Grow tent or no grow tent?

I purchased a 3x3x6 tent, and have everything set up. I’m forced to use a small closet for my grow space that’s a little bigger than my tent. My question is how important are the reflective sides of the grow tent? It just dawned on me last night that I could potentially toss the grow tent and just use the closet instead for much more room to work and navigate. Any thoughts?

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Some growers in closets use either solid white paint on the walls or mylar for reflectivity.

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yeah, I figured I could get something reflective on the walls. I just wonder if it would be tougher to manage the environment in the whole closet vs the tent.

It’s easier to manage temp, humidity, airflow, and odor in a closed environment.

I started indoor growing in a closet, but I switched to tents pretty quickly.

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So I have a 3x3x6 and the closet is about 3.75x4.75x9. In your experience, what would be some of the negatives of growing in the closet that would cause me to rather grow in the tent? I’m imagining being able to mount my fan/filter up on the wall, and even have shelving, and over all just space. I’m trying to see this from angles that my lack of experience is not allowing me to see.

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Personally the tent is set up for growing support bars in top to hang exhaust fan an lights, catch tray, reflective walls, pucker string holes for intake and exhaust fan. For around a hundred bucks .I vote go with the tent. But it’s also a preference . Welcome to the community

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A reduced ability to manage temp, humidity, airflow, and odor.

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I actually have my tent already in and set up. I’m just reconsidering for added space and comfort of working in.

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You could put up Mylar on the walls,

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This leads me to believe that you’ve put your tent in a closet for growing. Is this the case?

If the tent is in the closet, and you have adequate airflow, then it shouldn’t be a problem. Airflow is very important though.

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Yes, and I’m highly considering this. Right now, I’m realizing that I need to consider the area that my light is rated to cover which is a 3x3. So, not having those tight tent restrictions I may be creating area that could get filled with underdeveloped bud sites due to lack of light exposure.

A 3x3 space will grow two nice plants or three smaller plants. I guess you need to think about how much flower you need and how often.

Can you duplicate the features of a tent in the closet? Air intake, exhaust and odor control (if necessary) are features that may require physical alteration of the space. Light control is mandatory if you want to grow photoperiods. Often the equipment used to control temp and humidity themselves produce heat and are less effective if placed directly in the grow space. I am actually working through some of these things now. I want to build a grow closet. I need to be able to secure and conceal the space I have available and, well, a tent is not the most inconspicuous thing in a room.

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If you do use the closet & drill holes for the exhaust don’t do it stoned. I’ve helped build house’s before & was buzzed when I did mine & forgot about the header above the door & using a 6" hole saw was half way thru the 1st 2x6 before my brain engaged enough to realize what I was doing. A real “DUH” moment.

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It sounds like we’re in a similar situation. Two big issues are light and air. I’m actually going to be running a test for a few days. I’m going to run my set up, in my closet without exhausting the air. I’ll be monitoring temperature and co2 levels. My concern is a lack of circulation and ultimately the availability of co2 in the room. I’m trying to see how concerned I should be with providing fresh air to the plants. I know that it sounds bad to recycle the air back in the room as I’ll be testing it with no intake or exhaust. I just wonder how much air will come in through cracks in doors, flooring, drywall ect. As trying to rig up an intake and exhaust would be a headache in my situation. It’s like the closet is air tight. I’m sure I could sleep in there all night without having to worry about a lack of oxygen. This test will also allow me to see how the temp in the room will change over the few days.

Yes, I initially have it set up in the closet. I’m debating whether to take it down and just use the closet as the grow space. Right now, I think my light is limiting me and I’ll just stick to the tent. As far as air flow, I’m going to run tests. It’s not as if the closet itself is air tight. I could sleep in there all night without worry about oxygen supply. I’m ready to cut up the dry wall to work some exhaust ducking through it. However, I’m going to run a test for a few days with my whole set up on the whole time while exhausting the air from the tent back into the room. Yes, I know temp is a concern, but outside of that, all I care about is cleaning the smell. I have a co2 meter that I’m going to use to check the co2 levels over the course of about 3 days. If my co2 levels are good and temp is good, would you think I should have any other concerns?

If temp is good, then yes.

I wouldn’t mess with CO2, as ambient CO2 is sufficient for the average grower. Unless you have a ton of quality lighting (creates its own problems,) and have the experience and are capable of tweaking high nutrient levels without burning the plant, then supplemental CO2 is a waste of time and money.

Ok, so your only concern would be temp? I was primarily concerned with recycling air and not providing enough co2 to the plants. On another topic, since I’m researching it currently, I’m trying to figure out another lighting option. I have the Mars hydro ts 1000w. I’m considering going to their tsw 2000w led instead. Do you have any recommendations on sub $300 lights that are decent?

Good air circulation ensures that CO2 available to the plant is sufficient. There’s really no such thing as insufficient CO2. Ambient CO2 is plenty for cannabis. You need a closed environment to run CO2. Again, supplemental CO2 is a waste of time and money for the average grower.

I don’t know much about Mars Hydro. If that level of lighting is all that you can do, then I would consider running fewer plants. The better lights are manufactured with Samsung LM301 diodes. I know that Spider Farmer lights are now built with quality diodes and is among the cheaper options.

My 3x3 tent is in a 8x14 room. It exhausts back into the same room. This is usually a positive because I am unusually looking for more humidity. The room has its own ceiling exhaust fan that I use to reduce humidity or draw new air into the room. The room’s fan also helps regulate temperature.
Plants need C02 to survive. Under normal conditions the lack of C02 is not an issue. I think they consume 2x the C02 they emit.

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