Recreational marijuana use has recently been legalized here in Illinois and many other states across the country. It’s quickly becoming a legitimate industry with powerful earning potential nationwide.
Whether you own a small or large-scale operation, you want a superior product and consistent harvests.
Cleaning your grow room plays a critical role in growing your very best. Use these tips to keep your indoor growing environment healthy and productive.
12 Essential Grow Room Maintenance and Cleaning Tips
Not all grow rooms are set up for cannabis. Indoor vegetable and herb gardens thrive in homes and businesses. Regardless of the crop, indoor plant production comes with unique challenges. Our 12 maintenance and cleaning tips for grow rooms help solve those problems.
Daily Maintenance for Grow Rooms
1. Closely Inspect Plants
Take a close look at plants every day for signs of insects or mold. Cannabis crops are susceptible to spider mites, and the room’s humidity encourages powdery mildew growth. Treat plants as needed with acaricides and fungicides.
2. Carefully Maintain Their Condition
Remove dead leaves, dirt and dust from pots, trays and tables. Dispose of organic debris outside of the grow room to minimize chances of cross-contamination from decomposing plant materials.
3. Quickly Clean Up Spills
Take care of spills immediately. Otherwise, residual moisture impacts the room’s humidity balance and encourages fungal growth. It can also lead to hidden mold problems in drywall, floors and and ceiling materials.
4. Practice Good Housekeeping
Sweep and dust every day. This reduces plant pollen and other tiny particles that compromise air quality important to a healthy crop. It also eases the work of your air filtering systems.
Weekly Grow Room Cleaning
5. Clean Equipment and Trays
Taking care of equipment weekly is an important part of keeping your grow room clean. Soak tools in a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution or bleach diluted with water. Use either one to wipe down equipment trays.
6. Sterilize Water Systems
Drain, clean and sterilize water tanks, pipes and all system surfaces. Eliminate algae growth in pumps, channels and hydroponic tubes with a bleach solution or hydrogen peroxide.
7. Check Air Filters
Check the grow room’s air filtration system for signs of wear and tear. Daily sweeping and dusting can quickly clog intake filters, so confirm their integrity once a week.
8. Inspect Walls and Reflectors
If your grow room uses reflective material on the walls, look behind them weekly. Keep an eye out for mold growth. If you discover a problem that’s too big to handle on your own, call in mold removal specialists right away.
Monthly Maintenance for Grow Rooms
9. Replace Air Filters
Make air filter replacement a monthly routine especially on units in grow tents. Filters might appear clean, but they accumulate microscopic airborne pollutants that have a negative impact on your crop. HEPA filters are recommended for most grow room ventilation equipment.
10. Clean Light Sources
Remove and clean all grow lights, lamp bulbs and bulbs in overhead fixtures. Pull down reflectors, and clean both sides. Taking care of this job outside the grow room helps maintain optimum indoor air quality.
11. Perform Monthly Mold Inspections
Check unused pots and soil for signs of mold growth. Look under tables, in corners and inside storage cabinets. Keep a close eye on areas and materials adjacent to your watering system.
12. Sterilize Everything
Use a bleach solution or hydrogen peroxide to sterilize everything from grow tents and reflectors to equipment and unused pots. Sterilize all surfaces including walls, floors and doors. Be sure to clean floors under tables and shelves.
How to Sanitize and Sterilize Your Grow Room
It’s important to understand the difference between sanitizing and sterilizing your grow room. When you deep clean surfaces, equipment and tools, you’re sanitizing the room. It’s not necessary to use strong cleaning products. You can remove most pathogens by sweeping, dusting and wiping things down.
Sterilizing the grow room eliminates bacteria, viruses, mold spores, botrytis blight, powdery mildew and many other microorganisms. You can buy specially formulated chemical cleaners, but bleach solutions and hydrogen peroxide work very well when used as recommended.
Always rinse surfaces and equipment after sterilizing with bleach. This isn’t necessary with hydrogen peroxide because it breaks down without leaving a residue.
Does Your Grow Room Require Commercial Cleaning?
Depending on the size of your operations, you might consider outsourcing grow room cleaning. Even small grow rooms require big cleaning projects from time to time. A commercial cleaning contractor can help with these jobs and more.
• Air duct cleaning and sterilizing
• Mold identification, removal and remediation
• Deep cleaning for all surfaces including floors and walls
• Eco-friendly green cleaning options
A commercial cleaning service can also handle the aftermath of damages from storms, fire or water. In case of flooding caused by a faulty watering system, you have access to industry-certified restoration technicians 24/7.
Your Chicago’s Grow Room Cleaning Specialists
ServiceMaster Restoration by Zaba is proud to be one of Chicago’s first cleaning contractors to handle recreational and medical marijuana dispensaries. Our services extend to grow room operations too, and we also offer green cleaning options.
Regardless of the size of your grow room, we’re here to help with the big jobs. If you’d like more information about our full line of commercial cleaning and restoration services, just give us a call at 773-647-1985.