Do you want to grow cannabis but don’t have the outdoor space? Then, let’s take it inside! Yes, you can grow cannabis indoors, and it’s not as complex as one might think.
Essentially, there are two main parts for an indoor grow, supported by other tools to help make indoor growing easier. The two main components are grow lights and grow tents.
Grow Lights
Grow lights serve as your sunlight that helps your plants grow. Since your cannabis seedlings won’t see the light of day, grow lights bring that sunlight to your plants. When choosing to grow lights, you’re likely to encounter different kinds of fixtures, all having their respective strengths and weaknesses.
If you need to drill down the basics, look into the following:
- Full-spectrum, so you don’t need to swap fixtures between phases;
- Passive cooling, so that you don’t need to worry about heat ruining your plants without adding cooling fans;
- Can run for extended periods, as some phases of growth need longer light exposure;
- Energy-efficient, since grow lights will be running for more extended periods, especially during the vegetative stage, you will need something that uses less power, and;
- Cost-efficiency, as you will need to do some maintenance work.
If there’s anything that fits all these, it’s LED grow lights. HPS grow lights are a good alternative, but they will cost more when it comes to maintenance.
You don’t need to get all five points, especially if you have budget restrictions. But there’s a significant difference if you strive to get all five present in the grow light you choose.
Now, you don’t just get any grow light since each grow light can cover up to a particular area in square feet. Thus the footprint or total area the grow light can cover should match the floor area of your grow tent.
One might also ask: can you use any LED as a grow light? And the answer is: Yes.But it does come with limitations, particularly with spectrum coverage. You won’t get the full benefits of using LED grow lights when using ordinary LED lights used for room lighting.
Grow Tents
Grow tents are another non-negotiable component for growing cannabis indoors. Since cannabis needs a controlled environment to grow correctly, grow tents help you achieve that by containing your plants with the right temperature, humidity. When partnered with grow lights, you can have a good simulation of natural sunlight, thanks to the reflective surface inside the tent.
Grow tents come in different sizes. Choosing which one works best for you depends on how many plants you want to grow and the type of growing method you intend to employ.
Since you’re likely to put your grow tent in a limited space, you’re likely to go for grow tents that don’t take up much space. These grow tents would measure anywhere between 2 x 2 feet to 3 x 3 feet in floor area. Once you’ve decided on how much floor area you can devote, don’t forget to choose a grow light to match it.
Other considerations
You also need to factor in humidity and temperature levels inside your grow tent.Factors that affect humidity include lighting, ventilation, and frequency of watering. And ideally, you need a humidity level of not more than 70 percent, which is reduced to not less than 40 percent during the flowering stage.
To help you track humidity levels, put a hygrometer inside your grow tent to help you track changes in the levels. And while grow lights have passive cooling, you still need to employ fans for ventilation. Cannabis plants are notorious for racking up heat inside a grow tent, and passive cooling only affects the fixture.
A well-positioned cooling fan can cool down your tent, blowing away any excess heat through the ventilation ports. Remember that you need to maintain temperature levels between 70 – 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
Watering schedules also matter but depends a lot on your strain. Some cannabis strains have lesser water requirements than others. Mileage varies here, so you need to check how much does your chosen strain need.
Like the watering schedule, you also need to take care of the lighting schedule. You need to set a schedule on when the lights go up and when they should start dimming. If you can afford it, try getting a grow light controller to automate the process.
Conclusion
Growing indoors is relatively easy, considering all the tools are commercially available. And with the vast information available on the Internet to grow particular strains, you can unlock a lot of potential with just a tiny amount of space.
