Summary

In this topic I will refer to the following points to discuss my personal growing environment setup

• Growtents
• Growlights
• Air exchange (in/out)
• Air circulation
• Humidity
• Heating
• Controllers & Automation
• Shelves and trays

My situation: Growing mainly Anthurium (95%) in an indoor growing setup.

Disclaimer: I'm a self-taught grower and the described products and setup is what works for me personally. Take my setup as a guideline and not as "the one and only" way to grow your aroids. I'm still learning and optimizing my growth conditions to adapt for my plant needs.

Large growtent

For all my medium and large plants I use a 18 m2 growtent: Mammoth Elite+ HC 600L (300 x 600 x 240 cm). I'm very happy with this specific tent for these reasons:

• Height of 240 cm (most tents are only 200 cm high)
• Bottom made of 100% waterproof rubber, that can be used as a water tray
• Sturdy 28 mm steel poles
• Durable and high quality materials

Small growtents

For my growing stock (seeds, seedlings and propagations) I use Garden HighPro Propagator XL and Propagator L growtents. I have 3 XL and 1 L size ones at the moment. These tents have a see through front which is great feature as you don't need to constantly open the tent to check on the plants. You can also attach the reflective fronts if you want to have a fully enclosed growtent with no light peaking out. The distance between the shelves is fixed and cannot be adjusted however for taller plants you could leave out one level of shelves and use a double height.

Please note that there seems to be a new version of this tent on the market that has soft shelving (made of the same material as the tent) instead of metal rooster shelves!

Mini greenhouses

For plants that require special propbox-like conditions with very high humidity, I use mini greenhouses that I put into the growtent. you can find those at almost every garden center. Sometimes I also use the IKEA Samla clear box as a propbox for my chonks and cuttings.

Growlights

I use the following Secret Jardin LED growlights:

• Cosmorrow Grow Spectrum (20W - 50 cm, 40W - 90 cm) for all growing stock
• Cosmorrow Full Spectrum (40W - 70 cm) for all medium to large plants. Encourages both growing and blooming.
• Cosmorrow Bloom Spectrum (20W - 50 cm, 40W - 90 cm) for all mature plants to especially encourage blooming.

Note that Cosmorrow lights on their own are very strong (actually too strong for Anthuriums if used on a short distance). As my space is limited and I cannot increase the distance between the plants and the light, I use LED dimmers from Amazon. However, the ones I use are very hard to install and you might want to look for a better fit if you are not willing to affect the warranty of your growlights if you need to cut into them in order to plug in the dimmer. Use at your own risk!

Currently I use only 1 light per shelf (both in the large and small propagation tents).

For my IKEA Milsbo greenshouse (which is currently not in use) I use Mother growlights instead. I find them visually more appealing for a see-through type of setup, and they match the black Milsbo cabinet design perfectly. They're high-end design growlights with a great performance and a full-spectrum range light (great for growing & blooming). Plus, in the future once the LED strip has worn down, you can buy a replacement strip at a very reasonable price. This is not possible with Cosmorrow lights. Both, Cosmorrow and Mother lights are IP65 (water and dust proof).

For controlling my growlights, I use a Xiaomi Smart Plugs (read more below under Controllers & Automation).

Air exchange

For air exchange (air intake and exhaust) I use AC Infinity 150 mm Pro T6 inline fans with a carbon filter. Both inline fans are placed on the opposite sides of the tents where the exhaust fan is always placed at the highest point, and the intake fan - at the lowest point. Mine are placed diagonally across to each other. Carbon filter can be placed either inside, or outside the tent, depending on your space situation. For my intake fan the carbon filter is on the inside, and for the exhaust - on the outside. This ensures that only purifier air is entering, and exiting the tent. If you have a possibility to connect the exhaust pipe to be blowing air outside instead of back into the room, you don't really need a carbon filter.

My intake and exhaust fans are on 24/7 on a very low setting (2-3 from 10) and on a high level (10) when necessary (after watering, spraying, during a heat wave etc.).

Air circulation

Air circulation is important to avoid air getting trapped that can cause bacterial or fungal infections on the foliage (especially after watering).

For air circulation I use various fans that run 24/7:

• 1 x AC Infinity Cloudlift S14 Floor & Wall fan
• 4 x AC Infinity Cloudray S6 Oscillating fans
• 2 x AC Infinity Cloudray A9 (fixed) fan

All of these previously mentioned fans (except for the Cloudlift S14) are controlled via the AC Infinity controller.

Humidity

For keeping up the humidity, I use the AC Infinity Cloudforge T7 15 liter humidifier that is placed outside my tent.

Heating

For heating my small and large growtent, I use passive heating tubes by Lighthouse ECO HEAT. These heating tubes are available in various lengths.

In my large tent I am using 5 x 240W tubes. In the XL size propagation tents - 135W that fit the bottom shelf width perfectly). This however means I cannot use the bottom shelf where the heater is placed (due to safety, and it also radiates too much heat to place any plants next to it).

While in the summer extra heating is not necessary, it will be in the colder months. All heating tubes are connected to individual Xiaomi Mi smart plugs that allow me to control them individually when necessary. To monitor the temperature in the tent, I also use a Xiaomi Temperature and Humidity sensor. This way it is also possible to create smart scenes for heaters to go on and off at a different temperature setting.

Controllers & Automation

Growlights and heaters are connected to power by using Xiaomi Mi Smart Plugs that are programmed and managed via the app. Note that for this purpose also a Xiaomi Mi Hub is required. By using a Xiaomi temperature sensor, it is possible to program heaters based on the temperature. For growlights, I have set up a fixed schedule to go on and off at a specific time.

AC Infinity devices (fans and the humidifier) are controlled via the AC Infinity Controller 69 Pro that allows me to monitor and manage the devices also remotely via the app.

Shelves & Trays

I use various metal racks purchased on Amazon:

• Floordirekt Rocky 45 x 90 x 200 cm (8 racks placed in an "L" shape)
• Floordirekt Rocky 60 x 90 x 200 cm (4 racks in one line)
• Floordirekt Rocky 55 x 35 x 110 cm (1 rack)
• Amazon Basics 3-shelf trolley on wheels (3 pcs in the middle of the tent)

I use the 60 cm deep rack for smaller plants and seedlings, and 45 cm deep one for all larger plants.

Floordirect Rocky shelves: Amazon
Amazon Basics trolley: Amazon

Water Trays

Trays that I am using:

• Garland G64 (56 x 40 x 4 cm) tray. This size fits the the Garden HighPro Propagator tent shelves nicely and 2 of these trays fit in the 60 cm deep Rocky shelf.
• Garland Maxi G74 (79 x 40 x 4 cm). This tray fits on the Rocky 45 cm deep shelf.
• Garland Giant Plus (120 x 55 x 4 cm). This is a massive tray that fits partially on the 60 cm deep Rocky shelf. 2 of these trays fit next to each other across 3 (!) Rocky shelves (1/3 of the tray is laying on the next shelf).

To avoid plants sitting in water, I have filled the trays with Vulkastrat and Lechuza pon for the pots to sit on.