A grow tent is one of several places to grow pot in.In our series on how to grow pot, we’ve shared the basics, and also done focus articles on reverse osmosis water, and the differences in systems used to grow pot.
Now we’re looking at a crucial choice all cannabis growers make: where to grow pot.
Here are your site options:
Outdoors in your back yard, perhaps in a greenhouse.
Outdoors at a remote site, sometimes referred to guerilla growing.
Indoors in a grow room, most often a spare bedroom.
Indoors in a basement or closet.
Indoors in a grow tent or grow chamber.
Commercial growers can add “warehouses” and other large facilities to the list.
The main features your space needs so you can grow pot indoors are:
• Controllable indoor climate.
• Reliable electricity supply (minimum 20-amp circuit).
• Security & Privacy.
• At least 60 square feet (200 or more square feet is preferable).
• Lockable door.
If you grow in a grow tent or grow chamber, you still need an indoors place to put the tent or chamber in.
Grow tents and grow chambers aren’t meant to be outdoors uncovered.
If you grow cannabis outdoors, your marijuana growing space needs:
- Privacy and security.
- At least 6-7 hours of direct sunlight per day.
- Reliable water supply.
There are advantages and disadvantages for each of these marijuana growing locations.
If you grow inside your home, you have issues such as security risks, increased electricity costs for climate control and grow lights, and risk of fire or flooding.
Indoors, you have total control over your marijuana plants’ climate conditions, water and nutrients intake, pest and disease vectors, and security conditions.
When you grow pot inside your home using good security and cultivation protocols, your plants are way safer from police and other threats than growing outdoors.
Indoor cannabis plants grown properly in a controlled environment are almost 100% protected from spider mites, thrips, aphids, fungus gnats, whiteflies, gray mold, powdery mildew and other cannabis attackers.
If you grow pot outdoors, you risk your cannabis plants being harmed by drought and other weather and climate problems, as well as pests, diseases, police, rip-offs.
The benefits of growing outdoors (including in greenhouses) are that the sun, rain, and wind are free, and outdoor marijuana plants can grow much larger than indoor plants, producing many pounds of dried buds per plant.
Grow tents and grow chambers are sometimes useful, but there’s a wide range of quality between different brands.
A sturdy grow tent in a 4 x 8-foot size, for example, costs at least $700 if not much more.
Most pre-fabricated grow chambers (sometimes called grow cabinets) are too small or otherwise poorly-configured to be of much use.
Ask and answer the following questions BEFORE you choose where you grow pot:
• Do I have total security if I grow inside my dwelling?
• Do I have a spare room or other space to grow in?
• Do I have nosy neighbors, friends, family, kids who might discover my grow op?
• Do I have reliable wiring, electrical panel, air conditioning, water?
• Can I afford my electricity costs to go up about 40% per month?
• How much cannabis do I want to consume per month?
• How much money do I have to create my marijuana garden (start-up costs) and to spend on monthly costs (such as electricity and water)?
In our next installment in this series, we’ll talk about start-up costs and monthly costs.
Just know that when you grow pot, your harvest is going to be worth more than you spend to grow it.
