BLIMBURN SEEDS wants you to be a great grower and obtain great harvests. For this reason, we share this guide with you so that you can make the best selection of lighting for your indoor cultivation.
How To Set Up Indoor Grow Lights?
When we grow indoors, we must take into account the indoor lighting kit that is going to be used. To do this, we need to know details such as the size of the growing place, the number of plants that we are going to grow, and the type of cultivation that we will carry out.
Growing cannabis indoors is completely different from outdoors because in a closed space, one controls the growing conditions and the different parameters such as humidity, temperature, ventilation, etc. Therefore, it is essential to know how to choose the best lighting system for our cultivation.
What factors should influence your lighting selection?
Crop space
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For a small indoor space of 80 x 80 x 80 cm, you can use a 250w lighting kit.
If you have a 1.20 x 1.20 x 1.20 growing space, the best indoor lighting is 400w. In this space, plants need more lumens to grow and flourish. If you use a lower power lighting system, you will only lose energy and money on electricity.
In places that measure up to 1.40m2, you can use a 600w lighting kit. With this, you ensure that your plants will have the necessary energy to develop and flourish.
For larger spaces, such as a large greenhouse, it is recommended to use more power such as 1000 watts, always taking into account factors including ambient humidity, ventilation, and the heat produced by a high power system.
Indoor temperature
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The ideal temperatures for plants are above 15ºC and below 30ºC. For this reason, indoors, you must ensure that the lighting does not raise the temperature to prevent the plants from being stressed by excess heat or lack thereof.
If you live in a place with a warm climate, you must help cool the environment with the use of fans which can cool the temperatures of your indoor are that are caused by lighting.
Indoor humidity
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Humidity is also important. It is always recommended that it be approximately 70% indoors. If you feel that the lighting makes the indoor feel very dry, you must use some means to increase the humidity inside.
Some gardeners use bottles with cold water at home so that some moisture is added to the indoor crop through the evaporation of the liquid.
Other gardeners often use humidifiers. Releasing cold steam helps increase the humidity indoors and, therefore, lower the temperatures of the indoor crop a bit.
Ventilation within the growing area
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When using Sodium or Halide or LED lighting, a good ventilation system is necessary.
The ventilation system must have an extractor, fans, and filter. Each of the elements of your ventilation kit will help you clean the indoor air, bringing in the fresh air and also distributing it inside the indoor growing area.
With good ventilation, you not only renew air, but you also help control the temperature generated by indoor lighting. Therefore, it is advisable to use some type of ventilation that delivers fresh air to the sodium bulbs because they produce high levels of heat which can generate stress for your plants.
INDOOR GROWING LIGHTING SYSTEMS
Sodium lighting
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This type of lighting for indoor cannabis cultivation is the favorite of growers as it ensures large harvests with compact, hard and heavy flowers and is also easy to use.
The disadvantage of sodium lighting in indoor cultivation is the high consumption of electricity. Therefore, the grower will have to invest a little more money in his monthly bill.
On the other hand, the temperature emitted by these sodium bulbs inside the indoor cultivation makes it necessary to use fans, air extractors, and humidifiers to maintain good temperatures and humidity inside the room.
Low consumption and CFL bulbs
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The energy saving light bulbs range from 18 to 55 watts and can be found in cold light that is ideal for the growth of plants indoors and in warm lights, perfect for flowering.
Also, there are CFL bulbs of higher power that range from 100 to 250w. This type of bulb is perfect for indoor cultivation for the vegetative stage, however, they need extra help when it comes to flowering.
Using low consumption or CFL bulbs in indoor cultivation has the benefits that the energy consumption is less than sodium, however, it has the disadvantage that your plants will grow more slowly and also you will need a greater number of bulbs to illuminate the area.
Panels or Led lighting
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The latest technology in lighting for indoor cultivation is represented by the panels and led lights created exclusively for cannabis cultivation.
In the current market, we can find a wide range of led panels that will help you in your indoor cultivation, both in the growth phase and in flowering.
Here, we will focus on COB Led panels which are characterized by having more diodes and generally have a ceramic cooling system which prevents them from producing high temperatures.
An important point of COB LED lights for indoor growing is that they better optimize the number of lumens per watt of consumption which allows better production of your plants.
What varieties can be grown with these lighting systems?
All types of strains are suitable to be cultivated with these lighting systems for indoor use.
Blimburn recommends genetics such as Santa Muerte because it is a mostly sativa variety that develops well and provides excellent flowering.
Another strain that you should not stop growing in any of these lighting systems is Cafe Racer, a hybrid variety with high production and excellent adaptability to any growing system.
We hope these tips will help you with your crops. Remember that lighting is essential for cultivation. For this reason, we encourage you to carefully and patiently analyze the lighting kit that you choose indoors.
