Cannabis Cultivation Tips: How To Set Up Indoor Grow Lights

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

Growing indoors will provide you the power to influence all necessary inputs for growing big, healthy, cannabis plants with those big, sticky buds you dream of. This includes lights, nutrients, water and humidity, ventilation as well as temperature. Instead of being dependent on weather and soil you can optimize your production for maximum yield.

CFL bulbs tend to be used in smaller grow tents due to the fact that they don’t heat up too much, so all you need is a reflector with a socket, pulleys and the bulb to complete your installation. They’re also only really cost-effective if you’re growing one or two plants, so they’re perfect for beginners that can’t wait to get started. Just connect the bulb to the reflector and then add the pulleys so that you can control the height – this is important, as you’ll need to adjust them a couple of times a week once your plants start growing.  

HID or high-intensity discharge lamps have been the grow lights of choice for every kind of indoor grower from beginners to pro cultivators since the early 1990’s at least. Over the years, lamps have become more efficient, ballasts have gone digital, and reflectors have gotten bigger and better. Growers that favour HID are big believers that lumens are the only output statistic that matters when it comes to lights. 

LED or light-emitting diode is the up-and-coming breakaway technology that looks to end the reign of HID for cannabis cultivation. The latest generation of LED systems are now capable of producing comparable, and in some cases, superior quality marijuana than the average HID set-up. PAR or photosynthetically active radiation is the metric that LED zealots consider most important.

It’s best not to get too obsessed about the various new measures of indoor grow light and modified light spectrums. Keep it simple. Think of light in terms of watts and electricity bills. 

Each lighting system is going to require you to consider spacing and if you need a reflector or not; if you’re growing in a full room, you might want to consider covering the walls with reflective material or white paint at least in order to increase reflectivity when growing using HID lights (HPS and MH). For example, both HID and CFL lights require a reflector and reflective surfaces, as they produce light in all directions which means there’s a higher chance of actually losing some reflectivity, which means that your plants won’t receive as much light as they should be. If growing in a grow tent designed for this purpose, you shouldn’t need to cover the walls with anything as they generally come with a reflective surface.

LED lights, however, don’t require a reflector as their light is omnidirectional, which means that you essentially have to point them where you want them to go. Some growers use CFL lighting to supplement LEDs towards the sides of their plants in order to increase light intake – this is also done with HID lights, as CFL lights are inexpensive and can provide quite an increase when used correctly.

When you have the right tools on hand, hanging grow lights is relatively easy. Depending on whether you’re growing in a room or in a grow tent, you’ll need to hang your lights in a certain way. For example, in a grow tent you can easily use the upper bar to hang your lights from, but in a room unless you have a beam you’re going to want to buy a frame to hang it from.

The idea is to ensure that you can move them up and down when needed, as your plants are going to grow fast to start with and you’ll need to adjust the height of the lamps accordingly. You’re also going to need to calculate the light needed for your available space. For example, the smallest grow tents on the market should have enough with a 250w HID (around 0.6×0.6m) although for larger tents such as 1.2×1.2x people tend to opt for higher wattages such as 600w, although this can vary for LED lights and you still need to make sure the light will cover all of your plants.

When growing using HID lights and cooltube reflectors, make sure to keep in mind the added weight to your lighting system and the necessary elements that you’ll have to connect to the cooltube (ducting, extraction fan, odor system etc).

One of the best methods of setting up your grow lights is to hang them from the bar or a beam on your ceiling using a handy pulley system or by making your own using chains – it’s incredibly important to make sure that whatever system you have in place can be adjusted; one of the most important parts of a grow light setup is adaptability 

VIPARSPECTRA XS1500 LED grow light adopts the latest high-quality LEDs technology-Samsung LM301B diodes, high energy efficiency with 2.7 umol/J, generates more usable lighting per watt and provides better light canopy penetration.

Consists of 3000K warm white, 5000K white, 660nm deep red, and 730nm IR light, which providing your plants with excellent full spectrum led grow lights. The red and IR light are particularly useful during bloom, which can speed up bloom time and enhance high yields to obtain the ideal harvest. An added dimmer knob is featured to manipulate the light intensity at liberty, provides desired needs for plants in all stages from veg to bloom.

No fans zero noise. Large areas of solid aluminum heat sinks help you to achieve the ideal cooling system. Adopts high safety performance MEAN WELL HLG series driver to achieve high PAR output, longer lifespan to speed up plant's grow processes and boost yields while saving you on your energy bill.

VIVOSUN VS1000 LED grow lights use the latest LED plant light technology including Samsung LM301H Diodes, high-energy efficiency with 2.75 umol/J; Extremely high output but consumes only 100W of electricity, making it more efficient than traditional HID lamps and other plant lamps on the market.

These VS 1000 full-spectrum LEDs deliver optimal light-spectrum coverage—more power for your blooms and maximum PAR output at various distances, with super-bright lights that your plants will love; This LED light increases yield while decreasing costs, especially if you compare it to HPS/CMH combos.

The VS1000 LED plant lamp has a dimming knob that makes it adaptable to different growing periods of your plant; It can adapt to the growth needs of plants in different periods. The first choice for beginners and professional growers alike.

Water

Just use regular tap water. If you can drink it so can your marijuana plants. Professional growers use corrected water with pH between 5.5 and 6.5 and EC between 1.8 and 2.2.

There are 3 common methods for testing these values, but it will also work fine with regular tap water. Use some nitrogen (N) during the growth phase and some N-P-K during flowering. 

Co2

All green plants, marijuana included, use light energy, water and carbon dioxide (Co2) to produce energy in the form of sugar for its growth (photosynthesis).

You can use a Co2 tank with a regulator but you can also install a simple ventilation system to refresh the air in your grow room. Place a fan in front of the air-inlet and create an opening (as high as possible, hot air rises) where the warm air can escape.

Climate

The temperature should not drop below 64 and not get higher than 86. Around 77 is perfect!

The HPS light will produce a lot of heat so if you install it in a 48″x48″x80″ closet without ventilation temperatures will rise up to 125F. Use a little more space and temperatures will be fine. All plants should move a little by the air flow in your grow room, just like the wind normally makes plants move.

Use aluminum foil instead of mylar or other reflective foil. Buy used equipment and be creative. See how you can set up a simple homemade hydroponics system. You don’t need a water pump, a bucket or watering can will also do. Also, you’ll need to read a lot about growing marijuana.

The only way to identify your ideal grow light setup is to know your goals as a grower, the space you have to work with, and your budget. 

Fortunately, there  are a huge selection of grow lights on the market, so you can find exactly what you need and start growing indoors.