Help with my first grow!

Hey guys, I've been reading for quite a while now and I think I'm ready to give it a try. As for the technical things such as planting, watering, feeding, balancing Ph, being able to notice and correct deficiencies, I think I'll do okay with amount I've been reading and with all of the reference pages I have book marked. My main issue is getting the actual grow setup. Initially I was going to go with MH/HPS or T5 and some cfls. But I am in an apartment and unable to vent directly outside, so I don't believe that will be possible and it's also a little too expensive to setup from scratch for me at this point. Now I'm looking into "stealth" CFL grows ( in a few rubbermaid bins, a dresser or a large pc case for a couple autoflowering ladies etc). The room I'll be growing in is well ventilated via central air, I have plenty of ways to get clean air into the room I just CANNOT vent outside. Which is why I believe going the route of several smaller cfl grows vented with pc fans and passive intakes should be good enough for me. My main question is what is the best way to go about this? I have about 300-500$ to go from scratch. I believe the DIY Rubbermaid grow box would be my best option https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/51417-diy-4oz-minimum-yield-grow.html and maybe I'll do a few auto flowers in a pc case on the side. Another question I have is if this DIY odor control guide would be sufficient for odor control with a grow like this http://www.gardenscure.com/420/construction/102945-another-diy-carbon-scrubber-design-afterburner.html. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
 

tibberous

Well-Known Member
Why would you have to vent an hps bulb outside? or at all? The only time heat / venting becomes an issue is if you try to grow in a really confined space (ie: a small tent) or you can't control the ambient temp well (ie: an attic) CFL's are more expensive than MH/HPS, and if you all you have is $300-500, I'd go with something like: $200 mh/hps light, $30 soil, $100 nutes, $20 for a ph kit and $50 for 5 gallon buckets. Do 16 plants under a 600 watt light and you should get like 1 pound every few months.
 
The grow needs to be somewhat stealth I cant just have 16 plants sitting in my room... Probably going to just make a custom grow chamber out of bins and cfls for 4 plants or so the diy guide says each one can put out a qp every couple months if done correctly and maybe setup a couple autoflowers in a pc case. I think that's probably my best bet with my budget and the need for stealth. I would turn a dresser into a veg/flower stealth grow, I found a good DIY guide, but I'm not very handy. But with the rubbermaid bins a saudering iron and some pc fans I should be fine. Splicing wires isnt hard neither is caulking, so I think that's a lot closer to my lack of skill/experience range. so 6 cfls in a couple 32 gallon bins stacked up (and pinned together when closed for stability. With a pc fan at the top and a holy with a pvs top on the opposite side at the bottom for passive intake and a couple clip on fans should do the trick from what I've seen and read in the past few days. I think the guy who wrote the DIY guide did 6 plants in a rubbermaid bin but I don't see how that's possible... What size pots do you supposed he used? 1 gallon 2 gallons? Also to anyone has experience with this, I've seen the lighting done 2 ways. 2 fixtures on either side of the top with 6 lights, 3 on each side... or 1 fixture at the top of the tub with 3 Y adapters holding 2 each? I'll be using reflective winshield covers and foil tape (very little) for reflection.
 
Top