Best plan for power outage???

I'm thinking about starting my first operation soon located in the mountains where it is common for the power to go out during winter months. Usually the power is kicked back on within 2-3 days, although I would like to know whether plants would be able to pull through without any significant damage. I'm assuming during veg this wouldn't be a serious problem but flower I'm worried about potential shock damage. Would opening the grow tent and allowing daylight hit the plants be sufficient for the time being? Also is it likely that the plants can turn hermaphrodite if their light cycle switches between artificial to natural light then back to artificial??? Btw I only wish I had a generator although this could potentially shine light to other people about the opertaion.

I have one word for you. Generator. Otherwise, don't bother. We have the same problem here and we have a back-up generator that can go for 24 hours. Best investment you'll ever make.

i dont think people in your area would find it suspicious to have a generator if the power goes out that often. use a generator...

the plants 'see' darkness to determine whether to flower or not. if theyre in veg, letting outside light in isnt a problem. if you leave it shut for a few days with no light, they may start to flower. this is because the 'night time hormones' build up enough to start flowering. normally, a few days of 12/12 would do this also. in veg, the night time is only a few hours, so they dont build up enough to cause flowering to start.
however, if theyre in flowering and the light is normally on during night time, opening the tent during the day would cause it to hermie or go back to veg.
there shouldnt be any harm in either veg or flowering if the lights are normally on during the day. they would still be on the same schedule.

edit: we know its the 'night time hormones' because some people do crazy light schedules like 24/12. because of the 12 hours of hormone buildup, the plants still flower

switch to solar panels...

The generator sounds like a reasonable option although the guest house is close to the road and neighbors already know that it is a vacant house. I guess theres ways to silence the sound and during this type of dilemma not many people are wandering around on the road due to poor weather.

kipdrordy21 said:

The generator sounds like a reasonable option although the guest house is close to the road and neighbors already know that it is a vacant house. I guess theres ways to silence the sound and during this type of dilemma not many people are wandering around on the road due to poor weather.

Click to expand...

you could move the generator to another area and use a longer cord for it. BUT the cord cant be too long, and it has to be thick enough to not get hot. otherwise it could cause a fire. especially if its on for 3 days at a time

how big is the grow? a couple car batteries,an inverter and a few large CFLs could replace a 4-600 watt hps for a few days but how cold does it get?

I think natural light (even if it's a little) for the correct amount of time would be just fine. It's not like the sun is shining as brightly and steadily as the bulbs you'd be using for 12:12 in a natural environment. There are clouds and storms that completely darken the sky at times. I'm certainly no expert but I know plants are adaptable and if you don't want to get a generator I think you'd be fine with using sun for a few days if needed.


edit: assuming you normally put the light to your plants during the day and don't switch the cycle up as someone already said.

Thanks for the ideas guys. I'm gonna probably go with the natural light method due to convenience and economic reasons. I can easily open and close the tent according to necessary light schedules. It probably wont get any direct sunlight although the amount of light that enters through windows should be sufficient for the time being.