The world is moving at a constant pace towards marijuana acceptance. Countries like Chile, Jamaica, and the Netherlands, individuals are generally allowed to cultivate the beautiful hemp Plant, and possession of weed is decriminalized.
While the United States is moving closer towards this freedom, only five states allow for recreational cannabis sales.
As the world becomes more accepting of marijuana use, the trend of growing hemp plants in the backyard has increased. Hemp, however, requires some specific conditions to Grow and flower.
Before proceeding with this DIY Grow Tent process, make sure to check the legality of cannabis cultivation in your area.
Why Build an Indoor Grow Tent?
If hemp is a plant, why can’t we just plant it outside next to the daisies? Leaving hemp to grow wildly outside usually results in “ditch weed” and loses many of its desirable properties.
While marijuana is generally a resilient plant, to maximize its growth and potency, using a grow tent is essential.
With a grow tent, you’ll be better able to:
- Control the temperature of the plant
- Alter the humidity of the climate around the plant
- Marijuana loves a lot of light, so designing a grow tent with reflective walls can make the plant happy, healthy, and potent.
DIY Grow Tent Setup
There are many varieties on the general grow room design, most of which are dependent on personal preference.
If your focus is on stealth, consider growing in a PC grow box. For a mostly self-sufficient system, explore a hydroponic weed system.
In our opinion, the best DIY grow tent for us had the easiest setup. We also included some alternative, but harder to use, materials for a cheap grow tent.
We’ll include how and when those materials would be used.
What Will I Need to Build an Indoor Grow Tent?
There’s some tools and materials you’ll need to get started.
You’ll need:
- An adjustable shelving unit. If sleek design is appealing to you, you can use a more expensive and fashionable rack. In other DIY designs, they used PVC pipes to set up the frame of the tent. PVC pipes are cheapest, but are harder to set up.
- Black and white poly. This material has a black side and a white side. The black side is great for absorbing the light, and the white side reflects it to keep it in the grow tent.
- Strong tape. Scotch tape won’t do the job – go for the duct tape.
- Cable ties or Velcro. These will help keep the wires contained.
- Four LED lights.
- A fan.
With the materials we used, we invested about $100.
Steps to Set Up Your Indoor Grow Tent
Step 1.
Assemble the rack. This could mean setting up the ready-to-go shelving unit from Amazon, or constructing the frame with PVC pipe.
Try to make the top shelf as small as possible while leaving room for your lights to rest, so your plants have room to stretch and grow.
If needed, you can consider removing the shelving of the lights to make that shelf as small as possible and give your plants more room.
Good To Know: 5 Top Rated Full Spectrum LED Grow Lights
Use the Velcro to fasten any loose wires to the frame of the tent.
Step 2.
Position the fan underneath the shelving unit. Try to make sure there’s an easy and accessible way to turn it on and off.
Step 3.
Hang up your poly. Drape your poly over the shelving unit/PVC pipe frame with the white side facing inwards.
One of the edges should be on the top shelf, and there should be an edge of poly on each side. Don’t worry if extra material pools on the ground – it won’t affect your system.
Tape the top edge of the poly to the top of the rack, then cut and tape the edges. Once that’s secure, trim the excess material from the bottom.
You should have enough excess material to make a “door” to cover the remaining exposed side of the tent.
Step 4.
Make modifications. Depending on where your grow tent is, you may need to adjust for temperature or humidity. If it’s too hot, cut some slashes in the top of the tent for ventilation.
Setting Up the Plant
Firstly, make sure you weigh out the differences of indica vs sativa. These plants have a few key variations.
The biggest difference is while sativa, when smoked, feels analogous to a strong cup of black coffee, indica feels like taking a sleeping pill.
Once you figure out what plant you want to choose, you can get on with growing it.
There are a few ways to get your plant. Whether by planting from seed (read an article on how to germinate weed seeds) or cloning cannabis cuttings, you’ll need a decently sized container that can handle the root system of hemp.
Soil that is too rich in nutrients can damage the plant, the best soil for cannabis will be rich in nitrogen for the plant’s vegetative phase and richer in phosphorus than nitrogen in the plant’s flowering phase.
At all times, the pH should stick between 5.8 and 6.3, and have a balanced ratio of soil fungus to bacteria.
If you are buying a soil mix from the store, a good rule of thumb is to get a soil that has lots of ingredients with natural ingredients, like fishmeal or earthworm castings.
There are some mixes available online that are designed for the cannabis plant, but they can get expensive.
Help! My Plants Have…
Mold!
Moldy weed looks daunting, but is salvageable. Learn how to identify and prevent mold from ever growing on your plants.
Bugs!
Russet mites can be impossible to see, but their effects are devastating. These little mites can consume entire plants. Again, the best treatment for these bugs is prevention. Learn how to handle russet mites here.
The Final Word
Once you learn how to grow your weed and how to dry weed, you’re ready to reap the benefits of growing your own marijuana and enjoy the fruits of your labor!
Photos from: OpenRangeStock / depositphotos.com, jarino / depositphotos.com.
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