So, you’ve decided to embrace your green thumb and try your hand at growing marijuana indoors. Choosing to grow marijuana is not as easy as going to the store, picking up a seedling, and tending to it the way you would other plants. Growing cannabis is a nuanced art that requires patience and practice, can be extremely rewarding.
What equipment do you need to grow marijuana indoors?
Grow tent, or other prepared space
Seeds
Peat pellets for germination
Lights and timer
Air circulation with Inline Duct Fan
Pots
Soil and fertilizer
Water
Measuring instruments (optional)
Odor control
Microscope (optional)
If you’re starting a grow space from scratch, you can design and buy an entire custom grow room package to fit your personal requirements—every item you’ll need to get started, all delivered straight to your door. Just click on the link, select how many plants you want to grow and start designing your ideal setup. Your various options, like lights and growing medium, are all nicely explained along the way.
And even if you don’t buy the final package—or if you just prefer to research and buy each item separately—it’s still worth a look. It’ll give you a really good idea of how much a brand new grow space will cost to set up.
The basic elements: Light, Heat, Water and Air. These are the four critical elements that your plants need to grow. While they exist in nature if you decide to grow them outdoors, but for growing them in an indoor marijuana grow tent, you need to replicate them with the help of grow lights, a watering system and a proper ventilation system. Here’s a closer look at each of these elements:
Lights: Depending on the kind of plants that you want to grow, you need to decide the kind of grow lights that will be the best for your plants. In case of growing cannabis indoors, we recommend using full-spectrum LED grow lights which have a switch that can change the lights from ‘vegetative’ mode to ‘flowering’ mode, meaning that you can use the same grow lights for both the phases of growth and you do not have to change it again and again. Hanging the grow lights is also quite a challenge and you need to make sure the distance is just right and that you have made use of proper equipment to hang it so that the lights remain firm and stable and do not fall down. Also check if the lights are equally balanced. Lastly, make sure you’ve hung it at an appropriate distance from the top of the plants so that the heat doesn’t burn out the plants.
Water: In case of setting up the water systems, we would recommend using a 150L barrel that can be placed at a distant corner of the grow room. Fill it by about 50L with fresh water and use a water pump and connect a hose (with a spray nozzle) with the pump. You will also need a circulation pump that will allow you to mix water and the nutrients well. Also make sure that the barrel of water that you are using has a lid on top of it. It will ensure that the water does not evaporate and add to the humidity of the room.
Air/Ventilation: The simplest (although not the most effective) way in which you can provide air circulation is with the help of simple household fans. However, in order to ensure that your plants are getting fresh air and that the stale air is being taken out, we strongly recommend the use of extractor fans.The room also needs to have at least one (or multiple) vents so that fresh air can enter the room and stale air can exit the room. Air is also important for the growth of the stem. You need a best carbon filter to help a nice environment. If you generate a light breeze around the plants the stem will grow sturdier. Lastly, you can also (optionally) set up a CO2 Pump which can provide Carbon DiOxide to the plants, which is great for photosynthesis. Get a generator with a regulator for this purpose but make sure you don’t overdo this.
Humidity: Humidity is another very important factor that helps promote the growth of the marijuana plant. Plants need humidity in the air so that they can directly absorb the water from the vapor on to their leaves with the help of little openings called stomata. When the humidity levels are high, water intake happens more via the leaves and less via the roots and this is a good way to provide adequate water to the plants during the vegetative stage. However, during the flowering stage, when you need to provide nutrients to the plants, you can reduce the humidity so that more water is taken via the roots and the nutrients also go in with that. Humidity can be controlled with the help of humidifiers and dehumidifiers, and you need to set them up in the room to ensure that the plant’s humidity needs are catered to.
Temperature Control: A temperature of about 65 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit is good for the growth of plants in general. However, at different stages of growth they require different levels of heat. Remember that the growth slows down in colder temperatures and the plants get worn out if too much heat is provided. Hence an ideal temperature needs to be maintained. This can be done with the help of proper air circulation, proper watering and setting up an appropriate distance between the light and the plant! For best results, an independent heating/cooling system needs to be set up for the grow room.
Potting and Planting: The next step is potting and planting – which is the last step in the process of setting up a grow room. Set up your pots, fill them with soil and begin planting your marijuana!
If you are a beginner, a marijuana grow tent kit can be your great choice.
Start Growing Marijuana
Once you have the grow space set up, and your seeds ready, now is the moment you’ve been waiting for. It’s time to start growing. But before you start, it’s important to know what to expect from this process.
Seedling Stage
The seedling stage is when you take a dormant seed and begin the life cycle by trying to get that seed to sprout. For the seed to sprout, you need to simulate an environment as close to the outdoors as possible. You can still sprout your seeds indoors using a controlled environment like your grow room. Once you have the seeds in your grow medium, it might take up to a week for the first seedling to sprout. To make sure that your seedling sprouts in a way that promotes future growth, we recommend starting off using a soil that has the right combination of fungi and microbes. Once the seedling is sprouted, then you can transfer them (carefully) to the grow medium that they’ll live in for the rest of the process.
Vegetative Growth Stage
Once your plants start to develop large green leaves, you’ll know that they’re entering the vegetative growth phase. During this time, the roots of the plant will begin to expand outward, and you’ll notice your seedlings growing taller.
Depending on how much light your plants receive, this stage can last anywhere from three to five weeks.
Flowering Stage
Once the vegetative stage is over, your cannabis plants will have matured long enough to produce marijuana flowers. You may start to notice your seeds blooming and even producing their own cannabis seeds that you can save and reuse.
At this point, if your grow lights have a “flowering mode,” it’s time to flip that on. If your lights don’t have different modes, then it’s time to increase the light output as much as possible. During this phase, your plants will develop faster under red spectrum lights. If you have the budget, opt for lights with specific growth phases. YOu can also just keep a separate set of lights on hand to use during this phase.
For this stage, you should use a grow light timer and place it on a 12-12 cycle. This means your cannabis plants will get 12 hours of light, followed by 12 hours of darkness daily. Also, make sure that your room is as sealed as possible during the dark hours and that no light leaks into the grow space.
You should also make sure that your plants are all receiving light equally. The lights must be high enough to evenly disperse across all of your plants evenly.
The flowering stage is by far the most critical phase of this entire process. It’s also the phase where the most can go wrong.
If your plants aren’t getting enough water, you might notice, leaves drying up or falling off, spotting or coloring. If you’re overwatering your plants and heat and not enough fresh air, you may notice mold or a foul smell is coming from the plants.
Keep a close eye on your plants at this time and adjust your lighting, fans, and ventilation as necessary. As your plants are near the end of the flowering phase, you will start to see yellowing of some leaves. This is entirely normal.
The growth stage typically lasts about two months but may vary depending on the conditions of your grow room.
Final Thoughts
Growing marijuana is a long game. Even after reading a beginner’s guide like this one, it might take some trial and error until you learn the best ways to manage your plants in the space that you have. Remember that growing marijuana indoors is a huge commitment. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to grow indica or sativa, your plants need nurturing and care, as do any other type of plant. If you put in the effort to learn as much as possible about the growing process, your plants will reflect your efforts. And of course, this process should be fun! Try not to take it very seriously, and enjoy the journey to reap the benefits of a bountiful harvest. Happy growing!