How do I change the room of my cannabis?
The first step in setting up your personal cannabis grow is creating a suitable space in which to do it. This space doesn't need to be the typical grow "room; it can be in a closet, tent, cabinet, spare room, or a corner in an unfinished basement. Just keep in mind that you'll need to tailor your equipment (and plants) to fit the space.
When designing your space, you'll need to take into account not only the amount of room your plants will need, but also your lights, ducting, fans, and other equipment, as well as leaving enough room for you to work. Cannabis plants can double, even triple in size in the early stage of flowering, so make sure you have adequate head space!
If your grow room is a cabinet, tent, or closet, you can simply open it up and remove the plants to work on them; otherwise, you'll need to make sure you leave yourself some elbow room.
When designing your space, you'll need to take into account not only the amount of room your plants will need, but also your lights, ducting, fans, and other equipment, as well as leaving enough room for you to work. Cannabis plants can double, even triple in size in the early stage of flowering, so make sure you have adequate head space!
If your grow room is a cabinet, tent, or closet, you can simply open it up and remove the plants to work on them; otherwise, you'll need to make sure you leave yourself some elbow room.
Cleanliness Is Crucial
Make sure your space is easily sanitized; cleanliness is important when growing indoors, so easy-to-clean surfaces are a must. Carpeting, drapes, and raw wood are all difficult to clean, so avoid these materials if possible.
Make sure your space is easily sanitized; cleanliness is important when growing indoors, so easy-to-clean surfaces are a must. Carpeting, drapes, and raw wood are all difficult to clean, so avoid these materials if possible.
Keep It Light-Tight
Another crucial criterion for a grow room is that it be light-tight. Light leaks during dark periods will confuse your plants and can cause them to produce male flowers.
Another crucial criterion for a grow room is that it be light-tight. Light leaks during dark periods will confuse your plants and can cause them to produce male flowers.
Grow Room Reflective Sheeting
You need to block any and all light from getting into your grow room. You'll also need to get proper reflective sheeting in order to cover the walls, floor and ceiling of your grow room. You can cover the walls to about a meter and a half if you want to save on materials. We recommend using a stapler to attach it to the walls and ceiling, as double-sided tape can easily come unstuck once the room heats up.
Setting up your ventilation system
Once you've covered the room with reflective sheeting, you'll need to prepare your air intake and extraction system. First, make sure nothing can be seen from outside your apartment through the window.
Many people think that the best way to set this up is by placing the extraction duct at the top of the window and the inline duct at the bottom. This is a major mistake - most likely you'll end up taking in the exact same air that you're trying to ventilate out of the room. One of the most simple ways to do this is to use the window to extract air and then make a grid on the door to the room. This is called passive intake and doesn't require any sort of inline fan.
You may have other options though, depending on the size and set-up of your grow room. Most rooms used for growing only have one window, although if your room has a different set up, feel free to make your own extraction system, this is just the simplest set up.
Ventilation System
Once you know where you're going to be setting up your ventilation system and how you're going to be supplying fresh air, you'll need to install the extractor fan and inline fan, if you're using one.
Extractors can be noisy and cause vibrations that can travel through the wall and floor, which can be heard from other rooms and floors. You'll need to use a soundproofed box in order to avoid this. It'll have to be attached to the ceiling, and you can use a frame designed for this purpose or a chain system using rubber rings which stop vibrations from travelling up through the ceiling.
When it comes to the inline fan, if you're going to use one instead of just using a passive intake vent, it'll need to be on the other side of the room in comparison to the extraction fan. You'll need to place it down low. If possible try and use some sort of cushioned base to avoid the vibrations travelling through the floor.
Fans
Although you have a ventilation system, you'll still need a way to move air around your room. We recommend using standing fans or clip-on fans on the wall if you have the space, although the choice is yours. You'll need to place them strategically in order to help distribute any new air you're taking in so that you don't end up with stagnant air pockets. Cannabis plants need constant fresh air to survive.
Carbon Filter
Once you've set up your ventilation system and everything is in its place, you'll need to add a carbon filter. You can do this when preparing the grow room or wait until your plants are flowering. It's much easier to set it up at the start, although you'll be using it more than you need to. If you wait until the flowering period the filter will last much longer.
In order to attach it to the ceiling you'll need to use rope and eyebolts. You'll also need flexible aluminum ducting in order to connect the filter to your extraction fan. If you want the best possible ventilation, try and center the filter as much as possible.
Choose Your Cannabis Grow Lights
HID Grow Lights
HID (high intensity discharge) lights are the industry standard, widely used for their combination of output, efficiency, and value. They cost a bit more than incandescent or fluorescent fixtures but produce far more light per unit of electricity used. Conversely, they are not as efficient as LED lighting, but they cost as little as one-tenth as much for comparable units.
The two main types of HID lamp used for growing are:
Metal halide (MH), which produce light that is blue-ish white and are generally used during vegetative growth
High pressure sodium (HPS), which produce light that is more on the red-orange end of the spectrum and are used during the flowering stage
In addition to bulbs, HID lighting setups require a ballast and hood/reflector for each light. Some ballasts are designed for use with either MH or HPS lamps, while many newer designs will run both.
If you can't afford both MH and HPS bulbs, start with HPS as they deliver more light per watt. Magnetic ballasts are cheaper than digital ballasts, but run hotter, are less efficient, and harder on your bulbs. Digital ballasts are generally a better option, but are more expensive. Beware of cheap digital ballasts, as they are often not well shielded and can create electromagnetic interference that will affect radio and WiFi signals.
Unless you're growing in a large, open space with a lot of ventilation, you'll need air-cooled reflector hoods to mount your lamps in, as HID bulbs produce a lot of heat. This requires ducting and exhaust fans, which will increase your initial cost but make controlling the temperature in your grow room much easier.
Fluorescent Grow Lights
Fluorescent light fixtures, particularly those using high-output (HO) T5 bulbs, are quite popular with small scale hobby growers for the following reasons:
They tend to be cheaper to set up, as reflector, ballast, and bulbs are included in a single package
They don't require a cooling system since they don't generate near the amount of heat that HID setups do
The main drawback is that fluorescent lights are less efficient, generating about 20-30% less light per watt of electricity used. Space is another concern, as it would require approximately 19 four-foot long T5 HO bulbs to equal the output of a single 600 watt HPS bulb.
LED Grow Lights
Light emitting diode (LED) technology has been around for a while, but only recently has it been adapted to create super efficient light fixtures for indoor growing. The main drawback to LED grow lights is their cost: well designed fixtures can cost 10 times what a comparable HID setup would. The benefits are that LEDs last much longer, use far less electricity, create less heat, and the best designs generate a fuller spectrum of light, which can lead to bigger yields and better quality.
Thermo-hygrometer
Once you've set up everything else in your grow room that you need to successfully grow cannabis, you'll need to check that everything is working correctly so that you can germinate your cannabis seeds. Before doing this, you should place a thermos-hygrometer between your lighting systems in order to check the parameters that you'll be growing at.
You might have just the right temperature for growing cannabis, although humidity levels will probably be much too low for cannabis plants to grow properly during their first few weeks. This is due to the fact that you're growing in a large room; it can be complicated to maintain the temperature and humidity at the right levels when compared to growing in a grow tent.
Humidifier
When working in such a large space you'll need to add humidity to the air somehow, and the best ways to do this is by using a humidifier, or maybe even a few. During your plants' first few weeks, relative humidity needs to be a bit higher than usual - if it's not, your plants may not grow to be the best that they can be.
For the best results, you should place the humidifier in the middle of the room alongside a fan, which helps to distribute humidity evenly. If you can, try and move it to the other side of your plants after a few hours in order to avoid the plants closest to it getting a bit too much humidity, which can end up causing fungi.
Setting up your ventilation system
Once you've covered the room with reflective sheeting, you'll need to prepare your air intake and extraction system. First, make sure nothing can be seen from outside your apartment through the window.
Many people think that the best way to set this up is by placing the extraction duct at the top of the window and the inline duct at the bottom. This is a major mistake - most likely you'll end up taking in the exact same air that you're trying to ventilate out of the room. One of the most simple ways to do this is to use the window to extract air and then make a grid on the door to the room. This is called passive intake and doesn't require any sort of inline fan.
You may have other options though, depending on the size and set-up of your grow room. Most rooms used for growing only have one window, although if your room has a different set up, feel free to make your own extraction system, this is just the simplest set up.
Ventilation System
Once you know where you're going to be setting up your ventilation system and how you're going to be supplying fresh air, you'll need to install the extractor fan and inline fan, if you're using one.
Extractors can be noisy and cause vibrations that can travel through the wall and floor, which can be heard from other rooms and floors. You'll need to use a soundproofed box in order to avoid this. It'll have to be attached to the ceiling, and you can use a frame designed for this purpose or a chain system using rubber rings which stop vibrations from travelling up through the ceiling.
When it comes to the inline fan, if you're going to use one instead of just using a passive intake vent, it'll need to be on the other side of the room in comparison to the extraction fan. You'll need to place it down low. If possible try and use some sort of cushioned base to avoid the vibrations travelling through the floor.
Fans
Although you have a ventilation system, you'll still need a way to move air around your room. We recommend using standing fans or clip-on fans on the wall if you have the space, although the choice is yours. You'll need to place them strategically in order to help distribute any new air you're taking in so that you don't end up with stagnant air pockets. Cannabis plants need constant fresh air to survive.
Carbon Filter
Once you've set up your ventilation system and everything is in its place, you'll need to add a carbon filter. You can do this when preparing the grow room or wait until your plants are flowering. It's much easier to set it up at the start, although you'll be using it more than you need to. If you wait until the flowering period the filter will last much longer.
In order to attach it to the ceiling you'll need to use rope and eyebolts. You'll also need flexible aluminum ducting in order to connect the filter to your extraction fan. If you want the best possible ventilation, try and center the filter as much as possible.
Choose Your Cannabis Grow Lights
HID Grow Lights
HID (high intensity discharge) lights are the industry standard, widely used for their combination of output, efficiency, and value. They cost a bit more than incandescent or fluorescent fixtures but produce far more light per unit of electricity used. Conversely, they are not as efficient as LED lighting, but they cost as little as one-tenth as much for comparable units.
The two main types of HID lamp used for growing are:
Metal halide (MH), which produce light that is blue-ish white and are generally used during vegetative growth
High pressure sodium (HPS), which produce light that is more on the red-orange end of the spectrum and are used during the flowering stage
In addition to bulbs, HID lighting setups require a ballast and hood/reflector for each light. Some ballasts are designed for use with either MH or HPS lamps, while many newer designs will run both.
If you can't afford both MH and HPS bulbs, start with HPS as they deliver more light per watt. Magnetic ballasts are cheaper than digital ballasts, but run hotter, are less efficient, and harder on your bulbs. Digital ballasts are generally a better option, but are more expensive. Beware of cheap digital ballasts, as they are often not well shielded and can create electromagnetic interference that will affect radio and WiFi signals.
Unless you're growing in a large, open space with a lot of ventilation, you'll need air-cooled reflector hoods to mount your lamps in, as HID bulbs produce a lot of heat. This requires ducting and exhaust fans, which will increase your initial cost but make controlling the temperature in your grow room much easier.
Fluorescent Grow Lights
Fluorescent light fixtures, particularly those using high-output (HO) T5 bulbs, are quite popular with small scale hobby growers for the following reasons:
They tend to be cheaper to set up, as reflector, ballast, and bulbs are included in a single package
They don't require a cooling system since they don't generate near the amount of heat that HID setups do
The main drawback is that fluorescent lights are less efficient, generating about 20-30% less light per watt of electricity used. Space is another concern, as it would require approximately 19 four-foot long T5 HO bulbs to equal the output of a single 600 watt HPS bulb.
LED Grow Lights
Light emitting diode (LED) technology has been around for a while, but only recently has it been adapted to create super efficient light fixtures for indoor growing. The main drawback to LED grow lights is their cost: well designed fixtures can cost 10 times what a comparable HID setup would. The benefits are that LEDs last much longer, use far less electricity, create less heat, and the best designs generate a fuller spectrum of light, which can lead to bigger yields and better quality.
Thermo-hygrometer
Once you've set up everything else in your grow room that you need to successfully grow cannabis, you'll need to check that everything is working correctly so that you can germinate your cannabis seeds. Before doing this, you should place a thermos-hygrometer between your lighting systems in order to check the parameters that you'll be growing at.
You might have just the right temperature for growing cannabis, although humidity levels will probably be much too low for cannabis plants to grow properly during their first few weeks. This is due to the fact that you're growing in a large room; it can be complicated to maintain the temperature and humidity at the right levels when compared to growing in a grow tent.
Humidifier
When working in such a large space you'll need to add humidity to the air somehow, and the best ways to do this is by using a humidifier, or maybe even a few. During your plants' first few weeks, relative humidity needs to be a bit higher than usual - if it's not, your plants may not grow to be the best that they can be.
For the best results, you should place the humidifier in the middle of the room alongside a fan, which helps to distribute humidity evenly. If you can, try and move it to the other side of your plants after a few hours in order to avoid the plants closest to it getting a bit too much humidity, which can end up causing fungi.
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