From Seeds to Weeds - Drakkaen's Low-budget Stealth Grow

Hey, guys! Welcome to my grow. I'm a novice grower, so bear with me... I'd love any input you'd like to give.

I'm doing this in limited space, on a VERY limited budget, for personal use. I've also got to keep it covert to the most extreme level imaginable. This is gonna be an interesting experience... Let's see if I can pull it off.



---Starting Plan---
Projected 'Official' Start Date: 4.20.2009

Budget: Attempting to stay under $30 for entire Op.
Setup: 3'x2'x3.5' (6 Sq. Ft., 21 Cu. Ft.) grow box
Lighting: 4 CFL's, (2) 2700k Soft White, (2) 6700k Daylight
Medium: Indoors, Miracle Grow soil, Tap Water
Strain: Unsure, BagSeed
Method: LST, Also LST & FIM



I will be updating this (with pics when I can) on a regular basis, so check back to see my progress. Thanks for reading!

Bout time. Good luck man. I'll be keeping tabs.

Okay, so here's a pre-op breakdown of my supplies and what they cost:
$0 - Boxes
$0 - Light socket from old lamp
$0 - (3) light sockets from old lamp
$11.65 - (2) 2700k Soft White CFL's
$11.65 - (2) 6500k Daylight CFL's
$0 - Miracle Grow potting soil, 'borrowed' from the garden shed
$0 - (4) 12" pots, 'borrowed'
$0 - (9) Plastic cups for sprouting
$0 - (approx. 200) Old BagSeeds, saved from years of smoking
$0 - Scrap wire
$3 - Jute twine
$2 - Duct tape
$0 - Old 6" fan
$0 (gift, $15) - Digital Alarm clock W/ Thermometer
$0 (gift, $6.54) - 9oz Activated Carbon
$0 - Linen/Dryer sheets
$0 - 5.5' 1" Rubber hose
$0 - large Maylar blanket (from an old survival kit)
$0 - Other random scraps/parts
Total spent so far: $28.30 (I'm still under my $30 mark!)

Everything is coming together nicely, so far. Tomorrow I'm hoping to build the actual grow box; I'll start germination on the 17th, and then on the 20th, they're going in soil.

Great news! I managed to find 2 rubbermaid tubs, that shouldn't be missed TOO badly... they're different sizes but they should work just fine. I've already started building my box... Unfortunately I forgot to lightproof the tubs before I made the maylar liners, so I've got MAJOR light leakage. It's more of an inconvenience than a setback, really, but it just goes to show that haste makes wasted time.

My biggest problem now, is going to be finding a chance to spraypaint the insides of those tubs... It's too cold outside to do it now, but if I wait to do it, I run the risk of having to answer 'Why are you spraypainting those? And... where did you get them? WHAT ARE YOU UP TO?'

It's going to take a bit of sneaking about, some good timing, and a LOT of luck... But I suppose I'll find a way to manage. I usually do.

Having said all that, aside from the light leakage, I think my new setup is AWESOME, very pro for not having spent any money on it... Okay well compared to some of the other ops I've seen on here, it's a ghetto-ass rubbermaid grow box. But still a fucking AWESOME ghetto-ass rubbermaid grow box!

As soon as I get it lightproofed I'll be posting pics.

There is no reason to consider a rubbermaid grow bad by any means. If all you need is personal smoke a rubbermaid is a very practical option. Check out this rubbermaid: https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/141891-my-stealth-closet-grow-must.html It may be useful to you. Perhaps he'll have an idea you didn't, or at the very least it will show you what a rubbermaid is capable of.

Haha... that's the journal that inspired me to do this thing in the first place! I modeled my plan after that one.

Well, I think I've come up with a solution to my light leakage problem... Trash bags taped to the inside of the bins, with the maylar taped to the bags. It was a bit hard to do because the maylar got a little bit torn up when I took it out, but it should still work just fine.

I'm still only about 30% or so done with the construction, but it's slowly coming together. I think worst case scenario it'll be done by the 23rd.

So, I'm going to take a leap of faith and start germination later today like I had planned. Hopefully my timing isn't off and they're ready for soil on the 20th. Wish me luck

I'll update again later.

I like your signature

Yeah I needed to update it, and yours was the first quote that came to mind lol

Is that really how I wrote it though? You've got some unnecessary commas in there that I don't think I would have used. If I did I am sorry for displaying improper use of punctuation. I have been trying hard to clean up my writing because of the English course I have right now in my college program.

what wattage r those cfls?i am using 3 26w 2700k cfls cost me $10 from walmart
im doiing the same low budget and only spend $20 just needed a timer and light bulbs

@W4V: No I don't think that's how you wrote it... I overuse punctuation when I type. Since you said something I might fix it up a bit, make it true to form and whatnot.

@Doc: The 2700k's are 26w, not sure about the 6500k's (I still don't have any of them yet). I think they're 40w though.

And... $20? wow I wish I could manage to do it that cheap. As it is, I can already tell I'm going to end up breaking the $30 mark, and I still don't even have my op functional yet... I'm hoping my check gets here soon, if it does that means I can buy a *few* extras.

If I can afford it, I'd like to buy a Timer, A new lamp, a couple Y-sockets, and a new fan...

Actually if I had it my way, I wouldn't be doing a low-budget grow lol... I'd like to be able to go all-out on this. But I guess that'll have to wait until I have a steady income and a place of my own.

true i need to know if these 26ws will work fuck

Yeah I think they should work. I've seen quite a few people talking about using 26w's on here. I think the only difference between 26w and 40w is light output... but where you're using three, I don't think you should have to worry about it.

Of course, I'm not exactly an expert... You might wanna ask someone who's a little more knowledgable about it than I am.

iight thanks i saw a guy using 1 26w cfl and hes got to day 10 so ill keep watching him til i get my seeds then imma start
but i gotta few things to deal with dumb sluts ive dumbed trying sshit so i gotta put in some work im suscibed tho peace ez

26W will work if you have enough of them but 42W are better. The $42W are $10+/bulb though. They can also be tricky to find at times. I only had 26W for quite some time and my plants did just fine. I had 12 bulbs in my little closet.

i think im just gonna grow 2-3 plants cuz i only have 3 of them and i dont feel like adding more there gonna be short and lst nice the lights i have give off 1750 lumens each so around 5250ish? that should do for a small cabnit grow right?

Fair warning, I'm drunk as fuck right now so if this doesn't make sence I appologise in advance.

I've started germination now, so all there is to do is sit and wait. I'm entirely too annibriated to continue construction on my grow box... lol I'll start working on it again when I sober up a bit. I'll update again sometime tomorrow.

DOC. GREENTHUMB said:

i think im just gonna grow 2-3 plants cuz i only have 3 of them and i dont feel like adding more there gonna be short and lst nice the lights i have give off 1750 lumens each so around 5250ish? that should do for a small cabnit grow right?

Click to expand...

Keep the lights close to the plants. Then get some good reflection going on all angles and you will be fine with that lighting. With some LST and possibly the use of SCROG techniques as well you could be well on your way. Maintain a nice even canopy and your light will be most efficient

ok thanks and would i have to do scrog AND lst? wouldnt lst be enough? i just think that making a scrog will take up room and make things more complicanted with stems everwhere and strings and hooks just seems complated but im going to check out scrog techneckes right now so i may be wrong