hey guys! im attempting another (more carefully planned) indoor grow, before i ask my question here is how i plan to do it. Area: a small walk-in closet inside a room that resides in a low-traffic basement (the door to the initial room containing closet has a lock that only i can open btw) Setup: 1 or 2 (low-mids, the bud not being too smelly) bagseed plants of an unknown strain, in some basic nutrient-filled potting dirt. the lighting will be 2 or 3 decent cfl lights (3 for veg, 3 for flowering) now for the question: this will most likely be a one time recreational grow (i plan to give like half of the yield to my friend whom introduced me and was super generous with his weed :3) so im wondering, should the smell not be too much of an issue due to the somewhat secluded location and not very smelly weed the seeds came from? or should i blow a hefty chunk of money on a carbon filter and set up a few more plants to make it worth the money? also, if you DO recomend a carbon filter or odor device, could you give me a link to one you have used and confirm to be worth the money? thanks!
It's possible to do 1 or 2 without a carbon filter. If your closet is in a low foot traffic area and you don't have to worry much about the smell moving thru the house, you could get away with lots of air fresheners and some ONA gel with a fan. There's a thread around here somewhere on building a ONA type filter with a bucket,some gel and a fan on top of the bucket pulling the air thru the gel. (I'll look around and see if I can find it)
With unknown strain and going on bag smell I don't think your gonna get the gist of its grow smell. One of my mate (who gave me the idea to grow before he packed in) grew some once it was the smelliest I'd ever smelt it was in his shed at the end of a 40-50ft garden and you could smell it from his front door. Once it had been harvested the only time you smelt it then was when it was burnt. So going on what smell came out of the bag not always a good technique. If you can wait a few weeks or so and see how the smell progresses then start cheep as the smell increases move up the board so to say. Other than that if your really worried go straight for the carbon filter. Is the entrance to the room outside or inside.
Phresh 6x16s.......I don't care what kind I'm growing....my space smells like a Dr. Office.....and not a pot doctor either.
Carbon filter, and do not start out larger than your experience can handle. You can always expand, but you cant bring back dead plants and wasted money.
Don't blow a hefty sum on a carbon filter, make one dude!!! There are tutorials out there and it is really easy to do!
Another vote for making a carbon filter. They do reduce smell by a lot, but create their own problem; noise. You might have to sound-insulate the closet where you're growing. I'm working on putting carpet on the walls and doors of my spot and also playing with the idea of wiring my fan so it shuts off when someone comes within its proximity, but then I'll have to hide/ camoflauge my disconnect device. Solving one problem makes another, so the only answer is to burn one and get creative. Just make sure you're pulling air through the filter rather than trying to push it through.
Bulk carbon comes in pellet form....be advised that while 1/2 the price is way less than half the performance......it is not machine packed, it has less surface area and the last less than 1/2 as long.....I have seen some pretty successful home made Jobbers though.
Get a carbon filter. Or AT LEAST do the Ona bucket! Or even make your own filter! You NEED some kinda odor control if for nothing other than piece of mind! It can REALLY stink during flower. You may get something that smell mild during flower, or something that wreaks. And the seed you have might have come from mids, but if you grow it right it won't grow into mids. Mids becomes mids after the harvest I feel like
Get a carbon filter, just buy it. If you're worried at all about getting caught, it's the right thing t spend money on.
I've fooled around with home-made filters and have also bought cheap no-name carbon filters......they don't do the job if you have a few stinky plants. Odor control and safety are #1 on any grow, invest in peace of mind and buy a decent brand name filter (Phresh, Can, Mountain Air, etc). The brand name ones work 100% better than cheapies or homemade filters, come with a warrantee, and are refillable.......filters are a cost of doing business in this hobby, safety and security is not an area to cut corners on. Think about it this way.....$160-180 for a good filter is a lot cheaper than one call to a lawyer in the event of a bust. Good luck!
I don't care what you make in your garage.....pellets poured in a box is not going to work have as well as machine packed nano carbon......there is a reason most of us spend more on filters than bulbs,blowers,ballasts...ect......I agree with above in every way but repacking.....you cannot repack a nano carbon filter with pellets and get the same quality or length of filter.
I've yet to try refilling my Mountain Air filter as it is only on it's second crop and still going strong......I read on their website that you can order the exact same carbon that comes in the filter and easily refill it. With a vice and/or access to some tools, shouldn't be too hard to pack the stuff in there decently well, guess I'll find out next run when I try this. Even if you can't refill it effectively, a good filter will last 2-3 runs before needing replacement as long as humidity is on the low end and you are using a dust filter. That works out to only $60-90 in filter costs per crop. I pulled 21 ounces on my last run, so when you factor in that cost compared to the worth of the product you are growing, it's pretty insignificant and a necessary cost of safely participating in this hobby. A $60-90 investment to protect thousands of $$$'s in product and equipment is a no-brainer IMO.
Right for the harvest price and risk....its worth it......don't get me wrong....you can repack and re rivit it.....but if you don't pack it well then your basically wasting the price of bulk carbon.......to get 2x the length out of a store bought carbon can....you just turn it a quarter turn and slap it 3 times with a mallet or your hand.....I get 2 years out of a filter.....I don't have a humidity problem though.
I have a spare filter now that mine's been running 1 year. I think it's time for a change, but just need to take the time to dive in there and do it. It's not easy to get at most of the time. I did a diy and just tried pellets. It certainly helped, but I had one auto that it couldn't cover up that was 2' tall. It really helped, don't get me wrong, but it didn't do a very good job. It was in a 5 gal bucket with a 6" hose/fan coming out. I hooked the same setup to a phresh and it went away completely. Not long later it masked the smell of a bunch of large stinky ladies (non-autos) and I'll never go back. It's an investment for it, but if you care at all about smell, it's what you need.
I built a home made filter, but my grow space is only 2x2x5 and a single plant. Just did a harvest of a little over 4 OZ . Home made worked fine for this and it was a pretty stinky plant. I also augmented with a jar of ONA for when I opened the door for watering ect. I found the bigger problem to be controlling the scent while out of the box. When I did my harvest I stunk for 2 days, even taking a steaming shower. I also had to strip my room because when I got done trimming at 2am I was exhausted.
Lol that's funny stuff.....I get the weirdest looks when harvest and trim time comes.....I go to Walmart or the grocery store and people just stare at me like I have 3 eyes and titties or somethin.
I'm sure others have said the same, but I just want to throw my 2 cents in here. In order to have a successful indoor grow, you absolutely cannot go cheap in a few areas; odor control, light sealed growing area, and ventilation. I would definitely spend the 100-150 dollars or so on an inline fan and filter + speed control. It will be very quiet since you won't need that much power and can have the speed set all the way down. I recommend a carbon filter or charcoal scrubber, they do the trick nicely when it comes to smell. And just because it's bagseed from some mids, doesn't mean it won't grow into some super smelly buds. In my opinion from my own personal experience, if you're going to put the effort into growing cannabis, do it properly and get the best buds you can. EDIT: in terms of where to get the filters, I've been using the 4" combo from htgsupply.com for about 2-3 years now, and it's still going strong. In fact tonight is harvest, and I have virtually zero odor even right next to the tent.
