Homemade vs. Prebuilt

So I've been researching my options of stealth growing and I have to say some of you folks are amazing! I have already learned so much from RIU and am looking forward to learning so much more! For the past couple weeks I've been debating on whether I should build my own stealth growbox or if I should just pay the extra $ for a pre-built setup?

My #1 focus in this venture is to grow just enough for my personal use (1oz. monthly), with stealth being of the highest priority along with the ability to move the entire box quickly should shit hit the fan. I live in a zero tolerance state and I'll be damned if I go down for a single plant but I'm extremely tired of having to pay ridiculous amounts for sub-par product. Cost of building is of course limited but I am willing to pay more for something that I can trust.

I've been in construction for about 15 years now so I have no worries about the actual labor of building my own box. I have a plethora of tools at my disposal and would consider quite handy with them. However, electrical work is definitely my weak point and I don't know if I could ever honestly trust my electrical work should I choose to build my own. It was 101 degrees and dry as a bone today at my house so that is also a huge factor in wondering whether a pre-built setup will be able to keep up, or am I going going to be forced to build my own to ensure I can keep it cool enough?

I've thought about building a false wall type system to contain my box but doing so would create a whole new problem of not only having to vent the grow box but to vent the box containing the grow box as well! Ugh! I honestly don't know if I have any particular questions right now but would just love to hear anyone's opinion on pre-built boxes compared to homemade. Thanks!

hey Nok, I would suggest u stick to a pc grow or similar scale, anything larger and u are going to have difficulty getting rid of it fast. personally I don't think 1oz per month is achievable from what u have said, of course u could build something larger and there are plenty of ppl on here who are doing just that. my opinion is go small scale, stealthy and see how it goes, if u feel comfortable while growing u could then always go bigger. good luck and happy growing

Www.mrgrowpro.net Is where I got mine. Even of you are going to build your own I would check it out to see what a really solid pc box looks like.

emannn2010 said:

hey Nok, I would suggest u stick to a pc grow or similar scale, anything larger and u are going to have difficulty getting rid of it fast. personally I don't think 1oz per month is achievable from what u have said, of course u could build something larger and there are plenty of ppl on here who are doing just that. my opinion is go small scale, stealthy and see how it goes, if u feel comfortable while growing u could then always go bigger. good luck and happy growing

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Hey eman, thanks for the advice! I've watched your grow over the past couple weeks and it's actually one of the journals that made me look into pc grow boxes! Speaking of pc boxes, once I learn enough to keep a continuous cycle of veg and flowers, do you think 1oz. monthly is obtainable? (I had already planned to create a pc box down the road for veg plants) - I initially almost purchased a Bloombox from BCNL but realized I should start smaller so that I am able to focus on one thing at a time, learning to grow high quality instead of high yield. My biggest question, is a pc box big enough? Thanks again for the feedback!

Md03gli said:

Www.mrgrowpro.net Is where I got mine. Even of you are going to build your own I would check it out to see what a really solid pc box looks like.

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Thanks for the link Md03gli! I had run across the growpro's in my search but they were all sold out last time I looked, good to see they are in stock now! I'm pretty sure I've seen your journal on here as well, you are using CFL's right? Did you consider the LED package? Why or why not? I've read/heard many good things about LED but have seen some amazing grows with CFL's while cruising around RIU. Plus, with it being hot (and getting hotter) where I live, I wonder whether CFL or LED would be cooler? Thanks again! Look forward to seeing your results!

Also, to the both of you, any reason why you both chose soil as opposed to hydro? I'm familiar with soil as I've been doing salsa gardens for the past 6 or so years but I am extremely curious about hydro and have seen some amazing results. Thanks again, I appreciate every bit of feedback and advice!

hey why dont you just take a decent size cardboard box and grow a few auto's in them. just stack a few big boxes up and throw a few cfl's in them and go with god...if you want to do hydro then just make a aero bucket with a 5 gallon bucket and your in like flin.. u got stealth auto's growing in a box.. stage them so your harvesting them once a month.. no need for another veg box just keep rollin with auto's or go 12/12 from seed. check out del666 's thread and see his work.. with your construction experience you can figure this out fairly easy.. i have a 2drawer file cabinet made into a lil grow box. just took the drawers out and put them on a piece of wood and wala u have a grow box that looks like a file cabinet..

I picked cfl because it was cheaper lol. If you check out kook420's thread he has the same box but with the led setup. As far as differences you would have to ask someone with more experience than me.

As for soil over hydro, I picked soil because this is my first grow and have learned/ experienced soil being more forgiving. My advice would be go with what you know and use soil the first time to just get the hang of it. I plan on using a small dwc setup eventually after I get a couple harvests under my belt.

Hope some of this helps!

hey Nok, having re-thought, maybe just maybe it could be done, 2 pc boxes, 1 for the mother plant and the 2nd for the cuttings, u would need to take cuttings every month and put in flower straight away.my pc box is quite small and for what u are talking about I think a larger box would be better. as for soil I just couldn't be bothered with any other type of grow, but there are several micro grows on here using hydro that would be worth looking at. good luck and happy growing

i have a mr grow pro that i bought prebuilt if you have the money its worth the investment man!
specially the led setup!!check my grow out if you have any questions i havent fineshed my first grow but i love what im seeing so far.
thanks MD03gli!!!!DD

bass1014 said:

hey why dont you just take a decent size cardboard box and grow a few auto's in them. just stack a few big boxes up and throw a few cfl's in them and go with god...if you want to do hydro then just make a aero bucket with a 5 gallon bucket and your in like flin.. u got stealth auto's growing in a box.. stage them so your harvesting them once a month.. no need for another veg box just keep rollin with auto's or go 12/12 from seed. check out del666 's thread and see his work.. with your construction experience you can figure this out fairly easy.. i have a 2drawer file cabinet made into a lil grow box. just took the drawers out and put them on a piece of wood and wala u have a grow box that looks like a file cabinet..

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Hey bass! I'm trying to steer away from auto's right now as I'm not only looking for high quality but I'm also trying to learn as much as I can, even if that means a failed crop or several. A cardboard box would be completely non-stealth for me unless I were to put it in my attic that reaches temperatures of 120 degrees and higher, not an option really. I don't quite know what you mean by aero bucket but I will be sure to research it tonight. Regarding your filing cabinet, that is such an amazing idea and would work perfect considering I have one almost exactly like yours as well as a 4 drawer cabinet that I could separate into my veg/flower areas? Thanks for your feedback bass!

Md03gli said:

I picked cfl because it was cheaper lol. If you check out kook420's thread he has the same box but with the led setup. As far as differences you would have to ask someone with more experience than me.

As for soil over hydro, I picked soil because this is my first grow and have learned/ experienced soil being more forgiving. My advice would be go with what you know and use soil the first time to just get the hang of it. I plan on using a small dwc setup eventually after I get a couple harvests under my belt.

Hope some of this helps!

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I'm definitely trying to do this as cost efficiently as possible, have you noticed much increase in your power with your CFL's running? I'm still completely new and could be totally wrong but wouldn't LED's cost less to keep running? I also see their longer life-span being a bonus but wouldn't know how to compare to the overall cost of replacing low priced CFL's more frequently. Thanks for the heads up about kook420's grow, I'll be keeping a close eye on that!

I have plenty of time to care for my girls and would really love to learn hydro as soon as possible but I can understand what you mean about going with what I know. I've done my fair share of vegetable soil gardening but honestly, my methods seem to change every year and am FAR from a perfect record if we were tallying seed-to-harvest crops. We also have a huge bug problem that I fear would spread into my grow box if I were to choose soil. I appreciate your kicking in your input! Whether it's your 1st or 486th grow, I think everyone has some helpful advice to offer!

emannn2010 said:

hey Nok, having re-thought, maybe just maybe it could be done, 2 pc boxes, 1 for the mother plant and the 2nd for the cuttings, u would need to take cuttings every month and put in flower straight away.my pc box is quite small and for what u are talking about I think a larger box would be better. as for soil I just couldn't be bothered with any other type of grow, but there are several micro grows on here using hydro that would be worth looking at. good luck and happy growing

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Two PC boxes wouldn't be any problem stealth wise for me so I really like that! The mother plant scares me a bit mainly because I have no idea how to even produce/maintain a mother plant? You've given me another particular to learn about and research, thank you very much! Another soil fan makes me lean a little bit more but I'm still mostly scared of bugs. We use diatomaceous earth (had to google that one) on our veggies and it seems to work decently for controlling bugs... More for melons, cucs and squash as opposed to toms and lettuce. This is all outside so I don't know if I would get the same bugs in an indoor climate but with it being quite warm, we tend to keep doors and windows open with the swamp cooler running during the heat peaks. Thanks again eman, I'll be following your grow and wish you an abundant harvest! Your ladies are looking beautiful!

kook420 said:

i have a mr grow pro that i bought prebuilt if you have the money its worth the investment man!
specially the led setup!!check my grow out if you have any questions i havent fineshed my first grow but i love what im seeing so far.
thanks MD03gli!!!!DD

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I do have the money but I don't at the same time I'm not ballin' out of control but I do like the idea of a professionally crafted product not only for the sense of comfort that my purchase should be a sound investment but to also learn by being able to 'reverse engineer' it if that makes sense? I learn better by dismantling as opposed to building from a spec sheet I guess. Thanks for the thumbs up on the mr grow pro, I'm heavily considering pulling the trigger on one just to be able to physically learn. I can only read so much! Good luck on your grow kook, I'll be tuning in for sure!

I'd be interested to know from someone who has a flowering plant in a Mr Grow Pro how it handles odour control. A PC box could be the ultimate in stealth if it's done properly but I worry that the side that opens would potentially leak odours. I'm trying to decide myself whether to modify a PC case or to just buy a set of flat pack drawers and kit those out. I reckon drawers/cabinet would give you leeway to grow more (maybe with a PC case on top to house the mother or cuttings - the sound of fans wouldn't be strange either then) but a PC case is definitely an option. Some of the guys commenting on here have some great grows underway.

Well the mr grow pros come with a carbon filter that looks like one you would put In a small air conditioner. It looks flimsy and is just stuck on the back with magnets. We will see when(and if) my girl make it to flowering if it works

as far as bugs go man theres like ants and shit during the summer around my house whice is a pain in the ass for my outside crop
but as far as indoors go everything pretty sealed up i dont know how bugs would get in there unless they were in
your soil already i just use fox farms but i heard some soil has larvae in it anyway thats why you bake it or something i didnt do that but whatever haha.
i put my face up to the carbon filter and i dont smell anything but who knows til flowering. id go led and maybe add a cfl or something in there for fun.
the leds are cool cuz its the strip lighting so you can put them in different angles for super node growth.feel free to ask any question you may have!

kook420 said:

as far as bugs go man theres like ants and shit during the summer around my house whice is a pain in the ass for my outside crop
but as far as indoors go everything pretty sealed up i dont know how bugs would get in there unless they were in
your soil already i just use fox farms but i heard some soil has larvae in it anyway thats why you bake it or something i didnt do that but whatever haha.
i put my face up to the carbon filter and i dont smell anything but who knows til flowering. id go led and maybe add a cfl or something in there for fun.
the leds are cool cuz its the strip lighting so you can put them in different angles for super node growth.feel free to ask any question you may have!

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I've heard great things about Fox Farms so I'll most likely use it should I choose to take the soil route. It seems everyone has a different idea of how much perlite or other additives should be mixed with the soil, what's your preference kook? I really like the idea of being able to cover 3 sides with the LED's and figure I can always make my own CFL fixture if I decide to use them down the road. Thanks again for the feedback!

I appreciate all the input and advice so far, I'm really debating on pulling the trigger for a Mr Grow Pro box. At the moment I'm set on LED but am still questioning soil or hydro... I'll probably end up purchasing the hydro setup with the soil bags just so I have the choice when it comes down to it. I have a nug jar with about 50 'supposed' Critical Jack but they've been in the jar for well over a year so I'm not counting on much from them, otherwise I don't have any quality seeds yet. I'm quite unfamiliar with all the different strains so am going to research choice strains for such a small growing space. I've been told from my Brother In-Law that Bubba Kush and Skunk#1 are both great beginner plants and tend to stay pretty small, especially with LST. Any confirmations to that? I personally would like to grow something a little more, exotic? Any recommendations would be extremely appreciated! Thanks again everyone!

yeah for fox farms i heard bake the soil cuz there could be larvae or something weird in it.
im about to transplant for my second time into fresh soil i read that it has nutes up to 3 weeks in it so im coming to my 3rd week tomorrow and going to transplant
into something alil bigger.for the clones i started with it was like have coco and the rest ffof. i got the coco from the clinic i got the clones from.otherwise maybe alil bit more perlite.
yeah what i like most is kevin from mr gro pro is always there to answer your questions,i kept bugging him haha and he was chill.
the leds he said can get up to 2 inches if you can get your plant that close so defiantly good coverage and low heat.

new to this Site...any1 know of any good Attic builds..saw 1 before Reg n can't find now??....

Hi Nok, Seeds should be fine IF been kept in right conditions? Soil is alot more forgiving IF you new to growing..don't know enough about LED setup to say if good or bad(have heard they good - but cost dollar!) i started last yr(DEC) though was in planning stage for like forever..then took the plunge and got my first GrowLight= 200w U Giant CFL off Fleabay for £32(kicks out about 8000 Lumens)....did ok with this for first time and with Bagseed..4ounces off 4 plants..was well happy.. not long got hold of a 250w HPS/MH kit..and just started WhiteWidow X Skunk#1(x2), Delicious Cotton Candy(x1) Chocolate Skunk(x2) and Bomb Cherry Bomb(x2) will post some pics later when get chance..day been taken up by F1 and Daughter being bored...by F1..Lol!

Hope your Grow works out mate..

oh forgot, i looked into FoxFarms..seemed good but again Dollar!! BioBizz is the Range i use..and can't fault em.. my Soil? mix is Layer of Clay pebbles, and 20% fine Compost - 40% Perlite and 40% Multi Purpose Compost...and after every grow or failure(had a couple) i let the mix Dry out, get rid of the Root ball, Roots and sieve mix till just left with nice fluffy fine compost,add bit more perlite and Bat Guano..soak/leave for day or two then reuse.