Stealth help needed

[high_hopes]

I'm thinking of attempting my first grow. Total amateur here. I have several problems and need some advice on whether or not I should try it.

1. I live in an apt - loft style. I live on the top floor (3rd). Upstairs is my bed/bathroom. I have no windows up there whatsoever except for a skylight which is obviously on the ceiling. My floors are all carpet, so leakage would be a problem if it happened. Living in an apt. could be risky, no?

2. It needs to be REAL stealthy. My g/f comes over often and she has no idea I smoke - none. So I am worried not only by her finding out what's going on, but also the smell. I was looking over doggy's stealthy desk and this, I think, would work perfect for me because I work from home and I can put my files, papers, perhaps even computer on top of the desk. I need a new desk anyway.

3. I have no idea where to begin. I have 2 people on here helping me in private as far as what I need and such, but the more advice from others, the better.

4. I live in the US and have no access to seeds, so I would have to purchase them and risk customs getting their hands on them...

How much yield can I expect if I decided to go with a desk similar to doggy's?

Thanks

 

[Jam Master Jaco]

Before you start worrying about things like yield, you need to worry about a few other things first. First off, a lot of us here are closet case US citizens, don't sweat it. Order your seeds off of seedbay, use overnight delivery, and you'll be fine. Even if customs does happen to sieze your seeds, I haven't heard of them pursuing it any farther then simply confiscating your seeds. Don't send your seeds to your grow address though.

Since this grow needs to be super duper stealth, you're gonna want to find that perfect area inside your apartment that has the least amount of foot traffic. What's your girlfriends favorite room? cuz the plants should definately not go there. I suggest getting a tall file cabinet with locking drawers and hollowing out the bottom 2 or 3 drawers and use them for growing. Keep the top drawers unlocked so they can still work and have the bottom drawers that house the plants locked on the bottom. You could access it from the back. I have no experience with that type of setup it's just a suggestion.

I suggest either going with a very small hps lamp such as a 150 or just going flouros. It sounds like that because of the stealth of this situation you're not going to have proper ventilation. Meaning the ideal ventilation system invlolves taking the old, hot air from inside the cab and exhausting it into a seperate room, sounds like you'll just be recycling the old air so that you don't have hoses coming out of your grow box.

And uhh...yeah that's all I can think of at the moment. Stay safe

 

[Sleepy]

I'm thinking of attempting my first grow. Total amateur here. I have several problems and need some advice on whether or not I should try it.

1. I live in an apt - loft style. I live on the top floor (3rd). Upstairs is my bed/bathroom. I have no windows up there whatsoever except for a skylight which is obviously on the ceiling. My floors are all carpet, so leakage would be a problem if it happened. Living in an apt. could be risky, no?

2. It needs to be REAL stealthy. My g/f comes over often and she has no idea I smoke - none. So I am worried not only by her finding out what's going on, but also the smell. I was looking over doggy's stealthy desk and this, I think, would work perfect for me because I work from home and I can put my files, papers, perhaps even computer on top of the desk. I need a new desk anyway.

3. I have no idea where to begin. I have 2 people on here helping me in private as far as what I need and such, but the more advice from others, the better.

4. I live in the US and have no access to seeds, so I would have to purchase them and risk customs getting their hands on them...

How much yield can I expect if I decided to go with a desk similar to doggy's?

Thanks

i think you need to talk to your girl a bit, before embarking on such a project.

 

[Mr_Micro]

I agree with Sleepy on this one... I grow in an apartment and even though my fiance does not smoke and doesn't care for weed in general, it was necessary that she know what I was doing and be aware of the project. After going over every aspect of it and proving to her that it was total stealth and posed no risk to our safety, she reluctantly gave me the go ahead. LOL The funny thing is that now even though she still doesn't like pot I think she's enjoying watching the flowers grow and blossom almost as much as I am.

But seriously... What happens if your non-smoker girl stumbles on your growbox one day and freaks out? Do you think she'd call the cops? Safety and security are the most important aspects of apartment growing... and I think the biggest safety risk you could have is a non-smoker stumbling on your grow and freaking out.

That said, my suggestion is that you grow in a PC case underneath your desk. Its probably the safest and most stealthy way you could possibly grow in an apartment. I use two PC cases undreath my desk (one on each side with my chair in the middle) and any time someone asks I just tell them I'm hosting a gaming server for a friend.

The cases were a bit difficult to construct and certainly not a low budget way to grow, but they do work well and are extremely sealthy. You can use them for SWC hydro or soil and even in a case as small as 20" tall you can grow almost any variety you like aside from the pure sativas, provided you are willing to do a little LST'ing. I'm using one 20" case and one 26" case. The 26" provides a bit more growing room but it's massive size will raise a LOT more eyebrows than a regular old 20" case tucked under your desk.

All I use for lighting is a 50 watt electronic ballst HPS and a 42 watt CFL in each case. For odor control I have a Can 705 carbon filter hooked up to the back of each case with some dryer ducting and I gotta say it works excellently. Zero smell at all, even though I'm growing Skunk #1!

For the seeds I think you'd be just fine ordering from Seedbay or Seed Boutique, and you could probably have it shipped to your home without having to worry much. I know everyone usually says to have your seeds shipped to a safehouse, but if theres no one you can trust to recieve your seeds than I think your still pretty safe having them shipped to your apartment if you have no other option. Even orders shipped to the US are rarely ever confiscated so I don't think you have much to worry about there.

And now for the yeild question... well... I havn't finished my first grow in these cases yet, but I'm guessing with two females in each case I'll probably pull anywhere from an ounce to an ounce and a half out of each case. So in total anywhere from 2 to 3 ounces every 4 months. But then again, thats fine for me because thats way more than I'd ever smoke in that time period anyway. These days I only smoke a bowl like once every few weeks, so your talking only a gram or two every month. I used to smoke like an 1/8th a day but I think I've mellowed out a bit in my old age LOL

But anyway, yeah. 1 to 1.5 ounces out of each case is probably a reasonable expectation.

 

[THE MUFFIN MAN]

I sounds like you have a lot to worry about for just a little micro grow.
Maybe re think if you should really do this?

 

[high_hopes]

Thanks for the replies.

Muffin - you're right, there is a lot of risk. I haven't purchased anything yet or haven't laid out a plan. Just wanted to get input from you folks first.

As far as the size of the grow, I am only interested in growing for my personal use - not intending to sell anything. I smoke, on average, about 14 grams (1/2 oz) every month. So I don't need a huge set-up. This is why I like the desk idea. I already have a desk in my living room and I work from it. If I could yield 3-4 oz in 4 months, I would be very happy. To make this happen, I would imagine I don't need a huge set-up, correct?

 

[Guest]

i think one of the people above me got the wrong idea about your gf. if she doesn't actually live with you and you're willing to lie to her about growing i'd say it would be best not to tell her. Maybe bring up the subject of growing your own to smoke once in a while and see how she reacts. you don't want her knowing about the grow and then for some other reason breaking up with you, becoming vindictive, and callin the cops on you. On the other hand, if you feel like you're really in with her for the long haul and you need to be open go ahead and tell her like the other guys suggested. there's risk on both sides, just one way is a relationship risk and one side is a jail time risk. so it comes down to how much you trust this girl.

As far as yield, I think for a first grow you shouldn't plan on more than .3g per watt or more than 1 ounce per square foot. once you start learning your system better it could go up to .5g/watt or 1.5 ounces/sq foot. << thats for soil, hydro yields a bit more normally. so think about that in planning your space.

 

[high_hopes]

Jam - I like your idea of a filing cabinet. I work from home and I need filing cabinets anyway. I'm not sure if a tall file cabinet will be wide enough though. Would it? Do you think it would be possible to have two tall filing cabinets and take out the sides of each so inside it'll be one large space? Does that make any sense?

I'm not worried about my girlfriend calling the cops. I know women can be deceiving, but she's a good girl and would never do such a thing. She's very naive as well. I honestly don't believe she would know what a weed plant looks if it came up and bit her. But with that said, i still don't want her looking inside. She doesn't snoop around anyway. Usually it's 'walk in the door, go to the kitchen, go to the couch'. She's not here THAT often. Maybe twice a month for a night each.

I'll think more about this one...

 

[Big Bud Bear]

i would not tell her, she does not pay your rent nor live with you. Women are unstable, and i think it is a mistake if you tell her. She can easily back fire on you at any time and threaten to tell people or the LEO's about it. You never know, so dont tell her. I would only tell a women if i was with her 10+ years and if she lived with me for a long time. The fact she does not smoke is even more ammo to fuel my side of the coin. Good luck

 

[Big Bud Bear]

Jam - I like your idea of a filing cabinet. I work from home and I need filing cabinets anyway. I'm not sure if a tall file cabinet will be wide enough though. Would it? Do you think it would be possible to have two tall filing cabinets and take out the sides of each so inside it'll be one large space? Does that make any sense?

I'm not worried about my girlfriend calling the cops. I know women can be deceiving, but she's a good girl and would never do such a thing. She's very naive as well. I honestly don't believe she would know what a weed plant looks if it came up and bit her. But with that said, i still don't want her looking inside. She doesn't snoop around anyway. Usually it's 'walk in the door, go to the kitchen, go to the couch'. She's not here THAT often. Maybe twice a month for a night each.

I'll think more about this one...

9/10 men who have been ratted on or cheated on felt the same way. "She loves me, she would never do such a thing, blah blah" People who get cocky with their women in that sense get busted. If you assume otherwise.. I dunno what to tell you. Those that have had women issues that lead to worse obvisouly thought the same as you or else they would have never told the women about the grow. People have had their wives rat them out, Wives! Far more serious of a partner then a simple gf. Ask around, plenty of people on this board that made the mistake of trusting their freedom in the unpredicable mind of the female