How do you deal with low temps?

[Bud Buddington]

Hi all!
I am a basement grower and with winter approaching, I am looking for ways to keep my temperatures within respectable ranges (between 60-80°F). Besides a space heater, what do you use or what can I use to keep my space warmer?

Note: I am a cab grower so I don't need to warm/heat my entire basement.

 

[CannabisDog]

A bigger light will give you bigger buds and more heat.

 

[Bud Buddington]

I have a 400W light and it will create heat. My main concern is when the light is off the temps will drop a lot in my basement during winter.

 

[HUGE]

Seal the room, add co2 and a dehumidifier. Shoul get more bid and keep night temps up.

 

[Winnie10]

Run a dehumidiifier. They make heat..

 

[Bud Buddington]

I have a dehumidifier and I am have a C02 bag. I guess I will have to just wait for winter and see how low the temps actually get. I'm just afraid that it will drop below 55°F and kill my mothers along with the actual crop.
Thank you for all your input and suggestions.
If you want to also take a look at my grow journal follow the link below:
http://https://www.icmag.com/modules/Journal/viewentry.php?journalid=1098

 

[foomar]

Hi Bud , have found that if you can keep the rootzone temps above 60F ish the plant will stand near freezeing without damage , i box in and lag the pots with a heating cable running round them.

Roots can function normally and the colours are stunning , yield is down 20% or so but plants are smaller in winter and can fit more in , was costing twice as much in electric to heat the whole room in the dark as the lights were useing.

One of those cheap usb weather stations is good for monitering temps and humidity , well worth haveing if running cold to avoid dew point and subsequent moulds.

Powdery mildew seems more of a problem running cold , 55F and 30% RH and it can move fast , spider mites retreat to the stems and get webby and are less of an issue.

Some plants were left in the greenhouse overnight this spring , a minus 12 night left them frosted even under glass , they recovered fine out of direct sun but would have turned to mush if thawed out fast , like frozen strawberries.

Often left plants in the fridge overnight to reduce mites before adding predators , plants go into stasis and could be left a week with little harm at just above freezeing , soon green up back under lights.

 

[CannabisDog]

A dehumidifier is key without it the humility will be through the roof. You will get mold in the buds if you don't have one. With low temps this will happen for sure.

 

[t33to]

The absolute most efficient solution I've seen to this problem is having two cabinets side by side that have their light cycles separate from one another.

So lets say you have Cabinet 1 which light is on from 6am-6pm. Then you have Cabinet 2 on from 6pm-6am. You never waste any heat as the excess heat gets used by the cabinet which is in darkness.

Of course if you have fancy stuff such as co2 enhancement, different humidity settings for day/night it becomes extremely difficult to pull this off.

But I always say why run a heater when you can run a bulb

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

You can place a seedling heat mat under your plants. It will warm the root zone directly and add some heat to the cab.

 

[Bud Buddington]

So let me get this straight, I should be more concerned with keeping the roots warm than the actual plant matter? For example, if I keep the roots at a decent temp (between 60-80°F) then I shouldn't have to worry about actually heating the cab?

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

Cold wet soil suppresses root growth, and is more difficult to heat than air. If the soil's cold then the plants won't thrive. The warmth emitted by a heat mat is totally contained within your cabinet and will help warm the air also in addition to the soil. You could put it on a timer to run during lights out if you wish.

t33to's flip flop double cab idea is awesome though.

 

[Bud Buddington]

First off I want to thank everyone that has posted in this thread with some advice. It is all very helpful.
I think I might try the heat mat idea. That seems to be the easiest/less costly approach.
I also liked t33to's flip flop double cab idea but I don't want to buy another light. If I ever upgrade my grow that will be a definite option/solution. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[t33to]

Cold wet soil suppresses root growth, and is more difficult to heat than air. If the soil's cold then the plants won't thrive. The warmth emitted by a heat mat is totally contained within your cabinet and will help warm the air also in addition to the soil. You could put it on a timer to run during lights out if you wish.

t33to's flip flop double cab idea is awesome though.

Thanks dude!

Seedling heat mats are a great simple solution and it's always good to keep the root zone in the ideal temperature anyhow. If I had to pick warm roots or warm plant I would totally warm the roots, your vegetation can't do anything with out healthy roots.

Another cool thing about dual cabs in the same room is that you can have split cycles. Start one cab 4 weeks after the other and booyah, mini harvests every month