Home Grow Setups for Amendment 64 – 2’x2′ LED Grow Tent

Small – Personal Stash LED Grow Tent – Great for moderate smokers.

• Required Space – 2′ x 2′ x 55″ grow tent
• Equipment Costs – $773 to $1,045 – 130 watt LED or 172 watt LED ($550 or $800), grow tent ($100), vent fan ($24), timer ($16), containers (3x $10), soil ($20 – $30), organic fertilizer ($24 to $36), hygrometer ($9)
• Electrical Costs – $6 to $17 per month, or from $18 to $51 per harvest – $6 to $7/month at $0.08/kwH, $9 to $11/month at $0.12/kwH, or $14 to $17/month at $0.18/kwH
• Vegetative growth time – 2 weeks
• Estimated Yields –  2 to 3.75 oz. per harvest (0.67 to 1.25 oz. per plant) – Please note, yields are estimated for new growers using this recommended system of soil and fertilizers. Estimates are based on my experience with the 172 watt RhinoGrow 400. Yields will also vary significantly depending on grower experience and care. With experience and heavy-yielding strains, your harvests may be significantly more massive than these.

This small LED grow tent option should provide plenty of bud to satisfy most smokers, especially once the gardener gains some experience.

• After 1 year of use, this setup costs $937 to $1,342 and yields 10 to 18.75 ounces. ($50 to $134 per ounce)
• After 2 years of use, this setup costs $1,101 to $1,639 and yields 20 to 37.5 ounces. ($29 to $81 per ounce)
• After 3 years of use, this setup costs $1,265 to $1,936 and yields 30 to 56.25 ounces. ($23 to $65 per ounce)

LED Grow Tent Setup

To set up this garden, assemble your 2′ x 2′ LED grow tent in a low-traffic area. It is best if the tent receives no direct sunlight, and remember never to open it while the light is off. Flowering marijuana plants can receive no light during their 12 hours of darkness each day, or they can produce seedy buds.

The LED grow tent will need air moving through it, and this is best accomplished with a vent fan mounted in one of the 6″ exhaust holes. Check out my pest prevention series to keep pests from destroying your crops, and for air flow tips.

An inexpensive hygrometer (thermometer + barometer) is a great way to make sure your temperature and humidity are not too high or low. Temperatures should stay around 75 degrees, and humidity should stay between 40% and 60%. If your humidity is a little low, as is often the case here in Denver, you can use a humidifier somewhere nearby (but not in the grow tent) if you choose. This is helpful, but not absolutely necessary.

Yields for this setup are estimated from my experience with the RhinoGrow 400, a 172 watt LED grow light made by Hortilume Industries near Detroit, Michigan. The Rhinogrow has no built-in fans to draw extra power or burn out, and I can say from experience that it produces nicely. At $800, it is not the cheapest LED on the market, for sure, but I believe it is worth the money

The DS-XML-150 from Advanced LED Lights is a great alternative to the RhinoGrow 400 for this grow tent. Advanced LED Lights is one of the most reputable manufacturers of LED grow lights in the business, and I’m pretty excited to see what these new models can do. The RhinoGrow 400 is more powerful than the DS XML 150, so your yields may suffer. I say may because the DS XML line utilizes new 10 watt white diodes (4 in this model), which I have not yet had the privilege of trying.

For this LED grow tent setup, 3 clones should be grown for 2 weeks with 18 hours of light per day, then the timer should be changed to 12 hours per day to induce flowering.

Planting and Feeding

I recommend using 2-gallon Air Pots for your containers, which are reusable and can be ordered online or found at many Colorado garden supply or hydroponics stores. Use a high-quality soil or soil-less mix like Sunshine, Fox Farm or Royal Gold. Do not order your soil online, the shipping costs are a nightmare and many high-quality soils are available at your local garden centers and grow shops. If you aren’t sure which soil you should use, the employees should be able to recommend one or more for you.

To feed your plants, I always recommend Age Old Organics because of their relatively low price, easy use and great results. Age Old Grow is used for the first 2 weeks, during vegetative growth, and Age Old Bloom is used until 10-14 days before harvest, after which only plain water should be used.

I also recommend Age Old Kelp, (full of micro-nutrients) used at half-dilution along with the regular nutrients, the first feeding and every third feeding afterward. This is not necessary, but I believe it improves results. These 2 or 3 (1 quart) bottles of nutrients should last you several growth cycles (especially the Grow and Kelp) and cost around $12 per bottle.

Use the directions for indoor plants on the labels, and please remember, it is better to underfeed than to overfeed your plants. Start with the lower recommended dilution rates and experiment with heavier dilution rates on 1 of the plants if you are concerned that they are growing slowly. Different strains have different needs too.

The plants should be about 2′ – 30″ tall (not counting the containers of course) at harvest, depending mostly on the traits of the chosen strain(s).

Environmental conditions like temperature, humidity and fertilizing issues can also effect plant size and harvest weights.

If you set up one of these LED grow tents, please let us know how it goes. If you have a similar home grow, please tell us about it. Happy Growing!