Help Me Get Started On a Small Stealth Grow, Please.

You may have noticed already, but this is my first post. Thanks for taking the time to read it. I've been lurking on many forums on and off for years now learning some of the ins and outs of indoor grows. I've wanted to get a small scale stealth grow going for some time now but I always figured the Mrs. wouldn't go for it. The other day she said to me, "You should grow". I didn't need to be told twice and so here we are.


I've got a small list of things I'm going for and I hope that some of the more skilled growers can just point me in the right direction. I'm a skilled fabricator so building won't be a problem, I'm just not 100% on what I'll need to be efficient for my situation. Anyway, here we go;

I would to do a scrog grow.
I want to start with one plant and rotate 3 others in so I can harvest every month or so.
Stealth grow cabinet in a used armoire. (How big should this be for what I want?)
I would like to start out using soil.
It's very important to me that the smell be kept to an absolute minimum.


Based on the approximate size of the grow cabinet that you would suggest, what would be the best bet on lighting and fans for a scrog grow? I was thinking I would pick up four 6" PC fans (two on the bottom and one on each side) and then use a larger fan for venting. Charcoal filter and scrubber are obvious. Planned on lining the whole cabinet with Mylar.

I appreciate any input and I can upload pictures of possible armoires and their dimensions if needed.

Might be worth adding that I'm trying to keep it around $500 initially, excluding the cost of the armoire.


EDIT- the armoire measures 43"L x 24"W x 54"H

Hey man,

This is coming from another beginner but... I've heard that a flat white painted surface reflects 99% of the light that hits it. I've also heard that if mylar crinkles, it can concentrate light and burn your plants. Just a thought. Happy growing.

I've read more than a few grow logs where people have used flat white paint. I just assumed Mylar was better. I'll look into that, thanks for the comment.

I go along with happynoodleboy, flat white is your best bet, for lighting I would go 2ft 2 bulb T5 HO's, many use cfl's but my opinion is that you need too many to achive your goal, due to small space I use a 2ft 2 bulb T5 HO's with good success, I can grow 3 plants as long as I scrog or lst, good luck with your grow, keep us posted, your fan choice seems to be acurate for the size of space you're planning....happy growing....btw welcome to riu you've picked the right place.

Now we're talking. Any suggestions for muffling the sound on the fans, particularly the large fan?


Here's a shot or two of the armoir I'm thinking will be the one I bring home. Just need to know if it seems to be suitable?





If that's the one I get, I'm planning on getting that hole in the back closed up, removing the vertical board and the bottom shelf and then reinforcing the remaining shelf on the four corners. I'm figuring I will need to get something figured out for light leak (smell too) on the doors.

HELLO ,I myself have only a few grows under my belt, the problem is that too many growers try to grow to many plants in too little space .you'll need two rooms / tents ,one veg and one flower and really for what your suggesting you'll have maybe three on flower at some stage ,for 3 plants you'll need at least a 1m x 1m x 1.8m...it also depends on a few factors..how long flower ? what yield you want ? and type of plant eg.. auto flowering,smaller plant less yield....also which lights you want to use ? using an armoire is a good Idea using the bottom for the vegging period and top for flower but wonder if I would rather grow 1 plant that gave me five ounces than 10 plants with 7 grammes.......just food for thought.....gl and hf get high!!!!!

Koenreich said:

Now we're talking. Any suggestions for muffling the sound on the fans, particularly the large fan?
.

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maybe an acoustic fan enclosure http://www.fantronix.com/acatalog/KSA_Acoustic_Box_Fans.html something like .....also saw this http://www.worldwideholistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/BBopen.jpg

I'll have to get the dimensions from the cabinet I posted above. It SEEMS to be pretty substantial so I'm thinking I can get away with the 3-4 plants like I want. If not, I've got no problem making another one specifically for vegging.


I'm looking to get about 6 oz per harvest as a minimum. From the grow logs I've read, this should be very obtainable with a 1 plant scrog grow. After getting a few grows under my belt I may do several more plants at a time but I just don't know yet. I'll have to try my hand at it before I can be sure what will work for me.

I think I will stay away from auto flowering strains for now. If I end up needing assistance on when to go 12/12 I'm sure ill be able to get some input from the grow log I intend to keep.


Thanks for all the comments so far everyone.

djxtreme said:

maybe an acoustic fan enclosure http://www.fantronix.com/acatalog/KSA_Acoustic_Box_Fans.html something like .....also saw this http://www.worldwideholistics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/BBopen.jpg

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input, should have thought of that myself but that's why I'm here. The second picture also gave me the idea to swap out the handles on the armoire for door handles that I can look to keep busybodies away, just in case.

I think I'm going to give those t5 lights a chance. Does everyone pretty much agree one 6400k and one 5400k for veg and two 3000k for flowering?

Koenreich said:

Now we're talking. Any suggestions for muffling the sound on the fans, particularly the large fan?


Here's a shot or two of the armoir I'm thinking will be the one I bring home. Just need to know if it seems to be suitable?


View attachment 2659557
View attachment 2659558

If that's the one I get, I'm planning on getting that hole in the back closed up, removing the vertical board and the bottom shelf and then reinforcing the remaining shelf on the four corners. I'm figuring I will need to get something figured out for light leak (smell too) on the doors.

Click to expand...

Why not get a tent? They are already ducted etc... and a 4x4 tent is a very nice size. Possibly cheaper than your armoire and less work. Now my flower room is in a spare bathroom and my veg, (4x4 tent), seedling/cloning (4x4 tent) and boys club (2x4 tent). In the bathroom I use gloss white. I lose a little but I'm running a XXXL ocho and a 1000 HPS (just changed down to the 600 for high summer since I don't air condition).

Make a shush box for the fan. I'm assuming you are talking like a can fan? Just get some egg crate and put it all around the box then put the fan through it. Another thing you can do is to put a large piece of rubber on the fan's feet that you then screw to wood. The rubber should shush the fan. Now if that's not doing it check if you have a bearing going or worse a cheapo out of balance blade system which will cavitate and ruin your bearings and make noise so you are aware all the time you are running it you wasted your money! LOL

Welcome to RIU!

That armoire is $75. I wanted to go with an armoire grow because I have a lot of company come through.


Good information on the fans too. Thanks for taking the time to help me out.

http://supercloset.com
If nothing else this site will show you how a professional grow cabinet looks. I want to buy their trailer...

happynoodleboy said:

http://supercloset.com
If nothing else this site will show you how a professional grow cabinet looks. I want to buy their trailer...

Click to expand...

What a price tag haha. I bookmarked the website so I can reference their set up while getting a design together.

sorry don't really know much about these t5 lights but on looking at forums didn't much care for them , im just gonna stick to a normal cfl for veg http://www.greenfinger-hydroponics.co.uk/images/upload/pic443207.jpg hardly any heat and easily controlled by a few pc fans....but for flowering cant go wrong with hps....if your gonna use a bigger extractor to run a carbon filter you may aswell use a cool tube with either a 200w or 400w hps or mh bulb.....draw the hot air past the light fittings in to the extractor then out into the carbon filter extracts heat and scrubs the air clean...

That armoire is fine way more stealthy than a tent. You could even tweak it for a glass enclosed 400 watt or 600 watt hps. The exhaust is gonna be important. I helped a cousin build one. We even put a tower fan upside down on the roof for circulation. Good luck

Knock the shelf's out to give you more vertical space.

Haha, this is why I can never make a decision on lights. I guess I'll look at several similar set ups to what I want using both types of lights and go from there.

I had every intention of spending a chunk on fans and ventilation. I really like that vertical fan idea.


Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I really do appreciate every tip.

Search the grow journals for someone that did a grow like your proposing. There will be someone doing the same, or just buy the armoir and put your clothes in it and use your closet to grow in i bet the walls are already painted white and it has doors on it already

I had thought about clearing a closet out initially but decided against it because I live in an old house with small closets and even smaller closet doors. It would be pretty difficult to do any trimming inside one of my closets and I don't want to stress the plants out by moving them around constantly. Definitely planned on scouring through some more grow journals, though.

Once again, I appreciate every bit of the input you all have to offer. I'm trying to be as prepared as I can possibly be going in to this. In the mean time, does anyone have a lead on a good nutrient regiment? I would hate to make the noob mistake of over feeding them. Oh, I'm also open for suggestions on which strain I should start off with and where I should order the seeds from.


You're all being more generous with the tips than I could have hoped.

I just built a "tool cabinet" in my basement a few weeks ago. So maybe I can help. Fist of all you plan on keeping this in plain sight? In a high traffic area? I would suggest your bedroom at least. Sealing that thing off to cover ALL odor and noise is going to be a massive task in a high traffic area. Not suggested. Definitely gotta invest in or make a carbon filter either way.

https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/101248-best-diy-ez-walmart-carbon.html
or
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/7074-easy-build-diy-carbon-filter.html

For sealing it you might want to caulk around the inside of the frame. Weather stripping on the doors. Or get some grow tent material and have a zippered sheet behind the doors (prolly better)

It looks big enough that you can section off a small chamber for vegging though to tie it into the ventilation may require some engineering as to not let light into your flower chamber.

As for sound I run a dehumidifier beside my box and it masks all sounds. Thought about investing in foam sheet insulation for sound. My box is make out of an aluminum plexy glass composite. Not much for buffering noise. Anyway your box looks solid wood. Should muffle sound a little.

This site helps to figure out what fan size you need
http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/fan-calc.shtml

I went with this combo and was very happy. The fan is very quiet and it wont take much to cover up any sounds. Maybe put a small radio on top of the unit and turn it on when people are around. But I highly suggest keeping it in a bedroom.
https://www.4hydro.com/26-combo-95cfm-active-air-squirrelcage-fan-can-2600-filter

(edit shout out) I like sunburst a lot. I ordered 200 bucks worth of supplies and they gave me about 45 bucks worth of free stuff. I thought they messed up at first but everything extra had free sample written on it. But it was liters of neuts and an extra 15 dollar cedar bug spray which I love. Just like I love free stuff.