by Nebula Haze
See Other Examples of Cannabis Growing Setups
Table of Contents
About the Spider Farmer SF-1000 LED Mini Tent Setup
If you want to start growing weed without spending a fortune, this small cannabis grow kit with a 100W LED is great. This cannabis setup is more forgiving than the tiny mini tent setup because it has extra height and yields a bit more. It also gives you more room to expand if you decide to go bigger in the future. This setup has been designed to produce several ounces of high-quality bud in a small 2’x2’x4′ grow tent without any sounds or smells to give it away. It will produce up to 4 oz every 3-4 months.
Check out a grow journal in this setup with the SF-1000 LED grow light.
The Spider Farmer SF-1000 (100W LED) produces several ounces of weed when you follow this tutorial.
- Yield: 2-4 oz per harvest
- Total time: 3-4 months from seed to weed
Total Setup Cost: $290 ($360+ with professional smell filtering) + cost of seeds
100W Tent Cannabis Grow Examples
Here are some plants I’ve grown in this grow tent (or check out a full grow journal).
This mini cannabis grow setup uses a 2’x2′ around and 4′ tall grow tent with a 100W Spider Farmer SF-1000 LED grow light.
The 2’x2’x4′ size tent is just tall enough that you can even squeeze a little hydroponic system in there.
I once had autoflowering plants that grew too tall because they took longer than expected to start flowering. However, the SF-1000 light is gentle enough that it won’t burn buds even if they’re close, as long as you make sure to give your plants proper nutrients. The SF-1000 makes this a perfect beginner grow light because it will still produce a lot of great weed even you if you make some mistakes.
Estimated Cost for entire setup: $290-360+
- Ultra budget (no exhaust fan or smell filtering) – $290
- Only the necessary stuff + cheapest exhaust fan + smell filtering: $360
- Get everything including the premium equipment and optional extras: $460
- Estimated Monthly Electricity Cost: $10/month (based on US average of $0.15/kWH)
Total Setup Cost: $290 ($360+ with exhaust fan & smell filtering)
Summary of what you need to get started with this SF-1000 LED Mini Tent grow setup:
Complete Grow Supply List
This marijuana mini grow tent setup list includes all the supplies you need to get to a bountiful harvest.
Spider Farmer SF-1000 LED Grow Light (100W LED)
- Plants tend to be less sensitive under this grow light than most other LEDs I’ve tried. Some other LEDs are harsher on leaves and more likely to trigger nutrient deficiencies.
- Keep about 10″ away to start. If plants start getting tall/stretchy, move the light closer.
- Performs best if plants are about 8-10″ away, but if plants get too close it still produces great weed (you’re just more likely to see yellow or discolored leaves)
- Simple to use. Works exactly as you’d expect. Dimmable.
Cost: $120
The Spider Farmer SF-1000 (100W LED) can produce several ounces of weed in this setup. Other LEDs would likely work, but I know the SF-1000 works great with cannabis plants in this tent.
Grow Space
- Grow Tent Recommended Sizes
- I like this 2’x2’x4′ grow tent by MelonFarm, though any grow tent of this size will work.
Cost: $45
I like this cheap-yet-effective 2’x2’x4′ grow tent for growing mini weed plants.
Exhaust Fan & Carbon Filter(Optional)
This LED grow light does not get very hot. But if you plan on filling your tent with plants like the pictures, you really should get a good exhaust fan to ensure that the humidity from all the plants doesn’t build up too much. An exhaust fan can also be hooked up to a carbon filter in order to filter smells from leaking out of the tent.
- Recommended: 4″ AC Infinity CLOUDLINE series of inline exhaust fans. These run quiet and have the ability to turn the speed way down if necessary.
- S4 is the cheaper, simpler version – (21W electricity usage, 26 dB sound level) works well and gives you basic fan speed controls – $100
- (My favorite) Programmable T4 version – (21W electricity usage, 26 dB sound level) has handy extras like a Temperature/Humidity Probe, auto-on and auto-off, ability to program a schedule, a display screen, and ability to check on the temperature and control the fan with your mobile phone – $130 (I got both versions and I wish I’d gotten two of this version – the features are worth the extra $30!)
- Budget choice: Vivosun 4″ Fan – 195 CFM (28W electricity and 42 dB sound level) – effective cheap fan, but runs louder than the AC Infinity fans
Cost: $30-130
The programmable T4 AC Infinity CLOUDLINE fan ($130) runs at a quiet 26 dB sound level and can be controlled from your smartphone. Quietest exhaust fan this effective.
What’s all this about a carbon filter?
- Although a carbon filter is optional, if you don’t hook up a carbon filter to an exhaust fan, your tent may rapidly fill the surrounding area with a pungent weed smell as you get close to harvest. Normally it wouldn’t be such a big deal with such a small tent like this, but you are going to be growing a surprising amount of weed in here. Learn about growing low-odor cannabis strains.
- Recommended: 4-inch iPower Carbon Filter, 4″ x 12″ version – Note: these are 12″ long, which is likely bigger than you might expect.You can get a smaller one that is still as effective, but they’re hard to find and cost more than the standard size.
- Duct tape – to connect the filter and fan together securely so no air leaks out. Another option is a 4″ duct connector but duct tape works great and many people already have a rolle somewhere.
- (Optional – likely unnecessary) 4″ Ducting and Ducting Clamps – you might need this if you plan on venting the air somewhere, like out a window, but with such a cool-running grow light, that is probably not necessary.
Cost: $40
Plant Pots
- Growing medium: Coco coir or soil
- Containers: Stick to under 3 gallons in size to help keep plants a bit smaller. I grew with 1-gallon fabric pots, which worked well at keeping plants small, but plants needed to be watered daily towards the end of the grow because the plants drank the water so fast. The plants needed to be watered less often when I used 2-gallon pots, but the plants got a little bigger. 3-gallon pots were the easiest to water, but the plant really wanted to grow big and I had to do a lot of bending to keep the branches from growing into the light.
Recommended:
- One big bag of Coco Loco, a coco-based soil with perlite. This 2 cu ft bag should be enough to fill 14 gallons worth of pots (for example seven 2-gallon pots). You’ll have enough to last a few grows if you’re growing small, but luckily coco-based soils store well so you could use the rest later.
- 2-Gallon fabric pots (here’s an example of a 5-pack) – Any brand of fabric pot works great, in my experience.
Cost: $50
Coco Loco is a coco-based soil that makes thriving cannabis plants
Example a 5-pack of 2-gallon fabric pots for growing cannabis (any brand of fabric pot works great)
Nutrients
Most nutrient systems will come with at least 2 bottles (one bottle for the vegetative stage and one for flowering/bloom stage). Many nutrient lines carry 3 bottles or even more that must be mixed into the water in different ratios over the course of your cannabis plant’s life. Whether it’s on the bottle or online, most nutrient lines come with a schedule on how much nutrients to give your plants. Start the schedule at half-strength in the beginning and only raise to full strength after your plants are healthy and growing fast.
Recommended Base Nutrients: Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom nutrient combo is excellent, cheap, and easy to use for growing cannabis.
- Grow bottle: Give about 1 tsp per gallon of “Grow” during the vegetative stage.
- Bloom bottle: Give 1 tsp/gallon of “Bloom” during the flowering stage after buds start forming.
Learn about other recommended cannabis nutrients.
Cost: $20
Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom is my recommended nutrient system for newbies. One bottle for the vegetative stage, one bottle for bloom (after buds start forming). 1 tsp/gallon. Super simple!
Other Supplementary Items
- Get your seeds – $10-15/seed on average, but can be more or less depending on the breeder.
- 24-Hour Timer (to put your grow lights on a timer so the plants get a day and night period on a schedule) – $10
- Water containers (I personally use a 3-gallon water jug to mix up nutrients as that’s as much as I can carry without difficulty, but any water container can work). Note: These are much cheaper at Wal-Mart or a water container store ($5-15) than online!
- Thermometer/Humidity Monitor with a probe so you can keep track of the temperature inside the tent (unless you got the really fancy Cloudline exhaust fan with a temperature and humidity probe built-in) – $15
- PH Test Kit – Prevent potential nutrient deficiencies by testing the water pH – $20
- Measuring spoons for measuring out your nutrients (many people already have these) – $10
- (Optional) Zip ties – the hanging apparatus that comes with many grow lights add several inches of height for no real reason. They just aren’t designed for height-limited growing. In a mini tent like this, height is at a premium and a few inches can make a big difference. When you need to get your light all the way to the top of your tent, nothing seems to work better than industrial zip ties. Once you start using zip ties you end up using them for everything. They’re weirdly permanent and strong for something so disposable – $10
Total: $55+
Estimated Cost for entire setup: $290-$460
- Ultra budget (no exhaust fan or smell filtering) – $290
- Only the necessary stuff + cheapest exhaust fan + smell filtering: $360
- Get everything including the premium equipment and optional extras: $460
Carbon filter and fan (how to cool tent, remove humidity, and stop smells)
Notice the configuration of the carbon filter and fan. Even though this is a very small carbon filter, just 10″ long, there’s not a lot of extra room at the top of the tent. The configuration below seems to be the only way I can find to fit the carbon filter inside while still allowing the grow light to get to the top of the tent. This is not as effective as exhausting from the top of the tent, but it will work in this small tent.
Your other option is to put both the fan and carbon filter sitting on top of the tent, exiting from the top port. In that case, you’d want the carbon filter to be the last thing before air escapes (carbon filters should always be at the ends of an exhaust system, either inside the tent at the beginning, or at the end on the outside).
You have to get creative to fit a carbon filter in a small cannabis tent like this.
When set up right, you can produce a surprising amount of bud in a tiny space!
But not much room at the top.
This is when I grew a single Pineapple Chunk plant in this setup. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how I trained this cannabis plant to stay so short (scroll to the bottom of the article to see each step with this plant as the main example).
This was a Pineapple Runtz Auto (highly recommended strain for this mini cannabis setup!). Learn how to train auto-flowering cannabis strains to stay short and still get big yields.
We’ve even grown in the 4′ tall tent with a mini DWC/hydro system! A tight fit but doable.
Another tiny cannabis plant grown in the hydro setup. Contact us if you want to see a tutorial to grow cannabis in mini DWC setups. If there is interest, we will make a full mini-DWC cannabis tutorial.
