Stealth Dresser Grow Box

Hi everyone. I am starting a stealth grow soon inside a dresser. I'm going to be converting the dresser into a stealth grow box during the next couple of days. I bought the dresser on craigslist for $20.

Dresser dimensions: 23 3/4"wide 15" deep, 42 1/2" tall. Its not a large space to grow in, but I will probably only grow 1 or 2 plants in it so it will do just fine for my needs.

I'm planning on removing the drawer faces and creating a door with them. That way the entire front of the dresser will open like a door. I also want to build some type of locking mechanism into it. That way I can lock it when I'm not around. So far I just picked up the dresser and have looked it over trying to get a plan together on how I'm going to make the door. Tomorrow I will be making the door and sealing all the seams with silicon.

I was thinking about lining the inside with mylar, but I can't find any anywhere, where is the easiest place to get mylar? Except at a grow shop, because there aren't any around here. If I can't get any mylar, I was just going to pait the inside flat white.

The first picture is of the dresser, and the second is of the inside with the drawers taken out. I'll post an update tomorrow after I work on it.

 

I thought I wasn't supposed to use aluminum foil because it absorbs more light than flat white paint and can cause hot spots. I might be wrong though. I'm planning on using CFL's. How many actual watts should I use for 2 plants? I was planning on starting with 2 plants and odds are one of them will end up male, then I will pull it. If both are female then I'll just flower both.

This is my first real grow so I'm just using bagseed. I germinated two seeds already and planted them tonight. I figure I still have a day or so before they sprout so I will probably make the light fixture tomorrow too.

 

I designed a simple light fixture setup that I can build with the leftover wood parts from the dresser drawers. It will use 6 25watt cfls.

This should be enough for 2 plants right?

Here is a simple computer model of what I was thinking of doing. Will this use the light efficiently?

 

Good news, another seed popped open today so I am going to plant that one too. I don't know if I will have room for three plants in the dresser, but I'll probably have to pull at least one when they show sex, so right now the more the better. The first two haven't sprouted yet, so I still have time to finish the box. What do yall think of my light fixture idea?

 

Ok heres an update on my grow so far. I have three seeds germinated and planted in small pots and will transplant to bigger ones later. They haven't sprouted yet, I planted them yesterday.

The grow box is coming along too. I am going to seal the inside and paint it flat white today and also construct the light fixture. I also want to get the door built today, but I ran into a small problem when I was looking at some hinges to buy. Normally when a door opens outwards the hinges are on the outside too. I don't want the hinges on the outside because I want it to be stealth. Any suggestions on some hinges or other method of making the door open without anything noticeable on the outside?

I'll update tonight with pictures of the build so far.

 

I thought about painting it black today when I was working on it. I used particle board for the door because I had a piece laying around. There are small 1/2 in gaps between the drawers so I was going to just stain it the color of the dresser. The stain ended up being too dark and didn't match the color of the dresser so I just painted the gap brown and I'm going to see if it looks ok. If it still doesn't look good, then I'm just going to paint it all black. The black will also help hide the intake and exhaust if someone were to just glance back there.

I picked up two pc fans today. 1 80mm 35cfm for the intake, and 1 120mm 85cfm for the exhaust. I figure that when I get the carbon filter on the exhaust it will constrict the airflow to probably equal with the 80mm.

I only took a couple of pictures today because I didn't get as much work done as I had hoped. The first picture is the plywood cut for the door, and the second is the beginnings of my light fixture.

 

I did alot of work on my grow box today. I painted the inside flat white, and cut the holes for the ventilation fans. I finished the light fixture and wired it all up, but one socket won't work so I have to figure out where I wired it wrong. Then I finished the door and put it on. The door looks and works great.

I also had one of my plants sprout today also. It looks really pale, is this normal?

 

Yeah I was planning on making some reflectors for the light fixture. I have 2 pc fans already, I just haven't put them on it yet. The intake fan is a 80mm 35cfm fan, and the exhaust is a 120mm 85cfm fan. I'm putting a bigger one on the exhaust because I'll have a carbon filter on it later.

Tomorrow I'm going to finish the light fixture and the ventilation.

 

Thanks. Converting a dresser was alot more work than I thought it was going to be. The door is really tricky to get right.

I am just growing some bagseed right now until I feel comfortable with spending money on seeds. I've been collecting seeds from my bags for a year now and have a few, so I'm just going to grow as many of those as I can and then invest in some good genetics. I like indica dominant strains myself, but I think my dresser should be tall enough to handle a sativa strain if I LST it pretty good. My sprout is looking pretty good, and has sprouted its first set of true leaves last night. I can't take a picture of it because my camera stopped working for some reason so I will post a picture of it later.

Once I get my grow box done and my plant in there, I'll start a grow journal.