Odor Management For Your Grow Room
This post brought to you by Fullbloom Hydroponics
The right odor management strategy is an
essential part of any indoor growing operation. There are a few prime systems that growers utilize to control fragrances produced by their legal marijuana gardens.
If you are growing a species of plant that has a particularly potent odor, in some cases you might not want the scent to get out of the grow room as it can overwhelm your property and be invasive to the senses those in your home. The advice below will help you to eliminate odors in your grow room if needed.
Carbon Filters
This is the most commonly used, tried-and-true method of blocking scent from traveling. The filter is a spherical, empty, tube-like structure with a partition filter that has carbon in the form of activated charcoal. The air with the scent in it passes through the carbon filter and comes out the other side as odorless air. This method of fragrance control is efficient, easy to find, affordable, and easy to use. With a good pre-filter you should will need to replace your activated carbon every year to year and a half. It is recommended that you change the air in your growing room via this carbon filter every five minutes.
Ozone Generators
These machines are not as common as carbon filters but are another method used for managing smells from your garden. These machines work to take odor out of the air through the method of oxidizing airborne pollutants. The generator creates air that smells nice, some describe it as the smell of rain. This is actually the oxidizing agent from the machine. In some circumstances you may be able to smell this outside of your grow room, which may or may not be a deal breaker for you depending on your situation. The smell of a rainstorm seems harmless, but actually, ozone is labeled a toxic gas by the EPA for its ability to cause lung damage and aggravate respiratory ailments and suppressing the immune system. These generators are even banned in some states. If you decide to use this method do so very sparingly because as stated above too much can actually be bad for you as well as the environment your plants grow in, and could lead to a negative outcome with your plants such as becoming odorless or tasting strange.
Odor Masking Agents
One other option for covering up smells are odor masking agents that are sold as a gel, liquid, or solid. The odor masking agent can be set near the perimeter of the grow area or within the growing room close to an exhaust vent. These should be viewed as an additional aid to another, larger system like the ones listed above, or for very small operations. One well known odor-masking agent is the product ONA (Odor Neutralizing Agent) that comes in many different forms such as oil, solid, liquid and gel.
Selecting the correct scent management should be done during the planning phase of your gardening project. A carbon filter is the best way to kill any kind of odors, plus it achieves its goal in any size of enclosed garden area.