Secret Mission: How to Grow Weed in Your Closet

Growing weed in your closet is not the same as growing cannabis outside in the garden or in a special grow room inside your house. However, this article is here to help you successfully set up your covert operations. Just bear in mind, growing weed in a closet does not guarantee you 100% that your plant will remain secret. If there is a greater risk of you ending up in trouble because of homegrowing, it’s always better to buy weed from a friend or local dispensary.

Mission Possible: Growing Weed in Your Closet

Growing weed in your closet sounds like a super secretive activity to do, so treat it like one. If you don’t want your secret out of the closet, keep tight-lipped. If you opt for a closet grow, you opt for a very limited space that needs to be converted into a tiny control room where your plant can thrive and flower. 

Your limited space of choice could be a closet, a cupboard, or even an old wardrobe you are no longer using. When you choose your dark, growing spot you still need to equip it just like you would a normal grow room. For some elements of your equipment, you can, of course, improvise. Before you start, think of how you can set up artificial lights or how you can handle smell management. You may not be able to install real ventilation as your closet might be too small, so perhaps you’ll want to bring a single oscillating fan in the room where the closet is, or just try if odor neutralizers help. You also have to adjust the room temperature so that it soothes your plant. Not too warm. Not too cold.

Converting Your Closet Into a Grow Room

Once you’re clear on your secret weed grow location, ensure that you have all the needed equipment.  You’ll need fixtures to install your grow light, and you need to decide on the container of your plants as well as the seeds so you can start the growing process. You also have to figure out how you will water your plants. 

Last but not least, it’s also good to think of an “emergency” plan or what you are going to do if somebody spills the beans to someone like your parents. Would you be able to discard your closet swiftly, or can you mask the closet so that it still looks like you are keeping clothes inside it? When you are done contemplating your grow strategy, follow the next five steps to fulfill your closet grow mission.

#1 Cleaning the closet

Your growing space needs to be clean. Closets, wardrobes or cupboards may often fall victims to negligence, hence there could be dirt or mold, especially if you are choosing a corner of your house that hasn’t been touched in years. So, ensure that your grow closet is well-cleaned.  You can also paint the inside walls of the closet or blanket them with a reflective growing tent cover. That is, depending on how professional you want to go with your efforts. 

#2 Installing your grow lights

Setting up the lights is a very important step. The grow lights you install in your closet are going to be the only source of light your plants are going to receive, so it’s really important that you do this part right. It’s not going to work if you keep your green pal in the dark. 

There are several options for grow lights, although it’s best to get LED lights. The more plants you put in your closet, the more lights you’ll need to install in the upper part of the closet.  LED lights are inexpensive and fairly easy to install; they are appropriate for growing weed from seedling to yielding. LEDs are a preferred source of light as they don’t emit too much heat. If you use other types of light you’ll have to be extra cautious not to overheat your cannabis plant.  

LEDs will also help you deliver more high-quality yields than other lighting solutions. 

#3 Setting up your grow medium

Regardless of where you do your indoor growing, you can make use of the same grow medium options. If you are growing in soil containers, pay attention to how much water and nutrients you use for your cannabis plant. Overwatering and overfeeding are some of the most common growing mistakes that even experienced gardeners make. Too much water may cause the plant’s roots to decay, so treat your cannabis plant as you would treat a gentler flower. 

Nutrients will enrich the soil, potentially helping your plant to grow bigger buds, but you also want to be reasonable with the dosages. You can purchase nutrients from a local garden shop or a dispensary or you can prepare a modest dose of organic tea compost by yourself. 

If you want extra control over the growing process, consider using a small hydroponic system. Using hydroponics for your weed amplifies the growth process, however, requires close supervision of the ph and ppm levels, in which case you may need additional tools to keep track of those values. It may be more costly to purchase hydroponics over setting up a soil container, however.

#4: Controlling your plants

If you are growing weed in your closet, you also want to control the size as well as the odor that might be coming from it. First, it’s important that you select seeds that you know are not going to consume too much space as they begin to form into beautiful plants with flowers. Since you are growing in a closet, it’s easy to assume that your space is limited. If you are buying seeds from a local dispensary, ask the vendor for seeds that are optimal for growing in a small space. 

If you are a beginner, it’s best to stick with autoflowering seeds. Plants from autoflowering seeds are small and compact and they don’t exceed more than 3.2 feet (1 meter) in height. They also grow and flower quicker than other seeds. At all points of growing, combine 18 hours of light and six hours without lights to grow your closet autoflowers cannabis. Aside from controlling the size of your weed plant, you also need to contain any smell.

If you are growing a small number of plants it would help if you can circulate the air in the room where your grow closet is. Use fans and open the windows frequently. If you still notice a hint of a strange smell in the air, you can try to set up a small fan inside the closet. 

Your plants may release more odor as they enter the flowering stage. At this point, you can further test odor neutralizers around your home, such as burning a candle in your living room or somewhere in the hallway. Although your closet may be tucked away in a more private part of your home, the odor may easily leak in the air.

#5: Preparing for harvest

When all is set in and around your closet, it’s time to pay more attention to your plants. 

Check on your marijuana plants at least two times a day to see how they’re doing. Make sure that they receive sufficient light and air inside the closet.  As your plant begins to tower from the container, check if the top part feels warm at the touch of your hand, especially if you are using sources of light other than LED. Too much heat may damage your crop. As will too much moisture. So, you always need to balance between humidity and warmth in the closet. When the time comes, collect the buds and prepare to cure them. If you collect a more significant amount of weed, use a glass jar to stock it. Avoid keeping weed in plastic containers as this may affect your weed in negative ways.

How many plants should you grow in your closet?

You can grow as many plants as you like and this would also depend on the space of your closet. The bigger the closet the more plants you can grow. Although, the more plants you grow, the greater the responsibility. 

If you are a starter and have no experience in growing weed whatsoever, you may want to stick with growing just one or a maximum of two plants. Having fewer plants means you are better able to observe the growing cycles of each plant and learn more from the process, plus it’s easier to discard your closet when you are done growing. 

Bottom line, growing weed in your closet is possible and the main things you should take care of is ensuring proper lighting, a sufficient amount of water and food, enough air inside your closet and around your house, as well as balanced humidity and room temperature. You can grow anywhere between one to a dozen marijuana plants inside a closet, however, it all depends on the size of the closet and the amount of time and effort you are willing to give in to your secret mission.