Grow Tent OutGassing / Offgassing WARNING!!

[neuroherb]

Without plasticised PVC somewhere then it probably isn't off gassing as were thinking about it in this thread. However there is plenty of places within a room that synthetics and chemicals are used. I have been told carpets can have an affect on a grow room and window seals as in the greenhouse that used the PVC seal strips.

If you haven't already take a critical look around your grow room for any synthetic materials that could act like plasticised PVC.

 

[Buddog]

Hey guys,

Im looking for a bit of advice cos i think i may have this off-gassing problem. I am currently growing my 1st grow in a HydroGarden tent (it is silver lined in the inside, but does have a white floor part), i have been assured this tent has never had any problems but you never know! Anyway i had started my ladies in a different room for the veg/grow stage and have only just moved them into the tent to flower, they have been in the tent for just over a week now and are starting to show signs of what may be off-gassing! As they were fine b4 they went into the tent and i havent changed anything regarding feed etc i am unsure what the problem is but i really do think it is off-gassing! Do you think this may be due to the white floor part or the tent its self? Also the only thing i can think of which may be causing this is because where i am it is cold i have to run a small fan heater for 15 mins every 2-3 hours in the dark 12hr, so this would cause some temp and humidity flucuations, so dont know if this may be causing it or if it is because of the cold nights and warm days temps difference!!!
I will post a pic of what the leaves are looking like at the yellow part!!!
And if any of you guys can give me any hel or advice it would be highly appreciated!!!
So thanks again all!!!!!

Hey Dude#1

That looks more like light bleaching to me than off gassing.
Your leaf margins are curling in from heat and the yellow areas are the bleaching from to much light intensity.
You may have a hot spot there from your bulb?

 

[shopvac]

seems to be offgassing jangles agrees, waiting it out and starting a couple seedling boxes to test what it could be causing it.

 

[neuroherb]

Are you waiting it out in a tent or have you removed them. After all offgassing causes rpoblems with the plants that can also be as a result of other things. I would check the sick plants guide as the yellowing doesn't seem to be going the traditional washed out white.

 

[TheDude#1]

Hey Buddog,
and cheers for the post mate. What it was, well what i think it was, was due to the low humidity the leafs were curling, would this be? Or is it more likely to be my small fan heater? The reason i dont think it is a heat spot from the light is that i have a heat shield attatched to the light, which is meant to stop heat spot's. It was a bit of a bad picture to post regarding off-gassing and was took under a HPS so you cant really see the true colours. And im a newbie as well so just starting to get to know how to diagnos problems. But before i took out the white floor part i was defo affected by off-gassing! Had the same horrible yellowing at all the new growth as the above pics!
Anyway do you think the leafs would curl like that due to low humidty? Cos really dont think the light would cause a heat spot cos of the shield and temps arent to hot either, but it may be the heat at night from the small fan heater, do you think that is more likely?
Cheers in advance mate

 

[Buddog]

Hey Buddog,
and cheers for the post mate. What it was, well what i think it was, was due to the low humidity the leafs were curling, would this be? Or is it more likely to be my small fan heater? The reason i dont think it is a heat spot from the light is that i have a heat shield attatched to the light, which is meant to stop heat spot's. It was a bit of a bad picture to post regarding off-gassing and was took under a HPS so you cant really see the true colours. And im a newbie as well so just starting to get to know how to diagnos problems. But before i took out the white floor part i was defo affected by off-gassing! Had the same horrible yellowing at all the new growth as the above pics!
Anyway do you think the leafs would curl like that due to low humidty? Cos really dont think the light would cause a heat spot cos of the shield and temps arent to hot either, but it may be the heat at night from the small fan heater, do you think that is more likely?
Cheers in advance mate

Yes low humidity can cause leaf margins to curl like that but probably more so it's heat from the fan heater causing excessive temps if it's blowing on that particular part of the plant.
I would recommend using a small oil heater rather than a fan heater to keep things warm during the dark cycle. There thermostats operate more accurately and they're not as intense. I have a little one running in my tent that has five fins, works perfectly.
If your plants looked like the pics above i would say it was definitely off gassing because my plants looked just like that after 6 days in a toxic tent.
Here's some pics of what my plants looked like from the off gassing.
The last pic is 2 weeks after the tent was removed, they came back nicely.
I now have a Mylar tent.

 

[TheDude#1]

Cheers Buddog,
well i'll need to try and get a new heater and get rid of the fan heater. What did you say you use, an oil heater? Where do you get them and for how much?

 

[Buddog]

Cheers Buddog,
well i'll need to try and get a new heater and get rid of the fan heater. What did you say you use, an oil heater? Where do you get them and for how much?

Below is a pic of mine in my tent.(top R/H corner)
You may call them something different depending on you country of origin.
You can pick them up an any appliance, or department store, for around $30 - $50.

 

[TheDude#1]

Cool m8, i know the one's you mean! I'll defo need to get one and get rid of the fan heater. In the meantime do you think i'll get away with not using one cos the night temps where i am are above 10c just now.
Or if i do have to use it it would be best to face away from the plants eh.
Cheers again for the help m8!

 

[McSnappler]

Wasn't sure where to put this, as it's not a tent I had problems with, but definately outgassing/offgassing.

I bought a small kids toy storage box from Ikea, cost about £10 made from wood and particleboard.

I hacked it about a bit, put 110W of CFL in there, and put my seedlings and young mother plants inside.

A few days went by, and the plants were looking sicker and sicker.. kept putting it down to different things, feeding, ventilation, pH, nothing was working though.

As an experiment I moved some of the plants elsewhere, bam, 24 hours later they were much better, so I moved the rest out, and now they're all recovering.

Looked it up on the net, and certain cheap particleboard offgasses Formaldehyde, and even more so when warm.

Lesson learnt! CHEAP MATERIALS WILL FUCK YOUR PLANTS.

Big up neuro, without this thread I wouldn't have had a clue what was going on.

 

[neuroherb]

Good to hear it was of use to you McSnappler and another good side issue for folk to note. BTW MDF is generally glued together using Urea Formaldehyde. I would also watch chipboard and cheap import plywoods as they can use toxic glue's during construction. You can get sealing compounds generally used to seal for damp which could be used to seal materials.

 

[shopvac]

do you guys think that plywood thats over 2 years old would still offgas? my floorboards under the panda are a decent grade plywood.

Could this be a possibility of whats causing some of my issues? Shoppy might be doin some construction today lol

 

[MynameStitch]

Heya neuro, again great thread my friend, good to see peeps getting the help they need when it comes to them damn tents!

Hey shoppy!!! How you doing!
You may have an issue with a tent?
What kind of plywood is it... treated or what?

 

[neuroherb]

Hey Stitch hope all is well.

Shop I'm not sure on your plywood. I would expect ply to have the least toxic glues but then I would get a spec sheet for all the materials when I'm doing a product design.
Whats your extraction like as all rooms have potential toxins and rely on swapping the air sufficiently for it not to be a problem.

 

[Kindman69]

Heya neuro, again great thread my friend, good to see peeps getting the help they need when it comes to them damn tents!

Hey shoppy!!! How you doing!
You may have an issue with a tent?
What kind of plywood is it... treated or what?

H Stitch, I think a big part of this is that it is not just the tents
Kindman

 

[Buddog]

Cool m8, i know the one's you mean! I'll defo need to get one and get rid of the fan heater. In the meantime do you think i'll get away with not using one cos the night temps where i am are above 10c just now.
Or if i do have to use it it would be best to face away from the plants eh.
Cheers again for the help m8!

Yeah face it away from directly blowing on your plants.
I don't like to see my night temps get below 17C.
It will slow your grow down if it gets too cold.

 

[Hammerhead]

WOW this shit is still going on? I got a dr120 a year ago and have had no issues with light leaks or out gassing. I used it in a perpetual grow. I'm done using it now as I have no need for a tent at this point. I hope all you guys find a resolution to this ongoing issue.

 

[SeedyBuds]

Hey Buddog I have also recently bought an EziTent and have lost one set of clones which yellowed then died. Now im on a second set which came to me as healthy 30cm tall plants and they have now started to yellow after 1 week. I too suspected Iron problems due to PH but since finding your comments and pics I'm very concerned about the tent. Im assuming you are in OZ also. Can you give me an update on your situation. Ive contacted the seller and wating for their reponse. The website for the manufacturer clearly states PE with no gassing http://www.ezirange.com.au/ezitent/white-grow-tents-ezi

 

[Smokerman]

I'm on my second tent ( sun hut silver XL ) and everything is doing great, My first tent was a Flora Corp piece of shit,lost many plants.

 

[Buddog]

Hey Buddog I have also recently bought an EziTent and have lost one set of clones which yellowed then died. Now im on a second set which came to me as healthy 30cm tall plants and they have now started to yellow after 1 week. I too suspected Iron problems due to PH but since finding your comments and pics I'm very concerned about the tent. Im assuming you are in OZ also. Can you give me an update on your situation. Ive contacted the seller and wating for their reponse. The website for the manufacturer clearly states PE with no gassing http://www.ezirange.com.au/ezitent/white-grow-tents-ezi

Hey Seedy
Yeah those claims on the website are BS.
I had my tent replaced by the supplier with the Mylar EziTent and haven't had any problems. See attached pic for update of my grow.
Same plants. different tent, day 22 of 12/12.
If you catch the off-gassing early they will come back to full health.

In saying that, when they replaced the white tox one that did the damage, they didn't have the 1.2msq mylar in stock so they gave me a 1msq mylar to get me out of trouble.
It smelt fine and has been working well.
When the 1.2 mylar finally arrived I opened the box and it really stunk like PVC so I didn't accept it and have been using the 1m one.
Weather some of the old stock mylar ones suck as well I don't know, but I'm not planning on finding out either.

The newer eziTents have nice thick poles that go across the top instead of those flimsy wire like ones.
They're the ones to get and they should have very little smell to them.