How to Build the Best Basic Indoor Grow Setup?

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.

The High Times Cultivation Department reached out to some of the cannabis world’s biggest names for their expert advice on how to succeed in growing great weed. Learn weed-growing words from the wise from professional and successful cannabis farmers.

Find a place for your grow room

First, we need to find the perfect indoor grow room; a discreet and private place for your marijuana growing operations away from animals and people messing up with it.

We're trying to find a space enough to grow 4-6 plants, moderately sized plants, you will be looking at 15 - 20 square foot (approximately 4x4 or 4x5 sq. ft.).

Growing at home and using walk-in closets, garages, basements, or wardrobes tend to make the best grow room locations. You can also purchase a marijuana grow tent, or build your own, check the video below. I personally would suggest a grow tent inside a walk-in closet, if you have one.

Grow tents are a great option for most new growers; they are self-contained and cost-effective. They are no more difficult to set up than a DIY grow chamber, and come with ventilation ports and support beams to circulate air and hang your lights and fan/filter. Overall, most growers are best-off looking into a grow tent unless their budget is extremely tight.

Avoid rooms on the upper floors if possible, natural sunlight may add a lot of heat and it can cause issues with high temperatures. High temperatures, i.e. 90 F (32 C) or above, will ruin a crop if they are persistent or frequent. Basements are naturally a good location for growing, as temperatures are lower below ground level.

Light-proof grow room is one of the key characteristics for your Grow Room to prevent light leakage and help you to control the environment inside your grow room. Light leaking through to your plants during their dark period can cause a considerable amount of unnecessary stress which can cause a plant to “reveg” or “Hermie”.

Other things to consider, the place has to be clean (otherwise, you will put the plants at risk for disease, mold and pests), away from pets and any type of animals or insects, and comfortable to walk into and work in.

Putting up your grow light

There are multiple different kinds of lights that most growers would consider using, but they fall into two general categories:

  • LED

  • Fluorescent

  • High Intensity Discharge (HID, such as metal-halide or high pressure sodium)Some of the high-end LED lights and HPS systems include built-in fans, would be nice to look into those.

Fluorescent and HPS tend to burn the hottest, compared to LED, so if you end up using them, you may want to pay closer attention to the temperature inside the grow room. Adding extra fan(s) will be crucial. LEDs are a good option for growers who don’t have air conditioning or other methods of temperature control, as they produce less heat than comparable HID and fluorescent systems.

For small scale hobby growers; Compact fluorescent lights, such as T-5s or CFLs, is the way to go. For the following reasons:

  1. Compact fluorescent lights are cheaper to set up. Furthermore,reflector, ballast, and bulbs are included in every package.

  2. Energy efficient and they offer the perfect light spectrum for your marijuana plants.

They release very little heat, and due to that, they can be placed as low as you want them to the plant, which will help to penetrate larger area of your plants, and efficiently get the light to shade the lower parts of your marijuana plants. A full spectrum LED grow light can help your plant better growth.

Make your basic indoor grow setup other-friendly

There are various reasons why you would want to minimize the smell of your crop – be it for the benefit of your neighbours, or your own. This is why you may want to invest in the following accessories.

A carbon filter

Grow tents can generally be fitted with an exhaust system consisting of ducting, a carbon filter, and a matching inline duct fan. The purpose is to fan out any smell emanating from your growing plants towards a safe spot – that is, not directly into someone else’s air-conditioning.

First and foremost, you need to ensure your filter and your fan have matching sizes. And once you have chosen your carbon filter, also consider the CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) rating, i.e., the air volume shuffled by it. Both items should have the same CFM rating for optimal ventilation. But don’t lose your sleep over this; as is the case for lighting, carbon filter kits can easily be found.

Air freshening products

If you do not have the possibility to install an exhaust system on your grow space, consider palliating to the situation with air fresheners. Plenty of such products can be purchased in growshops, and are manufactured for this purpose. If you’d rather take a more natural approach, certain plants, such as lavender, can be grown in proximity to your cannabis plants (but not in the grow space itself) in order to lessen the smell factor.

If you are a beginner, you can consider a best marijuana grow kit.

Simulate the desired climate

When you’re growing outdoors, Mother Nature dictates the climate. When you’re growing indoors, you play that role. Controlling the climate involves regulating the temperature, humidity, and airflow. Ideal conditions vary according to the growth stage:

  • Germination: During germination, seeds need to be kept warm and moist in the dark. You can start seeds in dampened soil plugs in a mini greenhouse (available at most hardware stores). Just make sure the seeds don’t dry out; otherwise, they’ll be ruined.

  • Seedling/vegetative: During the vegetative stage, maintain a temperature between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit and relative humidity between 60 and 70 percent. Proper ventilation is necessary to pull in outside air that helps cool your room and deliver a steady supply of carbon dioxide (CO2). The CO2 concentration should be between 700 and 900 parts per million (ppm). Proper circulation is also necessary to keep the plants healthy.

  • Flowering: During the flowering stage, maintain a temperature between 72 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit and relative humidity between 50 and 55 percent. Lowering the humidity discourages fungal growth on the buds. The CO2 concentration should be between 1,200 and 1,500 parts per million (ppm).

Final thoughts

Increasing marijuana yields can be a challenging task, that requires a lot of preparation. Before you go on and try all the tips recommended in this here guide, remember that in marijuana growing, nothing is set in stone. Your plants are wondrous but extremely delicate beings. There is a good chance that not all things might work out.Every marijuana plant is different from the other. On many occasions, you will have to try repeatedly before you find out what’s best suited for you and your plants. We hope that this guide has at least succeeded in giving you a general idea of the methods that you can follow to increase your yield and make marijuana growing a more rewarding experience. Of course, the possibilities are endless.