🌱Hobby Growing 101: How to Reset a Tent

The fun part of growing is not the post-harvest cleanup aka "reset".

Since I started growing my first cannabis plant in a 2x2 in my closet, I've had to reset my tents 30x+.

Here's the complete post-harvest grow tent reset formula I use every time for fast, clean results.

Before you start:

• Gloves recommended when working with oxidizers and sanitizers.

• Eye protection: Don’t go blind; protect your eyes when working with chemicals.

• Mask/rebreather: Not required (but heavily encouraged when working with any chemistries or moving around items that will stir up small particles like dust and dirt).

What You'll Need:

• Zerotol HC/2.0 (I recommend 2.0 if your local store has it)

• Dish Soap

• Water

• Sponge

• Pressurized Sprayer

• Gloves

• Eye Protection

• Mask (optional but recommended)

1. Remove Used Materials

• Plant Material: Branches, leaves, anything that may have fallen to the floor during the cycle or harvest.

• Substrate: Unless you are reusing your media, dispose of it immediately after harvest.

• Pots*: If you run fabric pots like I do, you will want to remove these and wash or toss depending on condition of the pot.

  • *If you run plastic pots, dump your substrate and rinse if needed.

• Porus Materials: Some disagree, but I remove items like cotton netting (trellis) after each cycle. It's an extra step, and cost, but I'm more comfortable starting fresh than trying to sanitize the cotton string

  

2. Wash Anything That's Dirty

• I use regular old dish soap.

• This can be done inside the tent (if it is big enough), in a bathroom (recommended for apartments in case of spills), or in a sink if available.

  • If you are washing in your tent, make sure you have cut the power to any equipment within splash radius.

• First, rinse items. A garden nozzle with adjustable settings (I like 'flat') is great for applying some pressure to anything clinging onto your surfaces (and keeps your soapy water cleaner).

• For items with significant residuals (crusted media, runoff, decaying leaves, etc.), soak for 30-60 minutes as needed in your soapy water.

• If you do not have a big enough container to soak all items at once, you can use things like saucers as soaking vessels for other items like risers (flip upside down and fill until covered)

• After soak, dump excess soap water and scrub as needed.

• Rinse

• You can choose to sanitize after rinse using Zerotol HC/2.0 at a 1:100 (37ml/gal) rate or dry your items and set aside until you sanitize the rest of the tent. More on that later.

  • If you sanitize here, allow 1 hours of dry time according to the label's reentry interval (REI).

3. Cut the power.

• If you haven't already done so, cut the power to anything electric in your tent.

• I recommend having a surge protector that works as a kill-switch, a tool that can come in handy when preventing electrical issues, or if you need to quickly shut off any noises your grow may be making

  

4. Cover your ports & sensors

• Sensors and soft metals are NOT safe for using a sanitizer like ZeroTol.

• It should go without saying that electrical connections should not be exposed to moisture (and, if they are, should allow plenty of dry time to avoid issues)

• You can cover these in a variety of ways, including:

  • Electrical tape (for outlets, ports, connections)

  • Gloves and baggies (for sensors and plugs)