Setting Up A Grow Room to Grow Cannabis

[Keeno]

Setting up a grow room

There are lots of things to consider when setting up a new grow room. Ill try cover as much as possible in this write up. The most important part is to research before buying. There are many ways you can go when setting up a grow, different lights, grow systems, fans, tents, the list goes on. My first bit of advice is stay away from kits on ebay and amazon. 99% of these kits are the cheapest possible items thrown together so the seller can make the most profit, they will not be up to the job.



What are you growing for

This is important as it will determine amounts you need to grow. Want to be self sufficient, grow for a bit of fun, medical reasons etc. If you are just looking to grow a plant for a bit of smoke and a hobby then you don't need serious kit and not as much space. If you are a heavy smoker and want to stop paying stupid prices then you will need more space and better kit. Medical reasons then you really want the best kit you can get. Lots of factors that will effect the rest of your choices in setting up your grow.

Ive done a write up on a good set up to be self sufficient. It also goes into how you can scale up and down from this set up: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5528&p=121302&hilit ... nt#p121302



Grow area

Once you got the above in your head its time to look at what area you need and will be growing in. You can grow this plant in a wardrobe if you are just after a laugh and something to keep you busy. If you are growing for another reason you need to consider the options for a grow room. The 2 main options are a custom built groom or a grow tent. Whichever choice you make the groom needs to be completely light tight and built to last.

Custom built grow room:

Every growers dream but there are many reasons you don't see them to often. You can build a groom to your exact size specifications, insulate it, build drainage systems, watering systems into the groom itself.

The bad side to these are that they are not as easy to take down and get up, important if you may have unexpected guests, rent a property etc. Cost comes into it but you can build them pretty cheap to be honest so not as big a factor as it once was.

Grow tent:

The choice of most growers and for lots of reasons. These are relatively easy to put up and take down. They can go in ay room, loft, garage, out building and be taken down and there is no sign they were ever there. Being a tent designed specifically for growing most brands have everything you need to grow as easily as possible. Vent holes for ducting, easy access, completely light tight etc. Like everything in life you get what you pay for. The cheaper the tent the cheaper the build, this can mean some light leaks or not a strong and able to carry as much weight on the cheaper models.

Green-Qube sponsor Growroom420 and in my opinion make some of the best tents out there. Lots of extra features to make life a bit easier for us growers.



Ventilation

The big one and something I see people get wrong a lot. Ventilation does not just stop at your tent or grow room. You will also need fresh air in the room/area the tent or grow room is situated. A example is a grow tent in a bedroom, the tent will need to have extraction at least. But just venting the air into the room the tent in is not ideal, the room itself needs fresh air or you are just recycling the same air over and over.

Grow tent/Grow room ventilation:

The most common method of getting air in and out of your grow room is using inline/RVK style fans. These fans come in a range of sizes and each move a certain amount of air. 99% of growers will want to be using a carbon filter to remove stale air leaving your grow area and more importantly the smell. Your fan will need to be under powered to the amount of air your carbon filter handle, research this when buying your fan and filter.

Which fan and filter you will need will depend in the size room or tent you are growing cannabis in. My advice in to get a overpowered fan for your groom. Its easy to reduce a fan speed with a controller, its impossible to make a fan move more air than its designed to.

The 2 types of fan you should have are intake and extraction. Your extraction will be removing hot stale air frim your groom. Your intake bringing fresh air in. Its important that you have negative pressure in your groom/tent. To achieve this you will need a smaller or less powerful fan on your intake. The negative pressure means that all hot smelly are in pulled through your carbon filter. In recent years I've been putting a filter on my intake, its amazing the amount of dust ant particles you will be cycling through your grow area over the life of a grow.

Air circulation:

This is very important. You are growing in a enclosed area and its going to get crowded as the plants grow. Your plants will thrive with fresh air, we have covered how you get it into your grow room with intake and extraction, however these fans will not guarantee that every part of your grow room is getting fresh air. You want fans inside the grow room to ensure you have no dead spots. This helps with humidity, temperatures, mould and many other things. I highly recommend the below fans as they are compact, oscillate and move a lot of air.

Ram eco fan review: viewtopic.php?f=92&t=3210&hilit=louvre



Lights

Now onto which lights.... how long is a piece of string. So many answers to this one and ihave covered lighting in a couple of articles which I'll link to below. The important part of selecting the correct lighting for growing cannabis is coverage and to use just the right amount.

A good set of numbers to be looking at when deciding on which grow light are as follows:

For veg 100w of light per 60x60cm space.
Fir flower 150w of light per 60x60cm space.

The above is more suited to HID grow lights but loosely translate to LED as well. New LED grow lights can be run at under the above numbers from what I've seen.

The most important part is good coverage no matter which light you choose.

My write up on HID reflectors can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5524



Medium/System

This is another topic I've covered in different article which ill link below. The basic idea when choosing a system to grow your cannabis plants in is that it suits your time commitments and where your grow is. Some systems are self contained, clean and easy to run with little effort. Others are not so. Research is key when it comes to choosing the correct medium/system to grow in.

I have written a article on what i think is the best medium/system for new growers. It also goes into the basics about each medium/system: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7533&p=150336&hilit=medium#p150336



Controlling your environment

Last but by no means least is controlling your environment. This in my opinion is was separates good plants from great plants. This ties in well with the ventilation section above. Your fans are your biggest ally when controlling environment. There are other tools you can use to help you keep your environment in a suitable range for cannabis plants to thrive.

Fan/environment controllers:

These come in many shapes and sizes and from cheap to expensive. You can control temperature and humidity using your fans to some extent. A cheap plug in fan controller will allow you to adjust the output of your extraction/intake fans. These however have to be done manually and the difference between temperature and humidity at different times if there or lights on or off can be huge.

There are digital controllers like the Ecotechnics fan controller which reads the current temperature and humidity of your groom and will adjust your fans to keep it within range or fire up a heater if temperatures get to low. They are not cheap but this is something I highly recommend especially if you are growing in a outbuilding or loft where environment swings will be greater.

Even with the above gadgets you may need further kit to truly keep your grow room in the correct ranges. Air-conditioning units, dehumidifier, humidifiers etc. Can all play a part but are normally expensive to buy and run and I'd try everything you can do with your normal kit and groom before going down the path of adding more kit to fix issues.

[JJ]

Great write up,easy to understand.

[TTL]

Good stuff Keeno!

[Wayne36]

I am honestly surprised because of the put up and tear down that a company hasn't came up with a pop up grow tent they have them for camping

[Nom]

I am honestly surprised because of the put up and tear down that a company hasn't came up with a pop up grow tent they have them for camping

They have, its called the quick qube by green qube tents. You can buy them at the gr420 store and you'll get a nice discount

[Wayne36]

I am honestly surprised because of the put up and tear down that a company hasn't came up with a pop up grow tent they have them for camping

They have, its called the quick qube by green qube tents. You can buy them at the gr420 store and you'll get a nice discount

O wow never knew that's cool

[The Shanchez]

@Keeno

[Stickylemonz]

Thank you very much for this keeno very very helpful