How To Set Up A Cheap Grow Room ( updated 2021)

 If you have decided to grow medical cannabis indoors rather than outside in the garden, you will need to set up a space dedicated to tending your cannabis plants. There are many ways to prepare a grow room; in fact, space does not even need to be an actual room.

You will need to know how many plants you want to grow, what types of growing mediums you plan on using, the lighting that will be utilized, and how to supply the electrical needs to the growing space. Having a well-thought-out plan will save you money and time.

Whether starting with a single grow tent, a stealthy grow box, or a full-scale commercial grow room, how you set up your growing space goes a long way in determining your final yields.

How Big Should A Grow Room Be?

Its size depends on the intended purpose. In some cases, it will just be a small area created from your spare bedroom or a converted garage.

It can also be gigantic. For example, a commercial grow room can be so large that calling it a plant factory, or an indoor garden, or even an indoor farm won’t seem out of hand.

What’s The Difference Between A Grow Room and A Greenhouse?

Unlike a grow room, a greenhouse isn’t completely sealed so, they significantly differ. However, a grow tent is closer to a grow room — in fact, it is considered to be a mobile grow room.

Advantages Of Growing Plants In A Grow Room
Growing in your grow room will give you several benefits.

Here they are:

Control
It’s easier to manage light, temperature, and even humidity

Space economy
Grow rooms are one of the better choices for small-space gardening.

Protection
Growing plants are protected from nuisances such as bugs, dust, harsh weather conditions, or destruction by animals and humans

Better ROI
Plants are in a better overall condition and yield more. In the end, you will pocket more bucks.

What Equipment Will I Need for a Cheap Indoor Grow Setup?

Here are the most basic pieces of equipment your indoor grow tent setup will need. You can also read our guide on grow tent setup here.

The Grow Tent
The best indoor grow tent allows you to grow your crop year-round, so your crop yield isn’t limited by the climate or seasons. It protects your plants from pests and diseases.

Grow tents allows you to create an ideal climate for the best possible growth, and ensure the best crop yields. You can get indoor tents in a wide range of sizes with different features, and the more features you have, the more expensive the tent will be.

LED Grow Lights
Rather than using natural sunshine, grow tents rely on grow lights that emit the ideal range of light needed for maximum growth, plant health and yield. These are a little different from regular lights, and there’s a lot to consider when buying a grow light.

LED grow lights are the most compact, which is best for smaller tents that aren’t especially tall, and they use the least amount of energy, which saves you money in the long term.

They also give off the least amount of heat, so your plants aren’t at risk of burning and controlling the tent temperature is much easier.

Proper Ventilation for Your Plant
All plants need good airflow in order to grow. Good ventilation gives plants access to carbon dioxide that they need for the photosynthesis process and oxygen for cellular respiration.

Airflow also helps to regulate temperature more effectively, and prevent excessive humidity that can cause rot and mold outbreaks.

The best grow setup for indoors we’ve recommended have vents for airflow, but it’s a good idea to add a fan to keep the air moving properly and mimic the breezes your plants would experience outdoors.

Extra Upgrades for Your Grow Tent

Of course, the sky’s the limit in terms of upgrading your grow tent and adding new features, and the best grow tent setups for indoors can become very complex and costly.

If you have some space in your budget to add a couple of upgrades, here’s what we’d recommend.

Heating or Temperature Control
Marijuana is a tropical plant and loves warmth, so a heating rig is a good idea if you are in a cold climate and using a space that doesn’t have good heating, like an unfinished basement, garage or garden shed.

Ideally, the temperature in the grow tent should stay at 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Right Humidity Level
Learning how to grow marijuana? Here is our guide on how to create flavoured marijuana. Marijuana plants enjoy a humidity level of between 40–50%.

The cheapest way to introduce more humidity into your grow tent is to mist your plants each day or set the pots on a wet gravel bed on a humidity tray. However, these are not very effective in dryer climates, and a humidifier will work more reliably.

Monitoring Devices for Grow Tents
Since climate control is such an important part of successfully growing marijuana and other plants indoors, it’s a good idea to invest in a temperature and humidity monitoring system.

They are the ideal investment if you are learning how to grow marijuana.

Hydroponics System
If watering your plants by hand becomes a hassle, you can invest in a hydroponics system or deep water culture system. More professional setups for growing marijuana indoors (or other plants) use these systems.

These supply the ideal amount of water to the plants automatically, preventing overwatering that can lead to root rot, and underwatering that can kill the plant.

The plants in these systems also use less water and produce a greater yield, faster.

One Grow tent kit meets all your growing needs!

ECO Farm 4'x4' Essential Grow Tent Kit with ECO Farm DBL5000 480W LED Grow Light

How to Save Money While Operating Your Grow Room

Once you have all the necessities, it is crucial to understand how to cut costs while growing cannabis. While you will not be able to eliminate all costs of running a growing room, it is possible to reduce the expense significantly. Consider the following tips to keep your growing room efficient and working as it should, without so much cost.

It can help to run your growing lights at night instead of during the day. Because you are growing plants indoors, there is no set time of the day when lights should be used. Using them during the night, when temperatures are cooler, will help to decrease the amount of heat in the room, which means less time running the AC.

You should remember, during the vegetation stage, there is no need to run the lights twenty-four hours a day. Eighteen hours is enough and will keep your plants growing healthy and strong. Running the lights twenty-four hours a day will lead to increased energy costs that can become expensive, depending on the wattage and number of bulbs being used.

Upgrading to more energy-efficient options will also help you to save money. Although these will cost more upfront, they can save you exponentially overall, eventually paying for themselves.

It is essential to check with your energy provider to determine if they charge more for peak hours of usage. There are certain times of the day when energy companies actually charge more. Once you know this time, it may be possible to rearrange the light usage times to non-peak hours, so the costs are less expensive.

Properly maintaining your equipment is necessary for saving money on operating costs. Improperly maintained equipment will often expend more energy than equipment that has been cared for regularly.

Because one of the significant expenses of growing cannabis is purchasing seeds, you must work diligently to avoid pests and diseases that can destroy your crops. Keeping your plants healthy will help to prevent needless expenses due to destroyed crops.

Plant propagation can also help you to reduce growing costs. There are multiple ways this can be accomplished, including using cuttings to grow more cannabis plants. It is wise to wait to try propagation until you have mastered the basics of growing for the best results.

Conclusion

The best indoor grow setup should be clean, organized, and efficient. Grow rooms aren’t cheap to set up, but the investment you put into them will pay off greatly for years to come. Especially if you put together the best grow setup from the beginning!