How Does Your Grow Cope With The Cold?

[medi-useA]

I'm in Australia...We have extremes of heat here...
But on the news each night I keep seeing the Freeze th@ is hitting the other Hemisphere...

I see records of 22 degrees C below zero in Scotland...

Similar temps in Europe, Continental USA...Canada...

I read posts th@ mention power outages, freezing weather and COLD COLD COLD!

So How are you guys COPING with this weather?...How are you maintaining?...bet the heat from those HPS was never so welcomed, huh?

C'mon Guys and Gals...Got any tips to share?

muA

 

[ureapwhatusow]

dont exhaust recycle the air

hps heat is safe heat

 

[SuperConductor]

It's the middle of summer there isn't it? You're just rubbing our faces in it lol just kidding. In Scotland here and I just keep the heating on 24 hours a day. I've got 1200 watts in a 120 grow box and i still need a tube heater and the ballasts in the tent as well as central heating on. It's good as I couldn't run 1200 in that space if it was warm. Oh yeah and I'm also using the exhaust to heat the rest of the flat lol makes for steamy windows tho.

 

[medi-useA]

Great..thanks for chiming in.


40+ deg C is hard to handle with it's own set of probs...

but cooling is a bit easier than heating...

Has anyone tried putting a barrel of hot water in the growroom to radiate warmth?..or some other method?

Fishtank heaters selling out near you?

Anything you've learned about coping WILL help someone somewhere...so give wh@ ya can!

muA

 

[Pythagllio]

It's easier to heat a room than to cool it.

 

[mpd]

I did my first round of plants the week of Christmas. The cold killed all of them. Moved my cabinet back into the house and had some new seeds sprout yesterday. Hopefully this cold snap will abate by mid-week and we can get back to the mid-70s that are the usual temperatures for Houston in January.

Cycle of life issue.

Global warming. Be sure to blame George Bush for it. Oh and death to America!

 

[medi-useA]

Can any one answer this...? will keeping nute temps higher allow the plants to survive colder temps?...I know the inverse to be true...When I can keep a res cooler in summer, plants withstand higher temps better...If so...@ what temp is best?...

I did my first round of plants the week of Christmas. The cold killed all of them. Moved my cabinet back into the house and had some new seeds sprout yesterday. Hopefully this cold snap will abate by mid-week and we can get back to the mid-70s that are the usual temperatures for Houston in January.

An IDEA...if it's worth it...a heated res with a pump and recirculating hose th@ is laid on the pots alongside the seedlings....?
Self-contained Sealed tub/bucket with hosing, fish tank water heater and pump...bring out and use as needed.

muA

 

[GrowerGoneWild]

I just run my growroom heat out to the house, instead of dumping it outside. Its all
scrubbed or ozone treated before it goes out.

I use house air as my intake.

I also use the exhaust from the pilot and time that exhaust gas into the grow room.

Typical temps. with lights off 70F.
Lights on 85F.

Outside temps. a chilly 15F.

 

[mpd]

Those temps in the reservoir have to stay in the 65F to 72F range. Sometimes you can run them a little higher if you are doing bio-buckets (hurtback or bigtoke design), but that's a range you need to live with.

 

[wiklund]

Hi!

I got -18C outside right now. I live in an old house and heat it only by burning wood. I got 22C inside the house and 28C in the grow room. But when the night comes and i can not put more wood in to the fire the the temp go down. It is about 9C in the house when i wake up, and 12C in the grow room. The plants dosent die, but they are not growing as fast as they use to do. But my Purple Wreck gets REALLY purple, he he.

Kind regards

 

[Yes4Prop215]

i like the cold makes the plants turn purple, nothing lower than 40-50 degrees though.


if it gets too cold use one of those root heating pads, or a aquarium heater in a bucket of water heated to like 80 helps.

 

[SuperConductor]

i like the cold makes the plants turn purple.

Makes them stop growing too If you prefer growth to purple keep it above 60F/15C preferably much higher.

 

[cyberwax]

I just run my growroom heat out to the house, instead of dumping it outside. Its all
scrubbed or ozone treated before it goes out.

I use house air as my intake.

I also use the exhaust from the pilot and time that exhaust gas into the grow room.

Typical temps. with lights off 70F.
Lights on 85F.

Outside temps. a chilly 15F.

You ozone the air your breathing in your house?

 

[geopolitical]

-45c here. Big thing, I'm insulated. My first house was 2x4 walls and I think (seriously) newspaper insulation in the walls. Couldn't EVER get that house warm enough during the cold snaps. I have some old photos of grows in the old place. I would sometimes get 40-45 temps in the grow area even with heaters running. Got some very pretty colored plants, got some really crap yields.

Our current place, 2x6 outer walls with staggered studs with blueboard then a 1" gap, then reflectix, then a 2x2 wall with blueboard & paneling. Windows are triple pane, low E & coated. We use a heat exchanger for ventilation (I really want to upgrade this, our current one is only %60 efficient at the lower temps). I think I spent about 3x what you'd normally spend on the building envelope & heating systems. It paid for itself in the first 4 years and that was before energy prices went to hell up here.

We do zoned heating, so I can just keep the heat shut off in the grow area. there are multiple large cabinets, the lights are set so in winter they're all on a rotating basis so there's never one not on. In winter I'll plumb the grow room directly back into the house ductwork after passing it through carbon of course. Unless you live in a place that's somehow 22c all year and day and night long, you'll never regret spending extra $$ at construction on insulation.

 

[headband 707]

Yup the cold is definately a problem here for some ppl that don't get ready for it. The hot water is a good idea but then your going to have to deal with too much humidity and on and on lol .. I know with my crop as soon as the cold hits the crop slows right down ... They don't like these cold temps lol.. They don't like too much heat either lol. peace out Headband707

 

[parwz]

got -16 C in sweden.. doesnt affect my appartment at all..

 

[Bobby Stainless]

My grow loves it, so does my electric bill.

 

[mpd]

Just had a pipe burst. It's one of my irrigation feeds blew and flooded out my neighbor's yard. Grrrr!!!! This house is falling down around my ears! First we had the hurricane (which I haven't had the money to repair since the damage in 2008!) and things are just getting worse. God, I hope the recession ends this year. This dearth of business is good for my posting on IC but terrible for the bank account!

 

[ddrew]

My veg area's hitting in the low 50's and growth has slowed to a crawl, I don't have enough amps left to run a space heater in there either, I literally have my place maxed out, I have to unplug my fridge to run my microwave. 100 year old building with 15amp screw fuses, sucks

 

[mpd]

Oh man, my first was like that. The house was built in 1692 and had screw in fuses. Had a terrible electrical fire and lost a lot of stuff (no renter's insurance). The owner of the house was living in Spain and the company managing the house didn't start the repair work until after we had an inch of snow - inside the house!

I hope it gets better for you too, ddrew! hang in there...