Temperature issues

[Preston9mm]

So, I'm new to growing, finished a grow on one plant in my life, so honestly, this is my first real grow. I live in the middle of nowhere on 12 acres and originally started my grow outside. Due to shitty weather and rain, I built a small grow room in my barn. I'm running a 1000 watt LED, so, not much heat from my lighting.
This grow isn't completely "no-budget" but I don't have a ton of money either. My grow room temp stays around 85°-100° during peak heat hours but stays around 75°-80° at night. I have a 24" fan blowing fresh air from outside, but room still stays hot. I've even been placing frozen water jugs in front of my fan to keep temp down.
I'm looking for ideas before buying a window a/c unit to keep the heat down. I'm not opposed to spending the cash, but the barn I'm growing in looks abandoned from the outside and adding an A/C unit will definitely stand out.
Sorry folks, TX just ain't that kind to us cannibas growers, so I gotta fly low... For now...

Ideas?

 

[PIGSLAVE]

either buy an in line blower fan , you gotta get it under 85! 85f is the absolute max temp..above that's stalls growth. order online.you can hook one of them up and have it look stealth ..you can also get those stand alone airconditioners probably both depending on where the middle of nowhere is. good luck and good grows keep us posted .

 

[420Eastside]

So, I'm new to growing, finished a grow on one plant in my life, so honestly, this is my first real grow. I live in the middle of nowhere on 12 acres and originally started my grow outside. Due to shitty weather and rain, I built a small grow room in my barn. I'm running a 1000 watt LED, so, not much heat from my lighting.
This grow isn't completely "no-budget" but I don't have a ton of money either. My grow room temp stays around 85°-100° during peak heat hours but stays around 75°-80° at night. I have a 24" fan blowing fresh air from outside, but room still stays hot. I've even been placing frozen water jugs in front of my fan to keep temp down.
I'm looking for ideas before buying a window a/c unit to keep the heat down. I'm not opposed to spending the cash, but the barn I'm growing in looks abandoned from the outside and adding an A/C unit will definitely stand out.
Sorry folks, TX just ain't that kind to us cannibas growers, so I gotta fly low... For now...

Ideas?

Do you have ventilation at the top or a high point in the barn for the heat to escape if not that could be the issue you have cool air coming in but the hot air is getting trapped at the top of the barn....

 

[Preston9mm]

either buy an in line blower fan , you gotta get it under 85! 85f is the absolute max temp..above that's stalls growth. order online.you can hook one of them up and have it look stealth ..you can also get those stand alone airconditioners probably both depending on where the middle of nowhere is. good luck and good grows keep us posted .

Thanks, I'll check it out. I'm in the Austin, TX area, so I'm sure I can find something. I've been trying to engineer something to turn my little room into a breezeway (basically). I've never seen signs of excessive heat in my plants; they seem to be healthy as can be but I want to maximize harvest so it is definitely time to get this temp under control.

 

[Preston9mm]

Do you have ventilation at the top or a high point in the barn for the heat to escape if not that could be the issue you have cool air coming in but the hot air is getting trapped at the top of the barn....

I have my fan low; the area right outside the barn is well shaded and I figured pulling cool air off the ground would be better than pulling from up high. Opposite the "intake fan" is a small fan blowing out. I just live in a climate that stays around 90° average all summer. I think I'm just gonna have to buy a small a/c and pile up "yard junk" around it on the outside of my barn to cover

 

[Chris Scorpio]

Or get a stand up portable a/c
Easier to hide the vent, I'm sure Lowe's or HD have em
May be able to vent right into the barn depending on the size of it

 

[Dwight Monk]

Or get a stand up portable a/c
Easier to hide the vent, I'm sure Lowe's or HD have em
May be able to vent right into the barn depending on the size of it

Ones I seen around here they call them "room air conditioner" as they don't have to vent thru a window or hole in your wall, they aren't all that much more than the window type (or at least around here).

 

[PCFx]

My friend has 1 plant in a 4 foot grow tent with 200 watts and has a pretty big fan/ exhaust fan and temp is always at least 27 Celsius all the way through the month of June(heater needed on low setting at night in June). My friend started the plant March 2nd, and by July 4th plant is 20 Inches and pretty bushy big healthy leaves that nearly reach 4 feet across.. and I'm impressed at the bud sites. It's only my friend's 2nd time growing.

1st time was with 1000 watts in 4x8 closet and my friend got a tan every time she opened her closet door. The soil dried out very very fast, so she had to water quite frequently. My friend said that with 1000 watts she got tons of hairs and crystals...

She said she will be satisfied with 200 Watts in Veg & 400 watts Flower and trying to do well at that, and just clone that plant bc its really a beauty. She got mixed fem from Crop Kings and that was the best looking seed in the order - not sure yet what kind exactly it is but its sure a Sativa...first time was a seed she found in weed grown by someone with a University Degree in Horticulture... she made her swear she would not save any seeds if she found any...when in fact -

she did find 1...but she had to buy 7 grams a day for 1.5 years to find a seed...and that was before buying online was an option...and after finding a bloody bandaid inside a bud instead of finding a seed which is what she was looking for not a bloody bandaid WHO WOULDN'T SAVE IT??? She told me she wish she could've cloned that, but not good timing for cloning

Temperature in that closet was minimum 30 Celsius, up to 40 Celsius and the buds were not really much green, mostly (crispy) hair and crystal. The strain was BC Big Bud or sumthing, but her Metal Halide was so intense and the nutrients she used made her plant turn out way different than the Horticulturalist's had been, but she thinks hers was better more hair more rainbows


WHEN the plant has near outgrown that 4 foot tent, my friend said they are building a 4 foot extension and adding another 200 watts or so of lights...to try getting the plant to 40+ inches then do cycle changeover.

End of July and August are so hot! Already a few days has been muggy and my friend's plant looked a little droopy, so humidity is my friend's issue + the upcoming expected heat wave. She does not measure humidity other than by eye, She measures temp, pH, soil parts, lumen types, plant height & nutrients ratios

1st grow was Indica and no droop with higher temp. This time is Sativa..not sure if Sativa has more droop in humidity or wat but my friend doesn't know the Horticulturalist any more so she can't ask him, but he does not sound like he was too helpful lol lol .... Her Sativa is happiest at 27 Celsius

My friend wants to crumble blue cheese in late flowering lol and put the cheese all on the soil. That shit is gunna smell to high heaven. Good thing my friend also collects temple incenses....

In seedling stage my friend's plant needed a plugin heater on 24/7, placed 3 feet away on medium-high to maintain 27 Celsius from March to May...East Coast

 

[TorturedSoul]

Or get a stand up portable a/c
Easier to hide the vent, I'm sure Lowe's or HD have em
May be able to vent right into the barn depending on the size of it

Ones I seen around here they call them "room air conditioner" as they don't have to vent thru a window or hole in your wall, they aren't all that much more than the window type (or at least around here).

Portable air conditioners still require access to the outside to vent the waste heat. Otherwise, you've got yourself an expensive and inefficient heater, lol. But they only require a couple of 5" diameter holes, or thereabouts. That's for the dual-hose units - avoid the single-hose ones at all costs.

Portable air conditioners, in general, are pretty much the most inefficient air conditioners in existence. By that, I mean you get less cooling from higher electrical consumption - and, to add insult to injury, they usually cost more, too.

They can work, I suppose. But I don't know if I'd even try pitting one against the merciless Texas Summer heat. Certainly only as a last resort.

You don't want to kill your stealth by sticking a window/through-the-wall unit through your barn wall? Build a room-within-a-room, insulate it, and pretend the rest of the barn doesn't even exist. You'll be dumping the heat from the grow into the greater barn space, which admittedly isn't the best option - but it is an option.

If I were in your shoes... I'd move about 1,000 miles north, lol, but that's because I go catatonic at anything over 70°F. Well, that plus the fact that every United States citizen living within 100 miles of the nation's borders is living in a "Constitution free zone" by federal decree, but the state of Texas is large, so I guess there are lots of cities/towns that are further away from the border than that.

Anyway, even if you choose to grow sativas that have become naturalized to thrive in hot equatorial environments, there will be an upper limit, above which they simply stop growing. This happens normally outdoors during the hotter part of the day, BtW. If it had been me, I would have skipped the LED and, instead, chosen to go with HID lighting (HPS/MH) so that I could utilize an air-cooled reflector. That way, I could easily separate the heat produced by the light from the rest of the grow space - duct from out of the grow, into the reflector, and back out of the grow through another duct (with a fan, obviously). Most such reflectors... You can buy an insulated(+/-) cover for them, which will help even more, and you can wrap the exhaust duct, too. You'd still have the ambient heat to worry about - which is significant, but it would be a lot less, IMHO.

I'd also strongly consider going with DWC hydroponics instead of soil, and ensure the highest level of dissolved oxygen in the reservoirs as possible. Why? Because plants can/will transpire moisture as a way to cool themselves. Suck up water via the root system, expel it via the stoma in the leaves. A strong breeze provides for evaporative cooling. A large oak tree can transpire 40,000 gallons of water per year. This process seems easier if the entire root system is sitting in water (nutrient solution). I had plants survive days at 100°+ due to a/c failure this way. I saw the comment about budget, but setting up for DWC hydroponics is pretty inexpensive. You'll need a pH meter, but cannabis growers ought to have those, regardless - and a Milwaukee pH600 runs about $20. An aquarium power head (Google the term if you don't know what those are) can be as cheap as $20 to $25, and they are much more effective than the usual air pump and airstones (but, by all means, use those, too) . Oh, and skip the five-gallon bucket and go with large Rubbermaid type totes, 20+ gallon capacity if possible (one plant per) . Because a healthy cannabis plant of good size, in HOT conditions, with excellent airflow will transpire a lot of water in a 24-hour period. I was just recalling earlier that mine could easily go through seven gallons of water per day, and that was just a normal day in reasonable conditions.

Try to keep your temperatures at or below 87°F. That's if you're giving them all the light that they can process. If not, try to decrease the temperature a little bit more than that.

Adding supplemental CO₂ will also raise the temperature range that cannabis can thrive in. But if you're forced to constantly ventilate your grow space, that isn't feasible. However, if you've insulated/sealed your room and are using air conditioning, you then have that choice.

High heat tends to lead to airy buds, but you'll have that. Airy bud beats NO bud every day of the week, though.

Oh, and paint those walls bright white! Flat is best, but it isn't cleanable, so you might be better off going with a finish that has a bit of a sheen to it (at least "egg shell") . As it stands now, they are absorbing most of the light that is hitting them.

Most "1000w" LED grow lights aren't 1kW devices (especially if they cost less than a grand, lol). Might want to find out how many watts yours actually consumes, and make sure that your grow room is sized accordingly. No big deal at this point, but when you're in flower you want to make sure that you have an adequate amount of illumination for your space. NOTE: I'm not suggesting that your light isn't powerful enough for your space, merely recommending that you make sure.

Stays around 75° to 80° at night... HtH do you SLEEP, lol? Must be tougher than me.

 

[TorturedSoul]

When the plant has near outgrown that 4 foot tent, my friend said they are building a 4 foot extension and adding another 200 watts or so of lights...to try getting the plant to 40+ inches then do cycle changeover.

Height can be counterproductive when growing cannabis under artificial lighting. It doesn't have anywhere near the penetrative ability that Sol does.

My friend wants to crumble blue cheese and put the cheese all on the soil.

With all due respect, your friend needs to go back to the doctor and demand that his/her head meds be adjusted. Unless your friend would rather harvest a crop of fat ants than cannabis.

 

[PIGSLAVE]

lol I heard urine and cat food mixed into a pulp and sprayed all over the place (including the equipment) increases the chances OF the room stankin like pee and the cat never going hungry ...hope this helps.

 

[Calvados]

Run your hours of light to coincide when it's dark outside.

You really need an extractor up high. Get one that can attach a carbon filter if and when the smell is an issue. Cut extra vents above the lights that you can keep open and velcro over during dark. Use black mesh over your vents. If you are inside a barn you should be able to leave them all open during the dark phase.

Plan B - Your house? It doesn't take up much space. Grow tents are cheap and well made. If you use a filter, there isn't a smell.

 

[Preston9mm]

Looks like I might have the temperature issues under control. Didn't really want to do it, but I moved them into the house until I can get the A/C set up in my barn. Is it bad that I'm using my oldest son's closet because he is out of town for the summer. .

 

[Preston9mm]

Snapped a nice photo of my biggest plant while I was moving them into the house. Crazy how much the natural sunlight brings out the vivid colors.

 

[Calvados]

With any luck you'll be on the drying phase when your boy comes back

 

[Preston9mm]

These Early Miss are auto's and have been in the ground 5 weeks now. I can tell they are stunted from the heat, but healthy as can be. I hope to have the A/C set up in my barn by the time these harvest. Then I can trim/dry out there without skunking up my house.

 

[TorturedSoul]

I can trim/dry out there without skunking up my house.

You know... If you had a carbon filter in your exhaust path, you wouldn't be "skunking up your house" while growing the cannabis, and if you are running a simple grow/flower/harvest (repeat) - as opposed to an ongoing perpetual grow where you regularly add more plants while removing others that are ready - then you always have the option to sit in your (now empty) grow room after harvest and do the after-harvest work in there. Just remember to unplug the light(s) while the harvest is drying, lol. The air circulation would presumably help dry the buds and prevent molding...

Is your son of adult age? If so, maybe he would consider using a standalone wardrobe and donating his closet to the cause? Or you could do what parents have been doing since (probably) the dawn of civilization and declare, "my house, my rules." But I'd probably stop at the closet, because it'd be pretty mean to just move his bed/furnishings/etc. out to the barn . But just a closet, well...

Might not hurt to get the magnifying glass out and inspect your plants for critters (I'm thinking spider mites and such) since they've been outside.

Yesterday, I was thinking, "Gee, I'm glad it's not hot like that here." Maybe I was being a little bit... Not "ha ha ha," but perhaps not as charitable in my thoughts as I could have? I didn't think so - but today, here, it is about 90 degrees and I'd just gotten the big fan in the window to at least pull FRESH hotter-than-civilized-people-can-stand air through my house - and it started to rain... like a cow p!ssing on a flat rock, as they say. So now I'm sitting here, barely qualified as legally dressed, humidity thick enough to chew, with the windows closed. And life goes on, lol.

 

[Preston9mm]

I've looked into the carbon filtration before. I love the idea and hope to integrate that very soon.
I think this closet grow is just going to be a temporary thing though. Make it through this harvest and get my barn a/c straightened out for my next group to move back in. We're blessed to live on 12 acres with multiple buildings/barns. If I can get the barn temp straight with a small "window unit" a/c, I can keep a perpetual grow going. This is my goal.
The kid whose closet I high-jacked is only 13, so I gotta clear out before he gets home from visiting his mom for the summer. I have 2 younger kids who can be nosey too. This is why my "clean room" in the barn is ideal.... I also told my kids that snakes hang out around that barn. LoL
I think I'm gonna try a big ol outdoor plant soon. Plenty of land to hide it.
Our weather can be a bit much, but we live in such an amazing community and love our little ranch. I don't think I could move away if I wanted. I just find new ways to adapt...

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Yeah, 12 acres would be hard for me to leave, too, even if it felt like a sauna. I lived on almost 50 once (mostly woods), but it was rented. On the plus side, the landlady was an octogenarian. And lived ~1,200 miles away.

There are numerous threads here about building your own carbon filter. Depending on the size (smell) of your grow, some will be more effective than others, I suppose. (IOW don't build one sized for a micro-grow) That would certainly help with the budget. If you can find a cheap local source for activated charcoal, that'd help the most - because the stuff is heavy and shipping costs money.

BtW, you think snakes will keep kids away? From a barn, lol? They'll be spending the Summer looking for them every time your back is turned. Should have told them the barn was full of "chores" . I ran from those as a youngin'.

 

[Calvados]

I strongly recommend the extractor and the filter. The filter is amazing. You will need the extractor for your barn set up in any case. You have to vent the hot air from the top of that room.