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Alright, so you've decided you want to start your very own indoor grow, that's awesome!
There are plenty of ways to go about putting together an indoor set up, which can get a little confusing.
So below I put together a list of just about everything you will need to get your indoor cannabis garden started today!
I know all too well how badly buying grow equipment hurts the pockets, but, think about it this way, the sooner you buy everything, the sooner you can begin growing and consuming your very own flower!
There is no better feeling, waking up everyday to your very own cannabis garden!
Lets get started!
Grow Light
Deciding on a grow light really depends on how much space you have available for your indoor garden and how much you want to spend on electricity.
The higher the wattage of your light the more buds you can potentially harvest, but you will definitely be spending a bit more on your electric bill at the end of each month with higher watt lights.
LED
LED is probably the best route to get started. They are almost all full spectrum and you don't need to do a thing pretty much except turn it on and move it further or closer to the plants.
Here's a link to the best LED Grow Lights 2020 for the price which gives a ton more in-depth information about choosing the right light for your set up.
A couple of my favorite LED's for a 2 x 2 foot set up are the Phlizon CREE Cob 1000 and the Spider Farmer SF-1000 . Both are great lights, at a fair price, that will yield above average results with the proper set up.
For a 2 x 4 foot grow space you can either double up on the lights I mentioned above, or I highly recommend the Mars Hydro SP3000.
This is a very powerful LED grow light with uniform full spectrum light distribution that makes for superior yields, high quality flowers and the light is specifically designed for a 2 x 4 foot grow tent
There are certainly a lot of cheaper LED's on the market, but most of them are junk, and, considering there is a lot of time, energy, effort, and money that goes into a cannabis grow you want to be sure your end product and harvest are well worth it!
HPS/MH
A 400 or 600 watt HPS paired with a MH bulb is also a great option for an indoor cannabis garden.
You will experience fantastic yields! Especially with the 600 watt, but, you will have to change from MH bulb for veg to HPS bulb for flower, they run a bit hotter, and are pretty heavy and bulky.
The iPower 600 Watt Air Cooled Reflector Hood is my favorite HPS for the money.
IMPORTANT: If you decide to use the 600 watt HPS/MH, be sure to use a 2' x 4' x 6' minimum sized grow tent. Ideally you should place this light in a 4' x 4' x 7' grow tent as they are very powerful and can easily burn plants if they are set too close to the top of the canopy.
Digital Timer
I've been using this model for years it functions perfect and is easy to use and setup BN-LINK 7 Day Heavy Duty Digital Programmable Timer. In case you need some guidance there is a youtube video on how to set up the timer here.
Grow Tent
(Skip if you're using a closet or an open area in a room, but I do recommend grabbing a tent as it creates a micro climate inside the grow tent that is easier to control and makes it easier to achieve complete darkness which is vital for photoperiod plants).
This is the exact tent I use TopoGrow D-Door 48"x24"x72". You can go bigger or smaller as needed TopoGrow has a bunch of sizes to choose from.
I like this tent because of the extra height, which allows you more flexibility when you need to adjust the distance of your grow light from your plants, and gives you more ceiling for taller plants.
Ventilation and Odor Reduction
Inline fan sucks in cold dry air, removes hot humid air and blows it out through a carbon filter getting rid of any smell you wouldn't want your neighbors getting a whiff of.
Complete set up with variable speed control to help adjust your temps and humidity linked here iPower 6 Inch 442 CFM Inline Fan (comes with some bonus goodies too!)
I personally don't use a carbon filter because it does reduce the power of the actual fan, but if you need to be extra stealth do it! Otherwise you can just purchase the inline fan, ducting, and ducting clamps separately and rig it up with some heavy duty zip ties to save a few bucks.
Fan
Circulates air in the tent and strengthens plants. Oscillating fans are ideal, but if you get a good one that is engineered to clamp onto grow tent poles they're gonna run you between $40 - $60 a pop.. Basic fan like this will work just fine click here. Be sure to not to blast your plants with the fan(s) in the same direction for prolonged periods they can get wind burn. Put them on a setting and at a distance where the leaves are gently moving around but not tropical storm status.
Pots and Trays
The bigger your pots, the bigger your roots, and the bigger your plants. If you're growing Auto Flowers you'll want to start the plant in the same pot it will finish in, because of the shorter life cycle. My pots of choice for Auto Flowers are these VIVOSUN 3 gallon square grow bags. The grow bags are made of fabric, unlike traditional plastic material pots, they allow your plants roots to breathe more. Healthy Roots = Healthy Yields.
If you're planning on growing Feminized Photoperiod plants, get a few different size pots because you'll want to transplant your plants as the roots expand. A good pot set up would be a 4" pot to start or I like to use plastic solo cups (drill holes in the bottom for drainage), a 2 or 3 gallon to transplant for vegetative growth, and a 5 gallon for flowering.
iPower 5 Gallon Square Grow Bags work great. You can plant your photoperiod plants straight into a 5 gallon pot right off the bat, but it makes not overwatering or underwatering your younger plants more difficult.
Don't forgot to buy trays that will fit your pots to catch your nutrient and water runoff!
Fertilizer/Nutrients
If you're just starting out I'd recommend a basic nutrient set up that's affordable like the Earth Juice Starter Kit. It's simple, organic, and has an easy to follow feeding schedule and can be used for soil or coco.
Other nutrients I've had success with in the past are General Hydroponics, Fox Farms Trio for Soil, Advanced Nutrients Jungle Juice, and my favorite Blue Planet Elite 3 Part shown below.
All of these brands have a full line of products that you can purchase and add to your feed schedule as your learn more and more and want to increase quality and yields down the road, and the feeding charts are listed on the bottles or on the manufacturers websites.
2 essential nutrients you'll need to pair with your base nutrients are calcium and magnesium. Cal-Mag are secondary macronutrients that are vital to your plants health and help to avoid nutrient deficiencies. General Hydroponics CALiMAGic works great, but any Cal-Mag will work just fine.
You will also want to add Silica to your nutrient repertoire. Silica increases the resistance to pests and disease, helps forms stronger cell structures, aids in nutrient absorption, and improves overall health and harvest of your crop.
IMPORTANT: When growing in soil especially, I'd strongly suggest starting out at 25% to 50% of the recommended amounts of nutrients per grow phase. You don't want to overfeed and burn or kill your plants.
Also, invest in a Glass Pipette/ Graduated Dropper set. They are super cheap and will allow you to be extremely precise with feeding measurement. Plus they make you look like a MAD SCIENTIST when you're mixing up the nutrient solution!
Growing Medium (Soil or Coco)
If you're a beginner, I'd start off with Soil. It's a lot more forgiving and requires less feeding and less precision. If you overfeed or start seeing problems with your plants you can always just flush the soil with water a couple times over the span of a week and start your feeding cycle over.
2 Soils that I've had the best results with are, my all time favorite Roots Organic Soil, and Fox Farms Ocean Forest Soil.
With these soils, you could literally just water your plants without adding any nutrients or fertilizers and they will produce buds (not cannabis cup quality buds by any means, but good smoke-able flower nonetheless).
On the down side, soil tends to take a little bit longer to harvest than other growing mediums.
Add in some extra drainage with perlite, about to 25% Perlite to Soil ratio in your pots and you're ready to rock.
Coco Coir is another great option for growing weed indoors as well. Unlike soil, coco doesn't have any amendments that provide nutrients for the plants so you will have to feed them throughout the grow. Almost every day or every couple of days. This is a plus in the sense that you can experience bigger yields and a faster harvest, but a minus because you have to give your babies the right food and the right amount of food (less room for error) and you'll be using more nutrients and ultimately spending a bit more money.
I now grow in coco because I have a little experience under my belt and I love it!
The coco I use is 70% Coco Coir and 30% Perlite by Mother Earth.
Hygrometer
Essential to keep track of your grow spaces ever so important temperature and humidity percentages. I recommend buying a couple and place them in different areas of your grow tent to get an idea of the different temp and humidity in your micro climate. The ThermoPro TP50 Digital Hygrometer is cheap and works great.
PH Meter
Making sure the PH of your water and nutrient solution is within a workable range is key!
Definitely pick up a PH Pen or PH Meter.
Here are a couple options for you. A budget PH Pen will function just fine, but I use Apera Instruments AI311 Premium Series which is accurate, reliable, and comes with a replaceable probe, calibrating solutions and a carrying case.
PPM Meter
This handy little device tells you how many particles per million are in your water or nutrient solution. Basically, the more fertilizer you put in, the higher your PPM will be. Knowing these numbers are vital throughout the different stages of growth and to avoid overfeeding or underfeeding your babies. T
This is the PPM meter I've had in my grow arsenal for a while now TDS 3 in 1 PPM Meter.
PH Up and Down Solution
You will use this stuff a lot to PH balance your water or nutrient solution before feeding. Not going to break the bank either with General Hydroponics pH Control Kit
Humidifier/Dehumidifier
Depending on what part of the world you live in, or what time of the year it is, you may need to remove or add moisture in the form of humidity.
That's why growing indoors is so cool because no matter what is going on outside, you control the environment (to the best of your ability).
Where I live and grow, the temperature and humidity fluctuate pretty drastically throughout the year. I tend to use my dehumidifier more in the summer when it's hot and humid, and my humidifier more in the winter time when it's cool and dryer. This is why it's always important to have both a humidifier and a dehumidifier.
For a humidifier I like this one, HUMIDIMASTER 6L Ultrasonic Humidifier, because it has a pretty large fill capacity (meaning I don't have to refill it every 4-5 hours) and it's a top fill system which makes life way easier. I run this on the outside of the grow tent and let the inline fan suck in the humid air through the mesh vents.
For a dehumidifier, I prefer using something small and compact because I put these inside my grow tent. The Pro Breeze Electric Mini Dehumidifier is very affordable and does a great job of capturing all that unwanted moist air, especially during the flowering stage.
Multi-socket Power strips and Extension cords
Definitely not the sexy part of growing, but vital nonetheless. You will need something to plug ALL of your electronics into and run it to the nearest wall socket.
If you've decided on growing photoperiod plants and plan on mounting your multi-socket power strip inside of your tent, be sure the one you purchase doesn't have a light on it or if it does to cover it up with some duct tape.
Heavy Duty Tip Ties
Trust me, get some, these will be clutch. They can be used to secure and rig up just about anything.
Trimming Shears
You will use and need these a lot more than you think, believe that! I use them for various parts of my grow. They are an essential tool and pretty cheap too.
I like these Ultra Snip trimming shears. They are more durable/better quality with sharper blades than cheaper sheers you'll find around and they're only about $10 more.
Feel free to check out any of the products I've posted above.
They are all things that I have personally used in my grows which is why I am recommending them.
I do make a small percentage off of anything that is bought through the links in this article, so if you found this information useful and are going to purchase anyways, I'd greatly appreciate the support of buying through one of my links. Thanks!
Happy growing!
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