Nothing can be more beneficial for your plant's growth than a regular checklist. It helps you track your plant's growth and tells you about the benefits of the growing techniques you use. You get to find out about the products that may or may not have worked for your plants and the reasons behind your plant's slow growth. If you are a grower who likes the idea of growing indoors, be it in soil or hydroponically, maintaining a checklist is always crucial. You can maintain paper journals or use mobile applications to keep you organized. Do you want to know more? Let's find out about how a checklist helps you in your plant's overall growth.

To Do’s in a Grow Room When the Lights Are On

Light influences a plant's growth in more ways than you can think. It is one of the, if not the most important factors that determine a plant’s growth. For some plants maintaining proper lighting to replicate a day and night schedule is a must. In the case of indoor plants, you can use grow lights to your plant's benefit, as with grow lights, plants get to absorb the lights while photosynthesis in the plants continues. In this way, the light converts into energy, making the plants grow faster and better.

That said, with lights turned off, the plants get to focus on their metabolism and growth as the consumption process comes to a halt. But keep in check your plant's reaction when you expose them to grow lights. Most times, growers do not notice the small details plants show and damage them in the long run, as a result.

Be sure to keep a checklist and maintain a schedule to not trigger your plants by turning on the lights when not necessary. You can consider checking and inspecting the foliage in the plants. These mostly appear at the top and bottom of the plant's stem and leaves. In case the results don't appear apparent, you can consider inspecting the roots and removing them from the nutrient solution. However, if you're not growing in soil, try staying away from touching and disturbing the roots. The roots in the soil demand a careful and thorough inspection when transplanting.

Daily Checklist for the Grow Room

Consider using these tasks in the checklist to see if your plants are growing any better. These are some of the quick tasks you can perform every day. The fact that these don't demand a lot from you, you can easily get the hang of these in no time.

Checking Plugs and Settings

One of the first things you can do is ensure all your lights, timers, fans, pumps, and power sources are operating fine. You'd have to see if everything in your grow area is safe to use or not. For example, you can't leave your grow area unattended for a longer period. Whether it's the surge protector, cords, or any source to power your grow area, ensure to check if everything is working fine. In case anything demands a replacement, be sure to replace them to avoid inconveniences in the future.

Look at the Distance Between Canopy and Grow Lights

Your plants require proper treatment especially when it comes to providing them with proper lighting. Excess lighting, in most cases, can burn leaves. Considering growers do not measure the distance between lights and plants, many a times this becomes reckless and they end up burning the leaves or in extreme case the whole plant. Precisely, the lighting has to be in just the right amount neither too low nor too high. One such strategy to make this happen is by using adjustable light hangers. One of the reasons these hangers can be perfect is that you can easily move them however you want and whenever you want. Neither do these hangers slip nor do these adjustable light hangers rust, so be sure to invest in these and enjoy the results.

Monitor your Fans performance

A plant demands more than just a growing area for its growth. From proper lighting to a well-regulated airflow, you need to be sure everything is rightly aligned and working fine for your plant's overall growth. The right airflow in your grow area reduces the risk of molding and mildew. For this, you need to be sure of the direction of the air flow. For example, if you turn the fans on towards the plant, the results would only be detrimental to a plant's overall health. Have we only further demotivated you? Are you convinced you can't get the plants you need just because you don't have the fans you can't control? We have good news for you, in the form of a fan speed controller. These controllers control the air movement inside the grow tent and enhance your plant’s growth.

Review Humidity and Temperature

Another important factor contributing significantly to a plant's growth is the temperature and humidity inside the growing area. While some plants grow better in warmer and humid conditions especially in their veg stage, others grow better in a colder and dryer climate. You need to make sure that the night-day temperature in your grow area is well put together. For example, in case the difference exceeds 15°F (8°C) your plants would mold, and the humidity levels would rise. This is where temperature controllers come in play. These are absolutely ideal in maintaining a grow room’s environment. If you want, you can learn more about these from one of our guides.

Inspecting plants for Pests and Disease Infestation

Next in line is a pest infestation that you need to prevent at all costs. You can consider keeping a regular check on your plants so that you get to identify infestation in its early stage. On the other hand, you need to make sure your plants don't get affected by mold and fungus. Once you spot any of these, be sure to treat them as early as possible. One way to identify these is by using a small loupe or portable microscope. You can also use your smartphones or any of the latest gadgets you have by downloading different applications to help you detect signs of an infestation. Once you detect them, you can consider using one of our pest and disease control methods. These are some of the most effective sprays you can use to fight and get rid of these arch nemeses of your plants. If not that, you can also consider learning about eliminating many common garden pests at our learning center.

Check for Nutrient Deficiency and Toxicity

Nutrient deficiency can bring a plant's growth to a halt. As a grower, you need to ensure your plants don't suffer from a nutrient deficiency as it can lead to many problems when it comes to plant growth and flowering. Take a closer look at your plant's leaves, stems, and the growing medium to check if there's any measure you can take to improve your plant's growth. In case you are confused, you can consider studying one of our guides to nutrient deficiency. The guide taps deep into teaching you how to understand, diagnose, and treat the deficiencies and achieve a balanced growth. We also have a definitive guide on plant nutrition to help beginner plant growers understand the nitty-gritty of growing plants. You can consider reading it to improve your growth area. Once you are done, you can also use a nutrient and pH doser. The doser is an incredible way to feed your plants without overfeeding them in any way.

Rotating Plants for Even Growth

When you rotate your plants every day, you expose each plant in the grow area to the amount of light they need. Consider rotating your plants to a 90° every day for balanced and better growth.

Review pH Levels of the Soil or the Runoff

Balancing pH levels in a plant is critical to a plant's growth whether you grow hydroponically or in soil. The pH levels help plants consume the nutrients better. For this, you can consider investing in a pH meter so that you can establish if all the nutrients are rightly aligned and that the soil has the correct pH range. In contrast, when you grow hydroponically, be sure to check for the PPMs and EC. Checking allows you to ensure that EC and PPM are in the required range or not. The reason being, for your plants to grow better hydroponically, PPM and EC play an important role. In case you are a beginner in adjusting pH levels and haven't ever adjusted them before.

Cleanliness Removing Plant Matter

One way you can avoid getting mold and mildew on your plants is by keeping your grow area free of plant matter. With several cleaning solutions available in the market, you can use the one you prefer. If you want, you can also consider one of our cleaning solutions for your grow room.

Journaling a Plant’s Progress

Journaling your plant's growth helps you track its progress. You find out the problems and the solutions to them when you note everything down. With this, you'd get to improve your plant's growth process.

Weekly Checklist for Grow Rooms

Just as daily inspection is important for a plant's overall growth, these weekly To-dos for your grow room are equally important. Let's look into how we can keep track of changes in our plants every week.

Checking pH and EC Meters and Calibrate as Needed

Measuring your plant's pH levels is one thing you should never ignore as a grower. One of the ways you can do it is by using calibrated pH and EC meters. You can consider adjusting and cleaning the meters every one or two weeks. When using auto systems for dosing, you can consider using extra probes. This will help you from shutting down your entire hydroponic system while waiting for a probe to be delivered.

Check for Mold, Pests, Fungi Infestation, and Nutrient Deficiencies

Out of all the other problems, be sure to inspect such problems more closely than any other. Once you track infestation in your plants, don't forget to treat them as early as possible. You can consider using strong insecticides to prevent the pests from spreading further. However, for the plants growing in soil, ensure extra care. Make sure not to touch the roots unless you are convinced that your plants are infected. Otherwise, the repercussions can be severe.

In-Depth Cleaning

Make sure to clean your grow area thoroughly once a week to avoid infestation. When the growing area is filled with dead plants and water spills, insects, mites, and pests can come creeping for a feast. This creates havoc in your garden without you even knowing. So be sure to fix a day every week to clean your grow area. Don't forget cleaning your grow tent, its floor, and the corners in your grow area so that everything stays clean and tidy throughout.

Training and Pruning Your Plants

For every grower, there's always a certain way they want their plants to look. Pruning helps you achieve that. It trains plants to grow exactly in the shape you want. However, for this, you have to be careful with the tools you use for pruning. You can sterilize and sharpen the different pair of pruners or scissors you use. With sterilized pruners, you get to lessen the chance of damaging your plants. On the other hand, you can also use a trellis net. The trellis net directs the plant's growth better and prevents the plants from damaging. Give our guides on pruning a read. They'll provide you better insights on how you can increase your plant's overall yield by training them.

Monthly Checklist for Grow Rooms

Now that you know how daily and weekly checklists impact a plant's yield, let's look into how a monthly checklist improves your plant's growth. Below are the tasks you can consider.

Cleaning the Trays and Pots

Another important factor contributing to a plant's growth is keeping your grow trays and pots clean. Keeping these clean and sanitized regularly can reduce the chances of diseases and pests in your plants.

Dusting and wiping off Light Reflectors

Light reflectors play a big role in lighting the plants evenly in the grow area. Cleaning the dust and dirt off your reflectors ensures your plants get enough light.

Checking Bulbs and Replacing when Needed

Just like checking grow lights daily, monthly checking of bulbs for wear and tear and timely replacement helps maintain optimal lighting conditions for your plants.

Checking the Feeding Schedule

Make sure to review your feeding schedule monthly to ensure your plants are getting the right nutrients at the right time.

Monthly Journal Update

Updating your journal monthly with notes on plant progress, changes made, and observations helps you plan better for the upcoming months.

Flushing your Plants

Flushing your plants monthly helps remove excess salts and prevents nutrient lockout, ensuring healthy growth.

Bottom Line: Why is Maintaining a Grow Room Checklist Important?

Maintaining a regular checklist is the key to successful growing. It helps you catch issues early, optimize your plant's environment, and ultimately achieve better yields.