I’m new at this. I ‘inherited’ a Vivosun 8x4 grow tent with aerolites and exhaust fan.
I set up in my garage. On the fly so to speak. I started with 3 now have 7 girls going. I’m digging it. Not a plant person or someone who planned ahead.
I’m in the Midwest and winter is coming. I poked around for ideas to heat tent. Not sure if I want to put a heater inside tent. I was considering putting pallets underneath and maybe a curtain around the tent with a space heater outside the tent?
I don’t have experience growing in the cold but I do know that colder temps will allow you to run more lights. A lot of people also go with hps/mh lamps because of their heat for the winter, they’re pretty inexpensive. With a tent that size you can do a 600-1000 watt lamp. I don’t see why a heater inside the tent would hurt, just make sure it doesn’t blow directly into the plants. Anything that keeps the tent or plants off the ground also helps.
I’ve grown in a hot garage for 3 years Grow Bro. Through many trials and tribulations and I found that using the garage as a lung room works best. I run portable AC and heaters in the garage and use 4 or 6” inline duct booster fans to pull the conditioned air into the tents from the lung room. I piped my exhaust to the outside of the garage. I have a small 500 watt heater with a thermostat and set it on the floor just outside one of the bottom tent ports and the duct fan attached to these lower port to pull in the heated or cooled air. It’s hand tuning daily to maintain temps and RH. I do the same for the humidifier or dehumidifier when needed
Familiarize yourself with the concept of a “lung room”.
This lung room could be your whole garage, or a curtained off area as you suggested.
The pallets are a great idea, 2" pink styrofoam with a thin sheet of plywood on top would be even better, and a good footprint match, but that would be costly. Loosely pack the pallets with fiberglass? Speaking of which, a few bats laid across the top would be good ceiling insulation if needed.
With a larger tent like a 4x8, and if you’re northern midwest, it might take a combination of a lung room buffer, and just limiting your grow so there’s space inside the tent for fine tuning environmentals, like a heater, humidifier, etc. and the cabin volume and open air to work efficiently. As in you walk inside the tent and close the door behind you best you can. This may be important if your garage is not insulated. If people do use heaters, it seems many opt for the radiator type, with their fan-less, gentle heat.
As mentioned, use the lights to your advantage, they’re huge heat producers and most people fight with venting that heat out in the summer, you can harness it. If running autos, consider a 24 hour light cycle for example. The opposite side of that coin, would be flowering a 12/12 photoperiod in the coldest months of the year.
Just brainstorming some basics from somebody who’s lived in the northern midwest for a while (I do grow in the house though). There’s a few paths to take, and every grow location has its own unique conditions that only the grower can fine tune and dial in, and most if it is as you say, on the fly!
Welcome to the farm!
Thanks for the replies and the encouragement!
Lung room. Great concept! Dunno what size your garage is OGincognito. Ihave a big ass garage so heating the whole thing would be too expensive. Maybe get another tent and put the heater in there and duct them together? Be easier to insulate.
Bubbala great idea with the pink sheets. No cutting. I would have to finagle pallets to fit and stuff the insulation. Garage is not insulated sadly.
I reside in MN, where temps can be brutal, especially in January and February. Read subzero for days on end. I have access to a small, insulated space above a garage that is also insulated. A petite, dedicated furnace heats the entire structure. A door separates the two floors, and ducting feeds heat into the prospective grow space. The grow space is under ~200 square feet, and I can easily control the environmental conditions efficiently. I can also run an in-tent humidifier to counter the winter dryness.
What temperature would be ideal for the overall space? Should I worry about flooding the grow tent with cool air? If so, what is the lowest possible exposure temp?
Would packing away my LEDs for the winter and returning to warmer but less efficient lights be preferable, given the heat exchange? Am I missing any pertinent considerations?
Sounds like you’ve got a great indoor spot. I grew and still grow in my garage with temps ranging from 62-82. I do try and maintain 72-78 and RH depending on the growth stage. Do you have time to do a dry run in the new space for a few days to monitor the environmental conditions
If you have enough room in your garage, build a room big enough for a lung room out of foam board. Tape the seams up good, ceiling and floor included. A small space heater will work great then.
You mean like when you’re nice and cozy and your buddy whips open the fish house door to step outside and you’re blasted with a face full of frost? Hate when that happens…
If the room’s entrance is from the garage itself, probably not a worry. An outside entrance though, might benefit from a double entry way type setup to offer a little buffer zone?
