I'm going to ignore growing Cannabis outdoors in the Sun and build out grow rooms. This post is about setting up a "grow Tent".
My AC Infinity 4'X4' tent:
Bad photograph but you can see one of the nice features of AC Infinity tents, the external mount for the ventilation controller on the upper right corner. Some of the advantages of having a tent are: The ability to seal out light if you grow photo-period plants. Photo-period plants need at least 11 to 12 hours of total darkness to flower. The inside surfaces of the tent are highly reflective maximizing the available light, and a tent with a ventilation fan can help control the temperature in the tent and smell of flowering Cannabis.
Everything you need to grow Marijuana indoors in a tent, except seeds or clones, is available from Amazon and is for the most part affordable. The major decisions are: Make and size of the tent, Type and power of the light source, ventilation and "smell" control.
As a rough estimate you need ~2sq feet of tent floor space per plant. A 2'X4' tent is good for four plants per grow a 4'X4' tent will hold up to eight plants. How tall depends on the genetics of your planned grows, 60" will work if you are growing mostly Autoflower plants and/or some of the smaller Indica plants but 80" is better. Vivosun makes a good inexpensive 4'X4' tent (~$145 USD), a step up is an AC Infinity 4'X4' tent (~$170 USD) or a Gorilla 4'X4' tent ($235 USD).
A 4'X4' tent needs a 6" or greater ventilation fan. A 2'X4' tent can get by with a 4" fan. AC Infinity makes good fans with a bluetooth digital controller, a 6" duct fan will cost about $150 USD. In addition, because flowering Marijuana can have a very strong smell, you may want a carbon filter at ~$70 and ducting ~$25 USD.
Other than genetics, the two factors that most impact the quality and quantity of your grow are the lights and the size of your pot. The pot is pretty easy, bigger is better if it fits and fabric is better than hard wall. I like the Vivosun grow bags 5 gal minimum, 7 gal or 10 gal is better if you have room in the tent. Price for 5 Vivosun 10gal grow bags is ~$30 USD.
Lights are where it gets sticky. You can use MH, HPS, T-5, LED and I expect many others. As with most things in life there is no "best", only tradeoffs and "yes buts". LED lights have fewer "yes buts". LED lights also have the widest range of prices and while usually you pretty much get what you pay for it is not always true.
Vivosun lights are good and cheap, a little over $1 USD/watt. You need a minimum of 200 watts for a 2"X4' tent and 400 watts for a 4'X4' tent. Or you can go whole hog and go with California Lightworks SolarSystem 1100 with controller for just under $2000 USD and never worry there is something better.
Local Tucson, AZ retail price of Cannabis is $250 USD to $300 USD per oz. The amount of time and effort to take a plant from seed to harvest is pretty much the same if the plant produces 2oz. of flower or 16oz. Genetics aside, the difference between a 2oz. harvest and a 16oz. harvest is the quality and amount of available light with input from the nutrients and grow pot size. I'm sure a better mathematician than I could figure out the sweet spot cost/benefit between the cost of light and power vs. flower produced. As a non-commercial grower all I'm interested in is can I produce enough weed from the legal number of plants to last from one harvest to the next.
I hope this helps,
ken
I bought some grow lights as a christmas gift, strictly garden veggies, and was pretty shocked at the range in price for cannabis marketed lights.
ReplyDeleteWhen you say a 400w light, is that 400w equivalent at a much lower LED consumption rate or actual 400w power draw as long as they are on? 400w is almost $1/hr in my neck of the woods.
Steve,
DeleteYou are correct, 400w equivalent. The LED light market is "interesting :-)". You are also correct prices are all over the place, mostly high. Vivosun LED lights work OK and are priced at the lower end. I've run a couple of Vivosun 100w lights alongside a couple of Platinum 400w lights (on the high dollar end) and both work. Other than difference in coverage there doesn't seem to much difference in results.
Let's see, at $! an hour X 12hr a day for 60 days (I just harvested a plant after 60 days in the tent). Ouch, at those prices I'd head to the local dispensary for some retail weed.
I've used my tent and lights for tomatoes, basil, peppers, and other herbs while growing a Cannabis crop. The experience has been a little too much light for them while the Marijuana plants wanted more.
I've a 6'X8' greenhouse waiting to be assembled for next year's vegetable crop, too late for this year. BTW, my Cannabis crops do great in the tent. My Tomato crops not so much, tent or outside. In the last two years I think I've managed to harvest and eat three tomatoes along with a dozen or so cherry tomatoes. Bugs, birds, and heat are hell on Tucson gardens.
ken
I screwed up. 400w is 4/10 of a kwh every hour so more like a nickel an hour.
ReplyDeleteThere must be some other reason weed is so expensive.
Steve,
ReplyDeleteThat sounds better, I know our Electric bill is a little higher when the lights are running but it isn't a lot higher. Legal weed is expensive because of restrictions to entry, If the government ever opens the market prices will fall to commodity levels. A lot of players do not want that to happen.including the government, the tax revenue for States with legal Cannabis is very high. I don't really use the dispensaries so the number could be wrong but I believe here in AZ the tax on Cannabis sales is 15% on top of normal sales tax and there are the state restrictions and high cost of license to grow and sell. Pretty good racket if you have the stroke to get in on it.. Bottom line there is a reason Cannabis is called "weed", it grows like one and anyone can easily grow all they need for a year in a couple or three pots in the garden or a small grow tent inside.
That is one of the reasons for the blog, being an old 60's hippie that still believes, I want folks to know how easy it is to grow your own and fuck the government.
ken
Well, well, did not realized you had older posts, thought you just started in late 2022. Interesting, I also happens to like AC Infinity, great product, great prices. It is what I am currently setting up. Anxious to try their UIS system inside my greenhouse to control it better next season. As for grow lites, that is a whole other ball of ...fur? :-) A complex subject made seemingly more confusing by lack of standards and meaningful data to compare
ReplyDeleteBob