Need winter grow help... How to keep my tent warm!

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CODY_BR

Member
Starting a winter garage grow and I need feedback on my heating setup. I'm growing a Northern Lights Autoflower on a 24/0 light schedule and over the next 10 weeks my temps in the garage will be around 50 f highs in the day and 25-30 f lows at night. My setup is a 2ft x 4ft x 5ft tent with a 4" in line intake fan at the bottom of my tent with a carbon filter + 203cfm exhaust fan vented through the top of the tent. My grow light is a 300w mars hydro LED so not much heat help there. I DO NOT want to leave a space heater plugged up 24/7 so please do not recommend that.

So far, the best solution i've been able to come up with is two 250w red heat lamps ( the kind used for keeping baby chickens warm) connected to an inkbird thermostat. 1 lamp on each end of my tent with the grow light in the middle. They bring the tent up to 80 degrees and cut off. When the tent falls to 75, they cut back on. Also, I have put a humidifier in the tent. Through several days of monitoring, this method has not let the tent fall below 70 degrees + 45% humidity at any time.

My main concern is will the heat lamps have any negative effect on my plant?
 
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Gorillaglue4u

Well-Known Member
What's wrong with using a hps light for 12 hours then have a heater kick on for 12 hours? I grew year round in a uninsulated garage for 5 years. A red heat lamp I suspect will mess with the plants when the lights are off. And a extra 500 watts to heat the tent. You could get a quality heater with a built in thermostat and have it set on a timer.

If you dont mind me asking why dont you want a space heater?
 
WingAK

WingAK

Well-Known Member
CODY_BR said:
Starting a winter garage grow and I need feedback on my heating setup. I'm growing a Northern Lights Autoflower and over the next 10 weeks my temps in the garage will be around 50 f highs in the day and 25-30 f lows at night. My setup is a 2ft x 4ft x 5ft tent with a 4" in line intake fan at the bottom of my tent with a carbon filter + 203cfm exhaust fan vented through the top of the tent. My grow light is a 300w mars hydro LED so not much heat help there. I DO NOT want to leave a space heater plugged up 24/7 so please do not recommend that.

So far, the best solution i've been able to come up with is two 250w red heat lamps ( the kind used for keeping baby chickens warm) connected to an inkbird thermostat. 1 lamp on each end of my tent with the grow light in the middle. They bring the tent up to 80 degrees and cut off. When the tent falls to 75, they cut back on. Also, I have put a humidifier in the tent. Through several days of monitoring, this method has not let the tent fall below 70 degrees + 45% humidity at any time.

My main concern is will the heat lamps have any negative effect on my plant?
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Well yeah they will in flower because how will you heat in darkness if you are using lights as heat. I use an infrared quartz heater it works well.
 
WingAK

WingAK

Well-Known Member
CODY_BR said:
Gorillaglue4u, I grow autos on a 24/0 light schedule so no dark time.
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I’ve always got a bigger yield and higher thc from autos when given darkness I’m not saying your wrong but for me my autos get darkness. I did read your comment.
 
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CODY_BR

Member
WingAK said:
I’ve always got a bigger yield and higher thc from autos when given darkness I’m not saying your wrong but for me my autos get darkness. I did read your comment.
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I was referring to people saying “grow autos” when it’s the first line of my post lmao.

Appreciate your input, I started out running 18/6 then tried 24/0 with the same batch of seeds and got better results but I’m sure you know there’s tons of variables that could have effected both of our results. I’m really just trying to find out if I run 24/0 with autos and keep my temp and humidity right, are there any negatives I’m not thinking of running lamps for heat.
 
Moflow

Moflow

Well-Known Member
Insulate the tent for starters.
Block of polystyrene insulation on floor and a heatmat.
If you can, stick more light in there
20181123_145418.jpg 20181126_121041.jpg
 
Moflow

Moflow

Well-Known Member
CODY_BR said:
I’ve been wondering about the heat mats! How long have you been using them? I’ve seen a few people say they burned holes through themselves
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Just bought that one a few days ago.
I've a bigger one in the tent in pic. Have it a few years now, no problems with it.
There's also electric heated pet mats in various sizes would work
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
For your situation buying a 600w dimmable hps and either run full whack 24/7 or dim to the point it needs to be to be just right.
No point adding 500w of heat lamp to 130w of led when you can just use 600w of HPS and far more usable light.

Heat mats would be good for the root zone temp but a layer of rigid insulation under the tent will stop cold concrete fucking with root temps.
 
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CODY_BR

Member
coreywebster said:
For your situation buying a 600w dimmable hps and either run full whack 24/7 or dim to the point it needs to be to be just right.
No point adding 500w of heat lamp to 130w of led when you can just use 600w of HPS and far more usable light.

Heat mats would be good for the root zone temp but a layer of rigid insulation under the tent will stop cold concrete fucking with root temps.
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Awesome advice. Thank you! I’ve only used LED’s to grow, I didn’t realize a 600w HPS put off THAT much heat!
 
coreywebster

coreywebster

Well-Known Member
CODY_BR said:
Awesome advice. Thank you! I’ve only used LED’s to grow, I didn’t realize a 600w HPS put off THAT much heat!
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Its 600w and watts equal heat. The light you have is only 132w draw so there's a big difference.
You can also use a fan speed controller to lower the air exchange if needed and opt to vent back into the garage if you were venting directly outside it.
Then you also have the insulating methods as mentioned by the knowledgeable dudes above.

I hate to see heaters been used, always seems like watts not going into light is a waste, but then some folks would be screwed without them :bigjoint:
 
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