How can you imagine: open the closet and your own cannabis plant shines to you, growing and prospering happily. Perform all operations secretly in your own four walls. Through indoor cultivation, you can realize this dream.
What is indoor growth?
Indoor cultivation is a field term for growing cannabis plants in closed rooms (such as closets or entire rooms). The heart of private indoor planting is the planting box. This is the typical name for an airtight cabinet that encloses cannabis plants.
Since logically there is no sunlight in the box, the plant light must be used to illuminate the cannabis plant and make it grow normally. Just like nature, the day/night change is simulated by a timer.
The ventilation system ensures sufficient fresh air. Activated carbon filters are very important for filtering the smell of hemp, so be careful. There is also a circulating fan in the growth box for blowing the breeze.
Put the plants in pots, fertilize, and water them regularly to have enough nutrients to grow.
How much can you harvest indoors?
If the planting box, lighting equipment, and ventilation equipment are properly combined, high yields can be obtained indoors. The final benefit depends on many factors: space, amount of light and its color spectrum, cannabis species, seed genetics, soil quality, fertilizer quality, temperature, humidity, potential stress, and sum.
As long as you stick to the three most important factors (light, optimal nutrition, and suitable climate), you will have a good harvest.
Advantages and disadvantages of indoor planting
It is the dream of many people to have a small village under everyone's walls, but indoor planting also has its advantages and disadvantages.
advantage:
1.No longer go to the dealer, you can increase your consumption
2. No longer need to worry about the consumption of cheap turf or dangerous fillers, and know that you are eating high-quality turf.
3. You can harvest indoors up to 4 times a year. No matter what time of the year, you can set the weather and harvest yourself without worrying about the bad weather in nature.
Disadvantages:
1.The high entry cost requires the placement of equipment needed for planting, such as thermometers, LED growth lights, etc.
2. Indoor planting space is limited, only a limited number of plants can be planted
3. The energy consumption of the equipment will lead to high electricity bills and so on.
4. Odor risk will bring unnecessary trouble, such as thieves, animals, etc.
What equipment is needed for indoor planting?
You need a lot of equipment to grow cannabis indoors. Fortunately, many items are purchased at once and have a long service life, so in the long run, your expenses will be far less than the grass on the street.
As a basis, you should plan an investment of at least 500 Euros. In addition to the equipment used for the planting box, you also need a lot of small things, such as a thermometer/hygrometer, harvesting scissors, a container for storage, etc. Here, costs will increase rapidly.
The specific equipment is as follows:
1.Growth box
The growth box has a reflective layer, which is advantageous for plants to receive uniform light. The growth box for beginners must be at least 160 cm high, otherwise, you may encounter plant height problems in the future.
2. LED lighting
LED growth lights are conducive to the flowering and firming of cannabis, and can control the growth rate. You can hang the LED grow lights that are most suitable for beginners and switch them regularly to help you control the lighting time of the plants and prevent them from being burned.
3. Ventilation
Ventilation is a very important part. Requires exhaust fan, activated carbon filter, aluminum hose, and circulation fan. If the air in the house is not good, a blower fan is needed.
4. Soil and fertilizer
Beginners need to buy some farming soil and suitable fertilizer. This is one of the important factors affecting the health of cannabis plants. If you buy some soil that contains pathogens, the cannabis plant may die.
5. High-quality hemp seeds
High-quality, strong and easy-to-plant hemp seeds are the first step to your success. Feminized high-quality genetic seeds can make you a good harvest.
Which lighting should I choose?
Cannabis requires a lot of light to grow. This is a plant feed. The more plants there are, the bigger they become, and more light energy is needed for optimal growth.
Depending on the growth period, cannabis plants need different color temperatures to achieve optimal growth.
-During the growth stage, plants need more blue to form strong roots, strong trunks, and dense leaves. Suitable for the use of metal halide lamps, fluorescent tubes, and energy-saving lamps or LEDs.
-During the flowering period, it needs more reddish light to form flowers optimally and accumulate THC in buds. Sodium vapor lamps or LEDs are most suitable here.
Lighting type
When it comes to lighting, you will be at a loss. Many types of lights have their advantages and disadvantages. All of these have different properties and color temperatures. Here, you will soon be at a loss.
LED panel
In terms of indoor growth, LED lights are still the Holy Grail. And they are improving every year. Due to the advancement of LED technology, I suggest that 99% of growers use LED grow lights directly.
The current generation provides a perfect color spectrum, has a huge luminosity, and all of them have very low power consumption. Now, even in the low budget range, there are quite powerful full-spectrum LEDs that can be continuously used for growth and flowering at full power.
The longer service life (up to 15 years!) and lower electricity bills offset the higher prices. Sustainable people will be rewarded.
Metal halide and sodium vapor lamps (MHL / NDL)
Metal halide lamps and sodium vapor lamps (MHL/NDL) are classics in cannabis cultivation. However, because they cannot keep up with LEDs, they are gradually disappearing.
Use MHL during the growth phase and NDL during the growth phase. Both lamps are very cheap and relatively easy to assemble. The brightness and depth effects are very high, so you can harvest fat crops.
The disadvantage is that the lamp gets very hot and always needs to keep a certain distance from the plants. They also consume a lot of power, so they must be replaced more frequently. In the low power range, MHL/NDL efficiency is very low, so I can only use power below 400W.
Fluorescent tube (LSR)
Fluorescent tubes (LSR) are an interesting way of lighting during the growth phase because they consume little power and are very compact. They can be used as classic T5 long tubes or compact U-shaped curved PL-L tubes.
You can get very close to the plants because they hardly get hot. However, their depth effect is not high, but the brightness is not very high. This is why they are best suited for the growing season when the plants are still young. In order to bloom, only PL-L compact fluorescent tubes are self-made miniature plants grown in every centimeter.
I suggest that fluorescent tubes are particularly suitable for pre-cultivation when growing outdoors because you can use them to illuminate many plants at a very cheap price. They can also be used for dwarf miniature plants, where they can also bloom.
For planting boxes no larger than 80x80cm, I recommend using compact fluorescent tubes (PL-Ls). These have better depth effects and a more compact design. Starting from 100x100cm, it is more suitable to use classic T5 fluorescent tubes (LSR).
Energy Saving Lamp (ESL)
Energy-saving lamps (ESL) are nothing more than fluorescent tubes in the form of ordinary light bulbs. The advantage is that the ballast has been built into the thread and the assembly is very easy. Compared with LSR, ESL is slightly more expensive, and the depth effect is also slightly worse.
ESL is most suitable for the initial growth stage. They are only suitable for growth under special circumstances, such as small growth or as an additional light for existing lighting.
I hope this article is helpful to you, and I wish you all the best.
