How to set up a grow tent

Eric St-Cyr | March 09, 2023 | 15 MIN READ

Do you want to cultivate your herbs all year long, or are you considering developing an indoor garden? You may be upgrading your indoor growing system right now. If so, a grow tent could be necessary. With a grow tent, you may mimic nature in your settings.

In any event, if you intend to grow inside, investing in grow tents will significantly improve your crops' general health and success rate.

Other elements affect how effectively your crops grow and survive. They may differ significantly from tent to tent, from the number of light plants receive to keeping the proper temperatures and humidity levels.

It's crucial to keep in mind that your grow tent is merely the outside framework. You'll also need a few more pieces of equipment, which you should arrange to assist you in maintaining a consistent and favorable atmosphere for plant growth to have a dependable indoor gardening system. We call this calling in.

The hardest part of this procedure is setting up your grow tent correctly the first time. But be assured, we have got this handled for you!

What is a Grow Tent?

Certain plants need specific climatic conditions, which are hard for you to manage within your house, or you can't always have them outside.

Providing your plants with the type of needs they have throughout the year means you can control the interior environment of a grow tent. Temperature, light and humidity are three factors you can monitor.

When it comes to growing plants, you can grow any you want. This includes food, flowers, herbs, and other plants in indoor and secure areas.

Any plant may be grown indoors in a grow tent, regardless of your house's humidity, temperature, or other climatic factors. You have various configuration and size options for these portable greenhouses, which may be customized to meet your unique demands.

As a result, how you set it up will primarily rely on the types of plants you're growing, where you store your grow tent, and the temperature where you reside.

You may buy a grow tent kit with the tent and all the necessary supplies or buy the parts separately and put them together. They are available in a variety of sizes.

What you wish to grow, the additional space for the tent, its attachments, and exterior ventilation will all influence what dimensions you choose.

Which Tent Size to Get?

Grow tents are available in various sizes and hundreds of distinct kinds. Knowing which one to choose for your circumstance and which are the finest overall might be challenging. This ought should make everything obvious. 2'x4' and 4'x4' are the best sizes.

The 2'x4' and 4'x4' tents are the most well-known sizes for new growers when it comes to grow tents. Additionally, they are designed to accommodate the most popular grow lights.

A 2'x4' is one of the most extraordinary sizes for beginning growers since it offers you enough room for respectable yields without being too large.

All the plants, even those at the back, are easily accessible, and you still enjoy all the benefits of a full-size grow light. In a tent this size, you may start with a tiny light, such as a CFL or a small LED, and still have space to upgrade to a 400W HPS.

Reasons to Use a Grow Tent

You might think that grow tents are simply another unnecessary investment for your indoor garden setup. But the opposite is true more than anything. Grow tents can significantly influence your plants' health. Find out if you need a grow tent for your hydroponic setup by looking at these 5 reasons indoor growers use them.

Good Ventilation and Drop in Foul Smell

An isolated growing setting does not always imply that the growth method is isolated. Plants require air to flourish, whether they are grown indoors or outdoors.

Herbs need fresh air to photosynthesize and transform light, moisture, and carbon dioxide from the environment into nutrition. Without photosynthesis, good growth circumstances cannot be obtained. Infections and insects, who like hot, humid air, can harm the plants if there isn't enough fresh air present during the developing phase.

Herb has a distinctive odor that some growers find offensive. Because this odor can annoy neighbors and even draw complaints and warnings, many growers are unaware of practical ways to mitigate its effects while ventilating.

However, you shouldn't worry too much because a grow tent may assist you in striking the ideal balance. Grow tent features several flexible vents on both sides. Because none is substantial, they don't emit excessive stench outdoors. You may add more vents or air purifiers to this enclosed planting tent if you are concerned that the vents that come with the grow tent do not give the ideal ventilation for your herb.

You Don't Use A Lot of Energy or Electricity

The light may rebound off and travel directly to the plant without wasting energy, thanks to the reflectors used for the tent's walls, ground, and roof. In non-reflective environments, light is envisioned from the light fixture and onto different surfaces, soaked up as heat and light with very little light being reflected.

However, if you have a reflective surface, light is basically "bent" at a perspective and sent somewhere else. If every surface is reflecting, the light will bounce about until it hits a surface that is primarily not made up of your plants. You can be confident that you are making the most of your energy consumption thanks to reflectivity.

Easy to Set up and Use

The most underappreciated advantage is how simple it is to operate and use a grow tent. All you need for cleaning is some warm water and a rag. A grow tent's roof may hang lighting fixtures, air concentrators, and charcoal screens, which require less effort and no power equipment.

It only takes a roll of stronger tape, some rope clips or hooks, and wires to secure the smaller tent attachments like pipes and the larger grow room equipment. Current grow tents produce the ideal microclimate for cultivation. Therefore you should, at the very least, get one.

A grow tent may be erected without any construction expertise and has all the outputs and inputs needed for the machinery needed to cultivate herbs.

Helps in Keeping Pests Away

Whenever it comes to growing veggies and herbs, pest problems are a real issue. Trying to spread pesticides clearly confirms to be risky for the plants, and the pesticides stick to the produce the plant makes. When we eat these herbs from that plant, we take into account ingesting a part of the pesticides, which don't get checked even after we wash them, and we ultimately end up getting sick.

The grow tent has been made in such a manner that it greatly aids in keeping the pests away, preventing the need for pesticide spraying and ensuring the safety and health of your herbs.

Good for Small Spaces

Herbs are tough to cultivate in confined settings since you will always be concerned about your plants' ability to reach the grow lights. Although more excellent headroom makes things simpler, your grow tent should be at least 5 feet tall, accommodating up to a 400W grow lamp.

For instance, if you are 7 feet tall, your grow space's ceiling height won't be an issue, and you can also put stronger grow lights. Not to mention that because the plant is not constrained by space, a little more height makes the plant strong and also enhances production.

Steps to Set Up a Grow Tent

Grow tents are made to make things easy for herb enthusiasts. Grow tents are absolutely practical, but if you want to cultivate massive herbs they aren't for you. However, a grow tent could be your best bet if you just need 1–5 ounces per month. The procedures to grow herbs correctly in a grow tent are listed below.

Setting up the tent's actual structure will be your first task. They are typically constructed from aluminum bars joined together by sturdy plastic components. You can position the bars properly because they are all numbered or labelled.

You must assemble the framework before opening the tent's fabric portion and releasing all zippers. Keepthe tent over the aluminum bars you have set. Make care to ease it down slowly and without exerting too much pressure so that it fits nicely. Avoiding tearing the cloth may require time and care, but it's worth it. Please make sure all of the zips can shut once it is on.

Grow Lights

Even though it might be challenging to decide exactly which grow light you want, hanging your light should be simple after you've made your choice. Comparing various grow lights

If you can, use rope ratchets to hang your grow light because they are inexpensive and straightforward to put up. Rope ratchets it very easy to change your lights whenever you want without running the risk of losing the light on your plants.

When you want greater accessibility to the tent's rear without the light shining directly on you or even just to take more explicit pictures of your plants, it might be helpful to be able to turn lights on and off swiftly. To be safe, be sure that the rope ratchets or anything else you use to connect the lights can support at least twice as much light as you are using.

You can quickly raise and lower a grow light with a few clicks using inexpensive rope ratchets, eliminating the need to hold the light up or concern that you could dump it on your plants.

Extractor Fan

Setting up the output and input fans should come first after building the tent. Your extractor and input fan often do not come with the proper wires attached, so you must first connect them.

The extractor must then be attached to a frame so you can fasten it to the interior of your grow tent. Then, using sturdy clips or the knots included with the grow tent, secure the frame to the top bars of your grow tent. Once it is configured, test it to ensure that it is functional.

You should select an expansible aluminum ducting part for the intake fan that is large and can suck a significant amount of fresh air for your plants. Make sure the path is straight.

Carbon Filter

You may stop your home from smelling like herbs using a carbon filter if you want to produce discreetly.

Ensure the air from the tent travels through the carbon filter before venting outside by hanging the filter inside the tent. In this manner, the carbon filter will filter the air before the exhaust fan blows it outside.

Ducting Hose

It is essential to prevent stale air from going inside the tent. This can be done by adding a ducting hose from the outer part of the extractor fan to the window.

You must work hard to go in a straight line, or at least as straight as possible, for this to be effective. Any curve in the ducting will cause air to be removed slightly slower.

Thermo-hygrometer

Check the humidity and temperature in your grow room once you've connected everything and ensure it's all functioning.

All you need to do is switch on your thermometer and set it up in the space. Many versions save the lowest and best readings so you can monitor your plants' conditions while the lights are out. You can observe the precise humidity and temperature in real-time.

Ideal Environment in the Grow Tent

Particularly in grow tents, the growing environment is crucial to promoting photosynthesis and the viability of plants. Throughout the growing cycle of the plants, the temperature should be exceptionally carefully controlled since it may make or break a harvest.

Humidity and Temperature in the Grow Tent

Although the recommended temperature range is between 20 and 28oC, the grow tent should not have a high temperature of 31°C or a low temperature of 17°C.

Relative humidity shouldn't be lower than 20% or more than 75%. A humidity of between 40% and 60% is excellent. It can sometimes approach 90%, which shouldn't be a concern if it only occurs sometimes. To regulate these variables in our developing environment, a thermo-hygrometer is required.

Airflow

All leaves produce a microclimate that is autonomous of the surrounding atmosphere that a plant is in, which is why plants need ventilation.

The boundary layer resistance is a phenomenon that is heavily impacted by airflow. Large boundary layers are created by static or immobile air. As a result, the microclimate created by the plant becomes progressively distinct from the atmosphere outside.

How rapidly gases and energy may exchange depends on the boundary layer. The resistance at the border layer can build up to the point where it prevents CO2/O2 exchange, transpiration, and, therefore, photosynthesis and plant development. To lessen the resistance of the boundary layer, any interior surroundings must have at least some ventilation.

Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide is one of the main components of photosynthesis and a key component of how plants function.

In the wild, there will be a lot of carbon dioxide in the air naturally, and plants will have access to a reservoir of 300–400 ppm CO2 in the environment automatically and continuously. However, while operating in a confined indoor environment, you must be aware of how rapidly your plants consume carbon dioxide.

Another advantage of having a well-managed exhaust and ventilation system is the volume and ratio of carbon dioxide in your grow tent.

Regulating Scent

There is a reason why herbs are sometimes referred to as "skunky." They have a very potent smell, especially in the blossoming stage. They become ferocious.

Naturally, your exhaust system will handle this for you by removing the stench from the grow tent, but that isn't the end of it. You don't want always to be filling the air around your house with the aroma of potent blossoming herbs, but that fragrance is going someplace.

You may achieve this by using an odor filter, which is often some form of carbon-binding device that captures molecules. The majority of odor filters are carbon-filled metal cylinders.

Filters are inserted within exit propellers to ensure that the air leaving the grow space is pure. This works because when the carbon passes over it, it absorbs the smell of the plant. Use cotton to make the carbon last longer. Cotton may be used to filter out additional dust by wrapping it around the cylinder.

This won't be a long-term fix, but it will increase the lifespan of your filter. The carbon must be replaced every 25 weeks, or it might start to deteriorate.

What Kind of Lighting is Ideal for a Grow Tent Inside?

Light is a need for herbs, just like water and minerals. Acquiring the right grow light for your tent setup is essential if you plan to plant indoors.

There are several choices, all of which have various sizes, light spectrums, power, and heat outputs. Consider the following when selecting the ideal light for your setup.

Type of Light

What kind of light you wish to employ should be your first consideration. The most popular options include sodium and metal halide bulbs, high-intensity discharge lights (HID), light-emitting diodes, and compact fluorescents (CFLs).

CFLs

CFLs used in gardening are smaller versions of the CFLs you may see in an office or school building's overhead. Although they are affordable, effective, and simple to locate, there are some drawbacks. One reason is that while the light they provide is plenty for the vegetative stage, it is insufficient for blooming. Additionally, your plants will produce little because of their low power.

LED Lights

While LED lights haven't been utilized for herb cultivation for as long as other forms of lighting, they are quickly gaining popularity. LED lighting is substantially more energy-efficient than conventional types of lighting, which will reduce your electricity costs.

You can use a single LED light throughout the vegetative and blooming stages, and they also take up less space and produce less heat. The primary drawback is that they are expensive, but if you grow frequently, the power savings will eventually cover the cost of the original investment and more.

Both types of HID lights are affordable.

The drawbacks include their larger size compared to LEDs, high power consumption, and high heat output, which may need you to replace your cooling and ventilation systems.

Which lighting is, therefore, ideal for you? LEDs are an excellent option if you can afford the initial expenditure or are short on space.

HIDs

HIDs could be the ideal option if your grow room could use a little extra heat or if you don't have much money to invest right now. You may also choose CFLs and upgrade later if you're just getting started and want to test it out with the least expense and bother. In the end, you'll have to choose based on your circumstances.

HIDs are hooded lamps that reflect light and bulbs with gas within that glow when power passes through them.

You may purchase bulbs loaded with high-pressure sodium (HPS) or metal halide (MH) (HPS). While HPS bulbs create yellow or orange light and are ideal for blooming, MH bulbs provide a blueish light that is excellent for vegetative development.

For either type, you'll need to install an electrical ballast to control the current entering the light, or you may purchase a kit with the ballast already installed.

Choosing the Right Grow Tent

Choosing a complete grow tent kit often relies on how many healthy plants you intend to cultivate and what lighting you'll employ. These two aspects will also impact ventilation, and many tents will provide a range of ventilation choices. Generally speaking, you'll want to ensure enough space for your plants to flourish in a relaxed and uncrowded atmosphere. It would help if you had adequate ventilation fans and a lighting area.

Consider the following things while searching for grow tents for sale:

  1. How many plants do you intend to raise? Check to see whether they are not too crowded.
  2. The herb strain and the growing method you want to use. Some varieties need more room since they grow bigger plants. More areas will be needed for some growth techniques than for others.
  3. How much room do you have to set up your grow tent? A grow tent makes sense if you have a modest room available. It would help if you also considered the distance to a power supply, the size and height of the footprint, and the outside ventilation.

How to Maintain a Perfect Environment

Lighting, ducting, and fans in a grow tent for indoor grow. You'll need to put in some extra effort to control your grow room's climate in the summer when there's a chance of 100° days and humidity levels of 60%. This is necessary to prevent wilting plants, rot, and mold. When thinking about the optimal grow room setting, it's crucial to keep the following in mind:

Generally speaking, the temperature in your grow space should never get over 80 degrees. If you're using CO2 supplements during the flowering stage, this is the only time this rule does not apply.

Fortunately, a grow room puts you in a position where you can control your plant's temperatures and humidity levels.

Tips On Setting Up a Grow Tent

Finding the proper indoor plant and herb growth kit might be difficult because there are so many various styles and dimensions available. Here are a few pieces of advice:

  • Size – Consider the number of plants you wish to cultivate and the available area. You don't want your plants to be crowded together, and you also don't want to spend money on a plant that would take up too much room.
  • Herbs variety - Research the growth needs for the species of herbs you wish to produce because some need more room than others.
  • Build quality - Choose a grow tent with solid build quality if you want it to last long.

Steel closures and metal locking components, which are more robust, demanding, and lasting than plastic ones, are preferred in the best grow tents.

They also have a broad canvas, which effectively blocks the stench and is more durable against tearing and splitting. Both nylon and polyester in high density perform well.

  • Features - While some grow tents feature ventilation openings at the bottom, some include viewing ports at the front so you can keep an eye on your plants without removing the tent and upsetting the environment.
  • Covered in mesh to keep out dust, pet fur, and insects. Another helpful feature is a washable, removable base tray that can capture any spills of water, soil and plant residues without soiling your flooring.

The Takeaway!

You can cultivate your herbs at home without the inconvenience of odors, bugs, or unacceptable conditions by following the instructions and recommendations in this post.

Check out Canada Grow Supplies' selection of the top grow tents. A tent should be the right size for your purposes, manufactured of high-quality materials, put up according to the manufacturer's instructions, and adhere to the following measures.

When you've finished setting up your grow tent, don't forget to keep an eye on the temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels and make adjustments as necessary to maintain your plants growing swiftly and giving out perpetual harvests.

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