Multiple outdoor tents an option?

[WOLFtick3t]

Hey folks, just about to move into a new place and I’d like to grow under the deck. I have a few questions and any input is greatly appreciated. This is quite a bit more ambitious than I’ve ever been before.

The space is a concrete well, you can basically think of it as an open air shed or gazebo sort of. Roofed but open to the air. I’ve got space for a gang of 4x4 tents. I think I’m going to start with 1 or 2 with an eye to move up to 4.

My concerns are mostly environmental. Temp and humidity. Are there practical ways to control these things in this situation? Either in each individual tent or throughout all of them together? I’m in the Pacific Northwest, so at different times high and low humidity and high temps (low Temps are easy enough to solve with lights) would all be an issue.

My overall plan is to start auto fem plants off indoors under an old blurple light for a couple of weeks before throwing them in a tent. If my math is correct I should be able to harvest a tent every 2-3 weeks all year long if I can sort out the climate control.

Appreciate any suggestions!

 

[WankirA]

Makings of a good plan there Wolf.
I might start by getting the following to help.
Light position (by month?!) In relation to tents position.
Last year's avg daily temperatures and weather for...... 'Candanavia'...
Then decide what sort of lights to go with. (If its likely to be cold, maybe hps in tents would be ideal, if i understand your suggestion.)
Since outside temps are prolly the biggest thing you can't directly control: having a rough idea of likely average temps will help immensly with planning.

I'd be inclined to start seeds in house, then have
a veg tent (18/6) 4*4
A flower tent (12/12) 4*4
And if space allowed, an auto tent (24/0) 8*4
Let you drop a bean or two every couple weeks and after first crop, every two or three weeks thereafter a fresh harvest.

That would allow you to use two tents for autos (18 & 24) as well as photoperiod: because some strains deserve the real deal!
And with the addition of de/humdifyers it will allow you enough control, espexially if shielded on sides too.
Lol but that's just my humble opinion.
Sounds like you got lots of options though...
Lucky!!

 

[Bush Doctor 77]

2 concerns. Lectricity outdoors and tent style. I'm sure you are aware of the first, but make sure a tent that gets any sun outdoors is UV protected on the outside. Pix would be nice.

 

[TurboBucket]

Sounds like an energy nightmare. Your in one of the wetter regions of the continent. You would end up having to run all sorts of equipment to try and control the humidity alone. Never mind temperatures.


But some people are persistent and have money to burn. So sure a floor worth of heat mats, temp controllers,an exhaust fan and dehumidifier for each tent. Don't forget circulation fans. That's a lot of ganja, I'd use carbon filters to avoid unwanted attention. 4 tents is a ton of electricity and your in an area that's experiencing an excess of meds right now. It doesn't sound like a good investment

 

[WOLFtick3t]

The area is full of drywall and cardboard at the moment, but I’ll grab some photos today. UV shouldn’t be a problem with the deck overhead and concrete on all sides.

I’m in Canada, prices here are the same as they’ve been for years, which is $200-$260 Canadian dollars an ounce at retail. If I make a little money that would be a nice bonus, but my goal is to just get really good at growing.

Energy nightmare and humidity pretty nicely sums up my concerns, haha.

Is it possible to duct all the tents together efficiently? Or practical, I guess, I’m sure it’s possible.

 

[TurboBucket]

PNW I was thinking Oregon, your electricity rates are kind of high right? We're like ¢17 per kw/h.

Sure you can. You could use a supply and return system similar to a home furnace/ac. But you'll need something in the range of 5-10 tons of refrigeration for the hottest part of the year. Plus 4000watts of lights. Shut down for summer is an option. Depending on winter temps you may only be left with 6 months of easily controllable weather.

All the duct work would need to be insulated it will almost certainly cause condensation during cooling. The tents themselves may drop below the dew point when running cooling which would create condensation.

Outdoor air is highly variable and makes environmental control more difficult (read expensive).


Can you put plants and lights in a tent and grow them? probably. My best advice would be to try one first and see how tough it is. Your ambient conditions may be ok. I like to have the air surrounding my tents at around 70°f and 50%rh.

 

[WOLFtick3t]

I think we’re at .14 kWh here.

I was going to run 500 watts of LED in each tent. One tent for starters, for sure. Just want to do it right from the get go and not have to start from scratch when I expand.

That much cooling? Wow. I was operating under the assumption that if my outdoor plants can handle the heat then the indoor gals would be jut fine too. I’ll maybe have to recalibrate.

 

[TurboBucket]

.14 is pretty good. I hear Canadians complaining about hydro costs constantly. Must be from the Eastern side.

If your not running HID you'll use less cooling. I use 700 Watts of led boards in my 4*4 tents.

Outdoor plants cope with high temps better because they have a better/cooler root system (in the ground vs surrounded by warm air). You may be able to get away with no environmental controls and just do air cooled but I would be really nervous anytime outdoor humidity went over 60%. All the air circulating from the wind is what allows them to cope naturally outside. If you have adequate airflow inside it would help make that a more feasible option.

Equipment wise you won't find anything that will scale well to a %300 increase in load. A split system with two units would scale ok. One unit at %50 to start, can add in tents one at a time, spreads out the capital outlay allows for partial capacity operation.
Is enclosing the space an option?

 

[WOLFtick3t]

It’s a lot prettier down there without all the reno trash.

I wouldn’t be able to enclose the area, no, but good airflow seems like a good place to start. If I move enough air through and use fans well maybe that will minimize the amount of cooling needed.

Or, like you say, shut down the tents for 3 months during the summer and just grow some outdoor plants.

 

[TurboBucket]

Yea no good way to close that up any haha. Does look like a nice little nook to use though.

When you start looking for tents pay attention to the intake openings. These are the limiting factor to air extraction. You can put as big of a fan as you want inside but if the openings aren't big enough it won't move as much air. My Apollo brand has three larger openings compared to two smaller openings on the vivosun branded tent. I run them both on one 8" fan in the basement

 

[Blew Hiller]

What are the max/min temps in your area? Any particular reason you aren't going inside?

 

[WOLFtick3t]

I’ll have to take that into consideration. I haven’t decided on a brand for the tent yet.

The absolute coldest it gets here is maybe -2 Celsius, 28.5 F. And warmest would be 34 C or 93 F. In general it will stay between 40 and 80 F all year.

It rains a ton though, and it’s always humid. That will probably be the real battle for the majority of the year.

 

[WOLFtick3t]

I think I’ve narrowed the plan down.

Instead of two 4x4 tents with 2x SP250 LED’s each it makes more sense to do a 4x8 with 3x SP250 (might add a fourth later). A couple of reasons. Should comfortably fit 12 plants at a time in 5 gallon pots, rather than 8, and it should be easier and cheaper to control the environment in one big space rather than trying to duct two little ones and control them.

All together it would run about $2,000 (Canadian) for the tent, lights, fans, filter, dehumidifier, grow medium, pots and saucers and other odds and ends.

I’ve ordered seeds already, there was a 2 for 1 sale. I’ve got:

5x Dinafem white cheese auto
5x Humboldt Bubba auto
10x Fast Buds Blackberry auto
10x Fast Buds Zkittelz auto

I’m going to start them off in the house under an old blurple light for 3 weeks, and then into the tent for the next 9 or so weeks. If I do a set of 4 every 21 days I should have a perpetual grow where I’m harvesting 4 plants every 3 weeks, on average.

Going to aim to start the first set in mid-October, if all goes well.


Edit: I’ve already changed my mind on the lights. Given the layout of the plants, two SP250 for the first 4 rows and then two SP150 for the final two rows is probably the best use of power and coverage. Although it’s tempting to just use six individual SP150 as well, more watts and more control. Decisions, decisions. Terrible drawing attached for reference. Dotted lines are lights.

 

[WOLFtick3t]

I finally harvested my outdoor plants and got rolling with the new setup. So far I've purchased a Vivosun 4x8 tent (currently set up indoors as a drying room). Seems like a good quality tent with a lot of useful feature so far. I'll be building a platform and putting the tent outside under the deck in the next 7-10 days.

For lights I just ordered two SP 250 and a TSW 2000. Got all the odds and ends, humidity controllers, carbon filter, fans. I guess I may need a space heater but I'm going to see if the lights keep things warm enough for now.

I'm going to start 3 auto seeds indoors under an old blurple light every 2 weeks, and then every two weeks going forward I should be able to start 3 more seeds and have a perpetual grow where 3 plants get harvested every couple of weeks and 3 more get put in the tent and everything gets shifted one row to the right.

I'm sure I've overlooked a bunch of stuff or will have to alter this plan as I get it all figured out, but feels good to get rolling.