How to Build a Basic Indoor Grow Setup

What to consider when choosing your basic indoor grow setup? Read our tips here and harvest the best buds possible.

Choosing to switch from outdoor growing to a basic indoor grow setup is quite the milestone for a cannabis user. Indeed, growing outdoors – a popular choice for many – can be fairly easy if the weather is not too demanding: throw germinated seeds in some soil, water, harvest, dry, consume, repeat. This is why growers can feel overwhelmed by the difficulties that seemingly go hand in hand with indoor growing.

1. Pick a location for your indoor cannabis grow

If you want your installation to remain basic, you will need to find a space that is not too restricted. For those who don’t have much of a choice, there are options such as Screen of Green, Sea of Green and other micro grows, but those require somewhat advanced, possibly pricey hardware, in addition to potentially being time-consuming. And that’s not what we’re about here! So what should your priorities be?

Estimate the maximum amount of space your plants will need

Assess to which extent your plants are going to grow, at least approximately. This will depend on which cannabis strain you have chosen, as well as on the care you plan on giving them. Whichever spot you have in mind needs to accommodate your plants in their final form, that is, fully grown, in height and in width.

For instance, if your bathtub is large enough and you’re more of a shower person, setting up cannabis plants in one end of a bathtub is actually quite a popular choice. So read product descriptions attentively, take note of average height of your chosen cannabis strains, and whip out your measuring tape.

A basic grow tent 

Decide whether your grow space will need protection from light

Regardless of whether you opt for the aforementioned bathtub, or for another corner of your home, your grow space needs to be safe from any unwanted light, especially when the flowering period comes. This means there needs to be no light whatsoever during the “dark phase” of your light cycle, including street lights coming in from windows, rays peering from under doors, etc. Closets or very small rooms with doors are very much appreciated by indoor growers.

If it turns out you don’t have much choice in the matter, you need to consider purchasing a grow tent. Several sizes exist to accommodate most basic indoor grow setups.

How many plants are you growing?

Ask yourself what is the maximum number of plants your grow room/closet/corner can contain. If you are considering buying, for instance, a pack of 10 seeds of our beautiful, bountiful Big Bud Regular, you may want to ensure that your grow space can in fact contain 10 plants. Yes, some of these seeds may not germinate, and it is unlikely all 10 seeds will produce female plants.

But what if 7 of them do, and your bathtub really is a shower cabin that can barely contain you? The cannabis community is all about sharing, and surely, someone can babysit any extra female plant you find yourself with. But if you want to keep a few seeds for next year, invest in Big Bud Feminized instead. And in general, opt for feminized seeds or automatic seeds in order to control the number of fully grown plants you will end up fostering.

2. Choose your type of indoor lighting

A cannabis plant grown indoors

Indoor growing relies on providing plants with light from artificial sources. There are several types of grow lamps available to choose from. Here is what you need to keep in mind before you make your choice.

How do I control the humidity in my grow setup?

In short, the best piece of equipment you can use for this is a dehumidifier. Remember that you are trying to create the perfect environment for your plants and controlling the humidity in this environment is one of the most important aspects. If not done correctly it can cause untold problems for your plants such mold development which includes plant diseases like botrytis (aka bud rot), and powdery mildew.  The last thing you want is to spend time and care on your plants and have them wiped out over night from mold issues.

Remember that your indoor setup will be naturally humid and this is caused by the plants natural transpiration process. It’s absolutely essential that you include humidity control in your setup to ensure healthy plants with high yields.

It’s also an important part of the natural grow cycle of plants as in order for them to break down nutrients the plants must transpire, the problem occurs when there are high levels of humidity which makes it almost impossible for the plants to naturally transpire and thus causing diseases to the plants.

What is the right dehumidification capacity?

It’s critical that your plants transpiration rate is matched correctly with your moisture levels in your grow setup. A dehumidifier will work by removing excess water in the air and the humidity will ultimately climb up to 100%.  There are various factors you need to consider when choosing the right dehumidifier for your setup such as :

The amount of plant matter in your grow room.

The climate conditions in your growing environment.

The size of your grow room.

Other factors to consider are:

Design and size of the dehumidifier

Energy efficient dehumidifiers

Airflow and distribution rates.

Tank Sizes

Constant Drainage.

As mentioned previously controlling the humidity is an absolutely essential part of your grow and although choosing the right dehumidifier can seem a little daunting the team here at Innovative Growing Tech SA are always on hand to help. You can also view the range of GMC Dehumidifiers we stock here.  If you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team or you can call us on +27 (76) 390 7595 we look forward to hearing from you and helping you.

What is your honest budget?

The most cost-efficient solution for indoor grow lighting is CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp). Compared to MH (Metal-Halide) lamps, CFL lamps consume less energy, and you will also need to change bulbs less often. However, if you plan on having numerous rounds of crops per year, the difference may not necessarily be significant, especially since the use of MH lamps is much more beneficial to vegetating plants.

HPS (High Pressure Sodium) lighting, often chosen for flowering plants, provides a higher level of heat. This may or may not be an advantage depending on what your installation looks like; if your grow space is limited in terms of height, you may want to reconsider in order to ensure your plants will not suffer if too close to your lighting equipment.

If you would prefer to invest in something more expensive in order to secure functioning hardware that will not need replacing or upgrading for several seasons, LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lamps are a good way to achieve long-term savings. But beware! In this case, cheap is not necessarily a wise option. Read plenty of customer reviews before making your choice

Do you have performance requirements?

Budget is one thing, but also ensure you will not be disappointed by your purchase. CFL is the basic option; consider it the “rice and beans” of grow lighting. Beyond this, you will need to seriously consider what type of quality you expect from the final product: LED is known as somewhat of a revolution in grow lighting, so assuming the product you choose is at least in the mid-range category, your seedlings would be guaranteed a proper light cycle that is actively beneficial to plants’ growth and health.

Consider investing in a reflector

A reflector is a piece of equipment that bounces light emitted by your grow lamps towards your plants, as opposed to the (empty) sides of your grow space. It promotes brighter, more powerful lighting without any increase in consumption of electricity, or number of lamps/bulbs. Since we are aiming for a *basic* indoor grow setup, you may skip this step if  the number of plants grown is low and/or proportional to the total coverage of your basic lighting equipment.

A purple cannabis plant under the light of the lamp

Many a grower uses CFL or MH lamps during the vegetation period, and HPS lamps during the flowering period. This is a sound choice if your budget allows it. If it doesn’t, cater your hardware purchase for the flowering period, and use it during your plants’ entire lifecycle.

Certain types of setups certainly improve the quality of your harvest, but any kind of lamp will make your plants grow and produce buds.

So don’t be scared to start from the bottom: it will give you a point of reference for your future, more advanced indoor grow setups. It will also teach you the basics of tweaking said setup, and of troubleshooting. Regarding reflectors, this does not necessarily have to be a conscious choice: look for “veg lighting kit” and/or “flowering lighting kit” for complete packages.

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