Apartment Inspection Troubles / How To Hide Your Grow

There has been a ton of talk on here for apartment grows. Apparently you can still be kicked out of your housing if an inspection finds your legal garden. This is even more of a problem if they find an illegal garden. Thus leaving you to either resorting to stealth which can be quite limiting or a careless attitude. I think I may have resolved both for myself in such restricting circumstances. This was initially a way for me to put all my thoughts out on paper organized but figured I’d put it in thread form to get some feedback and hopefully help someone else.

All apartments MUST give either 12 or 24 hour notice, it will be stated in the lease. They can only enter without notice in case of an emergency (water leak, crime) and if everything is in your bedroom they WILL NOT enter for maintenance. The idea of a stealth grow (converted armoire) didn't appeal to me in the aspect of running lights, fans, reservoir, filter in the small confines of this setup but the idea had me thinking. What if it were converted but only used for housing plants in case of an untimely walk through?

Grow tents from your local garden store can easily be taken down and reassembled with such ease really making this the best option in the scenario. The plan (still being executed) is to run a 1,000 watt HPS in the 76’x76’x76’ tent for flowering with a coal filter, Soler and Palau exhaust, DIY CO2 and an eight tube fluorescent hood for vegetative situated in the closet within the bedroom.

When the day comes and you get a notice of an inspection (tour of full apartment) this is where a converted armoire, entertainment center, dresser will come in. Obviously modification must take place to make the piece airtight when housing more than 20 plants (10 veg, 10 flowering, 4 mothers) temporarily. Caulking, OSB Board and screws from a hardware store will provide you with all you need. Others here at RIU have given such thorough descriptions on how to do similar projects that I will refer you to the ingenious threads that have come before. Once the storage has been completely insulated and no smell escapes, it is time to transfer over without the lingering aroma escaping. This is when I would put each plant in a clear and thick trash bag (slip cover) sealed and relocate to the storage in the living room. With my specific location being quite hard to work with there is no room for mistake. Depending on dimensions you will need to work everything out ahead of time with number of plants and the temporary housing.

Once the plants are situated in their temp home, tear down tent and put ALL equipment in storage boxes. Don’t leave bongs, high times magazines, posters or anything related to herb out for others to see. Also make sure the place is immaculate and clean so this can be the easiest walkthrough of the day for them. I wait for the day when all can be comfortable in their own homes but until then clean up!

I’ve been thinking of this for quite sometime brainstorming trying to get everything figured out in advance. I refuse to wait three-four months to harvest 6 small plants. That is enough for someone to kick back but I actually use this for pain management and refuse to pay so much for such a valued medicine after a year of taking care of my own garden in a home.

Something I am wondering is do you think the sealed armoire would requite a small carbon filter and fan to contain the smell when all plants are situated and covered? Would hate to get so close and find out I assumed incorrectly. Any help or feedback would be much appreciated. Also can anyone refer a more quite exhaust and intake fan then Soler and Palau? I have such thin walls where I'm at. Cheers

I plant to take everything down, wrap the plants in plastic and put on the balcony under various card tables and other outdoor reg vegatable and herb gardens I have going quite commonly. I will forego worrying about hermies for that one time once a year inspection. My only worry how clean the carpet will look where the grow tent stood.

Once I panicked and removed the grwo tent and tore it all down and hid the vegging plants in under an hour. Like 30 min. It was all clean.

It was bogus worry then It took 3 times as long to put together. Lol.


The cops came to my door once. I was thank ful I had everything legal as they came in for a long story of reasons. TGhey took pics and wow I am still free, as I had all my papers in order and was cooperative and legal.

go for tents and bags. i agree. forget worrying if they will hermie or not I say unless you can without sacrificing smell and hiding. But I bet that is obvuous.

I've been thinking of investing in some rental property for awhile, and your situation has inspired me to set up grow-friendly housing. Its crazy all the hassle people have to go through just to grow a few plants.

that would be awesome, lol, an adventure for problem solving. Lol, when word gets out talk about a speed trap heaven for a while till you sue the hell outa the cops/

krunchy said:

I've been thinking of investing in some rental property for awhile, and your situation has inspired me to set up grow-friendly housing. Its crazy all the hassle people have to go through just to grow a few plants.

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In one of my rentals, upstairs in the loft bedroom, there's a separate room where the water tank sits. There's a door that sits just under the bar that holds your clothes, you walk in and it's about 6x6x6, and when I first bought it I looked and saw different holes in the walls... Where someone was growing.

I've mentioned it to tenants, but I haven't seen anyone grow in there... Then again, I don't do inspections. The less I'm over there the better... lol.

Peace.

shit i just changed the locks to one of the bedroom doors and said that my cousin rents it out from me and ill get the key as soon as i can.. that was over 6 months ago lol

FLoJo said:

shit i just changed the locks to one of the bedroom doors and said that my cousin rents it out from me and ill get the key as soon as i can.. that was over 6 months ago lol

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I'm glad it worked but horrible idea. If it was a by-the-book landlord or maintenance individual, that could be construed as sub-leasing if they're not on the lease... most of the time a no-no.

Hmm... but wait a second. You said you 'just' changed the locks on the door yet it was 6 months ago ?

Do elaborate... if you can.

i mean all i did was changed the locks.. and i do live in a complex, but my grow is legal, and have all the paperwork on the inside wall, but would rather not have a maintnance guy who has keys to my place know its there.. plus i live in norcal so its a bit more relaxed. i will say when i used to grow in texas i was always very anal about these sort of things for sure

"Something I am wondering is do you think the sealed armoire would requite a small carbon filter and fan to contain the smell when all plants are situated and covered? Would hate to get so close and find out I assumed incorrectly. Any help or feedback would be much appreciated. Also can anyone refer a more quite exhaust and intake fan then Soler and Palau? I have such thin walls where I'm at. "

Anyone got advice on this? Still not sure how much of an odor flowering and vegging plants put off when completely wrapped up and placed inside the airtight container. Could use some help for sure about the exhaust fans. I've searched this forum many hours and found a few contradicting opinions concerning the noise and effectiveness of the exhaust fan and which brand to use.

Ohhh and dirt clean; you think that putting them in the dark wrapped up for 12 hours would turn hermie? I've had plants go through some serious stress and never produce seeds. I would think it would be harmless since it would only take place for a short time. I could maybe use clear plastic and put up some flashlights just to keep the girls awake. Still working out the issues as I go along. Too bad there is nothing legal about this where I am. Maybe one day...

Yep still could use a little help from the knowledgable folks here at RIU.

"do you think the sealed armoire would require a small carbon filter and fan to contain the smell when all plants are situated and covered? "

"Also can anyone refer a more quite exhaust and intake fan then Soler and Palau? "

"you think that putting them in the dark wrapped up for 12 hours would turn hermie?"

I just had the same problem here last week. I had a week notice though as they were checking for pests. I have a small cabinet grow, so I just put it under my table and through a blanket over it. No problems at all, no questions asked. My plants were in the dark for bout 12ish hours and no hermies. If you want quiet fans run bunch of 80mm pc fans, 26Db sound. I have 4 in my grow sounds like a fridge running. Very quiet and each one moves 35cfm. Just hook up a few of those and wire in a variable resistor and your golden for an armoire. Peace out and good luck I know how it is(but it's a lil more relaxed here in Canada).
Chris

Appreciate it Chillums. Glad to know it won't turn hermie on me.
I will only be using the armoire for storage during inspections though. Nothing grown in there. I will be utilizing a grow tent 76'x76'x76' and that is where an exhaust will be neccasary. Since I will be running through a carbon filter and am using 1000 watt hps with a cooltube, I don't think those fans will suffice especially with 10 flowering red diesel. Only want one exhaust and one intake. Exhaust noise will be a concern here as I have VERY thin walls and I want to make sure Soler and Palau offer the most silent fans??? The armoire though will be completely sealed and I will wrap each plant individually to harness as much odor from escaping before and during inspection. Will a enclosed and airtight armoire with each plant completely sealed in a bag leak smell?

Thanks for the help.

Yep could still use some help . The thread on Sound Control has convinced me to build a box around the Soler and Palau fans for extra sound proofing but could still use some help on the odor issue

You're definitely going to want to do something about the odor. I mean, you can smell pot through the bag, and that's after it's been cured...

If I were you, I'd want to add some sort of carbon filter. I don't know how big your grow is, but there's a fantastic DIY carbon filter design for micro-grows. Maybe you could modify it and make your own?

https://www.rollitup.org/do-yourself/101248-best-diy-ez-walmart-carbon.html

I have actually had the same problem before. One thing you can do to hide the odor is to cook an extremely garlic dish before they come through this hides it perfectly. I had to hide sixty plants in a two bedroom house in an aeroflow... it can be done trust me

i have 2 words baby sitter and storage unit.
find a friend who competent willing and that you would trust with your LIFE. and see if they would watch your little girls for a day or 2. if that isnt appealing then rent a small storage unit you should be able to dint a closet sized storage unit for about 20-50 a month think of it as inspection insurance you get the notice you go put your plants there afterwords you go and get them back. keep some ona gel in there for just that reason. if you dont want to tear down your grow tent put some tomatoes or flowers in it they ask why you are growing those say you enjoy the hobby of horticulture.

IF you want to make you life reallllly easy rent from an individual not a company. rent out a house or a condo, get out of the complex environment. if it only cost 50 bucks a month more to live in a house that some chill ass guy rents out would it not be worth it? my land lord is constantly trying to get me to grow weed, which is funny considering that i already do.

aslo for quietness in the emergancy armoire just use some cfls and fuck ventilation for 24-48 hrs run weather stripping around every opening and get some panty hose filled with carbon and hang like 10 little balls around the cab. Also cook some stinky ass food in your house or better yet burn popcorn, that shit will stink for weeks and everyone knows the smell and will disregard any other stinks as being related to the popcorn do it the day of and the day before hell do it when they get there and make a joke about this time i am going to get it right. hell distract them by fresh hot cinnamon rolls, the inspector has a boring fucking job, break the human element and you will win. Make his life easy and enjoyable foe the 10 min they are there and you will be better off.