4 Must-Haves for Your Low Budget Grow Room

Last updated: May 30, 2020

Setting up a low-budget grow room is a very manageable task; planning just needs to be approached in the right way.

Sometimes, the cheapest choice is the one that keeps costs down in the long-run, versus the cheapest upfront cost. Other times it’s a simple matter of how the room is set-up and the amount of space needed to keep a proper growing environment.

Let’s take a look at some common tools and approaches that should always be considered when setting up a low budget grow room.

1. LED and CFL Lights

Before jumping the gun and purchasing a light system, there are a few considerations that need to be taken when thinking about things budget-wise.

How much will this light cost of electricity? How much is it going to cost to cool the grow room down?

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HPS systems emit a ton of light, and the upfront cost of them is fairly low. However, those early savings are quickly snuffed out when a sky-rocketed electrical bill comes in the mail and a way to regulate temperature needs to be purchased.

LED lights are the ideal choice, then, for low-budget grows as they produce very little heat and are nearly as adept at growing plants as HPS systems.

The problem is LED’s tend to be somewhat pricy when first purchased, even though the cost seems to go down every year and the electrical savings definitely make up for that price over time.

A CFL light is a good alternative when completely strapped for cash. They need to be kept close to the plant, and caution should be taken about the light spectrum they are producing, but CFLs tend to produce very little heat and are not too bad on the electrical bill.

2. Fresh Air

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Plants need their air cycled fairly often to stay healthy, the CO₂ levels drop quite quickly when the plants are respiring. Stagnant air is not great for growing plants, and if those levels drop too much growth can be halted altogether.

More expensive grow-ops tend to use timed-release canister filters to supplement the air during growth, however, this is generally not considered needed especially when trying to build on a budget.

Instead, an intake fan connected to ducting that leads outdoors can easily suffice and bring in plenty of fresh air, loaded with natural amounts of CO₂, into a grow room.

3. Reflective Walls

Covering the walls of a growing area with a reflective surface will allow even a meager amount of light to be amplified and reach areas of the plant that would otherwise be left in the shade.

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A couple of rolls of mylar is not very expensive and should be considered even in a budget operation, as it will stretch available light greatly for a fairly meager upfront cost, which can save even more as it reduces the electrical costs of more expensive lighting systems.

4. Grow Tents

Image: Wikimedia

A huge way to keep on budget for a grow is by using a grow tent. The more area that needs to be readied for plant growth, the more expensive the operation becomes.

Fitting an entire room with proper ventilation, coating it with mylar, and monitoring the temperatures and light spread is not only a big-time commitment but a monetary one as well.

Once again, it’s a bit of an upfront cost compared to just letting plants go wild in a room, but the control of a grow tent environment allows for much cheaper equipment to be used to keep things ideal for the plants.

Conclusion

Maintaining an environment suitable for high-yielding cannabis plants can be a bit tricky on a low budget, but through proper use of space and resources, it is an entirely reachable goal.

The idea is to make things as easy as possible to control, that way a bunch of unforeseen costs don’t begin appearing halfway through a grow. To that end, the things listed here should give any potential growers some idea on what to look out for.

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