LEDgardener

I planned on starting a new grow cycle a month ago, then thought I'd put it off until winter wanes, but now the itch is getting irresistibile.

And I've been wondering, how do you handle heating a grow tent in the winter? Keep in mind I grow in a basement, so the temperatures are relatively stable, and will be around 3°C for January.

My current tent is 1.50*1.50m (5'*5'), but I might buy a smaller one (1*1m?), simply to save up the energy bills. (1.50*.150cm was also, frankly, a bit of an excess considering this is merely a personal hobby.)

And I'd probably want to surround it with thick (5cm/2") styrofoam insulation boards.

And then what? I figure I'd put an aquarium heater inside the water cistern (blumats have proven themselves). But the biggest question is how to keep the tent itself at a minimal 15°C (lights off) with the least electricity consumed (isn't that what LED is all about?). Any suggestions?

Putting 600W of LEDs and then 1kW of heating is something I'd rather avoid...

that's a good question... do you have forced air heat in your house? ( a furnace or wood stove over a boiler system or electric heaters) you could always hook up a duct run to one of your tents inlet holes.. that should help

another idea.....don't know if this would give off enough heat but what about a warm mist ( vaporizer) humidifier. I know I need a huey thru winter in my area.. warm mist one might help with the temp.

another option (kinda of extreme for the hobbyists) a co2 burner... heat plus added co2. I don't add co2 because I'm so small but it would help..

Anything involving fire would be a hazard I'd rather avoid ... I'm thinking maybe keep the larger tent, but place the cistern in it. 100L (~25gal) of water should retain heat, maybe that would help?

Another thought is that I'd have to minimize the air circulation to the necessary minimum.

IDK, maybe it's best just to wait and start the next season towards February/March

majorana wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 05, 2017 4:38 pm

Anything involving fire would be a hazard I'd rather avoid ... I'm thinking maybe keep the larger tent, but place the cistern in it. 100L (~25gal) of water should retain heat, maybe that would help?

Another thought is that I'd have to minimize the air circulation to the necessary minimum.

IDK, maybe it's best just to wait and start the next season towards February/March

One thing to consider is dividing the tent in half, and split your lights as well. Running it at 12/12, when one section of the tent is on, the other is off, and when that switches off, they dark side comes on. So that way half of the tent is always on. The heat from the lights should warm the whole tent. I dont know if thats doable, but its a thought.

That's an interesting thought, Ted, but I'm afraid it would get tricky once they go into flower and I turn on the carbon filter / exhaust.

The more I think about it the less reasonable it seems. Air circulation is essential, and that means I'll have to keep getting cold air that needs to be heated. (The basement has air communicating with the outer world.)

I guess this whole post is useless, I simply need to find another space to grow at.

I'll be up against this problem soon as well. I think I'm going to just run a duct from my furnace into the grow area.

I officially gave up. If I had any stable source of heat it could perhaps work, but the basement is detached, meaning that it's effectively outdoors as far as heating is concerned. Anything is possible, but it seems so energetically inefficient to heat the ourdoor air that I've decided to skip this season. (I'd grow in my own room, which is the only alternative available option, but extractor fans are too noisy.)

Who knows, maybe by February the ongoing debate on 80/90CRI and 3000/3500K will be resolved with hard facts

now I'm wondering what a no till pot with a good heating pad/blanket would do in those temps.. you where talking from 5C getting it up to around 15C (from 40f up to 60f) at lease it's above freezing... it can get -10f or so ( -23C ) during the winter here... and I know we have kept flowers & different plants dormant and alive in our basement / rut cellar ( 5-10C) throughout winter. kind of like keeping my animals over winter.. keep them dry and out of the wind they will be fine.. won't show good growth rates but they will survive.

in my garage I want to stick a 100 gallon no till pot with a big heated blanket under and around it... with some hay bales as a wind breaker/insulation.. under the old hps. I would try a HerbinFarmer style bottom watering system.. I can walk room temp water out.. or use another blanket around watering bucket also.. having to figure out timers for lights and blankets so you can keep the pot temp around 15C non stop.

my thinking is if you can keep that big mass of life in the pot around 60f (15C) the air temp above that 45f ish(7-8C) it should grow.. that's the lower end of what they can take temp wise.. keep the core temp up dry and wind proof.. it will grow. might not see the best production but it will do something.. now I want to try lol

During veg I can afford minimal air circulation (add CO2 and whatnot), so with enough insulation I can perhaps make something work. Which is why I plan on popping seeds towards the early February, and flip with properly trimmed and pruned plants when it starts heating up.

Another element of my predicament is that while being out in the wild in terms of heat-loss, I also have neighbors. During flowering I must use an extractor+carbon filter (& ozone generator to boot). To keep on pumping hot (filtered) air out and heat up new, freezing air is just too crazy for me. If I'd be selling anything I'd do the math of kW/$ and might still find it beneficial, but as a hobby it can wait

Maybe I'll bring up those old Roleadro lights and start shining some love on my succulents, even try some DWC lettuce and arugla

saw some intresting posts like this one and decided to join.

mate, what about something like this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/220V-AC-15x150 ... Swr~dZjWGt around the intake tube or inside it with a heat relay?