Your Ultimate Guide to Selecting a Marijuana Indoor Grow Tent

When it comes to buying an indoor marijuana grow tent, it’s no longer necessary to spend a small fortune. These days, you can purchase a reasonably high-quality one for a few hundred bucks. If you plan to regularly cultivate marijuana at home (legally, I hope), it could prove a worthy investment.

If this is your first time searching for a grow tent, the sheer volume of options might prove bewildering. Fear not! This article is your 101 guide to growing tents and discusses the following:

• What a grow tent is, and why you need it
• The pros and cons of a grow tent
• How and where to set up your structure
• Things to consider when selecting an indoor marijuana grow tent
• Whether you can make a DIY version to save costs

Let’s begin!

What Is a Grow Tent?

In simple terms, a marijuana grow tent is a self-contained structure typically made using a lightweight yet durable material. It consists of metal or plastic rods joined together to make a frame. The aforementioned material covers the frame and ensures that your crop is protected from unwanted exterior elements.

One of the great things about a grow tent is that it offers a controlled environment for marijuana plants. You can install ventilation systems, grow lights, and other equipment to ensure your crop has the optimal growing environment. You can also adjust the height of your lighting to accommodate plants of different heights.

When used correctly, a grow tent can help boost your yield and reduce the risk of your plants being subject to issues like mold, mildew, and pest infestations.

Why Use a Grow Tent?

According to growers who are serious about generating bountiful harvests, a weed grow tent is a must. While you may need to pay a decent sum upfront, you’ll ultimately save money in the long term.

Apart from ameliorating long-term fiscal concerns, a grow tent can significantly boost your marijuana garden’s efficiency. When set up correctly, a grow tent can ensure your plants use a huge percentage of what’s emitted by your grow lights. Considering the cost of running such light fixtures for many hours each day, this bang for your buck is essential!

Grow tents keep pests like spider mites and aphids at bay, ensuring your crop remains protected. If you’re prepared to spend a little extra, you can buy a marijuana grow tent with an air filtration system that ensures clean air circulates while dirty air is cycled out.

It’s also worth mentioning that your grow tent gives you additional space for equipment like fans and lights.

Pros of Using a Marijuana Grow Tent

Let’s take a look at the upsides of buying or making an indoor grow tent.

Total Control

With a cannabis grow tent, you have complete control of your plants’ environment. Many of these tents are specifically designed for cannabis growing and help you control the humidity, temperature, light intensity, and air circulation of the growing space. With the help of a grow tent and some experience, you’ll learn how to manipulate these factors to cultivate bigger and stronger plants.

Protection from Pests

When you invest in a grow tent, you ensure that pests don’t get the chance to kill your crop. Flies, spider mites, and aphids are just some of the pests that can damage your plants. The risk of infestation is significantly reduced with a grow tent.

Efficiency

If you buy a tent with a suitable interior (such as mylar), you will benefit from energy efficiency during your grow. This material maximizes the use of your grow lights, ensuring that nothing is wasted.

A Straightforward Solution

With a grow tent, you can use an area without totally changing it. For instance, it’s possible to cultivate plants in a spare room or garage with a cannabis indoor grow tent.

Furthermore, once you harvest the plants, you can pack away the tent if you are satisfied with the amount of usable bud at your disposal. You can easily switch from the vegetative stage to flowering, and you can decide to switch from soil to hydroponics or vice versa without many problems.

Cons of Using a Marijuana Grow Tent

Of course, an indoor grow tent is not the perfect solution either. Here are some of its downsides.

Mistakes Are Costly

It is essential to keep the area clean, which means keeping litter away from your grow tent. You must also sterilize any equipment you use. For example, only use clean scissors when trimming your plants.

It is all too easy for cross-contamination to wreak havoc on your growing area. If mold or mildew rear their ugly heads, it can spell disaster for your entire crop. Furthermore, if pests get into the tent, they can cause a huge amount of damage.

Sometimes Unsuitable

The initial cost of marijuana grow tents can be extremely high and far beyond the means of anyone on a modest budget. Also, you must have a certain amount of dedicated space or else you physically can’t set up the tent.

How to Set Up a Grow Tent

Modern manufacturers ensure that the indoor grow tent setup process is as straightforward as possible and provides clear instructions. In general, it’s quite possible to set everything up and be ready to go in one afternoon.

Before you do anything else, though, you need to decide where to place the tent, not to mention the number of cannabis plants you want to cultivate.

First of all, measure the length, width, and height of your proposed grow room. Next, decide on the volume of plants you’re comfortable growing. Ultimately, the size of the tent will depend on this figure.

If you’re a serious grower, you may require three grow tents of different sizes. One tent is for plants in the vegetative stage, another is for plants in the flowering stage, and the final one is for curing and drying after harvest. Some expensive options have separate compartments, so you only need one tent.

The Installation Process

Here’s what to do once you have the requisite equipment.

Lay the tent flat on the ground and find the bottom. Separate the short and long poles. Begin with the bottom poles, assembling them into a square and putting them at the tent’s bottom since this is your base.

Connect the poles that rise above the base and attach the top poles to create the tent’s outline. Roll the canvas over the structure and zip it up. When it’s time to lift the tent over the poles, hold down on the poles because they don’t weigh much. If you don’t apply this pressure, the poles will lift with the tent.

Here are some quick tips to help you a little more:

• Carefully read the instruction manual, and don’t begin setting up until you understand everything
• After putting up the tent, hang lights and exhaust fans
• Hang a carbon filter to stop air leaks and the smell of weed getting out
• Double-check that everything has been installed properly
• Keep all electronics off the floor to avoid chaos if there’s a water leak

Where to Set up Your Grow Tent

Realistically, you’ll have limited space, which means a small indoor grow tent is the best you can manage. For most people, a spare bedroom is the most likely candidate, as it is more likely to avoid extreme changes in temperature, unlike attics and garages, which can have wild temperature fluctuations.

Since space is likely to be limited, you need to carefully consider the following factors before deciding where to pitch your tent.

Heat

One of the biggest drivers of temperature is your lighting. Always ensure your lamps are far enough away from your marijuana plants to avoid burning the leaves. Of course, you must also keep the lights away from the tent’s material!

Temperature generally depends on where your plants are in the growth cycle. You must be prepared to adjust the temperature at different stages. For instance, during the vegetative stage, keep the range between 68 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. During flowering, you can extend the range so that it’s between 65 and 85 degrees.

Please note that while the temperature will be lower when the lights are off (during the night, as you want to follow the natural light cycle), it shouldn’t go below the bottom end of the ranges outlined above.

Space

When measuring your indoor grow tent’s dimensions, remember that you also need room to construct it! Thus, you must ensure that there’s enough extra space available for you to comfortably assemble everything and exit/enter the tent at your leisure. Analyze the room you’re considering and note whether the tent will block any light switches, vents, and so on.

Please take note of the laws in your state, and don’t waste money buying a huge tent when it’s only legal to cultivate four plants! [linking opportunity with state guides].

Safety

There’s no getting around it; you will need to install lights, fans, and other electrical equipment. As such, safety is a primary concern when choosing where to install your marijuana grow tent.

Ideally, you’ll set things up in such a way that your tent’s equipment doesn’t share a breaker with a major household appliance. You’ll also move everything above the floor to avoid water touching any electrical outlets.

Things to Consider When Picking a Grow Tent

As for purchasing an indoor marijuana grow tent itself, the following are considerations to take into account.

Cost

One crucial factor is your budget. Whether you like it or not, you’ll have to pay extra to get a grow tent with a strong, durable structure. Such tents will hold up equipment such as the extractor fan, lights, and reflector.

Then again, if you’re only trying to cultivate a handful of plants, there’s no need to spend a small fortune. These days, decent indoor grow tents can be had for under $100. It’s best to compare cheap tents with more expensive ones to see if the former lacks features you really can’t do without.

Materials

One of the most important considerations is the quality of the indoor grow tent material. While it’s tempting to buy a cheap one, such products will likely cause you a ton of problems. Ideally, you’ll avoid any tent made from polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) because they tend to release gases that could prove toxic to your plants (not to mention you and your pets).

Look for tents made with a thick canvas material instead, as they should prove durable yet light. The greater the thread count of the canvas, the stronger it is.

Don’t forget to analyze the quality of the reflective materials on the grow tent’s interior. The reflection within the tent helps to improve the efficiency of your grow lights.

Mylar is considered one of the best materials for lining the inside of grow tents, offering at least 90% reflectivity. In contrast, aluminum foil has less than 60% reflectivity, while Panda film can reach between 85% and 95%.

If you choose tents with Mylar, look for its Denier (D) count, as it represents the mass in grams per 9,000 meters of fiber. The bigger the D figure, the stronger the fabric. Most mylar tents vary between 210 D and 1680 D.

Finally, pay special attention to the quality of the zip. After all, you’ll open and close your tent quite often. A cheap zip will break easily and cause you no end of problems. If your zip breaks, external light will get into the tent, messing up the light cycle of your plants.

Size

When it comes to selecting a marijuana grow tent, size matters! You must measure the available space where you plan to place the structure and make sure the tent’s dimensions are suitable for your chosen grow room.

You also have to consider how many marijuana plants you intend to grow. It is best to divide grow tents into small, medium, and large.

Small

Tents that are 2 x 2, 2 x 4, or 3 x 3 feet can be classified as “small.” Such indoor grow tents are perfect for novices or individuals with very limited space. Typically, you can expect to cultivate anywhere from a single plant to half a dozen. Since most states don’t let you grow more than six plants legally, you probably won’t need anything bigger.

Medium

These are generally 4 x 4, 4 x 8, or 5 x 5 foot tents. If you want to expand your weed garden and gain a little more experience, a medium-growing tent is a viable option. You should be able to grow up to 16 plants in such a space.

Large

These are tents for serious growers and are typically at least 8 x 8 feet. You can cultivate dozens of plants within such tents and also utilize advanced growing techniques like scrogging. However, unless you have a special license to grow a large number of marijuana plants, a big indoor grow tent is unlikely.

Additional Features

When you move up the price scale a little, you’ll doubtless come across indoor grow tents with air pockets for improved ventilation. Other useful features include a strong zipper, viewing windows, duct ports, high-quality insulation, large entrances, and pocket pouches.

As a general rule, focus on tents made from polyester, heavy-duty nylon, or any other tear-resistant, durable material. If possible, spend a little extra to get tents with reinforced corners and double stitching.

Hydro or Soil?

There are pros and cons for each option. If you use soil as your growing medium, you’ll need to give your plants more space. This means fitting fewer plants within your tent. Also, you must ensure there is excellent drainage and good air circulation when using a soil-growing system.

If you want to try growing marijuana hydroponically, you’ll need a medium or large grow tent to accommodate the necessary equipment. Also, since hydroponic systems need regular checks and maintenance, you must ensure it’s easy to get in and out of the tent.

Other Considerations

All indoor grow tents have ports of different sizes. You can run electrical cords and ventilation ducting through these ports. The best products have dual-cinching ports that give you the ability to block out any light that comes through the port. The result is a tent that keeps light at bay completely. It’s a good idea to check the size of the ports and where you intend to place them to make sure you can install the equipment as you wish.

The Importance of Ventilation

Remember, you’ll need to install a ventilation system within the grow tent, as it controls humidity, oxygen, CO2, and temperature. All of these are crucial environmental factors that impact the growth of your crop. Most systems will include:

• Ducting
• An extraction fan
• An intake fan

It’s important to learn more about the right cubic feet per minute (CFM) rating for your tent. CFM tells you how much air a ventilation system will move, ensuring that your plants benefit from adequate air movement.

You can calculate the CFM by multiplying W x L X H of your tent. For instance, if your tent is 4’ x 4’ x 6’ (or 96 cubic feet), you need a ventilation system capable of achieving at least 19 CFM. Incidentally, you may also need to account for duct resistance and carbon filters or long ducting. Don’t worry; there are plenty of CFM calculators online to help you out.

Most ventilation experts suggest doubling the CFM of your tent to account for these issues. So, in the above example, you would need an extraction fan with a CFM rating of 38 or more.

How to Make a DIY Cannabis Grow Tent

If you’re on a very strict budget, you may have no option but to create a DIY weed grow indoor tent. You can do this by purchasing straight PVC pipes, 90-degree corner fittings, a cross fitting, and some T-fittings. You’ll also need to purchase material to cover the frame. Some sites recommend using Panda film with the dark side on the outside and the white side on the interior since you need it to reflect the light.

Check out our article on how to make a marijuana grow tent for just $2 to learn more about how to create a tent without even buying the equipment I mentioned above.

Final Thoughts on Indoor Marijuana Grow Tents

In the end, a home weed growing kit is the quickest and simplest way to start cultivating marijuana indoors. For most people, it isn’t practical (or legal) to grow cannabis plants outdoors. Thus, they need to make the most of the indoor space they have.

This is where grow tents come in. They enable you to create a special indoor environment for your plants that somewhat resembles the great outdoors. By providing good air circulation and lighting, not to mention ample nutrients, you protect your plants from the elements and pests and give them the best possible chance of thriving.