How to Complete the First Grow Lab
Hubert's A Farmer's Side Hustle — Net Block, red-marked door, Carrot Seeds, Large Chest, and the drop that fires the completion banner.
Why players get stuck here
The first Grow Lab (Growlab 1) is the earliest story dungeon in Drilling Thunder, tied to Hubert’s A Farmer’s Side Hustle quest. The route itself is not hard — the common blockers are losing track of the vertical floors, missing the red-marked door target, leaving the Carrot Seeds behind, and stopping at the Large Chest before the quest actually completes.
Background on the landmark: Grow Labs overview. Quest context: quests and NPCs.
Preparation checklist
- Park a vehicle with a Bed near the entrance so deaths respawn you close.
- Bring healing food, Spud ammo, a Hammer, and free inventory space.
- Expect Green and Yellow Tapebot variants inside — see bots and combat.
The route, step by step
- Start Hubert’s A Farmer’s Side Hustle and follow the Grow Lab objective marker.
- Take the elevator down and clear each connected room. Use the central chamber with the big growing machinery as your route landmark — every loop returns to it.
- Pick up the Net Block unlock and any Schematic Boxes along the way, but do not treat either pickup as the end of the dungeon.
- Find the red-marked target in a lower section and hit it with the Hammer. This opens the linked progression door — the single most missed step in the Lab.
- Push through the late combat section and grab the Carrot Seeds before moving on. They are a separate progression pickup that is easy to leave behind.
- Open the final Large Chest — then keep going. Enter the passage behind the chest and drop into the plant-filled chamber below.
- Wait for the Main Quest completion banner. Only the drop triggers it, not the chest.
After the Lab
- The Growlab champion achievement registers on completion — full list on Steam achievements.
- Plant the Carrot Seeds and continue Hubert’s chain toward the story Warehouse — next stop: warehouse escape.
- Later Growlabs (2–7) reuse the same preparation logic with harder bot mixes; Growlab 5’s combat section was reworked in patch 1.0.4 to prevent lockouts.
Related pages
Watch the community walkthrough for this guide:
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
I opened the Large Chest but the quest did not complete — why?
The chest is not the trigger. Enter the passage behind it and drop into the plant-filled chamber below; the Main Quest banner fires after the drop.
Do I need the Carrot Seeds for the Growlab champion achievement?
No. The achievement only requires completing the first Grow Lab. The Carrot Seeds are a separate progression pickup for farming — grab them anyway, they are easy to miss later.
What opens the locked progression door?
A red-marked target in a lower section. Hit it with the Hammer and the linked door opens. If a door refuses to move, backtrack and look for the red marker.