Choosing a grow space is a crucial first step before you start growing. We recommend new growers opt to grow in a tent. We’ll go over why tents usually work better than a basement or a garage, but we’ll also talk about what factors you’ll need to control for when you’re growing indoors.
Grow Tents
Grow tents have quite a few benefits over growing in an “open” space like a garage, closet, or basement.
| Grow tents | Other grow spaces (closets, garages, basements, etc.) |
| Mylar-lined reflective surface increases light efficiency | Need to purchase Mylar to enclose space or you lose a lot of light |
| Contains light, which means your plants grow healthy | Light leak is common, which can cause hermaphroditism |
| Fabric contains temperature and humidity relatively well | Space is usually larger and airflow is not restrained/controlled so temperature and humidity can change rapidly |
| Helps control odors | Odors can leak out through cracks and beneath doors |
| Helps isolate plants from potential pathogens | Pathogens enter the house on clothing and shoes so if you’re growing in a “public” space in your home you’re risking exposing your plants |
What factors affect grow spaces
Regardless of where you’re growing, you’re going to have to manage your environment: airflow, temperature, humidity, light, and pathogens. The better you’re able to control these elements, the better environment you can create for your plants. Obviously, it is much easier to control these factors in a grow tent because you essentially have a reflective fabric box that isolates your plants – humidity won’t escape as easily, light is kept inside, and temperature will be at whatever room temperature is. This also illustrates another drawback of growing in a place like a basement or a garage: usually, garages are not insulated meaning temperature and humidity fluctuate; closets are close to where we live so light can leak through doors causing problems in plant development; and odors leak out of any uninsulated space.
So basically, we need consider the following:
- How can we control temperatures when the weather is bad
- How do we ensure light is contained
- How do we control odors
- How do we protect our plants from pathogens
All of these can be done with a few tricks. We recommend:
- Ensuring your grow space has some kind of insulation or has heat/cooling
- Build an enclosure for your plants, whether that means sealing the cracks at the bottom of doors or padding closets
- Using some kind of filter combined with an inline fan to remove odors
- Changing our clothing before entering our grow space
Good luck, we hope these tips help and your plants are happy and healthy!
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