Planning a small stealth cab grow

[dopethrone]

Hey guys,

I'm planning on doing a stealth cabinet grow. I have in mind a base cabinet from Home Depot that measures 30Wx15Dx31H. I figure that'll be enough room for 2 plants, plus a small area for seedlings and clones. Because of the small space, I'll be using compact flourescents. I've already accounted for fans and air vents. The first crop will be from seed, (Misty strain from Nirvana) and possibly clones after that. Everything will have to be done in the grow cab.

So I have a couple of questions:

- What's the best way to make use of the limited height? I was thinking of ScROG, but that won't work with seeds, so I hear. How do I manage the first seed crop?

- As I said, everything needs to be done in the cab. I'll be implementing a seperate space for clones. How long can clones be kept if I take them from the mother plants just before flowering? (I'm assuming 2 months for flowering, plus at least a week to dry the plants after harvest. ~6 wks.)

- Any lighting advice? Since this is a first grow in a small space, I'll be using compact flourescents, and want something that can easily be bought from a home improvement store. I figure maybe 3 2000 lumen lights would suffice. What about fixtures?

Thanks for any advice you can give.

[stolenthoughts0]

Hi, this is my very first grow also, I am pretty much using the same setup youre thinking about using....
That cabinet from home depot that you will be using, is it made by black and decker? i Think im using the same cabinet, only the one that is 70 inches tall. Its like double one of those. Theyre great because theyre easy to put together and take apart, and theyre pretty sturdy and cheap.

Im using the top right now to flower my one female. Shes under three 42w (150w "output") warm white cfls, from home depot. They each put out like 2600 lumens. Those bulbs are 9.99 i believe. She is doing great under them. For veg, home depot sells a 65w cool white compact flourescent made by lights of america, theyre like 13 bucks. I vegged with numerous different cool white cfls, because they didnt have the larger ones when i went to get my lights. But, they did a great job of producing a small bushy plant, exactly like i wanted... just keep the lights inches away the entire grow.

also, to keep my plants small, ive used lst all along, and trimmed them up quite often... you should be able to easily grow two plants in that space.... possible even start maybe 4-6 plants in smaller containers... and flower them after a couple weeks to determine sex, pick out the best two looking females, and then pot them up, and revert to veg.... Thats what ill be doing next time, because i only germinated two seeds... and out of the two, one was female, so i was at least pretty lucky this time, but next time it will be two girls...

Good luck with your grow.

[llockhart86]

Hey guys, im just starting too, and i had some questions. your grow boxes are about the size i want, so I can grow about 2 or 3 plants and have another area for seedlings and clones. What I was wondering is, do you have any pics of your box? or maybe a link to the cabinet you got at home depot, i looked, but I couldnt find anything. maybe im just slow. Id love to see your set up. and, do you have ventalation fans in yours, and what should the cfm be at when you have a box that small. Do you have the inside painted pylar, and have you been having pest problems..or what do you do for pest control?

And I have a question, your one female plant, are you just growing that and keeping it in the veg stage? Ive heard about people growing a female and keeping it in the veg stage for a year or two and just using it for clones.

also, to keep my plants small, ive used lst all along

I really have no idea what the techniques are for keeping your plant small through the flowering process. What I was going to do is just bend it once or twice when it gets a certain height. Would that work? Thanks for all the help in advance guys. really.

[Red's Dreads]

woa... ok, so i didn't read everyones post cause i think i get the jest of it.... so this is my first grow, and they're certin things i cant get around w/ my stealth cab that i think you should know... and i built my cab outta 2x4s and plywood... 4'x2'x6' .... get the wood for under 100$ cut/saw yourself, seal/paint/mylar, cool tube $20 from ebay, stanley blower $40, homemade carbon filter $20, 150-250wHPS for flower, 2 55w CFLs for veg

4' height is not enough to grow a natural mj plant. its possible to grow a 4' tall plant, but shorter is hard for someone who doesn't know whats gonna happen next. ... it means you have to train them really hard, or another words stress them real bad, which kinda irks me personally.

and remember you have to fit a light above and a bucket underneath... you need 6' height.

1 female = 2'x2' . there's no way i can get another fem in with lunah.. shes huge and it wouldn't get any light.

i made a box 4x2x6 and it works.... i have it split in 2 rooms of 2x2x4 and 2x2x6. there's a roof on my veg room that houses my stanley blower, blowing outta the cab. it couldn't flower a plant in the 2x2x4', but i can put up to 6 vegging plants in a big tub, and go hydro. btw, i'm even running outta height w/ my 2x2x6' ... i vegged to 18" figuring x3 will be just below my light.... which has alll come true, but there too close to the light and i have many a burnt tips of colas lesson: heat is a real issue that will destroy 1month2wks hard work.

figure 1month veg, 2months flower. letting a plant mature rather than force-sexing will make a better plant (my opinion), and will improve fem-male ratio

get some GH nutes & pH down, dig ppm/pH meter & 10mL dropper, air pump/bubbler, big bucket for vegging 6, 5-gal for flowering each.

overall, spend $500 if your good, flower one plant and in 3 months get 2-4oz and youll be back on the plus side. ok that was fun for me, hope it pertains to your situation... good luck, peace

[Red's Dreads]

check out this thread, its the light and setup you need to get your grow on, plus the nutes etc. peace

[stolenthoughts0]

Actually, ive looked all over, but cant find a damn link to the cabinet that i have on home depot's site, or any other.... this one is very similar.... http://www.globalindustrial.com/gcs/...emKey=30016465....... except mine was like $65.00.... its plastic, and easy as shit to put together and take apart. I have a shelf dividing it into a top half and bottom half, top being for flowering, and bottom for veg.

I bought two computer fans on ebay.... 3.33 a piece free shipping. http://cgi.ebay.com/EverCool-Low-Noi...QQcmdZViewItem

found an old 12v ac adapter, cut the end off, and wired the one adapter to both fans.... they both work great... one on the back blowing air in, one on the top, for exhaust.

I just bought some "mylar tissue paper" from party city. Its mirrorized polysomethingorother. Very similar, does a great job of reflecting light, its just very thin. But, i dont have an extra 20 or so dollars to buy a roll of mylar.... this works just fine, especially with poster board behind it...

No pest problems so far at all... so, i wont be any help with that... but, having a closed off cabinet like that will definately aid in keeping the pests away.

This was my first grow, and though most people reccommend to not screw around with your plant the very first time, i did fim them and lst them... With no problems, and it has kept both plants very short and bushy.... Just search around, and read several threads about lst'ing... its really easy. Basically youre just bending the plant sideways, so that all of the nodes will be about the same height, and get the same light penetration.

I started off with two.... and, began flowering 5 days ago, and one has already shown signs of being male, the other female... so the male is about to go its just been sitting on my closet floor with no light no food for a few days, and it still looks really healthy, lol. , the female is looking very nice.... And, no shes not going to be a mother, im going to actually harvest her, and with my next grow, i will likely start off with some better seeds...

Ill try and get some pictures up if i can to give you an idea of it....

[ItalRas]

Hey guys the Red Dreads speak the truth. You need adequet(sp) space for growth.
DopeThrone my advice is to grow out two first, LOP states that one should be female. Just as you start to see the pre flowers take two or three clones (Two to grow Scrog style one for a future mother). Do whatever you want with the male.

[dopethrone]

ItalRas, are you saying I should seed a few plants, take clones, and then flower and harvest those clones instead of my seeded plants? That might actually solve my space problem if i can Scrog clones that are close to flowering stage.

The Home Depot cabinet I'm talking about isn't listed online. It's similar to this one at Lowes, but about 6" bigger: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...24B&lpage=none

Anyone else out there who has experience growing plants in small places?