Preliminary questions in setting up a stealth indoor grow

Just finished writing this and it sure got long. If you don't want to read it all but are a helpful soul, then you can go down to the bottom and look at the questions.

So i've been thinking about growing some of my own (in stealth conditions) so i can pick what i smoke, not have to pay for it, make better stuff than what i pay others for, and eliminate the need to keep up with dealers. I'm absolutely not doing this to sell. It would be strictly for my own personal use. Secrets fly into my ears and die before they can reach my tongue. I've been very good my whole life at keeping my mouth shut and not creating "enemies." (Two of my dealers don't even know my real first name. I laugh about it sometimes) I have no priors and i intend things to stay that way. It would be accurate to describe myself as a paranoid detail-freak. But enough about me.

What follows are basically my thoughts and questions regarding starting an indoor stealth grow. Please feel free make any pertinent comments, especially if you've grown in circumstances similar to mine successfully.

I've been reading up on these forums for the past couple of months to start the education process. This community is pretty large and even with almost daily reading online, I've only touched the tip of the iceberg so far. I've started by reading grow journal after grow journal after grow journal. And have since started reading about lights, ventilation, containers, odor control, possession and growing laws in my state, etc.

Today, i officially spent my first dollars on my grow by purchasing Jorge Cervantes' "Marijuana Horticulture" and Logan Edwards' "Grow Great Marijuana." A lot of people seem to agree that these two together are ideal to get me through my first grow. I plan to read both from cover to cover. Multiple times before i even start.

The biggest roadblock in starting a grow has been my apartment. Horrible climate control, building's on a busy street, everything is a little bit worn-down structurally, you can always smell what people are cooking, etc, etc. But things have changed. I've finally put down a deposit on a new place and am considering growing there. I will be living there alone and don't expect any regular visitors (I suppose one of the benefits of my breaking up with my ex-gf is that it's one less person who might find out).

The good news is that it's a much quieter, more secluded neighborhood. The bad news is that it's still an apartment. The building seems ghostly quiet, though, and i haven't been able to smell cooking smells emanating from anybody else's apartments so far. Also, my unit is located on a corner of the building so it's at the end of a long hall and shares the least amount of wallspace possible with adjacent units. The building is very new so the chances of infrastructure breaking down (or anything that would cause fire dept/utility guys/maintenance guys to come around) are as slim as they get. There's a good amount of young people so there's definitely some stoners in the crowd, but of course you only need 1 person to blow the whistle. So, basically, in a world where freak fires, murders next door, and unchaperoned maintenance people do not exist, i think my greatest vulnerability is smell. Yes, I know this isn't the greatest growing situation, but there's no way i'll be able to get a house with the way prices are here. But as far as an apartment grow goes, i think there's a good amount of built-in stealth such that the whole operation just might be viable.

My worries:
- Police knocking on the door and then arresting my ass (obviously)
- Maintenance guys/building management. In my current apartment, i've never (in 2 yrs) had a single maintenance guy come over besides the ones i scheduled myself. Dunno about the new place. I'll have to live there a while and a get a feel for any kind of maintenance schedules.
- As i said above, smell. I'll expand on that later.
- Power outage. How fast will things get smelly with no power?
- Energy usage. Do i need to worry about the power co. ratting me out?
- Evil, nosy, self-righteous mothers of young children who just don't understand how wonderful weed really is.


Before i start asking all my questions, i should detail my proposed grow setup first. I want to definitely keep it under 10 plants for legal reasons.
The grow space would basically be a stealth cabinet roughly 4' tall x 3' wide x 2' deep.


THE QUESTIONS: (aka If you've skipped to the end, then you're at the right place)

- Is a 400w HPS appropriate for this size space? If not, then what is?

- Assuming nearly all components (carbon filter, fan, lights, etc) are inside the box rather than outside, what can this setup yield? What is considered an "average" yield for this size space? 6oz? And what yield would be considered "good" or "great?" I know there are a ton of factors, but i'm just trying to ballpark estimates right now.

- Is it a really bad idea to try something like ScrOG on my first go? I'm almost leaning towards not doing any such manipulation just to see what a regular plant looks like first and then use it as a baseline comparison for future grows even if i sacrifice yield the first time around.

- How many plants? 4? 6? 8? Where is the sweet spot between more plants vs. more yield per plant?

- Assuming the energy usage of vegetative growth, how much will my setup add to my electricity bill? Is a 400w grow even going to be noticed by the electric company? If so, should i sacrifice the wattage to play it safe?

- Picking the plant: I've been spending a lot of time reading about strains lately and checkin out seedbank websites (the sheer variety out there is overwhelming). I personally prefer heady sativa highs to couchlock indica highs. A mix of both is good too, but i like it mostly heady. My favorite is haze. The thing about haze is that from what i've read, it seems that cultivating a haze is a higher level of difficulty. I've also read that sativas grow really tall so that wouldn't be any good.

- So can anyone recommend a hybrid strain based on the size limitations of my space and the type of high i prefer?

- Any good ones that don't produce a lot of smell?

- Autoflower vs. Feminised Photoperiod? I've read the autoflower criticisms regarding yield per plant and potency. But i've seen mention of recent autflower strains getting more potent. If potency isn't an issue, is the shorter harvest cycle worth the decreased yield? Can producing less bud more frequently beat producing max yield bud slower? Am i missing any other considerations? Is there anything bad about feminised seeds? Oh, and let's not talk about mothers and clones just yet. I'll contemplate it after a couple grows.

- Why is picking out seeds so hard? And why do i always like whatever's the hardest to grow?

- Smell: Ok so this is my new number 1 concern. If i get an appropriate carbon filter for the 4x3x2 and everything's pretty air-tight, then how much does it still smell? What about when you have to open the growbox to tend to your plants? If you add something like ona gel in addition to the carbon filter, then would that decrease smell further or not? How much more worse will the smell be during harvest? What can i do? How much does the stuff you trim off when doing routine plant maintenance smell? How often would i have to sneak out with a duffel bag containing garbage plant matter to be disposed of in an undisclosed location? Is it even much of an issue with this size grow? Would grinding up the plant garbage and flushing it down the toilet work? (I have a strong food processor and also a spice grinder to chop it up even finer) Is that idea crazy because it's too labor intensive?

Ok i've exhausted all my questions for now. Sorry if some of my questions sound too paranoid. I'd rather laugh about it later when i'm experienced than cry about my handcuffs being too tight because I didn't take necessary precautions. I'm sure once the books arrive, some of these questions will be answered, but i have a feeling the books might not cover stealth enough. If you've read this far, then i appreciate it. If anybody actually attempts to answer all of these by him/herself, then Whoa.

The way i look at it, the worst that could happen is i get busted and slapped on the wrist as an amateur first timer with a good lawyer. The Medical MJ bill was passed a while ago in my state, but so far the state has not given out any medical cards or allowed any dispensaries to open while the politicians fight over every line of the bill. So, while it's not California just yet, there is some level of acceptance here that may not exist in other states. So i look at it as something i can get caught doing once and just once. Can't wait for those books to arrive. I'm going to smoke a bowl and read up on strains some more. Peace guys.