Does the idea of choosing a grow tent overwhelm you? Grow tents are a lifesaver for indoor gardeners. These structures allow you to completely control the growing conditions of your plants. But there are so many different components and features to consider.
Gorilla Grow Tents are among the most popular grow tents on the market. We've taken a look at their offerings. This is everything you need to know if you're thinking about buying one.
What Are Gorilla Grow Tents?
Gorilla Grow Tents are a specific brand of grow tent manufactured by a single company. They are considered industry standard in the indoor growing community. Many professional greenhouse growers use them to control interior temperatures for finicky plants.
These tents all have many of the same features and basic construction. The models just vary in their dimensions. However, it is important to note that the company manufactures three different tent lines:
GGT tents are the original high-quality grow tent for indoor environments. Lite tents work best for people on a budget, especially if you have more casual growing needs. Shorty tents are built for those who need to fit all of their growth into a very compact area.
These are the only key differences between the tents. All of the other features remain the same across all models. Unlike manufacturers who make a thousand different variations of their product, Gorilla figured out what worked and stuck to it.
As such, we'll be reviewing the universal features, advantages, and potential disadvantages that the tents have.
Unique Gorilla Features
Almost all of the features and construction remain the same regardless of the model you buy. Once you familiarize yourself with the features of one model, you'll know what to expect from the rest. This uniformity helps make the Gorilla shopping process much less overwhelming than other manufacturers.
Instead of comparing different features of different models to choose the right one, all you have to do is figure out the dimensions you need. Then you'll need to decide whether to purchase the inexpensive line or the full-fabric line.
There are multiple features that set Gorilla tents apart from the competition. These enduring designs have come highly recommended by the amateur and professional gardening communities alike. But are they really worth it?
Height Extensions
Gorilla manufactures height extension kits that can be used with a variety of grow tent models. These are used to increase the height of the base tent, allowing you to grow taller plants or put additional shelves inside.
Height extensions can be bought in 1-foot or 2-foot kits. In addition, Gorilla's main tent line is already larger than most of the competition. Many of the tents are tall enough to comfortably walk inside without bending down.
In fact, if you purchase the tallest tent and add a height extension, it will be just shy of 9 feet tall. That's a massive amount of vertical space to take up, and it lets you grow significantly more plants with the right shelving setup.
The main GGT tent line reaches heights of 6'11" at the tallest. With the Lite line, the tallest model is 6'7". That said, the 1-foot kits can be used with the Lite tents, which makes the maximum Lite height 7'7".
The Shorty line is built to be more compact instead of maximizing vertical space. If you need to put your tent in a shorter area, the tallest Shorty tent is just 4'11".
The majority of competing grow tent manufacturers don't offer models that are taller than 6 feet. Gorilla's height extension kits are also unique. If you need a lot of vertical space for your plants, Gorilla beats the competition by a mile.
If you don't need space for your plants, but you want to expand someday, Gorilla tents have room to branch out. They're also great for taller individuals who want to tend their plants without an aching back.
Tent Thickness
The standard and Shorty lines both feature the same thick fabric. This fabric is rated as 1680D material, which means that it has an extremely high density. Competing manufacturers use fabric that is up to 9 times less dense.
Increased fabric density has a number of benefits when you're maintaining an indoor grow area. Since the fabric is more tightly woven, there are fewer gaps. This means:
All of these things make it easier to maintain a stable indoor growth environment indefinitely.
The Lite line, on the other hand, is built to be lightweight and affordable. This lighter weight is achieved by using much thinner fabric. In doing so, Gorilla can keep all of the other standard tent features without needing to sacrifice equipment for the weight.
Lite tents are built with 210D density fabric. That's significantly thinner than the 1680D standard construction. But the models are manufactured using a specialized binding technique that connects the thin canvas to the inside reflective coating.
This increases the rigidity of the fabric, helping the tent remain stable. It also increases the overall durability. Despite having a technically thin canvas and a light weight, the binding technique seals gaps to prevent light and noise pollution. That means that the Lite tents outperform denser competitors.
When you look at the specifications of the competition, it's difficult to find any models that come close to Gorilla's canvas. Low-end tent models tend to have fabric densities of about 190D. More expensive models rarely use denser fabric than 600D.
The 600D rating might sound like an improvement over the 200D Lite tents. But Gorilla is the only major tent manufacturer to use the chemical binding method. Since other tents aren't bound to their interior lining, they don't enjoy the same durability or impenetrability that the Lite tents do.
Basically, no matter what Gorilla tent you buy, you'll end up with a design that's sturdier and covers more gaps than a competitor.
Safety Features
There are certain safety concerns when you set up an indoor grow tent. Some of the biggest ones come from the potential for water and electricity to mix. If the equipment fails, a plant falls, or a bucket of water spills, what will happen to it?
Every Gorilla tent includes a flood pool. When you set the tent up, the pool will be placed on the floor. Each corner is outfitted with Velcro strips which secure around the tent poles. This keeps the tray in place, but also makes it accessible enough to empty with ease.
The flood pool is about 4 inches in height. As such, it can handle even major water spills.
In addition to preventing water damage and electrical hazards, Gorilla tents include safety features like:
Since the frame is made of interlocking pieces that don't come apart, you don't have to worry about your equipment or shelving falling down. You can hang grow lights from the ceiling poles in peace.
When compared to other tents on the market, Gorilla's safety advantages include:
Gorilla's tents are reliable. You can trust them to keep your grow conditions stable and your interior equipment in place. The same can't be said of most competing options.
Cleaning and Filtration
Gorilla tents come outfitted with certain filtration systems that serve multiple purposes.
First, the filters prevent spores or allergens from escaping the grow tent. This helps to keep odors from escaping into your home. Depending on what plants you're growing, it can also be a bonus for your health.
On the other hand, the filters also keep outside contaminants from getting inside. This makes your plants much less likely to suffer from mold, mildew, bacterial growth, or other diseases. It also makes your interior grow environment easier to control.
The filtration system includes a mesh pre-filter that removes large particles, plus a double-lined duct system that takes care of additional contaminants. The filters keep out bugs and spores alike.
Other grow tents do often have some kind of filtering system. But the majority of them don't have pre-filter systems. Those that do use large nets instead of fine mesh, which means that mosquitoes and flies can move in.
Another problem with competing grow tents is the ductwork. With Gorilla tents, the double lining increases the sturdiness and prevents leaks. But single-lined ducts have imprecise seams, which can lead to leaks. The air that leaks inside the tent might contain mold, mildew, and other potentially harmful contaminants.
Internal Temperature
We mentioned that Gorilla's standard tents are significantly taller than those of the competition. That nifty feature serves a purpose beyond making tall people's lives easier. Additional height helps to lower the inside temperature by 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
Even when you're indoors in a climate controlled home, you might experience serious temperature fluctuations. If your winters are long and cold, it probably affects the interior of your home. Similarly, if your summers are extremely humid and hot, that atmosphere will leak into your house.
If your home temperature goes through temperature fluctuations, it's even more important that your grow tent is stable. Since Gorilla's standard tents use best-in-class 1680D fabric, they protect the interior from temperature changes.
As heated air rises inside the tent, it escapes through a vent. This design prevents the tents from overheating even in hot external conditions. Even the Lite line can regulate the interior temperatures. And the Lite tents have significantly thinner canvas and shorter heights.
The more room you leave at the top of the tent, the further the hot air can rise. This keeps it away from the plants themselves.
With the competition, the shorter tent ceilings trap the hot air closer to the plants. You're more likely to see increased temperatures around your canopy. Since the tents also don't exceed 600D fabric at best, they're vulnerable to fluctuating temperatures from outside.
Design Quality
There's a lot to love about the design of Gorilla tents. Through a combination of creative engineering and high-quality materials, the company has created growing tents that are unmatched.
Every tent line comes with the same basic frame structure. The frames are crafted from sturdy metal poles that don't bend, warp, or crack under pressure. The construction itself uses interlocking mechanisms to hook the poles together and keep them there.
Since you aren't using complicated fasteners or screws or wobbly connectors, the frame is extremely sturdy. Once it's put together, it stands stably and doesn't move.
For additional stability, all of the corners have interlocking mechanisms at every point. As soon as they're locked in, they aren't going anywhere.
Another compelling aspect of the design is the double-stitched sections of canvas. The company hasn't double-stitched the entire tent. But they have identified areas that are more likely to wear down over time. These areas have been given reinforced stitching to prevent them from fraying or tearing.
Similarly, all of the electrical ports and ductwork is created with perfect growth conditions in mind. The engineering solves many problems that competing tent models have: it includes extra filtration, duct protection, temperature control, and heat blockage.
It's clear from the get-go that the people behind the design are gardeners. They know what to look for in grow tents, and they want to make products that last.
When you purchase a cheap tent model from a mass-market manufacturer instead, some problems you might run into include:
None of these design flaws make an appearance in Gorilla tents.
Assembly
Unless you purchase an extremely compact grow tent, you're going to need to do some assembly. Gorilla tents don't come already assembled, and neither do any of the competition's models.
But once you resign yourself to doing some assembly, you'll realize that Gorilla has taken steps to make the process simple.
Some of the features include:
Once you've assembled the tent itself, it's easy to set up and monitor your indoor growing environment.
For example, there are two viewing windows that allow you to look inside without altering the interior environment. If you need to do maintenance on your plants, you can unzip the doors a full 360 degrees. This allows you much easier access to the entire interior.
Since the tents are taller than most competitors, even tall people don't tend to have trouble standing up.
Another super helpful feature is the standard sizing of the frame. You can hook a ready-to-use hydroponics system to the frame without worrying about specifications or weight limits.
Gorilla tents have tool pouches where you can keep your assembly tools and gardening tools alike. It's also much easier to pull the canvas over the frame than many competing models. Every piece of canvas is sized to fit the exact frame without stretching too tight.
Tent Models Compared
As mentioned, Gorilla manufactures just three different tent lines. They all have almost exactly the same features. The only difference is that the Lite series uses thin canvas that's chemically bound to the interior lining.
From there, the difference between models is a matter of dimensions. Let's take a look at the different options in each line.
GGT Tents
GGT stands for Gorilla Grow Tent. These standard tents have all of the features and dense canvas that Gorilla has to offer. They're also taller than most competing tents, which makes it easier for hot air to rise away from your plants.
The smallest tent in this series has dimensions of 2' x 2.5' x 5'11". It is the only tent in the GGT line that has a height of 5'11" instead of 6'11". All other tents in the series have a standardized 6'11" height.
The smallest tent weighs just 29 pounds, while the largest one has a weight of 308 pounds. With dimensions of 10 by 20 feet, this huge growing tent is a room of its own. Since it costs several thousand dollars, people don't generally invest in it unless they're growing plants professionally.
In addition to these tents, the dimensions of the other 6'11" tents are:
As you can see, there are many different lengths and widths to choose from. If you know that your space can accommodate the 6'11" height, the next step is to measure and find out how much room you need. You'll be able to select a tent close to your ideal dimensions.
Lite Tents
Lite tents are built using thin canvas fabric, which makes the overall tent significantly lighter. It also makes these models much less expensive than standard Gorilla tents.
If you're shopping on a budget and need a lightweight option, a Lite tent is a good choice. The models are 40 percent less heavy than their standard counterparts. Though they're a little less durable, they still outperform the competition.
The smallest Lite tent has a 5'7" height and 2 x 2.5 foot dimensions. All other tents in the line are 6'7" tall. The available 6'7" models are:
Shorty Tents
The shorty tents have exactly the same features and construction as the standard tents. But they're shorter. Every Shorty tent is 4'11" tall, with available dimensions of:
They're a good choice if you don't need to maximize your vertical growing space.
The Bottom Line
Gorilla Grow Tents are the bestselling tents in the industry for a reason. There isn't a single aspect of their construction that doesn't shine. Whether you're a beginning gardener or a seasoned expert, investment in one of these tents is worth your money.
