What is the most efficient way to grow cannabis indoors?

The best place to grow cannabis is indoors.You have complete control over everything when growing weed indoors with marijuana grow kit, which allows you to really maximize rapid growth and huge yields with incredible potency. But to get the perfect buds, you need the perfect environment.

The good news is: even if you make mistakes and don’t provide the perfect environment, you will still be harvesting buds. Marijuana is very resilient.That said, the more things you get right, the better the result.

If you follow the instructions here, you will get all the basics right, while still keeping everything as simple and efficient as possible. So let’s get started.

Step 1: Choose the Perfect Cannabis Grow Room

You don’t need a particularly large growing/cultivating space. A typical grow room for a small-scale grower is a small marijuana grow tent, cabinet, or designated area in a spare room. If you’re stuck for room, even an unused corner of the house is sufficient! 

Step 2: Choose Your Growing Medium

There is no best way to grow pot! Each option has its own pros and cons.

• Soil – Close to nature, especially if growing in amended and composted soil without any liquid nutrients. Slightly slower growing but buds tend to have a stronger and more complex taste/smell.
• Coco Coir – Coco is a hand-watered medium that looks and acts a lot like soil, but is actually made out of broken up coconut husks. Plants grown in coco grow a little bit faster than in soil, and coco has properties that soothe plant roots. As a result, coco tends to be more forgiving than most other grow mediums, and plants are more resistant to heat. Another advantage is pests are much less likely to attack plants in coco because many bugs need soil to live. If you’re not sure which medium to start with, I highly recommend starting with coco! That’s what I did and I’m so happy because it was also a perfect way to train for moving on to either soil or hydro.
• Hydroponics – Setting up a hydroponic reservoir takes more work than soil or coco but hydro grown plants get the fastest growth of all grow mediums, meaning you get to harvest more quickly with the same amount of electricity. Hydro-grown buds tend to be very potent.

Step 3: Choose (and Use) Your Cannabis Grow Lights

The light source you use in your grow room plays a significant role in determining the quality of the plants. We recommend spending a high degree of your budget on a good lighting setup. It is worth it in the end, particularly if you plan on growing in the long term.

Full spectrum Led grow lights

If cost isn’t a consideration, LED (light-emitting diode) lighting is the preferred option for most marijuana growers. These are highly efficient light fixtures for indoor growing. They use little energy and create very little heat. Also,LEDs contain wavelengths across the light spectrum, so they can lead to bigger yields and better-quality plants.

The drawback is that they cost nearly ten times more than a decent HID setup! If you’re serious about getting into growing and have money to spend, however, give serious consideration to LEDs. Do your homework to avoid ‘scam’ LEDs online.

ECO Farm ECO Blue 120/240W LM301H Quantum Board

• Upgraded ECO Blue series growing lights have a dimming knob. A single light can be adjusted the light intensity at liberty.
• Excellent full spectrum- 3000K/3500K diodes providing more reddish light. The 660nm red light is especially useful during bloom, where it speeds up flowering time and boost yields. Turn your seeds into your own supply. And the light looks fairly natural, so it's good for accurately monitoring plant health.
• No Fan Noise Free. High Safety performance MEAN WELL Driver, Fair Waterproofing. Update aluminum board is thick and sturdy, doesn't put out a tremendous amount of heat, high-quality protective covers for cables; User-Friendly Packaging. Quality components mean the light lasts longer, but they also save you money.
• ECO Blue is designed with a special color - Tiffany blue.
• LED chip brand are Samsung lm301h and Epistar 660nm.
• Dimmable & Full spectrum & Pre-assembled.
• Waterproof cord and waterproof cover to protect the board.
• Reliable passive cooled design, 4mm thickness plate.
• 5 years Warranty for Meanwell driver, 1 Year Warranty for board.

HID grow lights
The most commonly used lights for DIY-style growing are probably HID (high-intensity discharge) grow lights. They typically represent the best overall value in terms of cost, efficiency, and ease-of-operation.

The main drawback is that they require numerous accessories to run correctly. As a consequence, the overall cost can ramp up pretty quickly, depending on how much you’re willing to splurge.

For example, most growers use one of two main types of HID lamps/bulbs depending on the developmental stage. Metal halide (MH) bulbs are best during vegetative growth. High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) is the preferred option for the mature flowering stage. If you can only afford one, choose HPS as they are more efficient on a ‘watt-to-light’ produced scale.

HID lights produce a substantial amount of heat. Therefore, you must invest in a ballast and hood/reflector for each light. This is almost mandatory for controlling the temperature in your grow room. Connect the hood to your ventilation system to flush out excess heat and maintain an average ambient temperature.

Fluorescent grow lights
Fluorescent lights are generally much cheaper and easier to use than the other options. They represent an excellent option for those not planning long-term operations. They don’t require a connection to an external ventilation system. Fluorescent lights are a little less efficient than the other options. However, for novice DIY growers with a single plant or two, they’re likely your best bet.

Step 4: Give your cannabis plants air

Plants need fresh air to thrive, and carbon dioxide (CO2) is essential to the process of photosynthesis. This means you will need a steady stream of air flowing through your grow room, easily achieved by means of an exhaust fan placed near the top of the room to remove the warmer air, and a filtered air inlet on the opposite side near the floor.

You’ll need to ensure that temperatures remain within a comfortable range for your plants, between 70-85°F when lights are on and between 58-70°F when they are off. Some varieties of cannabis (generally indica strains) prefer the colder side of the range, while others are more tolerant of higher temperatures.

The size of your exhaust fan will depend on the size of your grow space and amount of heat generated by your lighting system. HID systems put out a ton of heat, especially if they aren’t mounted in air-cooled hoods. People who live in warmer regions will often run their lights at night in an effort to keep temperatures in their grow down.

It’s advisable to set up your lights, turn them on for a while, and then determine how much airflow you’ll need to maintain a comfortable temperature for your plants. This will allow you to choose an exhaust fan suitable for your needs. If the odor of cannabis plants in bloom will cause you problems, add a charcoal filter to your exhaust fan.

Alternately, you can create a sealed, artificial environment by using an air conditioner, dehumidifier, and supplemental CO2 system, but this is quite expensive and not recommended for the first-time grower.

Finally, it’s a good idea to have a constant light breeze in your grow room as this strengthens your plants’ stems and creates a less hospitable environment for mold and flying pests. A wall-mounted circulating fan works well for this purpose — just don’t point it directly at your plants, because that can cause windburn.

For regular soil growers, you want to supplement your plant with extra nutrients after it starts using up the nutrients in the soil. For coco and hydro growers, you provide all your nutrients directly to your plants from the beginning. Luckily all quality nutrients come with an easy schedule to follow, so you don’t have to think about it!

Step 5: Get Nutrients

What Nutrients to Get for Each Stage of Life

• Vegetative Stage – In this stage you should use nutrients that are high in Nitrogen (N).  Almost any general plant food will work. The extra nitrogen will provide what your marijuana plant needs in the vegetative stage
• Flowering Stage – Plants need a low-Nitrogen (“Bloom”) formula that is high in Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) in the flowering stagea. In a pinch you can use cactus or succulent nutrients, because they use a similar nutrient ratio.

Step 6: Develop a Control System and Monitor the Growing Process

The next step is a self-monitoring system to control it all. We assume you can’t spend 24 hours a day in your grow space! You need a 24-hour timer and an adjustable thermostat. The latter allows you to set your exhaust fan to switch on once temperatures go above a certain degree. The result is a relatively stable temperature range and humidity level while saving energy and money.

The 24-hour timer is just as important. When the marijuana plants are in vegetative growth, you need the light supply on for around 16-20 hours per day. Once they mature and reach the flowering stage, your plants need 12 hours light and 12 hours dark.

We also recommend investing in a pH meter to check on the quality of your water and soil regularly. If you’re growing in soil, try and keep the pH between 6 and 7. If you’re growing hydroponically, 5.5 to 6.5 is an appropriate range.

Conclusion

As you gain experience and knowledge, you will alter your grow room and equipment to better fit your particular environment, growing techniques, and the specific strains you grow, but this article will give you a solid foundation of knowledge to get started on the right foot.

And remember, growing marijuana is a labor of love, so spend a lot of time with your plants and have fun!

Also in News