The news is not good I'm afraid... So I installed the new tube heater yesterday and set the timers up for the first GLR run which was to happen from 7am - 7pm today.
All looking good! I checked them this morning around 10am just to see how they were getting on...
This was not what I wanted to see! I'm a loft grower and it has gotten cold around here recently. The temps outside the tent have been a constant 10 degrees for a few days now but inside the tent has been fine under 24/0. I really hoped the tube heater would have done a better job given that it is only October and isn't even properly cold yet. But then I began to recall the reason why my old tube heaters were shipped out to the shed...
As unacceptable as 16 degrees is to me, I let the day run its course and by midday, the temps were in the low 20's and stayed there until 7pm tonight. Unfortunately this has left me with a major decision to make - Do I invest in more heaters (which I do not have the space for nor the will to battle the cold!) or do I abandon the GLR on this run and stick to the usual 20/4 and save myself a major ballache?
To be honest, I really should have known better. Come December/January I'll be struggling to keep the tent above 20 degrees with the lights on nevermind anything else! Since I moved into the loft a few years back, I always seem to forget that it gets cold and every year I encounter the same problems. As keen as I am to run an auto under the GLR, the thought of trying to heat the tent for 11 hours a day in the dead of winter is too much. I think for me the GLR will be a summer special thing only...
In non GLR related news, the girls have been making storming progress! They got fed this evening with 3ml Grow and 2ml Superthrive and will move to a 20/4 schedule from here on. And in what is actually (potentially) really good news for the plants - I've actually remembered that it is going to get proper cold before it has actually gotten proper cold and can now plan accordingly
No blow heaters blowing through the intake and torching the plants this year!
Apologises to all those who came for the GLR but hopefully we can still turn out something good