Growing Cannabis indoors can be one of the most rewarding things a person can do, especially when they knock it out of the park on the first try. Setting up your indoor grow room correctly and following certain guidelines can make a huge difference in the efficiency of your indoor grow room. In this article, we provide 9 top tips for a beginner on how to properly set up your room and what to consider.
Top tip #1 - Room or tent?
This will depend on if you have the time, budget and resources to renovate a spare room, attic or cellar. Oftentimes, beginner growers will choose to work with a grow tent, typically between 0.8 meters to 1.2 meters in size. Our top tip here is if you are new to growing Cannabis indoors, then starting off with a grow tent can be the most practical and straightforward approach. You can always consider expanding your projects to a converted room in the future.
Top tip #2 - The floor plan
No matter if you are growing Cannabis indoors in the corner of your bedroom in a small tent, or a large industrial-sized complex, you will want to create a floor plan in advance. The floor plan is basically a pencil sketch which details how much space you have to hang and set up equipment, as well as plant count and pot size. Our top tip here is to spend 20 minutes working out all the finer details and make sure your grow room is not too overcrowded and difficult to maneuver inside, and anticipate how much spacing you will need for mature plants to grow, as well as work space.
Top tip #3 - Light Breaks
TCannabis plants are sensitive to light and darkness and will detect any light breaks. This simply means that whilst the plants are supposed to be in complete darkness, there is an external light entering the tent or room somehow. Light breaks can cause plants to hermaphrodite if the plants are flowering, and can often lead to a seeded crop. Our top tip here is to be extra vigilant when it comes to a light source created from another source such as a street light, or bedroom light. Make sure that you totally shut the vents on the sides of the tent, and that even the smallest hole or crack is totally sealed and lightproof.
Top tip #4 - Multiple oscillating fans
One thing Cannabis plants love is a fresh source of air, and a consistent breeze circulating through the bottom, center and top part of the canopy. When it comes to keeping the plants cool, it is often better to use multiple smaller fans. Our top tip here is to set smaller sized fans up at different points in the room, and then switch them on, so they are turning at different angles from one another. Avoid having a large sized stationary fan, which may cause wind burn and cause excessive transpiration in part of the garden.
Top tip #5 - Silencing the room
Once setting up your carbon filter, intake fan, outtake fan, ducting, wall fan and oscillating fans, you may find the level of noise to be very loud and industrial sounding. When growing Cannabis indoors for the first time, you may become overwhelmed by how much noise and reverberation is caused by your secret garden. Our top tip here is to invest in sound proofing equipment such as acoustic ducting, acoustic boxes for exhaust fans and silencers, as they can significantly reduce the amount of noise emitted by your grow room.
Top tip #6 - Using CO2
Cannabis plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it to oxygen, as a bi-product of photosynthesis. Outdoors, the amount of CO2 present is close to 400 parts per million, however Cannabis plants are able to consume levels as high as 1200-1500. Our top tip here when growing Cannabis with CO2 supplementation is to only turn your tanks on one hour after the lights have switched on. The reason being the stomata on the undersides of the plants do not function for the first hour and the carbon dioxide will be wasted.
Top tip #7 - Provide work space
There is nothing worse than trying to maneuver inside an overcrowded grow room. Especially when you have to isolate certain plants, or worse case in an emergency situation. Being restricted to how much freedom and access you have to each individual plant, as well as space to comfortably water and squat down to the plants with ease makes a huge difference to the quality of the final crop. Our top tip here is to create a floor plan in advance, and make sure that you leave at least 45 cm of work space around the edge of the room or tent.
Top tip #8 - Back up pumps
This one relates to the indoor grower who has chosen to use hydroponic systems which require either water pumps or air pumps. Either way, when growing Cannabis plants indoors using this method, it is very important to have spare water pumps / air pumps in the event of an emergency. As hydroponic systems are dependent on a constant amount of water and oxygen, there is very little time in most cases before the plants show visible signs of being unhappy, in the event of a faulty pump or air pump. Our top tip here is to always invest extra now, so when you enter a worse case scenario, you can have peace of mind.
Top tip #9 - Think of your neighbors
When living next door to a neighbor, or in an apartment complex, you will need to be aware of how much noise is passing through floorboards, walls and your neighbor’s ceiling. There is absolutely no point in spending all your money to set up an indoor garden which is causing an annoying buzzing sound or whirring noise to the house next door. Our top tip here is to try your best to reduce the amount of noise, vibration and reverberation caused by your equipment. The last thing you want is a disgruntled neighbor!
Conclusion
Growing Cannabis indoors should be a discreet operation, especially if the country you are living in, the law does not permit. Doing everything you can during the setting up can help produce the best environmental settings for your plants to grow, and also allow you to remain in your neighbor’s good books. Take the time to prepare and make floor plans, notes and always make sure you leave yourself space to comfortably work in.
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