed. There’s some real gurus here when it comes to the low-power, low-cost strip builds for micro cabinets and other things sort of like a Phototron, guys like @Mr.Sparkle @Gpaw @Shadey @nube @ReikoX and a bunch of others whose advice I’d trust implicitly.
For a snazzy but probably overpowered option you could play with some SolStrips or SolStix from @Baudelaire ’s SolStrips lighting company, they look really high quality, he has them built to his specs just like LEDTeknik does with those Buddies I link to below, they both have a great understanding of what makes the difference between an average and a professional grade light, I know B specs a copper PCB board waaaaay thicker than you get on an HLG Quantum Board or the like, which means better thermal stability and heat transfer from the diodes, increasing lifespan and the practical max voltage they can run at.
I’ve used a pair of these with some good results on the walls of my tent and then another grow as intracanopy lights strung through the lowest set of branches, they’re expensive but they’re so awesome: great LEDs, waterproof, rugged, super easy to set up. I didn’t want to get into the DIY strips yet and they were a good answer for me, I’d endorse them to folks and I’m gonna try the other colors at some point, I only have the High-CRI white at the moment:
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