What to Remember for Your First Purchase at a Growshop

Legalization is rapidly approaching and more of you are asking which grow tent to buy and how to equip it. Anyone who read the beginner's buying guide on the Higarden blog knows that without grow lights, ventilation, substrate and fertilizers your crop won't thrive. However, that's only the absolute basics. To avoid unnecessary mistakes and disappointment, it's worth thinking through every detail on your first purchase. In this article we'll look at equipment that beginners often forget.

Measure twice, cut once

Remember that your grow tent should last you many years. So before you decide on one, think it through twice. It's obvious that the grow tent should fit into your room, but otherwise the rule is: the bigger the better. In a larger space it's easier to maintain the correct microclimate and there are fewer temperature and humidity swings. In a roomy grow tent plants have more space to grow and don't shade each other, so they make better use of the light from the grow lights.

• Growbox 60 x 60: The absolute minimum if you want to grow anything other than a few kitchen herbs. You probably won't get much show from a small "sixty", but it will fit everything you need.
• Growbox 80 x 80 cm to 100 x 100 cm: A clever grower can use every centimeter of space and can easily grow three plants in a medium-sized tent.
• Growbox 120 x 120: The golden standard among growers, it easily fits three nice plants and they will have enough room. Suitable for LST or weaving into nets.
• Large growboxes: The largest growboxes can resemble a small room and may be a bit too much for growing within tight limits. However, if your dream is your own indoor garden where you'll grow enough tomatoes for yourself and a wide circle, Higarden has everything you need.

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Don't forget that you'll need accessories to install equipment in the grow tent. To hang lights and fans you'll need several hanging straps with hooks (rope ratchet). You will also need several meters of ventilation ducting and metal hose clamps to tighten the joints. Your cart should also include binders to secure electrical cables and a universal fabric tape (duct tape). With it you can easily seal joints and repair small tears in the ducting. For a medium-sized grow tent (80x80 to 120x120) you will need roughly:

• 4 x rope ratchet (2 for hanging lights, 2 for the exhaust fan)
• 3 x cable ties
• 3-5 metres of ventilation ducting

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Climate control

In the Higarden blog guides we have often emphasized the importance of climate control for indoor growing. Many novice growers underestimate how much water their plants sweat through transpiration. Especially during the vegetative stage, when they can consume several litres of water per day. It can easily happen that even if you regularly ventilate the room with the grow tent, relative humidity rises too high. A humid environment attracts mold spores, especially Botrytis cinerea, which causes bud rot. The best solution to keep humidity in the grow space under control is to place a dehumidifier in the room with the grow tent. Set it according to the growth stage of your plants. Sensors in dehumidifiers are usually reliable, but still monitor the humidity in the grow space with a thermometer with a hygrometer.

• 65-75 % for seedlings and cuttings: High airborne humidity prevents dehydration of young plants, especially because they cannot rely on a well-developed root system to take up water. It also allows them to focus energy on developing a strong root system instead of constantly trying to find water.
• 55-65 % during the vegetative growth stage: Plants in the vegetative growth phase grow very quickly and need a high intake of nutrients. Therefore, it is recommended to maintain higher temperature and humidity in the grow space, which speeds up photosynthesis and nutrient uptake without promoting mold development.
• 40–55 % during flowering and before harvest: During flowering keep humidity around 55% and as harvest approaches reduce humidity in the grow space toward the lower end. This helps prevent mold growth and supports resin production.

Most indoor growers struggle with too-high humidity rather than dry air, but that can happen too. If the relative humidity in the grow space is consistently below 40%, plants will evaporate water faster than their roots can absorb it. This forces them to close stomata and slow photosynthesis, which shows as slow growth, small buds and nutrient deficiencies. In such cases you can increase humidity in the grow space with a humidifier.

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Meters and measuring devices

You can't do indoor growing without fertilizers and most of them require precise dosing. Theoretically you can follow the dosing chart, but without an EC meter you will never know exactly how concentrated the nutrient solution you give your plants is. In the best case they'll be undernourished, in the worst case you overfeed them and they die. An exception are organic fertilizers, which don't require EC measurement and tolerate imprecise dosing.

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Whether you choose synthetic or organic fertilizers, you should always monitor and adjust the acidity of the feed water with a pH meter. Too low or too high substrate pH will cause some nutrients to be unavailable to plants or only absorbed in small amounts. The optimal pH range when growing in soil is 6.2 to 7.0, in coco substrates 5.7 to 6.3 and in hydroponics 5.5 to 6.3. When growing in soil it is common that after adding fertilizers the water pH is above 7, which affects nutrient uptake from the substrate. To lower the pH of the feed water use any pH regulator.

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More detailed guides, practical tips and experiences can be found on the Higarden blog, where we regularly add articles for beginner and advanced growers.