My noob situation

Hey all! Been reading all around these forums. You guys are chill as hell. Weed unites all! Or it would and should if we could legalize it.

Anyway, I'm probably gonna start a first grow pretty quick. Maybe a closet grow. But I have a different idea and I want to see if it would work...

My apartment is a four bedroom that me and my roommate rent as a two bedroom. The other two rooms are locked up, off-limits and we don't pay for them. But, the lock is easy to pick...

Really this setup is ideal for the ambitous grower. The rooms are ignored by everybody, even the managers when they check smoke alarms and stuff. But I'm not ambitous. So, is it feasible and economical to grow one big old plant in this room for pretty cheap?

What I'm hoping is that I could buy one HID lamp and focus it on this one plant. I wouldn't mess with the room, other than to put in the light, some plastic under the plant in case of spills (don't want to do anything to hurt a room I'm not paying for) and open the window for ventilation. Heat wouldn't be a problem as it's a big bedroom.

My one concern is smell. I'm near the top floor of the apartment, so smell out the window shouldn't be a problem. So I'd put the plant very close to the window which is about ten feet from the bedroom door(curtain closed!). I could maybe pack some towels under the door or something, and of course the door would be closed all the time 'cept for when I maintain the plant. Would these things be enough to prevent smell from permeating my apartment? I guess I don't know how much smell one fairly big flowering plant will give off. I'm sure this would work with certain unsmelly strains, but I just have random seeds left from a bag of weed.

Also, would it be a good deal economically? I mean by saving time and money by not buying fans, air fresheners, etc. will it be a good economical deal just growing one plant? Cause I'll probably be losing a lot of the lumens by not having a tight and reflective grow space. And, would a 400w HID lamp be sufficient if it's focused on this one plant (to grow it, maybe like 5 feet flowered)? Are there good techniques for focusing all those lumens on the one plant?

I have this dream of a big empty room with the one great ganja standing guard. Help me realize this dream.

You'd be surprised how potent the smell can be. People will still most likely smell them if you dont have a carbon filter. I have a 900 sq foot house (around 7200 cubic feet not counting attic), if I sat one of my 16 inch plants in the living room, and left for like an hour, my entire house would smell like someone lit up a pound while I was gone lol.

Well if your just growing 1 plant, make sure you get a female cutting from someone lol, cause you dont want to grow for 2 months and get a male

If your only growing 1 plant, I wouldnt veg with such a high output lamp, waste of electricity. Use tube fluorescents, like 3-4, stood up vertically beside the plant. Use a HPS for flowering though. But 400 watts for 1 plant is overkill IMO, even for flower, maybe stick to a 250 HPS?

Look at the DIY growfaqs, you can make a good carbon filter for next t nothing. Just use mylar or white styrofoam as a reflector around the plant.

thanks for the input dude.

I think I'm leaning away from this idea for now, thinking a growbox method. I'm curious though, can you use a cardboard box for a growbox or is it too dangerous with heat? It's a sturdy one that once held an HDTV. I'd probably use CFLs, but would a small HID lamp work too?

If your leaning towards a growbox i wouldn't use cardboard. Better to be safe than sorry.

Hank.

you will grow accustomed to the smell--BUT OTHERS WON"T, BE CAREFUL, go the extra mile.......you'll be fine

Yeah, caddy is right. I got use to it real quick, but everytime I had friends/family over it was like they ran into the wall as they came into the house.

Can I have more opinions on using a cardboard box with cfls to grow? That would be my stealthiest way, but is it really too dangerous or is it ineffective?

It seems to me the only way it could start on fire is if the lights fell and shattered or something but I'm a huge noob so I don't know.

Just that I don't even own a dresser or any other box I could use so I'd have to buy something to use then borrow at least a drill. The cardboard box is so convenient and easy... it's tempting me.