Every grower’s dream is to have a healthy, highly productive crop of cannabis. After all, if you’re going through the trouble of growing it yourself, you may as well get the most out of your efforts. But oftentimes, your growing space is limited, and you have to make certain considerations in order to maximize your grow space.
When you’re growing indoors, you have to consider the amount of oxygen, water, and nutrients available to each plant. Are you using a grow tent setup? If so, how many square feet do you have? How many lights can you fit in the space? How many plants can be under each light? These are just a few of the questions we can answer when it considering how to maximize grow space.
Grow Tent Setup
Grow tents are not meant to be used for large-scale growing operations. They’re perfectly designed, though, for someone who grows as a hobby or simply wants to control their own weed supply. You can purchase a grow tent setup relatively inexpensively (under $200) and it should all have the same basic parts:
- Reflective walls
- Waterproof catch tray
- Air-tight vents
- Grow lights
- Exhaust fan
- Carbon filter
- Air circulating fan
Grow tents keep out bugs and keep your cannabis growing space free of mold (as the humidity is regulated inside it). You’ll need to tend to your plants daily to ensure they’re getting enough air, water, light, and nutrients.
Grow tents are easy to set up and take down, are pre-made to set up your growing operation, and can be easily hidden in plain sight. Most simple kits are 2’ x 4’ x 5’ and can house anywhere from 6 to 10 plants based on the strains you’re growing. There are larger tents available if you want to increase your crop or grow taller strains of cannabis.
Grow Rooms
Once you have been successful in growing some plants in a grow tent, it’s time to move up to a dedicated grow room. This space will require all of the same equipment as a grow tent, but its larger capacity and helps you maximize your grow space.
Grow rooms usually have plants growing in both buckets and trays. You can have different strains growing in the same space, but make sure you feminize the crop when the time comes (remove the male plants before they burst their pods). Every strain will require a certain amount of water (which can be done by hand, through air misters, or through pipes and drains), a specific amount of light and heat, and the proper nutrient mixes.
In a grow room, the minimum cannabis growing space for one plant is one square foot. However, if you aren’t certain of the size of your buckets or how many plants in total you will end up with in your crop, plan for two to four square feet per plant just to be safe.
So, for example, if you convert a bedroom into a grow room at 150 square feet, you’ll need space for your equipment and supplies as well as lights and a water supply (say 50 to 60 square feet), so you can get between 40 and 50 plants into the room, depending on the strain and growth patterns.
Greenhouses
The ultimate indoor growing operation is the greenhouse. If you want to truly expand your crop and keep it rotating to always have available buds, a greenhouse is worth your investment. Greenhouses use natural sunlight to keep the soil and plants warm, so there’s no need for heating lamps or lights. They are well-ventilated and you can even purchase them with watering capabilities.
Greenhouses can be anywhere from 8’ x 12’ to 10’ x 20’ when purchases as a kit. You’ll need to account for square footage for your growing tables, buckets, and other equipment and supplies to be stored in the greenhouse (50 square feet minimum).
With that in mind, an 8’ x 12’ greenhouse has 96 square feet, which leaves you room for 25 to 35 plants. A 10’ x 20’ greenhouse has 200 square feet, which leaves you room for 45 to 55 plants.
Maximizing your space is about knowing how much space each plant needs, how much room you have to work with, and how much money you’re willing to invest in your growing operation. Be sure do your space calculations ahead of time.