The Ideal Hydroponic Growroom
The purpose of this section is to describe the various aspects that make up an ideal growroom and also to introduce the various products we can supply to allow you to make your growroom something exceptional.
The main reason why growrooms are so popular is because you can have a greater deal of control over the growing environment compared to hydroponic greenhouse growing and soil growing.
Climate and day length can be easily manipulated to achieve the desired plant responses required to boost yields. Growers also have full control over what enters and leaves the growroom. This is particularly important for maintaining a pest and disease free environment.
Growrooms are widely used for a number of reasons. MAF departments use growrooms as Quarantine Transitional Facilities where plants and cuttings are kept and observed for a period of time before they are released for use in New Zealand. Research Institutes also favour growrooms for plant trials and studies. Growrooms are used extensively by commercial hydroponic growers and plant nurseries for propagating seedlings. The sanitised environment and ideal climate and light levels allows for high volumes of seedlings to be propagated in a confined space in a short period of time.
Thousands of Home Hobby hydroponicists have also recognised the benefits of growrooms and use them as a convenient and enjoyable way to grow fresh produce, and also as an alternative to growing inside a heated greenhouse over winter.
The Growroom Structure
The indoor grower has two options;
1. Purchase a pre-fabricated growroom or hydroponic wardrobe
2. Build their own growroom
Growers can purchase pre-fabricated, light proof Hydroponic Wardrobes complete with outlets for ducting and drainage and support systems for lighting equipment. The wardrobes are made of durable canvas with zip up door and waterproof lining to contain leaks or spills. Simply choose the location of the wardrobe, erect it and install the required hydroponic growing system, lighting equipment and environmental control and be growing plants within hours.
Fans, Ducting, Lighting and associated equipment are sold separately.
If a grower is constructing their own growroom the surrounding walls should ideally be insulated to promote an even temperature in the growing area. The use of insulation has fireproofing qualities and it also provides acoustic insulation so that the noise of flowing water, fans or pumps is not heard in surrounding rooms.
Preferably the growroom floor should be concrete, or covered with an impermeable membrane such as Panda Film so that any leaks or spills can be quickly contained.
Panda Film is also widely used as a waterproof, light reflective covering for walls.
Panda light reflective film is a co-extruded, abrasion resistant plastic film that has a white top surface and black underside ensuring as much light as possible is available to the crop (especially for high foliage crops). These reflective qualities are particularly useful for getting the most value out of HID lighting systems.
Panda Film is also beneficial as a non permeable flooring barrier that effectively seals out soil borne disease and humidity causing ground moisture. The use of 100 micron, 125 micron or 250 micron Panda film on growroom floors will provide a waterproof layer that can trap leaks or spills. Depressions in the ground underneath the Panda flooring can be used to divert run off or spills to a designated drainage area.
NFT Group and Sutol AP can supply pre-cut Panda Film in the following widths:
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600mm wide 125 micron per metre
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3 metre wide 100 micron per metre
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3 metre wide 250 micron per metre
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6 metre wide 100 micron per metre
Ideally drainage should be provided so that leaks or spills can be diverted down a drain that leads outside of the growroom. Damp or wet growing areas will lead to the increased humidity levels and the increased risk of fungal disease as well as creating safety issues.
We can supply PVC Elbows and Pipe for drainage purposes.
Growroom environmental control
Once the growroom structure is set up in the desired location the growing system and environmental control equipment can then be installed.
Constant Air Exchange is the best food you can give to your plants. A plant is composed of around 90% Air and Water and only 10% Dry matter. Of that 10% Dry matter, less than 10% of that matter is made up of fertiliser, the rest is composed of carbohydrate. Carbohydrate can only be created using light and C02 during the process of photosynthesis. If a growroom has poor air exchange the amount of CO2 entering the grow room will be limited and this will reduce the growth and yields of the plants. The use of an extraction fan will immediately remove the oxygen rich air from the growing environment and pull fresh CO2 rich air in around the plants where it is needed most.
Usually a single Extraction Fan is all that is required to remove stale air from the growroom and passively bring fresh air into the growing area. The dual use of a separate inlet fan to bring in fresh air and a separate extraction fan to remove stale air is not required unless the growroom is fully airtight. A good sized extraction fan fitted to a ducting system will allow stale air or C02 depleted air to be removed from the growing area whilst also bringing fresh air in. The pressure difference created by pushing used air from the growroom via an Extraction fan will have the effect of passively pulling fresh air into the growing area via any gaps in the walls or under the growroom doors.
Extraction Fans
The following sized fans are available from Sutol:
Ducting & Fans
We have the following sized ducting available.
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100mm 4 Inch x 6 Metre Ducting
The use of a combined temperature and twin fan speed controller allows growers to manipulate the fans speeds to suit the size of their structure or venting requirements. View our Primair Combo Temperature & Twin Fan Speed Controller.
Depending on the type of crop grown or the type of nutrient used, an odour treatment system may be required for the growroom. Carbon Filters are the easiest and most cost effective way of removing odours from the air as it is expelled from the growroom via an extraction fan. Carbon Filters contain prehistoric charcoal which is activated by the passing oxygen to open millions of odour soaking pores in the carbon. Carbon filters contain built in pre-filters to remove most dust and airborne pollutants before they can foul the carbon filter.
