Is this good enough? Stealth Setup

Hi everyone, I am a pot head. My dealer gets some of the best bud I've ever tasted, but NEVER any seeds. The other night I found 2 in a bag!!! So I started looking into the possibility of growing it myself, even if just for a one time experiment harvest, just to test the waters. I've decided to invest in the switchable 400 MH/HPS ballast, gonna try to rig up a fan, but smell may be a future issue, I know these lights get hotter than floros, I did SOME homework on the subject : ) I basically plan on a really primitive setup, hanging light, white paint inside, I gotta rig a little fan, and basically switch light cycles and bulbs when I see the signs the FAQ told me to look for when the plant goes from vegetative to flowering/bloom, around a month if I remember correct.

Anyway my problem is that my room is smaller than most of your grow rooms. So the space I have to grow is very limited, I have an old garbage container I was thinking of making a sturdy wooden cover for which would seal out unwanted light and create somewhere for the new light to hang. The container is about 1' 4" at its largest opening, and about 2.5 feet tall. I'm obviously no expert but I think the height is a bigger problem then it's width. I'm extremely amped up about this, I never thought it would actually be possible till I read into it fully. I wanna spoil it a little, but I'm not rich so I'll be attempting to invest in a moisture meter for the soil, a pH tester and reducer and additive, and the nutrients are the one part that confuses me a bit, I just really need to sit down and read the guide a litle better, from what I read I think I definitely want worm castings, or did something change?



Is this container sufficient for a one plant setup?

Should I cut or train/bend to minimize height?

I read an 8 year old article about worm castings, are they still a very good thing to add to your soil?

Looking forward to being a contributing member one day and thanks in advance for your help!

welcome to RIU Glad to see you've done a little homework and not just posted the infamous 'so how do i grow weed' thread.

the main problem you're going to have is heat - 400w HPS/MH lamps put out a fair amount of heat. As a result your grow room will need a constant supply of fresh air and very good ventilation (an exhaust fan).

I hate to spoil your plans but a 400w HPS or MH light in that area is asking for a fire or at the very least, dead plants (more likely a fire though). *Edit < I thought the bin was plastic, but even still 400w is waaay too much!

your options at this point are to find a bigger grow area and utilize the 400w, OR if you're stuck with that grow space, toss the 400w in favour of CFLs - Compact Fluorescents put out very little heat and in a small area, can be adequately ventilated with just a 120mm PC fan and a passive (i.e. just a hole) intake.

a 400w can work in a closet (although I'd chose a 250w as they put out a lot less heat) but again, you're going to need some serious ventilation - 1) to keep temps down and 2) to replace depleted C02 levels.

Oh and yes worm castings are a good organic fertilizer. You can disolve them in water and water the plants with the wormcastings "tea". There's a fair bit of info on these forums about worm castings - just try a search.

The other thing is, if you're growing from seeds and not clones, you're obviously going to end up with some males, so you need to grow more plants than you really intend on having in order to have the number of females you want. That bin is only just big enough for 1 plant, so you'd need to find somewhere else to grow the seedlings to work out which ones are female..if that makes sense..

Have you got a closet that you could hide a small cabinet or possibly 2 18gallon Rubbermaid containers in?

Hope this helps a little - keep reading and don't hesitate to ask any more questions - there's plenty of experienced people on here willing to help (i'm a newb too!).

first off, I want to say good luck with your grow man, hope it works out for ya.

you can make it flower whenever you want to, you don't HAVE to wait a month, or you can wait much longer, like 3 months, it just depends on what your height restrictions and lighting will handle.

you should easily be able to get one plant in there, but like you said, height will be an issue i think. remember that plants at least double in height when you start flowering them, so leaving room for your light, you'll have to flower close to 8 inches or so (not very tall, won't yield much). I would definitely train, and probably top the plant also.

worm castings are definately still used for nutes.

I thing to consider is heat, with a 400W light, it gets pretty hot, you'll need a decent sized fan to move enough air to keep the temps low in the small of an area. I'm not sure you'll be able to overcome this part, you may have to find something a little bigger.

You guys f'in rock, fast response!! Good because I was hoping to do a little shopping today and $200 on a hps/mh light is NOT something I wanna waste. Thank you!!!

Ok, HPS lights = bad for small spaces due to heat, got it. I'm torn, I live in an apartment, and the folks live with me (I'm 25), so I'm limited to what I can make look innocent to an outsider. I think I'll go with the CFL's for safety and grow reasons.. I think I'm stuck with this container, in the future maybe I can buy a new piece of furniture but for now it will have to do. I have seen premade stealth setups in PC cases, they are much shorter so I don't understand how that works. But at least I can afford the CFLs now and get growing faster.

How many do you recommend for this container since I'm forced to use it?

What wattage?

Should I buy multiple and set them up all along the sides to make one big surrounding light?

I hear they can safely touch with leaves without burning... of course would do the touch test first.

How about if I were to grow it till it got to be about 1.5 feet, then force it into flowering... this way if it doubles it's ok because it still wont exceed the height of the pail? Or is 1' 5" way too premature to make that happen? Beside everything else I could see myself enjoying this as a little hobby, I always used to grow gardens with my Aunt... just never this variety : )

Damnit... One way or another I WILL pull this off : )
And with this forum as my source of info I doubt I'll have much difficulty.

This is where the seeds came from btw, I'm so hype on doing this because this guy NEVER has seeds in his stuff, which would suggest he's rather particular in how he cultivates and grows since I hear it's a lot of work to keep the pollen from traveling unless you kill off the males really early.

And this is the new batch I got last night... what you see here is about 1.1 grams, he charges $20, so now you see why I need to start growin : D

ouch $20 for that!

honestly, i'd use the bin for what it was designed for - rubbish..

have a look at this link - it's a step by step guide on how to make a setup using 2 rubbermaid containers and CFLs attached to vanity light fittings.

DIY stealth rubbermaid growbox - Cannabis Culture Forums

I reckon in your situation this is your best shot at producing something worthy of your favorite bong.

you could put the rubbermaid setup inside a tallboy or a dresser (buy one second hand off ebay or something for $20) and just install an exhaust fan at the back (hidden) of the dresser and cut a hole somewhere out of side for the fresh air to come in..also attach a DIY carbon filter > Ryoko Builds a DIY Activated Carbon Filter - 30 Minutes, $30 Dollars - The Garden's Cure

to the exhaust fan on the rubbermaid container and whamo - no smell.

just remember, if you go ahead with this TELL NO ONE!

Wow, that is soooo sexy. My room is 12' x 10', Anything out of the usual will stick out like a sore thumb but this might be worth some rearranging. I'll look into the specs a little more and reply in this thread if anything... Thanks!!!