How to Set Up Your Indoor Grow Room

You’ve decided you want to try your hand at indoor growing. Maybe you want to grow veggies at home for personal use, or to sell at a farmer’s market, or you’ve decided on a cash crop of cannabis, or other vegetables or herbs. Depending on what and how much you want to grow, you’ll need to consider several things before planting your first seeds or acquiring young plants.

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• Choose Your Grow Room Space
• Clean Your Grow Room
• Configure Your Space
• Create Grow Room Ventilation
• Determine Type & Number of Grow Lights
• Identify Your Water Source

Choose Your Grow Room Space

This can be one of the more challenging items on your to-do list. You need to consider what kind and how many plants you want to grow, as well as the type of growing system (soil, hydroponic, or aeroponic) you want to use. You will need a reliable water source and a power source for lights.

• Determine the type of plants and their mature size
• How much spacing is required between plants
• Water and power source

If the space you have is too large, you will need to install a grow tent that is the correct size for your intended crop. Another option is to build a specific grow space in an unfinished basement or other area.

Clean Your Grow Room

Make sure the grow room or space where your grow tent will be set up is clean and free from miscellaneous particles, including mold or mildew, which can be damaging to plants. Other things to consider:

• Insulation to more effectively control temperature and humidity.
• Make sure the growing space is light-tight.
• Consider potential noise that may be created and carried into other areas.
• Make sure the flooring is smooth and level, as well as waterproof. You may need to install drains if the room doesn’t have them.

TIP:  Using an EPA-registered disinfectant cleaner is a good way to ensure your grow space is free from damaging microorganisms

Configure Your Space

This is a very important step, and requires time and thought so that significant changes don’t have to be made after plants are installed. It includes determining how plants will be placed in the room, as well as any additional equipment considerations that may need to be accounted for and placed.

Plants can be installed on tables or placed directly on the floor. If you’re using a grow tent or multiple grow tents, you’ll need to decide how they will be placed inside the space.

In addition, you may want to consider:

• Reflective material on the walls helps capture light. Options include Mylar, which reflects about 95% of light, or flat white paint on walls, which can reflect up to 85% of light. A less expensive option is emergency blankets available in camping stores, which still reflect up to 70 percent of light.

• Installing a hygrometer and thermometer, or a combination monitor to track air temperature and relative humidity.
• Smart Controllers can be very useful for accessing and setting up timed parameters for lights, airflow, growing system, and more from your smartphone. A manual timer could also be used for these systems.

• Another item to consider may be a dehumidifier, especially if you live in an area usually experiencing high humidity, or if you have a large growing space.
• If high heat or cold is an issue, you might think about installing a ductless mini-split AC with heat, which doesn’t require a window or ducting.
• Some growers use a CO₂ delivery system to maintain elevated levels in their grow rooms or tents.

You can configure your space by simply drawing it out on old-fashioned graphing paper, placing tables or pots based on mature plant size and spacing.

TIP: Make sure to keep water and water sources away from lights

See More Information about All Indoor Growing Concerns

Create Grow Room Ventilation

Since they breathe in CO₂ and release O₂ into the air, plants require a source of fresh air, especially in small rooms. Without fresh air, plants literally can’t breathe. Circulating air also keeps it cooler, offsetting the effect of grow lights which can create some heat. Consider these options:

• Oscillating wall-mounted fans for smaller spaces, or inline ventilation fans for larger rooms.
• An air exchange system to replace stale, CO₂-depleted, hot, moist air with fresh, CO₂-rich air.

The more lights and plants you have, the better your exchange system needs to be. Additional information about indoor growing ventilation can be seen here.

TIP: Be sure to read instructions for operating all equipment, and check installations often to make sure they’re secure

Determine Type & Number of Grow Lights

Light is, of course, essential for successful indoor growing, and grow lights provide a broad light spectrum, plus give you control over light-time and dark-time. While there are several types available, most serious growers favor LED full-spectrum grow lights. More expensive on the front-end, they are more economic to run, last longer, are available in different voltage options, and don’t produce much heat.

• Always make sure the grow lights are the correct distance from plants, suspending them using adjustable rope clip hangers.
• Many come with either on-board dimmers, or are compatible with controllers which can be purchased separately. This allows you to control the intensity of the light for different growth phases.
• The number of lights needed will be determined by the size of your space. The footprint of LED grow lights can range from 2 x 2 feet to 6 x 6 feet, and larger.
• Many can be linked together for larger spaces and can be controlled by a single system.

TIP: Keep wiring bundled neatly and out of the way & keep a fire extinguisher on hand

Identify Your Water Source

Of course, plants require fresh water for growth since this is the way they acquire nutrients. If possible, you’ll want to locate your grow room close to a water heater, washer, or water manifold where you can install a hot & cold-water hose bib. Then, you can use a hose to bring water to the grow room and utilize one of these methods.

• Watering wand with flexible hose for reaching plants.
• Automatic feeder system or climate controller to water and feed plants.

TIP: Keep things as simple as possible. If manual feeding and watering is sufficient for your space, skip the fancy systems

In Summary

Indoor growing, either for personal or commercial purposes, is a rewarding endeavor. Whether your space is large or small, these steps can be followed to ensure the appropriate indoor grow room set-up for abundant harvesting.