First grow - Stealth using desk

Before I get started, this is my first grow. I welcome all tips and knowledge. I will be investing in a hasp to lock the desk when i'm not around. I am living with my parents, they don't mind me smoking as they do themselves. If it wasn't for a 12 year old sister, we surely would have a grow room in the basement.

My grow box is a side of a desk, two fairly large drawers which will be cut out on the insides. Giving me dimensions of 2'h x 11"w x 17"d roughly. Not quite as wide as I would like to start out with, but its more room than my full tower PC case.

Here is a quick sketch of my plan


I do plan on using CFL's, not sure which ones to buy. I had planned on 4x, would this be too much? All input is welcome.


I am currently in the process of re-arranging and will post pics of the desk itself along with preparing it.

Here are the desk pictures

=o looks like good idea. GL on your project=]

for CFL's you want to get the 'daylight' spectrum ones...these are the ones that shine a bright bluewhite and their color temp (K) is 6500. these types of bulbs are good for veg. for flowering, you want to get 2700k 'warm white' bulbs... as far as wattage of said bulbs, i think you can stick 4 or 5 42w cfls in there with the proper ventilation system (youd just have to make sure the temps dont get above 85 degrees F...would be good light for one plant, pretty good results i might add, if you do everything right.

Thank you for the input, I made note on the lights. Finished cleaning the desk out. Heading to walmart tomorrow for the lighting system.

dude i cant wait to see how this works out for you... sounds possible even. i'm excited for ya! youre gonna be like, a fuckin ninja grower. lol

you should go and check out the CFL sub forum under indoor growing.. theres a bunch of cheap configurations you can utilize in that space..

are you growing from seed or clone?

Growing from seeds. Seeds are unknown. They were out of a fairly nice bag. Smoke was very pleasant and had to put the bowl down after 4-5 hits. I may have to look into ordering lights online as 2x Walmarts, Lowes, and home depot did not have the lights recommended to me earlier. I did on the other hand get a power strip and 4x plug-in light sockets. Other than greenhouses there is no nurseries or hydroponic stores anywhere within an hour drive of my location, so nutes and ph +/- may need to be ordered online as well. I picked up a digital ph meter and a wireless "weather station" unit that displays heat, humidity, etc on my PC.

Also no activated carbon at Walmart, going to check Petco.

I plan on using 80mm fans for intake and exhaust. I found a mini-fan at Walmart i was going to put in the corner blowing on the plants on the same side as the intake, is this okay circulation?

make sure your intake fan is a bit larger than your exhaust fan, it couldnt hurt to add one or two passive intake holes (just some holes in the back maybe an inch or so wide).

the lights arent that hard to find, they are in most lighting depts. just the twirly light bulbs, i see em all over the place randomly.

as far as the seeds go, make sure theres enough room in there in case they feel like stretchin on you...separate the males, blah blah blah

everything else looks nice brah...post some pics of the set up

Only CFL's I found in the stores mentioned above are 23w, Lowes or Home Depot surprisingly didn't even carry 42w cfl's. I'm heading to a greenhouse tomorrow to pick up a few things. Got the holes drilled out in the back of the desk with intake about 1/2" bigger than exhaust. Picked up some activated carbon at Petco. Will post some pics when I have some interesting ones to post, such as sprouting!

Looks good mate, Growing in a desk super stealth

Can't say I have ran into a post where a desk (at least 2 drawers from a desk) were being used. Not quite as big as a floor speaker which I had sitting around but that would look awkward "hooked up" to my Philips FR 965 receiver with 5 mini speakers, lol!

I Love THC said:

Looks good mate, Growing in a desk super stealth

Click to expand...

this. im planning something similar, cept the desk is horizontal. make sure to update. i wanna know temps

I definitely will update. Waiting on seeds to sprout. Desk is ready to go minus the lights I had to order online. They should be here tomorrow. Got activated carbon at Petco and found an armoire today to that I might turn into a box as well.

Sorry for quality, they were taken via cell phone.


Will have some pics of completed grow room w/ plants soon.

Prepared starter pots today, temperature in the box is 21-23c. Highest it was at was 26c. I'd say that's pretty impressive for the small area with 4 cfls. I hope the temp stays when I put the carbon filter over the exhaust. I made one the size of the fan with panty hose. Made the square, then stitched some pockets in it, filled with carbon and stitched top shut. Just to give better airflow I believe I may stack 2x fans for the exhaust to move more air. Outside of the desk on the exhaust I made a little duct to direct air up so it doesn't linger behind the desk.
Cost so far has been extremely low

Bagseeds = free
Plug-in light sockets = 4x at .79 = $3.49 w/ tax (walmart)
Power Strip = $9.52 w/ tax (walmart)
Activated Carbon = $12.70 (petco) w/ tax
PH Meter & Digital Weather Meter = $21.19 w/ tax (walmart)
CFL's = 4x pack $23.27 w/ tax and shipping (ebay)
My fans, potting soil & pots, extension cord, and screws I had laying around the house.

Total cost = $70.17 If I get at least an ounce off the plant(s) then it was definitely worth it.

Any nutes I should get that would be beneficial to my plant(s) in this small box? How do you think I should go about the grow with light schedule?