CFL Grow - How can I deal with flowering and summer temps?

**Hydroneer** · 04-09-2010, 09:23 PM

Hey guys/gals,

My CFL grow has been going well, but I think in another week or two I will be flowering them. These 4 plants (and one tiny one) have exploded outward and made my closet a jungle!! I wanted bushy plants... but damn. I'll be doing CFL again next time for sure.

Anyways... with 4 daylight CFL bulbs, the closet temp is around 85-90F, which is high but the plants are loving it and I keep them well watered. If it gets up around 100 they seem a bit unhappy. When I switch to flowering, I will need to use the soft-white bulbs for their spectrum, but I noticed they produce WAY more heat than the daylight. What way can I keep the temps down? A portable AC unit is huge and very conspicuous. Could I just hang a 2L bottle of ice in front of the fan? Any ideas? My space is small and its on the top floor (hot) so with summer I'm afraid of overheating!!

**DoWorkSon** · 04-09-2010, 09:43 PM

well 100degrees is way to hott! The only thing i can think of is an A.c unit! sorry im not much hellp lol..but good luck!

**EvlMunkee** · 04-09-2010, 09:57 PM

I don't know your situation but if you are handy, you may be able to add a duct from the AC into your closet. I had to put a booster fan into my air duct to cool my room. I am going to balance my ducts next to divert more air into it. I don't like making the whole house cold to cool my room.
Of course, if you are renting, none of this will work for you.

**mb4** · 04-09-2010, 09:59 PM

Are you running your cycle at night? If not that helps.

The only picture you have in your journal looks like you created a lid on the grow area thats keeping the heat in. Pop the cap and create an updraft.

Bring the exhaust fan (I assume its exhaust) into the 'ceiling' of your grow area. Pull the heat off the top and put a small 4" near the floor to create an updraft.

I assume your venting the out of your closet through the ceiling or something.

Last idea, depending on your local climate you can put a small humidifier in there to create a cooling effect, this only works if your in a dry climate.

**Hydroneer** · 04-10-2010, 01:05 AM

Well the problem is the closet is pretty much sealed. When nobody is around (I run the lights at night) I leave the door open, but sometimes I have people over and I have to close it. EvlMunkee you make a good point, I may be able to close some of the downstairs AC vents to force the cool air upstairs. I have 3 stories and mostly live on the top, so it takes a LOT of power to cool the house. I am renting, so I wont be able to cut ducts into the closet. Thanks for the input guys.

**darkdestruction420** · 04-10-2010, 02:32 AM

I dont think thats gonna be enough, you need to figure out a place or way to add some air flow. otherwise you'll never be able to get anything from the grow really, If you have minor temp problems now this summer could be a nightmare trying to keep the temps down, if it gets much over 100-105f your plant will start to suffer greatly after a few times going through it. enough to stop almost all growth and badly shock the plant.,