When it comes to commercial cultivation indoor facilities, entrepreneurs need top-notch layouts and optimum mechanical systems to support high-value plants. Having well-designed space can leave a huge impact on maximizing plant growth performance and profitability.
Whether it’s a small or large cultivation facility, the right cannabis grow room design can make or break an operation’s potential for output and expenses.
In this post, we’ll round up the 8 tips for designing a cannabis grow room that is favorable for each stage of marijuana plant growth.
Environmental Control
Generally indoor facilities are often sealed off to provide adequate environmental conditions to grow healthy plants. Despite the climate conditions outside, the greenhouse gets a controlled environment to offer favorable conditions. Mostly, the following factors play an important role in managing a controlled environment.
- Location
- Strain of the plant
- Favorable environmental conditions, like:
- Humidity level: Can be controlled by the use of desiccants.
- Cooling Management: Can be managed by chilled water, evaporative adiabatic cooling, and mechanical.
- Heat management: can be managed through perforated ducts and hydronic distribution pipeworks.
- Carbon dioxide Management: can use direct CO2 injection from gas tanks.
- Type of cultivation (like indoor grow, glasshouse, or greenhouse)
- Odor controlling: Can use high plume exhausts, and carbon filters.
- Air purification: Can use filtered air or sterilizing.
Optimum Lighting
Proper and adequate lighting plays a large role in maximizing production and yields. Hence, the quality of light and light intensity can impact your plant growth and future harvest. The facility owner can choose any lighting technology but recommended technology in vegetative as well as in flowering stages is Light emitting diode (LED).
Type of Lighting to consider while designing a cannabis grow room or cannabis dispensary design.
- UV lights
- Fluorescent lights
- HID lights
- Light emitting diode (LED)
Pest & Microbes Controlling
Crop loss from pests and microbes is one of the painful areas for all cultivators, yet such incidents are avoidable with proper pest control practices. Using effective and proper planning can help growers to prevent bugs from entering the facility.
Therefore, mostly sealed environments are considered suitable for large commercial and medicinal cannabis cultivation operations. At the time of designing grow room or cannabis dispensary design, owners need to ensure they use 60-micron mesh stainless steel must be used at all openings. This method will eliminate insects from getting inside through filtration inlets. Pest and microbes controlling can help you with the following things.
- Mollusks such as slugs & snails
- Microbial organisms include nematodes, fungi, bacteria, viruses, and many more.
- Arachnids and insects such as aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, and thrips.
HVAC System
HVAC systems and commercial dehumidifiers are one of the most essential elements to consider in regard to the climate and the cannabis plant growing environment. They are useful for rudimentary stages of the marijuana plant’s life from seeds, sprouting, and vegetative to flowering growth.
Temperature fluctuation is a critical factor that is capable of affecting your plant’s growth and flowering outcome. Therefore, to make sure you’ve proper growth of cannabinoids, you need dehumidifiers to absorb any excess moisture from the air to provide adequate growing conditions.
Security
The cannabis industry is quite tempting due to its high value profit margin and when you don’t have proper security measures to protect your investment and crops, it attracts even more attention. To secure plants and business, facility owners need to strengthen their security and need to install alarm systems & motion sensors. Having video surveillance and an employee authentication system can prevent breaches within the facility. In many states, security measures are mandatory to acquire cannabis dispensary and cultivation licenses. What elements to consider in security for your cannabis dispensary design?
- Duress, panic, or holdup alarm
- Motion detectors
- Glass break sensors
- Camera and video surveillance (24×7)
- Metal mesh installation at entry and exit points
- Heavy gage metal studs and joists at doors and ceiling
- Barred windows
- Secured vaults
Automated Drip Irrigation System
When you’ve a commercial grow facility, it won’t be possible to water your plants manually. You need an automated irrigation system that helps in maximizing crop growth and flowering quality by offering the right amount of water. Drip irrigation systems help minimize the wastage of water which helps save unnecessary money that you end up spending on water.
Automated drip irrigation, boom irrigation, and overhead nozzles come in handy to help cannabis growers to cultivate the best marijuana plants and ensure a more consistent plant quality. Automated drip irrigation systems help prevent the following problems in growing cannabis plants.
- Wilting
- Swollen, discolored & curled leaves
- Muddy soil
- Excess watering
Limited Access Control System
Limited access helps prevent intruders from getting inside the grow rooms. It also eliminates chances of stealing and theft of marijuana crops & products. Hence, limited access control is a must for cannabis dispensary design and cannabis grow rooms. Cultivation owners can provide key cards, access cards, and badges for entering a certain part of the facility.
Drainage System
Drainage systems are another vital factor that should be designed carefully in grow rooms. When you’ve a commercial grow facility but you forget to design drainage, then certainly it would make your work incredibly hard. When water runoff from an automated irrigation system it will get stuck in the bottom and will impact the soil of the plant which can attract bacteria-carrying bugs.
These are 8 tips for designing a cannabis grow room for a profitable commercial cultivation facility. Please keep in mind if you’re new to commercial cannabis growing business, you need expert advice to design your facility to make your business successful and to avoid cannabis compliance.