Still in first grow, climate control challenges

[ms48130]

My first grow is moving along fairly well. I'm in my 2nd week of flowering on 2 (auto) plants, pre-flower on 1 (also auto), and still in veg on the 4th (photoperiod, working through manifolding). My light schedule is still 20/4 for the time being.

My temps are running about 85F on average with ~60% RH. I have no ability to add A/C to this small (2x2.5x5) tent. I do have a 4" intake fan and a 4" exhaust fan, both running 24/7.

Today, I removed my humidifier as it was on the lowest setting, and since 2 plants are in flower I thought it better to dry the space a bit. I do have 3 fans (1 tower and 2 clip fans) running 24/7 as well.

At this point I'm a bit conflicted on how I'll be able to improve the temp & humidity. Higher volume intake & exhaust? Dehumidifier?

Open to all input but again, adding an A/C unit is out of the realm of possibility.

Thanks in advance!

 

[NorthernLights_420]

My first grow is moving along fairly well. I'm in my 2nd week of flowering on 2 (auto) plants, pre-flower on 1 (also auto), and still in veg on the 4th (photoperiod, working through manifolding). My light schedule is still 20/4 for the time being.

My temps are running about 85F on average with ~60% RH. I have no ability to add A/C to this small (2x2.5x5) tent. I do have a 4" intake fan and a 4" exhaust fan, both running 24/7.

Today, I removed my humidifier as it was on the lowest setting, and since 2 plants are in flower I thought it better to dry the space a bit. I do have 3 fans (1 tower and 2 clip fans) running 24/7 as well.

At this point I'm a bit conflicted on how I'll be able to improve the temp & humidity. Higher volume intake & exhaust? Dehumidifier?

Open to all input but again, adding an A/C unit is out of the realm of possibility.

Thanks in advance!

I don't have an exhaust currently. I leave the top of my tent unzipped. I run a dehumidifier to keep humidity 50 percent during flower reducing down to 40 to 45 percent at the end of flower. The dehumidifier puts off heat. I have a oscilating fan blowing on my plants all times. By leaving the top of the tent unzipped about a third way down it keeps my temps 73 to 75 degrees without intake fans. Will be getting intake fans for my 8x4 flower tent. Gonna use the 4x4 tent I got now to veg and the big tent for flowering or for veg if needed. Legal to grow 12 plants in Michigan here luckily. Not sure if that helps but leaving the tent unzipped at the top 1/3 way down works for me. You could always just leave the tent open as well if temps are still too high and have a fan outside the door blowing air in. Whatever works. Play around with it and see what works for you. Good luck and happy growing!

 

[ms48130]

I don't have an exhaust currently. I leave the top of my tent unzipped. I run a dehumidifier to keep humidity 50 percent during flower reducing down to 40 to 45 percent at the end of flower. The dehumidifier puts off heat. I have a oscilating fan blowing on my plants all times. By leaving the top of the tent unzipped about a third way down it keeps my temps 73 to 75 degrees without intake fans. Will be getting intake fans for my 8x4 flower tent. Gonna use the 4x4 tent I got now to veg and the big tent for flowering or for veg if needed. Legal to grow 12 plants in Michigan here luckily. Not sure if that helps but leaving the tent unzipped at the top 1/3 way down works for me. You could always just leave the tent open as well if temps are still too high and have a fan outside the door blowing air in. Whatever works. Play around with it and see what works for you. Good luck and happy growing!

unfortunately, I can't run with the tent open at all as the tent is in a walk-in closet that is shared with clothes. We moved from MI 2 yrs ago, the basement would have been nice & cool. Easier to run a small heater, than to get some kind of small & temporary A/C unit.

 

[NorthernLights_420]

Yeah mine is in my basement. I'm way up north just about as far north as you can go in the u.p. it's only 56 degrees outside here today. Was colder this morning. First frost on the ground of the year when I woke up.

 

[NorthernLights_420]

unfortunately, I can't run with the tent open at all as the tent is in a walk-in closet that is shared with clothes. We moved from MI 2 yrs ago, the basement would have been nice & cool. Easier to run a small heater, than to get some kind of small & temporary A/C unit.

What kind of inline fan you using? How many cfm? Maybe it's not strong enough for what you need? If you cant fit a portable ac in your tent I'm not sure what else you could do except maybe getting stronger intake and outtake fans?

 

[ms48130]

What kind of inline fan you using? How many cfm? Maybe it's not strong enough for what you need? If you cant fit a portable ac in your tent I'm not sure what else you could do except maybe getting stronger intake and outtake fans?

right now I'm using (2) Vivosun 4" inline, 195CFM, both on the intake as well as exhaust w slight negative pressure. I'm open to getting a 6" exhaust, but want to be sure it will do what I need it to do. Not sure if a dehumidifier (I'm in a humid southern state) will do the trick.

 

[ms48130]

So I calc'd my tent's volume (22 cu.ft.), added 60% for the carbon filter, added 20% for ducting (using AC Affinity website's numbers), and I'm at 42 cu.ft. With my 195 cfm fan, my tent's air exchange is 4.64 times per minute, or every 13 seconds. Sounds like adding more intake and/or exhaust capacity won't really do much to help.

I placed a Temp/RH meter outside the tent as well.

When my lights go out, I get a temp decline from 85*F to 80*F.

There's also about a 10% difference in RH (lower) outside the tent (avg 55% inside, 45% outside)

Will a dehumidifier help at all in reducing temps?

 

[St. Tom]

So I calc'd my tent's volume (22 cu.ft.), added 60% for the carbon filter, added 20% for ducting (using AC Affinity website's numbers), and I'm at 42 cu.ft. With my 195 cfm fan, my tent's air exchange is 4.64 times per minute, or every 13 seconds. Sounds like adding more intake and/or exhaust capacity won't really do much to help.

I placed a Temp/RH meter outside the tent as well.

When my lights go out, I get a temp decline from 85*F to 80*F.

There's also about a 10% difference in RH (lower) outside the tent (avg 55% inside, 45% outside)

Will a dehumidifier help at all in reducing temps?

i don't think the humidifier will lower your temps what light are your using in there maybe your lights just to powerful to remove the heat in time I've also known people to grow with the high temps there not ideal but in a jam

 

[ms48130]

i don't think the humidifier will lower your temps what light are your using in there maybe your lights just to powerful to remove the heat in time I've also known people to grow with the high temps there not ideal but in a jam

I have a HLG 100 V2 Quantum board (100W) LED and a ViparSPectra XS1500 LED (150W, dimmable)

Since there's only a 5* difference from lights on to lights off (and a similar difference between inside tent and outside tent) it seems I'll likely have to live with what I've got, temp-wise.

As to RH, with a 10% differential, it may be beneficial to put a smaller dehumidifier in the tent. Trying to decide whether to get one with a humidistat, or get an Inkbird to run the humidity control of the dehumidifier. Thoughts?

 

[automan2]

Sometimes we are just at the mercy of mother nature and ambient conditions. Thinking about it, don't apples, oranges, etc all live through changing climates during their fruit times? 40 years ago, some of used that to sow cannabis among corn...and it got what the corn got, and we grew truckloads of weed.
Now we try to convert all that natural stuff to how WE want it to be and its no surprise we have multiple issues along the way that may harm our luscious fruit. Getting our systems as close to "natural" was my goal. I use inkbird controls to exchange my air....bringing in outside air and ambient conditions...Supply light energy and timely nutrition, you're just waiting on the fruit to ripen.
Heat is the most common problem to tent grows and we all fight it from time to time. The best change I made the past few runs during summer was addition of a dehumidifier/ac unit. A little rigging for the exhaust and installing a port in the flowering tent was easy. Being an old engineer type, I know to assess, assess, assess before change, then assess, assess some more. Patience is the key.
With that the only change in 6-8 months, I noticed significant changes in every plant, most I've grown previously and knew what to expect.
Yeild, firmness of the bud and frostiness all have increased...To collate that with our southern USA high humidity, controlling humidity in flower is essential to all other aspects. I'm just fortunate to have separate veg and flower areas.
I'd add a unit...set up properly gives a different type of control that DOES make a difference.