How to design an indoor grow room

Updated: December 5, 2021
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After you know what equipment you need for an indoor grow you can start designing your own grow room. Don't worry if you are new to growing just keep things simple and exited as you prepare space for your cannabis plants.

Find a suitable space for your setup

This one is the most important as choosing the right spot can be tricky, it is doable and quite simple when you know what to ask yourself. How much space do I need? Is power supply at the reach of your hand? Do you have a water supply near? Will smells and noise be an issue? 

You can convert a whole room into a grow room or have a cupboard converted into a grow room. The third option is a grow tent. When converting rooms and cupboards into grow rooms you need to be careful where will the plants sit. You need to make sure that the floor in your grow room is clean. I would advise you not to grow on carpeted floors for instance as they harbor moisture, bugs, and bacteria. I'm sure you don't want that under your beautiful plants. Space for grow room should depend on how many plants you want to grow while keeping in mind your level of experience. If you are just starting a couple of plants will do great for starters. Also, keep in mind that equipment in the grow room can be noisy. For the best grow with minimal stress is also having power and water supply near the grow room. It just makes things so much easier.

Choosing the right configuration of space for your setup

Here you got 3 options: converting a whole room, converting enclosed space, or choosing a grow tent. I would recommend to beginners to buy a tent kit, where you usually have everything in it to assemble it and to start your grow. Grow tents are already built in such a way that they are light-tight, walls of the tent are reflective, its easier to control the climate you also prevent diseases and bugs coming in as well the heat and humidity. 
When you create a grow room or transform a cupboard into one you should always think about all these things as you don't want errors in your grow and later wonder what went wrong. When building a whole grow room know that one light source won't be enough. For every square meter, you need one light with ballast and of course a reflector. For big rooms, it is better to fill them with big tents as the climate will be a whole lot simpler to maintain. It's also better to tent a room as you can later get into a perpetual harvest and for that, you need at least 3 tents. All things also depend on the size of the grow. 

Make your space light-tight

The light cycle tells the plants when to vegetate and when to start producing buds, so since we are playing a god inside a room its important that we keep natural light out so it doesn't mess up our plants, and light-tight tent or a room that does not allow any light to come out also, as you wouldn't want others to suspect something. Plants will get stressed if their light cycle is interrupted as you are when somebody shines a light into your room as you sleep. Keeping plants nice and happy is our main goal as they will grow uninterrupted and yield will be much bigger. Also, you need to prepare walls of your to grow room with some reflecting sheeting as this will maximize the light hitting the plants giving them exactly what they need. Its also good to know the size of your grow area as you will choose light source based on that as you don't want to burn your plants for giving it too much light and you don't want them to underperform either. 

Getting the right light source

Indoor cannabis cultivation involves at least one of three artificial light sources: HID, CFL, and LED. Frequently, growers use a combination of grow lamps and bulbs. Yes, there are other, more antiquated lighting technologies, but they are all pretty much just power consumers now. I will focus on the most common lighting used by the 21st-century cannabis indoor farmer.
HID or high-intensity discharge lamps have been the grow lights of choice for every kind of indoor grower from beginners to pro cultivators since the early ’90s. Over the years, lamps and bulbs have become more efficient, ballasts have gone digital, and reflectors have gotten bigger and better. Growers that favor HID are big believers that lumens are the only output statistic that matter.
CMH or ceramic metal-halide lamps came on the scene and the 315W CMH bulb is just impressive, but a rather expensive upgrade for a standard MH or metal-halide lamp. Similarly, CFL shows some promise, but always runs a distant second to the tried and trusted HID.
LED or light-emitting diode is the up-and-coming breakaway technology that looks to end the reign of HID for cannabis cultivation. The latest generation of LED systems are now capable of producing comparable, and in some cases, superior quality marijuana than the average HID set-up. Photosynthetically active radiation is the metric that LED zealots to consider most important.
My advice is to keep it simple. Think of light in terms of watts and electricity bills. Next is the question, “How much power consumption?” Followed by, “How much heat will the lamp produce and how much light will it emit?”.

Make your grow room breathe

When growing in small spaces it's key to think about produced heat that will come from your equipment. This heat can quickly weaken and stress the plants if not destroying them completely. But don't you worry, we got you covered here also. To prevent overheating the grow space it's better to have a tall one as all the heat rises. Lights between 250 - 315W are optimal so anything more than that will not only cost more it will cause you problems. Since you already installed a fan and extraction fan with carbon filter you have made sure your plants get enough fresh air to breathe and prosper. But where does the air come into the grow room or tent you might ask. For that, you make sure you have intake holes if you are building a room or tent by yourself. Store-bought tents already have holes in their design which you open or close depending on your needs. They are also there so you have holes for the extraction fan and so on. You put a fan to suck the air in and you are set for the rest of the grow.

Set up suitable air exchange

Air circulation in the growing space is key to a successful grow. Whether if it's a grow tent or a grow room, the most important aspect is to ensure constant air exchange based on the size of the growing space. Air management in indoor growing is structured around three axes: cleaning of the stomas, air circulation, and air exchange. These are key to ensure healthy plant growth.

The air must be distributed evenly throughout the entire space, where it needs to be regularly exchanged in order to avoid stagnant air areas and ''air pockets''. Constant air circulation is essential to obtain a well-balanced environment where the air is neither too dry or too moist, as this will help you meet the requirements of temperature, humidity, and oxygen intake, which will in turn contribute to creating the right environment for proper plant development. Where possible, it is important to avoid or at least minimize air layers, as cold air tends to flow downwards and hot air accumulates at high points, resulting in slower plant development and in mold and insect growth.
Other problems you may encounter include weakening of the plant structure, increased stress, excess transpiration, and decreased flower density, which may in turn result in an unsatisfactory crop both in terms of quantity and quality (flavor and aroma). This is why recreating the outdoor climate conditions as accurately as possible is so important. Stick with a soft and easy circulation of air instead of a full-on hurricane vibe. Equipment you need is an exhaust fan, intake fan, acoustic box(optional, if you wanna be more discrete), active carbon filter, ventilation ducts and if you are facing too much humidity in the room I suggest to use a dehumidifier also.

We wish you the best of luck and joy in designing your growroom! Do rather slow and do a good job as it will amaze you what you can do with your beautiful cannabis plants!

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