Marijuana smell indicates bud potency, plant health, and cannabinoid profiles.
It’s also a big security risk.
Police officers, neighbors who nark, and rippers seek to detect marijuana smell.
The words “I detected the odor of marijuana” spoken by a police officer and recorded in a search warrant are frequently seen.
And if you’re growing particularly pungent cannabis strains such as diesels, skunks, and Haze, marijuana smell can be detectable hundreds of feet away from your grow op.
The three common ways of reducing marijuana smell are:
- Using unvented, non-inline carbon or other filtration to clean grow room air before the air leaves the room.
- Using carbon or other filtration to clean the air as part of an inline filtration room exhaust process.
- Adding masking scents to cover up marijuana smell.
In the first method, growers most often use a large carbon filter and a fan that sucks air in one end, cleanses it, and sends it out the other.
The unit isn’t connected to the room’s exhaust system.
In the second method, growers use a carbon filter or other cleaner connected inline to the exhaust fan and ducting that vents the room.
In methods one and two, growers sometimes use ozone generators, ionizers, or ultraviolet sterilizers instead of carbon filters.
In the third method, growers use devices and materials that send perfumed chemical scents into the general environment.
Using stand-alone filtration removes about 80% of marijuana smell from a grow room.
It increases electricity costs.
It cleans the air inside the room so plants are healthier and buds are cleaner.
Using filtration connected inline to the room’s exhaust fan removes 90-100% of the smell, as long as the inline filter or filtration device is well-made.
Properly filtered air that leaves your grow room via a roof or wall vent won’t have much if any marijuana smell.
In sealed and/or large scale grow ops with multiple rooms, some growers exhaust air into a lung room where it’s scrubbed.
Using scent maskers like Ona gel doesn’t get rid of marijuana smell.
It only adds a strong non-marijuana smell on top of the existing marijuana smell.
A trained cop or skilled ripper can still smell an indoor grow op even when Ona or other scent maskers are used.
Along with that, these scents are molecules floating around in the air, and they get on your buds, which can be unhealthy.
Speaking of scent, know that grow room odor control can remove some of the terpenoid scent from your buds.
There are hardware, electrical, and logistical issues to consider when purchasing gear to control marijuana smell:
- How many cubic feet (H x W x D) is your cannabis grow room?
- Do you have or are you willing to install an exhaust fan?
- How much money do you want to spend on marijuana smell control?
- How much free space do you have in your grow room (carbon filters can be as big as a water heater!).
Shopping for marijuana smell control gear is something you definitely want to do in person at a hydroponics store.
There are too many options, price points, and hardware technical details to do it by shopping online or by phone, unless you’re dealing with a very patient and knowledgeable hydroponics expert.
In my experience, the best way to control marijuana smell is to use methods one and two together.
Have a stand-alone carbon or ultraviolet scrubber in the room, and have an inline carbon, ultraviolet, or ozone scrubber inline with the room’s exhaust.
Don’t use ozone generators as a stand-alone in your indoor grow room, especially if the room isn’t vented.
Professional ozone generators are great for removing odors, but high ozone concentration quickly damages or even kill your plants, and is also unsafe for you.
It’s safe to use ozone filters inline so ozonated air is immediately exhausted out of your grow room.
Equipment and supplies for controlling marijuana smell start out costing a couple hundred dollars (fan, filter, ducting, flanges, duct silencers, etc.).
They cost ongoing money due to electricity usage, and from having to replace filters, ozone plates, ultraviolet bulbs, fans, etc. as they wear out.
Watch the videos in this article before you start shopping for or changing your grow room odor control tactics.
Most marijuana strains grown properly have strong marijuana smell that can get you narked, busted, or robbed.
Invest in cannabis odor control after doing lots of research.
Grow room marijuana smell control cleans your plants’ air, creates cleaner buds, and gets rid of a huge security risk.