Stealth Brainstorm

My plan is to design and build as close to a complete stealth operation as I can, taking all aspects into consideration. As far as stealth goes, I think it is important that it looks like something else, doesn't raise suspicion, and hopefully is still margonally functional in some mannor, like the one in the GROWFAQ (god I love that one)

GROWFAQ

It obviously needs to be light proof, smell proof, sound proof, and visually appealing. the individual who sees it must notice it and then forget it immediately after taking their eyes off of it. I personally am not a big fan of cabs or dresser grows (I've done both, I know they can be great) only because with a cab it's only a matter of time before a gf or a buddy pulls on the door to put something away for you or something only to find that it's locked ... um, why is your cab locked? Or same with your dresser only to find out that some or all of the drawers don't open. Plus, with a dresser you need one to grow and one to put clothes in. Most people don't have this many clothes, looks a little bit odd. Nor am I a fan of computer grows, just way too small, seems like alot of effort for such a little return.

So the goal of this thread is to brainstorm some, get some good ideas for some stealth grow opperations. I've been looking around my home and appart from cutting a hole in the wall and growing inbetween sheetrock, I can't think of anything. The problem I have is finding something that is tall enough to grow, say like five feet or so, and still not look like anything suspicious. Any ideas?

Im actually in the process of doing the same thing as you

ive been researching the two rubbermaid containers on each other

I've seen it, can't say I'm impressed though. Better than nothing. They had it on the old OG site. Even still, it isn't partally functional. If you had a rubbermaid box in your basement, piled under loads of other boxes, with no cord running out, no visual modifacations made to it and a layer of dust, yeah it would pass off as stealth. If you have two rubbermaids facing eachother, duct taped together with cords and fans running out of it and vibrating .... not exactly stealth. At least not for me. i was hopefully leaning more toward some type of furniture. Only I can't really seem to think of anything.

Before I was actually going to use this 3 foot tall side table, i thought it would work pretty well

or i was thinking my mini fridge

I'm looking for a good stealth rig too. I was thinking something like this might be good after a few modifications.

the key is finding something that shouldn't be opened, so people like your gf dont open it lol

good point, but what is three dimensional around the house, around 2' x 2' x 6' (shorter will do, but this is ideal) that shouldn't be opened?

What i decided to do since i have alot of storage area around my house is just build a box out of plywood, personaly im going to be using a 250wer w/ a 150whps and a couple 42 watt cfls and the box will probably be 3 feet wide by 20" deep by 3feet high to give you a little picture. Then im going to take a couple rbber maids and boxes and make a kind of sleeve for it. like a stack of boxes and rubber mades, should work alright

How about this?

Whitmor 6023-150B 36" Clothes Closet



Tape some plastic in the little window, and get a luggage lock for the zipper. Ducting/wiring in and out of the back.

Here's one in canvas, might be better:


Deluxe Extra Closet - Rolling Clothes Storage

looks like something, good thought, but it really isn't much different from a cab. It isn't really functional. I doubt many people would try to open it, but even still it can't be opened without problems arising.

specialkayme said:

looks like something, good thought, but it really isn't much different from a cab. It isn't really functional. I doubt many people would try to open it, but even still it can't be opened without problems arising.

Click to expand...

$7 @ Target. A locked storage cabinet or closet shouldn't raise suspicions too badly, so long as it's not too obtrusive. Keep it out of the way, in a storage area. Sitting there with its door closed is it's normal function. Luggage locks like this really shouldn't even raise an eyebrow. They look totally normal on zippers.

I've been in plenty of homes with locking cabinets, pantries, or closets. The thought that they might be grow areas never occurred to me until I started getting into growing. Most people assume liquor cabinet, or silver and china, etc. Things locked up while in storage are even less curious. Don't use cabinets that are positioned centrally, and that people might try to open when casually trying to find something. I like cabinets fairly well above or below eye level, or wedged into the corner of a room, maybe behind the sweep of a door, such that opening it is a little awkward.

You can do a lot by manipulating the affordances offered to a casual observer with subtlety. ( Affordance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

Also, if you live in a condo, apartment, townhouse, or other rental home, you can pass off a locked closet/cabinets as owner's storage (to everyone but the owners, of course.)

So I did some thinking, and the idea of growing in something that shouldn't be opened kinda struck a cord with me. It also made sense that even if it could be opened the contents of which should be so that anyone wouldn't want to open it. So then I looked around my house to see what I had and I think I hit paydirt. I keep bees. I have four beehives in my back yard. No one goes near them, for obvious reasons, and no one would think to ever open them up. No one would really notice if I suddenly had 5 bee hives, or 6 for that matter.

All I would need to do is run a powercord under ground, take one of the outside hive bodies and light proof it, add some sort of ventilation, and turn one top section into the 'electrical box' for lighting and fanns and whatnot. As the plants grow, all I need to do is add another box. And if I decided to do a ScrOG, bees have queen excluders, so I already have that.

No one would be concerned if it was vibrating a little, or if it got a little warm. Only concerns would be light leaks and smell, and they can be over come rather easily.

The only thing that I'm not sure about is that I'd have to do this outside, and I wouldn't really be able to control the temprature. In the summer it would get up to 100 degrees outside, and even with awesome ventilation I can't really expect to get much lower than that. I keep them in the shade, which is better, but still kinda hot. And winter temps at night get below freezing, which I can add insulation, but it's still kinda tough.

Anyway, any ideas?

I think it's a great idea.


Heating is the easier problem to solve. You could make a Reflectix liner with velcro attachment. Put the panels in in the fall, take them out in the spring. You could use propane CO2 generators. Those raise the temperature. A little propane tank can be fairly easily concealed or cammo'd, outside of the actual grow box. I'd be paranoid about using that kind of system inside but it's perfect for an outdoor grow box. Or just a little space heater suitable for shop use, on a thermostat controlled outlet.

Cooling is trickier. Here's a stoned brainstorm for you. It almost certainly needs refinement.

You make the grow box with a slatted bottom. It sits over a large rectangular reservoir, sunk into the ground, that has a lid like one of those six plant minigardens would but with fans where the net pots go. It is, in effect, a big evaporative cooler. It has an inlet and an outlet, the inlet above the outlet, and water is kept constantly recirculating. The hoses go to an even larger buried reservoir that keeps the temperature stable. (trash can? oil drum? beer keg?) The return line enters the drum res slightly below where it leaves the cooling res. Water is pumped with a submersible pump from the bottom of the drum res to the cooling res inlet. The return line is driven by overflow and gravity.

You could even put a float valve in the drum res and attach a hose from a garden spigot so it can top itself off.

Maybe I'm too high.

Here's a seriously ugly diagram:

Not a bad idea at all, I would have to say. Only concern is digging and burying something in my back yard. I'm sure I could come up with some excuse for it though I think I might just try doing it without a complicated cooling system for starters. If I keep it in the shade I don't know if I would have too much of a problem. Probably looking at internal temps of 85 or 90. Not ideal, but it would work. If temps end up getting too high I could end up experimenting from there.

The other reason I'm not sure about such an elaborate cooling system is I'm nto planning on growing very many plants. I really only think I can fit like two into one of those beehives. I think only having two 'extra' hives would be enough before people started wondering where all the honey is, lol. Plus, the more 'extra' hives I have the more real hives I need in order to keep up appearances (bees flying around, and what not), and having 20 real hives is a full time job. So with not too many of these 'plant hives' around, I don't know if it's worth the effort of burying an overflow tank and whatnot, but we'll see.

I helped a friend of mine modify a big Dresser so that the shelves and droors were shorter and smaller, creating a 1.5ft x 5ft space behind his clothes to grow the plants. We put cocking in all the spaces where light seeped out and painted the walls white. Worked great.

I thought about that too. I just wasn't too confident with my carpentry skills to be able to pull it off. I also thought all my clothes would end up smelling like pot. Not exactly low profile