Growing indoors is generally quite easy once the equipment is in place and the environment/climate is under control.

Below I will talk about a few of the things required to grow from start to finish successfully!

First things first, you need to choose what type of space you want to grow in, some like building their own boxes, fitting out an actual room or modifying one, the easiest way to start is a pop up ‘Mylar tent’ room. Once we have a space ready we can then start fitting it out with our hardware.

Reflective materials:

“Reflectivity is the key to any great grow room, if you skip this step you will massively reduce yield and optimal performance of any plant, once the room is lined we then move onto mounting hardware.”

Panda film is your standard reflective white 210UM sheeting (black backing) and most DIY growers would use this to line their floors and walls with. Super cheap and works great!

Mylar is a newer release in reflective materials and most commonly used to manufacture hydro grow tents. It comes with oxford cloth composite as a backing and comes in 3 grades of reflectivity and density, 210D, 600D & 1680D (D = Denure).

Infrared IR+ 110iU Sheeting is a specially designed fabric that refracts heat and eliminates any heat signature footprints visible by helicopter scanning systems. So if you’re growing big, you need this.

Ventilation

Fans: Fans, intake and exhaust filters should preferably have a higher CFM rating, the higher the CFM rating is the better the fan is (best is Hyper-fan).

We can mount our carbon filter and fan in the center of the room, however you will need your exhaust ducting to exit the space either top left or top right corner of the room. (Heat rises, and the reason for the corner being used as an exit removes the possibility of an air vortex with the space).

Carbon Filters, CV5 & CV4 are generally the best ones to go for, I prefer the CV5, as the carbon is irregular in its shape, whereas CV4 is pelletized and in my opinion doesn’t perform as well (best is PhreshFilters) not to mention CV5 will also last a lot longer!

Ducting is what connects the fans to the carbon filters and intake filters, this should be fixed in place using ducting clamps or duct tape to make sure it is airtight.

Our intake fan’s, if we choose to use one (if you do not use one you will need to supplement Co2 carbon dioxide, otherwise the plants will eventually suffocate), get installed in the bottom corners of our space/room and usually opposite to where our exhaust is placed. (so if the exhaust is top left, intake will be bottom right).

Mounting some small air moving fans inside the room will help circulate the air/Co2 as well, these are cheap but essential and super effective.

Lighting:

If you are choosing to mount lights in a solid room then you will need to mirror image your ceiling stud, this will allow you to mount any light moving rails or hooks that are needed to hang our reflectors and equipment from (also recommended to mount carbon filter using same technique).

Most of the current lighting that growers use is 240V and would require a rope ratchet or pulley system to lower or lift the lights as the plant canopy gets larger.

If the lighting is of a different technology, then we need to factor that into our space and starting height requirements. The hardware for a grow room will always stay the same, usually the only things that need to be maintained is power supply’s and lamp replacements.

Every grower should have:

There are also some super essential items that I will list below that every grower should have in their grow room toolbox as either a preventative measure or for just plain accuracy.

Environmental controller’s/climate controller’s (These are awesome, plug in your lights and your fans, set the timer and adjust the temp settings min & max set your humidity and you will not need to touch again, they literally automate the room for you).

Hygrometer’s (These handy little instruments allow you to check the temperature and humidity above and around the plant canopy).

Water Heaters (To raise reservoir temps as the seasonal change takes place).

Heat Mats (To increase temperature and humidity within the dome for things like germinating seeds and rooting cuttings/clones).

Co2 (Carbon Dioxide – want big plants? Then supplement Co2 within the room using either a tank, solenoid kit & regulator, or refillable options such as the TnB Enhancer).

Duct Tape (to affix any ducting etc)

Mylar Tape (to seal panda film joins)

Yellow yo-yos & ceiling hooks (used when flower tops start falling over due to weight, a few of these will help support the main flowers whilst continually allowing them to get even larger without stress loading the branch).

Sugar soap (to clean).

Trellising (Commonly referred to as SCROG “Screen Of Green” having a trellis ready to put over the plants before going into flower will make things a lot easier, it will help with light penetration whilst in turn allowing more air movement between the canopy which increases yield.)

pH pen (To check the solubility of your water/solution – acceptable ranges are 5.5-6.5 in hydroponics, with there being exceptions regarding other consumable varieties).

EC/PPM Meter (to monitor the nutrient strength of you solution, accurately being able to measure this will give full control of the plant to the grower, when maintained correctly yields will be significantly increased.)