Stealth grow box KEY POINTS

Hello folks, planning to build a little stealth grow box for 1 or 2 plants, I’ve grown before indoors using cmpf bulbs got a good crop but unfortunately back then I didn’t know how to determine the plant sex .

could anybody help in telling me what key issues I should consider and best points I should know about constructing a grow box which will produce a decent strong crop

thankyou

Hydro or soil?

ventilation and ventilation and, oh yea, ventilation. make sure you can cool whatever light you want to go with or your grow will be spoiled. run a search on this site and you will find this is the biggest problem

i would get yourself some money together, get yourself a drip feed system, couple of rockwool cubes and come clay pebbles. then use CFL for veg/mother/clones and get yourself a nice 400 or 600 watt HPS for flowering. not forgetting ventilation as desertrat is saying using HPS you will need ventilation because it will build up alot of heat also plants like new air, Co2 and osilating fan to keep the air moving in the room good luck and happy growing

Here's one of my larger flowering cabinets, home-built. Maybe it'll give you some ideas. It's probably too large for your needs -- it holds six plants pretty well. It generates close to a pound per crop, depending on the strain, using a 600w light. Everything, including the ballast, is inside the cabinet, with just a power cord coming out the back. The exhaust is on top, above eye level, and the dual intakes are on the back, out of sight. It's on casters too, so I can move it around a bit to stealthify it more if necessary, by putting it in a corner behind other stuff.

that is one bad ass cabinet , Im using the rubbermaid job right now but see a more heavy duty box like this in the future.

IS there a vent besides the one for the light? is the bottom of the light ( part above the plants) open or encased in plastic?

Do you start with clones?

Do you ever have to move the scrog net? up and down in height that is.

Any smell issues? 600 w seems alot for that cabinet does the cool tube help that much?

There are two 8"x8" Doran darkroom louvers on the back at the bottom, for intake. You can get those from bhphotovideo.com, about $30 apiece. Completely lightproof. Air comes in through those, then through the carbon filter, past the light, through the fan, and out the top: intake -> carbon filter -> light -> fan -> exhaust. There's also a little desk fan in the back right corner (can't see in the pic) to just move air around some and make the plants happier.

I mostly start with clones. But currently, the back three plants are three female Nirvana Papaya plants grown from seed. (Clones gotta start from somewhere!) The front three are Hindu Kush clones.

I probably could move the scrog screen up or down, but it's actually easier to just move the pots up or down by putting something under them, if I want them closer to the screen. But mainly, I just leave the screen there and let them fill it just as it is.

600w is just perfect for that area: 4' wide x 3' deep is 12 square feet, so exactly 50 watts per square foot. It is *plenty* of light, and more wouldn't make the buds any denser, but I think less would also have a negative effect on yield. I basically built the box around the assumption that there would be a 600 watt light inside, so it's like optimized for the light. In fact, I had the light and reflector and fan and stuff before I even began building the cabinet.

No smell issues at all. And it's not *exactly* a cooltube that I use; it's an air-cooled reflector, same principle, but a bit bigger and with a larger reflector. The bottom of the reflector is tempered glass to help contain the bulb heat (and ensure all the air is cleaned through the filter first before being exhausted). And I've never tried my cabinets with anything but an air-cooled reflector, so I don't really know for sure what the temp difference would be with a parabolic or batwing or something in there...but I imagine that it'd be much hotter than it is with this air-cooled reflector.

Hope that helps!

Cool man

Is the air inside the box vented? If you have intake fans where does th air get put? does the light vent somehow take care of this.

Your light set up seems pretty contained, that is notopenning for the air in the cabinet to enter and be exhausted out . does venting the air in the box out even matter. I imagine if your blowing fresh air in air has to come out somewhere correct?

I am seriously considering just copying your setup.

Did you build the whole box from scrathc or hollow out an existing cabinet.

I went to an antique furniture auction and saw some good specimens but not sure as to the structural integrity/ air tightness of an already existing cabinet.

I could always seal any holes but that might make it look abit ghetto and I think a clean professional look is less suspicuos. ( i know i didn't spell that word correct).

Anyway once again great post you probably inspired more people than you'll ever know.

There is an exhaust vent on top of the cabinet. Air enters the intakes at the bottom. Then the little fan blows it around inside of the cabinet, over the canopy. After that, the air gets sucked into and through the carbon filter (top left), then through the ducting, past the bulb, through the fan, and out the exhaust on top. Basically, fresh air in at the bottom in the back, and used (carbon-filtered) air exhausted out the top.

I did build it from scratch. I have a smaller cabinet, that I bought from Lowe's and modified, and while that works okay, it's just not light-tight at all. That was my first cabinet, and all the hassles with lightproofing an existing cabinet is what convinced me to build the next two cabinets (the one in the pics and another one basically just like it) from scratch, starting with some 2x4s and going from there.

And if you're thinking you need any massive carpentry skill...you don't. I'm no carpenter. I have no fancy tools, just a circular saw and cheap drill and stuff from Home Depot. If I can build it, *anybody* can!

hey check out my journal (the link below) totaly stealth

very nice bongulator!