What’s Wrong with this Picture?

Absolutely nothing. But we can do better!

Only a few simple changes would transform this set-up into a growing machine!

For beginners and bargain hunters, BAY6 Tents are awesome. You won’t get a tent as good for the same price.

But, if your budget’s a bit higher, go for a BudBox. We tried them, we tested them, we did pull ups on one of them! These tents are insanely strong, armed with 25mm powder coated steel poles (XL and bigger). Their white interior is great at reflecting light.

Canna Coco is a bestseller for a reason. It’s pretty darn good. But we’d go for a media mix. Especially if you’re growing in a system.

For example, if you wanted an airy media that's good for rooting, Tropic 70/30 CocoMix is a good shout. It also contains 1% Ecothrive Charge

Or for a coco with a kick, Ecothrive Coco is premixed with Charge at 2%.

You get the idea.

With most coco feeds, you can get false drain.

This is where water spreads down the sides of your media and out the bottom of pots without wetting your coco properly.

You end up with dry patches where roots can’t grow.

To prevent false drain, you want to use SHOGUN Samurai Coco Nutrients. It has a unique additive (AquaZen Slow Water) that improves your water’s ability to wet coco.

Nutrient spreads evenly in your media to reduce nutrient waste, improve uptake and maximise root growth.

SHOGUN Coco Nutrients also contains SmartZen Maximiser, a blend of plant extracts that boosts your yield by 6 – 8%.

With a number of plants to manage, you really want a growing system. A RhizoSystem, AutoPot or RhizoOrigin would be a great choice for soil and coco growers.

To take your grow up another notch, you could even try a hydro system.

If you don’t fancy a system, at least use RhizoPots. They’re made of fabric so that air can prune roots. In these pots, you’d get a stronger root network with more secondary and tertiary roots. Need we say more?

This tent’s 2m tall. You could run 600W or 750W Gavita or 750W HELLION systems in that much space! If using a 750W Gavita, you don't want to crank it up past 750W in this size tent.

With all that extra PAR light, you’ll get around a 30% yield increase. With Gavita E-Series lights, you can also connect them to a Master Controller.

It doesn’t have to be as extreme as swapping your lights - switching reflectors will make a big impact.

Remember 50% of light from your lamp hits your reflectors – they deserve a bit of attention.

For best results, pick one that’s made from Vega/MIRO aluminium – like the Adjust-A-Wings Avenger.

Magnetic ballasts are fine, but they cost a lot to run. The amount of heat they kick out tells you that much. To save 3 – 4% energy per light, use digital ballasts. They’re also smaller, quieter and prolong lamp life!

Don’t get us wrong, the lights in the picture do the job.

But if you really care about the quality of your crop, you need to broaden your spectrum. A CDM light will do the trick.

They don’t cost much to run (they're 315W) but emit wavelengths of light that you won’t get from an HID light.

Plants grown under them produce more essential oils, terpenes and flavonoids – stuff that makes them smell & taste stronger.

You don't have to change your lighting layout - just slot a CDM between two HIDs. They work especially well with Adjust-A-Wings.

Low cost kits like this tend to use RVK fans. While they keep initial costs low, you can save more money by investing in an EC fan.

We did the maths, and found that EC fans are so much cheaper to run that you’ll have made back the costs of your kit within a year. After that, the savings keep adding up. EC fans are much quieter, too.

There is no intake fan in this set up, and you do need to actively draw in air. Run an intake fan that's 20% less powerful thank your extractor fan at the same speed. Or you can run a same sized fan at a slower speed. This stops your tent overfilling with air.

A humidifier in veg will help plants stay hydrated, and improve nutrient translocation. You may need a dehumidifier in flowering to help prevent bud rot.