There has never been a better time to start growing cannabis indoors, and with so many new growers daily, knowing how to perfect your indoor grow room can be tricky. I have been developing for over 15 years, so in this article, I provide 12 top tips to help you gain an advantage as a home grower and get your foot firmly on the green ladder to success.
Tip#1: Give Yourself Room to Work
When setting up your indoor grow space, installing equipment, and creating a floor plan, make sure you give yourself plenty of space to work. This means having room to walk around the edge of your grow room, access fans, extractors, and carbon filters, and move plants in and out of the tent with ease.
Tip#2: Keep Your Grow Room Clean and Tidy
Keeping your indoor grow space clean and tidy is essential for being a great indoor grower. Cannabis plants should be grown in a neat and sterile environment, so keep a sweeping brush, mop, and bucket close by to clean up any spilt soil, dead leaves, and dust from fans.
Tip#3: Buy Backup Pumps for Hydroponic Systems
There is nothing worse than being in the middle of growing with a hydroponic system and realising the air or water pump has stopped working. I have learnt the hard way that keeping a space pump close by pays off massively in a worst-case scenario and when time is of the essence.
Tip#4: A Separate Tent for Vegetation
Many growers will create a habit of using the same tent or grow room to start seedlings or clones, keeping them vegetating for 4-6 weeks before flowering. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this style of growing; however, creating a secondary space for seedlings or clones is a great way to shave a few weeks off the growing time, resulting in a faster turnaround time between harvests.
Tip#5: Use Digital Hygrometers
Cannabis plants require specific temperatures and humidity at each stage of their lifecycle. The best and most practical way to determine whether you are within that sweet spot is to monitor your grow space with a digital hygrometer. These small devices will provide a digital readout so you will have continuous awareness of the growing environment and can adjust accordingly.
Tip#6: Invest in a PAR Meter
Investing in a PAR meter allows you to see how much photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) the canopy receives. These handheld devices are brilliant at giving a home grower an advantage in achieving optimal PPFD levels during the seedling, vegetative stage, and flowering period.
Tip#7: Fabric Pots Instead of Plastic
Plastic pots may be cheap, reusable and easy to source locally; however, growing cannabis plants using fabric pots is one way to boost root mass. Fabric pots allow plant roots to grow, resulting in a prolific root mass and preventing the bottoms of the roots from becoming root-bound. Fabric pots may seem expensive; however, they are well worth the investment and can be washed and reused after each harvest.
Tip#8: Keep a Mother Plant
Mother plants will allow a grower to source their own genetic replica of a specific phenotype, plan their next harvest in advance, and also reduce the risk of taking on contaminated clones. You do not need to grow a giant mother plant, and for growers who only need 6-12 plants every grow cycle, finding a 60 cm tall plant will be perfectly optimal for producing large-sized and robust clones every 2-3 months.
Tip#9: Deep Clean the Grow Space After Every Harvest
Grow rooms can get quite messy, especially during the final few weeks of the flowering period. As soon as you have harvested your plants, thoroughly clean your grow room with bleach or hydrogen peroxide. A deep clean will also kill mould spores, deter insects, and help you develop a good habit to create the ideal growing environment.
Tip#10:The Sea of Green Method
My favourite way to grow cannabis indoors is using the Sea of Green method using clones. The reason is that your plants will grow to a medium height, vegetation time is significantly reduced to as short as 14 days, the plants will not fight for light, and the bud-to-leaf ratio is far greater at harvest. Your electricity bills will be lower than for growing large-sized plants, and the time from seed to harvest will also be reduced.
Tip#11: Use Grow Tents for Drying
Once you have spent months of hard work growing the perfect crop, the next step is to make sure it dries properly. One of the biggest mistakes beginner growers make is to hang their plants inside a cupboard or a back bedroom. I suggest using your grow tent or buying a new one, especially for drying the plants. The tent should have an extractor and carbon filter inside, and the temperature and humidity can be carefully monitored using a digital hygrometer.
Tip#12: Multiple Oscillating Fans
Cannabis plants love fresh air and strong air currents, and the easiest way to achieve this is to use multiple oscillating fans. Using oscillating fans at different heights will provide the best results. For small grow spaces, use two or three 6-inch fans; for large grow spaces, use 12-inch fans placed on the floor, on the walls or tent poles, and above the lights.
Take your indoor grow further
If you want structured guidance beyond trial and error, Oaksterdam’s Home Grow course walks you through setting up and running a productive indoor garden from seed to harvest. When you’re ready to turn that experience into job-ready skills, the Live Commercial Horticulture Worker program adds live instruction, hands-on learning, and the practical training you need to step into a professional grow with confidence.
Use code “tark10” at checkout to save 10% on your enrollment in either course.