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How to Choose The Grow Tent Right Size for Your Cannabis Plants

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How to Choose The Grow Tent Right Size for Your Cannabis Plants

Advantages of Using a Grow Tent for Indoor Cannabis Growing

  • Outlined below are some of the pros of indoor marijuana cultivation using a grow tent.
  • Relatively Cheap – an average grow tent is relatively cheap, ranging between $70-150.
  • Quick & Easy to Set Up – when it comes to assembling your grow tent and getting ready to start cannabis growing, you will require only an afternoon to set up your grow tent and you don’t need to be a professional.
  • Stealth – as mentioned earlier, a grow tent has the ability to pass off like a portable wardrobe. It prevents light and odors from escaping, but only when you have set it up properly. You can tuck it at the corner or even inside a big closet for limited attention.
  • Perpetual Harvest – grow tents are ideal if you want to practice perpetual harvesting, where you have two separate chambers for vegetative and flowering phases of the cannabis.

The Size of Your Grow Tent Matters

  • The size of the tent you choose is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Together with your plant choices, it will inform your selection of supporting components and contribute to your overall operating costs.
  • If you choose an oversized tent, you run the risk of paying more for your basic equipment and for the energy necessary to power your lights, fans and other equipment. If you choose an undersized tent, you risk creating a crowded and potentially unhealthy environment for your plants, or one that simply won’t accommodate mature plants, even after aggressive staking or trellising and pruning.
  • Even though grow tents are available in lots of different shapes and sizes, the one thing they all have in common is their basic purpose—to contain and cultivate plants. You can find tabletop models, and tents that fit into walk-in or sliding-door closets.
  • There are tents large enough to dwarf a basement or attic, but fill a suburban garage. Square and rectangular tents are both popular, and you can find ones with low, high or adjustable-height ceilings. With all these options, how do you choose?
  • What goes on inside the tent will help determine the right size for your needs. For example, if you plan to get a jump start on outdoor spring planting by cultivating seedlings, you may be able to get by with a small, low tent. Seedlings wouldn’t necessarily need a roomy ceiling height, but they probably need adjustable lighting designed to enhance vegetative growth.
  • In tent selection, form follows function, and function is usually linked to the number and type of plants involved. Manufacturers aren’t always specific about how many plants can be cultivated using a particular tent. There’s a reason for that. What you grow and how you plan your garden project, down to the containers or hydro system you use, will have an impact on the number of plants your grow tent can support. 

 

General Guidelines on Plant Numbers

 

Although the best authority on grow tent sizing is the tent manufacturer, these general guidelines will give you a broad idea of the number of plants you can maintain in some of the more popular tent sizes on the market:

2 ft. x 2 ft. – 1-2 mature or 4 small plants

5 ft. x 2.5 ft. – 2 mature or 6 small plants

4 ft. x 2 ft. – 3 mature or 8 small plants

4 ft. x 4 ft. – 4 mature or 16 small plants

5 ft. x 5 ft. – 6 mature or 20 small plants

SOG Training: Plant-vs-Size Guide

In a SOG plant training process, the intention is to provide appropriate light energy on the top layer of plants. If you make sure that the plants are at the same stage of growth, plants will create a green canopy, known as “Sea of Green”.

To provide sufficient light on the top layers of plants, the grow space should be utilized properly. And the rule is to keep a density of 1 plant/square foot, all at the same time.

1 plant/square foot is the ideal plant density for SOG style growing.

Here is the complete grow room size calculator for SOG

Grow Tent Size Guide for SOG

ScrOG Training: Plant-vs-Size Guide

In the ScrOG method, you have to put a screen with multiple openings in between the plant medium and the light source. Plant tips will grow naturally till the screen and start growing ‘horizontally’ above the screen.

You see, plants should be provided with a horizontal space to grow. For obvious reasons, that will occupy more space of the grow tent to facilitate the growth. And in usual cases, it’s taken as about 0.25 plant per square foot.

0.25 plant/square foot(4 sq. ft. for 1 plant) is the ideal plant density for ScrOG style growing.

Grow Tent Size Guide for ScrOG

Which Grow Tent Size is Ideal?

There are over a hundred grow tent models to select from that come in varying sizes and capacities. It may be confusing at first, not knowing which grow tent size is for you. However, the things you have to keep in mind are: how much weed you need and the space for housing the grow tent.

For a hobbyist cannabis grower, a 4’x2′ grow tents and 4’x4′ grow tents are ideal sizes. These sizes are also fitted with the most common grow lights ensuring optimal yield. The 4’x2’ grow tent size is often recommended for novel gardeners as it has enough space and good yield; several ounces a month. Moreover, all the plants in the back row get adequate light and you can access them with ease. With this grow tent, you can also upgrade your grow lights if those that come with it aren’t to your liking or taste.

 

A 4’x4’ is ideal for larger yields and more experienced growers. It also has the potential to support some of the largest grow lights out there, even a 600-1000W grow light so long as it’s 6-7′ tall. A grow tent of this magnitude is big enough for monster yields per month that the previous size, arguably by a pound or more, but it’s still relatively small enough to be managed by one person.

Height also helps – At least 5 Feet, but 7 Feet is better

Short spaces are difficult to grow cannabis in since you’ll constantly be worried about your plants reaching the grow lights. Your grow tent should be at least 5 feet in height, to which it can support up to a 400W grow light, albeit more headroom makes it a little easier. For instance, having a height of 7 feet tall, you’ll not be limited by the height of your growing space and moreover, you’ll install more heavy duty grow lights. Not forgetting, a little extra height makes plants grow strong and also increases the yield as the plant is not limited by space.

 

Tips for Setting up Your First Grow Tent or Portable Grow Room:

  • If you plan to locate your tent in a corner, make sure you aren’t blocking a view port, door or reach-in access.
  • Do the vents and ports on the tent correspond to your planned installation in minimum number and location? Most quality tents have multiple conveniently located openings for different functions, but it still pays to check.
  • Is the tent location adjacent to or near your planned intake and exhaust locations?
  • Do you have adequate electrical access? Grow tent components can draw significant power, so check your home’s electrical system and make sure you don’t have large appliances connected to the same circuit. In fact, having a dedicated circuit for a medium- to large-sized grow tent set-up is ideal.
  • Do you plan to mount a fan? If so, will it be inside or outside the tent?
  • Are you going to keep the tent in a furnished, occupied room in your home? If so, consider a tent with good blackout or light-blocking features from ports, vents and around zippers, and invest in a tent with a quality spill tray.
  • Is there enough room around the tent to store tools and supplies?
  • If you’re using a hydroponic set-up, consider how you’ll manage maintenance functions easily and efficiently.
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