A best grow tent is just one of the pieces of a good hydroponic system. Grow lights, ventilation, a hydroponic system, and nutrients are also necessary. But a quality grow tent comes before them all — without it, nothing else matters.
But what makes a grow tent good or bad? The answer to that question hinges on your budget, your growing needs, and the features that you’re looking for in a grow tent..
What Is Grow Tent?
You need to control the climate and lighting when you like to grow plants in any place where it is safe. So, grow tent is the answer to this. The name itself pronounces what a grow tent is. When it is an ideal indoor growing space for all your exotic and seasonal plants. It has soft sides, it is light in weight, and it can also carry them with ease. Rather, it is much like a grow box for all your indoor plants.
The grow tent must need to grow fruits, flowers, and vegetables in indoor plants. If you want to start indoor plants, you will need a grow tent. Isn’t it fascinating, when you can grow those exotic kinds of plants all year round? Now, it is possible with a grow tent. But you must choose a perfect grow tent for your indoor gardening.
1. Boosts photosynthesis: The reflective mylar interior “walls” of a grow tent ensures your plants get plenty of high-quality light from every angle without light leaks. This eliminates problems with yellowing lower leaves and/or weak and failing stems and branches that do not face a light source. Every surface of every plant will receive generous exposure to light. The tents are “light proof” or “light tight”so you control the lighting exposure your plants receive.
2. Controlled environment: With a grow tent; you have complete control over the temperature and humidity levels so you can focus on establishing the perfect growing conditions for any plant you desire.
3. Save money: It is far less costly to control climate and ventilation in a small grow tent than in an entire room.
4. Odor control: When applying liquid plant fertilizers or chemicals to your plants, you will not need to worry about odors affecting your indoor air quality. They will remain confined to the grow tent.
5. Control noise: The best quality tents will actually muffle sound.
If you subscribe to the theory that music, white noise or other sounds are conducive to successful plant growth, you can provide this ambiance for your plants and prevent having these sounds enter your living environment if you purchase a high quality grow tent with sound buffering capabilities.
Conversely, if you have a noisy household, your plants will not be disturbed by your chaotic environment.
When it comes to lighting in your grow tent, you want as much as possible. Plenty of lights is going to be one of the key factors in how well your plants grow. Keep in mind that it is possible to have too much light. Lighting technology has advanced considerably in the last decade
If your budget allows then purchased LED lamps for your tent. LED indoor grow lights are designed to emit light in a full spectrum of color without getting overly warm, providing you with the best option for grow tent lighting.
Behind lighting, temperature is another critical condition in the grow tent that needs monitoring and ventilation. Most plants prefer temperatures within the range of 70 – 80°, or maybe even stretching to 85°F. Many plants prefer the upper range of this spectrum and will grow well if the conditions are slightly warmer. The most important factor in temperature is that it is consistent. Make sure the daytime temperatures (i.e., when the lights are on) is maintained within a fairly consistent range, and that the off-lighting temperatures drop no more than 10-15°F. In this case, consistency is key.
The carbon dioxide levels are directly correlated to the growth rates of plants. At leaves of 1200 t0 1500 ppm CO2, growth rates are increased significantly and may be seen at some of the highest possible levels. It’s important though to note that at higher CO2, there may be a corresponding increase in temperature that needs to be addressed.
Indoor growing systems are not exempt from insect infiltration. One of the best wants to combat insects within a given space is make sure there is constant air circulation. Don’t point circulating fans directly at plants as this may cause them to dry out prematurely, but you want to make sure the fans are providing enough air the leaves on the plant being grown are always slightly moving. A gentle breeze will hinder fungus gnats and spider mites.
Humidity is a varying, hot topic amongst researchers still. Some will stand a more traditional ground, saying plant growth is irrelevant to humidity levels and it doesn’t necessarily matter what the relative humidity levels are within the grow tent. But some research shows the humidity level can affect plants depending on their various growing stage; plants prefer approximate 60% relative humidity. You can always add moisture to the air by placing wetted sponge close to growing trays, add trays/bowls of water close to the plants, or add larger plants to your growing system that will transpire more.
Many people don’t consider this aspect, but having a growing system with a reflective material on the interior of the growing tent will be incredibly convenient. Not only does this help to keep light pollution from infiltrating your house but it will also help plants grow more optimally.
All of these conditions are simply rough guidelines. The absolute best thing to do it to play with all of the grow settings until you find the best combination that works for the plants you are attempting to grow.
Of course, the adjective ‘best’ does vary from person to person. But we’ll take a skeptical approach to craft a ‘one-size-fits-all’ buying guide for you to end up with the best pick for your budget.
Long story short- there are dozens of size variations when it comes to grow tents. It can be as small as a 2×2 feet one, or as large as 15×15 feet. But how does that affect your buying decision?
Well, there are two things. One is- how much is your space to grow on? And the second one is how much yield you’re expecting on? Analyze these two while deciding the right grow tent size. ECO Farm Grow Tent offer you many different size can meet your requirement.
By environment, we’re addressing heat, light, air, and water. Now, when you’re creating a confined grow space like a grow tent, it means that the outdoor environment is somehow now suitable for it.
Therefore, you don’t need to leave any stone unturned to make sure your tent is environment-proof. Look for the insulations behind the zippers, the stitches, the reflectiveness of the inner material, the heat protection of the outdoor material, etc. to check that out.
The zippers deserve to claim an individual spot in this buying guide because of their importance. Now, the primary quality of a good grow tent zipper is not only being strong, sturdy, and durable but also to be leakproof.
What we mean is, some of the zippers might have a layer of protective cloth underneath them, which is meant to protect the light and heat inside from getting out. Usually, you would see them in tents that come with an SBS type zipper. With all other qualities, you should keep this in mind as well.
Grow tent itself can’t let you grow yields. You need to occupy a number of environments controlling accessories like lights, hoods, filters, ducting, heater, fans, coolers, etc. And most of them are going to be hung from the tent wall or ceiling.
Therefore, it’s imperative that the tent has the strength to bear the load. To make that sure, you need to check out the pole materials. Both metal and plastic poles are there. And then, there come the corner reinforcements. Some tents occupy a special support beam around the corner to make them collapse-free. Keep an eye on that as well.
Made out of poles and fabric, a grow tent has to carry a good amount of weight. In case the tent is of medium size (4×4 or more), it’s quite imperative. In those cases, you should keep an eye on the corner adapters, which will work more like a truss for the whole system.
Now, there are two kinds of adapters available- plastic made ones and metal-made ones. Instead of comparing these two, we would advise you to look for thickness (0.8mm or more), length, and finish of these adapters to ensure good quality. Vivosun grow tent do best in this aspect.
To grow indoor, you need to occupy a number of holes, vents, and windows in a grow system. These are primarily supposed to work as air inlet or outlet, ducting hose holder, and viewing windows.
The number of these ports and holes vary from brand to brand. It also depends on what size of the tent it’s within. Therefore, you need to calculate the total number of ports and holes you are supposed to have, and look for a match while buying the tent.
Setting up a grow tent to grow indoor plants is becoming more and more common since it allows the grower to control the environmental conditions, to ensure optimal growth and a successful harvest carefully. Having an indoor grow tent is an invaluable asset but needs to be set up correctly to ensure it runs at its peak.