We occasionally recommend products we love and might be paid a share of the sale.
Is your grow room too hot? Do you feel like your plants are drying and dying? Then it’s time for you to start investing in some cooling solutions. After all, if your room temperature exceeds 80-100°F then your hard work put into growing your precious plants will all go to waste. But do you know which cooling solutions will work and which ones won’t? If you don’t, then there is no need to worry. We will tell you about the ways you can cool your grow room.
But before we move on to the solutions you need to know why high temperature eliminates plants.
Why does high temperatures kill plants?
Know that if the grow room temperature is way too high for your plants, then it will negatively affect how the plant photosynthesizes. As such, it will affect flower and fruit development as well. As such what you will get in this situation is a low-quality yield.
Note that your grow room temperature gets higher because of the various lights and heaters that are switched on there. From HPS to LEDs and Plasma, these light-giving heaters all heat your grow room.
What is the ideal temperature of your grow room?
Your grow room should have a temperature between 70 to 80°F or 21 to 26°C. This is the uniform temperature that you need to maintain throughout your grow room. However, the heat present around the light sources will be higher so you need to use fans for moving about the heated up air. Also, do note that your grow room should have proper ventilation to prevent heat buildup.
What are the cooling solutions?
Know that if despite the fans and proper ventilation you have a heated-up grow room, then you need to look at other solutions for cooling down your room. So we are here to help you cool down your grow room and for that, we bring you some of the best methods you should use. These are:
- Improve the air-exchange level: Know that hot air tends to accumulate rapidly in indoor growing rooms. So the best and fastest way of taking this heated-up air out is to use a good input and extractor fan. So if that fan can improve the air-exchange levels, then your room will cool down. Note that you can indeed regulate the speed of the fan manually, however, it’s advised that you use a tool for regulating it accurately and automatically. Know that if you can get cool input air then it will cool down the room faster.
- Use a nutrient solution of low strength: Note that hot temperature makes more water travel through plant leaves. Due to this, there’s higher consumption and use of water at the roots of the plant. As such, this makes plants take in more nutrients. However, with higher consumption of various nutrients, comes the issue of toxicity and this can lead to the death of the plant. To prevent it from happening you can use a diluted nutrient solution. You can dilute it by 20% and all you need to do for that is added in a measured amount of purified water. However, you still need to keep the solution plant-consumable and so you will have to add in air stones as well as an air pump in it.
- Ventilation: This is one of the easiest ways for bringing down the temperature of your grow tent. All you need to do is ensure that your grow room has proper air circulation as well as exchange. For this, you need to ensure that the grow tent can consume cool air as well as remove heated up efficiently from that room. You can do this by installing fans or keeping your grow space open so that enough air can pass through. Know that you can even use an icebox and attach a fan to it so that it spreads cool air all over the room.
- Switch off your lights: Know that if you switch off about half the light sources present in your grow room at a single time, then you will be able to significantly decrease the temperature in the grow room. So using an alternative technique, where only one-half of the lights are on at any given time will allow you to significantly cool your grow room. But if you don’t want to switch off the lights of any part of the grow room because you feel like it will negatively harm the plants, then just use dimming lights.
- Use an AC: If you can, then invest in a proper air conditioner. It is the fastest way for cooling your heated-up grow room. The machine will work during hot seasons the best and remove all the excess heat present in your grow room. However, there is one downside to this and that is the huge electricity usage and the resultant high electricity bill.
- Make use of good LED lights: Know that a major reason behind your grow room heating up is the lights in it. This is especially the reason if you make use of those lighting systems which make so much more heat than they start affecting the temperature of the growing area. But there is a solution to this issue and that is to use LED lights since they don’t give off significant heat levels. As such your growing tent won’t warm up to excessive levels. As for the wattage to go for- make sure you buy the ones which are 1000W to 3000W.
- Use air-cooled hoods: As said before, the heat emitted from light sources is one of the major reasons behind increased grow room temperatures. As such, one way to cool the air is to make use of air-cooled reflective hoods. As a result of these hoods, you will be able to get rid of about 50% to 60% of the heat that gets generated through grow lights. Know that there are sealed hoods that will help cool down the temperature more effectively as well. To make things better know that these sealed hoods can be efficiently added to duct fittings too. So, for example, if you connect a 6″ duct hose to hooded light, then it will surely lower the grow room temperature.
- Use cool lighting: Know that you will air as well as water-cooled lightings. However, it’s advised that you use the water-cooled ones instead of the air-cooled ones since they are more efficient. After all, the already heated-up air won’t be able to do much for cooling the light. These cooled lights will make sure that the heat produced by the lighting system doesn’t result in heat build-up. A huge advantage of these lights is that you don’t need to invest in ACs.
Bonus solutions
If you want more cooling solutions then don’t worry, we are here for you. Here are some bonus solutions that will help keep your grow room cool:
- Maintain humidity: Know that if you want to cool your room, then you have to raise the humidity of the place. After all, note that humidity is just the water vapour that’s present in the room air. To do this you can get a humidifier. This machine will allow you to control the humidity levels present. So you will be able to effectively set it to the temperature that you want.
- Use lights only during nights: Daytime temperatures tend to be too high during summers. Now, if you switch on your lights during this time, then the temperature in the room will keep on increasing. Thus, it will be unbearable for the plants after some time. But nighttime is when temperatures drop. So you can turn on your lights then. As a result, your plants won’t suffer from excessive heating.
- Seal the room: Know that a lot of the heat that you need to eliminate will come straight from the outside. So note that the best way to tackle it is to ensure that it can’t even enter your grow room. As such you need to seal the grow area. But oftentimes that’s not possible. So what you can do instead is seal the specific part that’s allowing heat to get into the grow room.
There are plenty of ways you will be able to cool your grow room. All you need to do is consider which option will be cost-effective for you as well as the best for your plants. Know that if you can splurge some money, then install an AC as well as a humidifier. This will give you full control over the temperature of the growing room. But if you are short on money and want a more effective solution within a low budget, then use various ventilation techniques, like installing fans. Another option is to seal the part which is giving off too much heat. Know that installing dim lights or cooled lights will also benefit you. But what option you will ultimately choose depends upon your needs and wants.
FAQs
Is high temperature bad for your plants?
When the temperature in your grow room increases, it can have a negative impact on your plants. It can affect photosynthesis which in turn may lead to low-quality yield.
What is the ideal grow room temperature for plants?
If you have a grow room, you must maintain the ideal room temperature for your plants. The perfect room temperature is said to be between 21 to 26°C.
Can ventilation improve the temperature in your grow room?
Allow proper air circulation in your grow room to lower the temperature. This can be achieved through improved ventilation. It is the easiest thing you can do to reduce the grow room temperature.
What increases the grow room temperature?
The grow room temperature increases because of the various heaters and lights you use for your plants. This is why you are required to maintain them right.
What happens to plants when grow room temperature is too hot?
Plants are very sensitive to temperature fluctuations. Even a slight increase or drop in the temperature can affect the growth of your plants. When the temperature increases in the grow room, it influences most plant processes, including transpiration, photosynthesis, germination, respiration, and flowering. But if the temperature is too hot, it can be harmful to your plants.
How to cool down a grow room?
There are various things you can do to bring down the temperature of your grow room. This includes:
- Allow circulation of air in and out of the grow room.
- Switch to LED grow lights, instead of using grow bulbs.
- Install an oscillating fan in the grow tent.
- Run an air conditioner in the grow room.
- Shift your grow tent in the basement.
- Put ballasts outside the grow tent.
- Switch on lights at night.
- Take advantage of a swap cooler inside the tent.
Do plants grow faster when it is warm inside the grow room?
Plants can grow faster when provided with optimal temperature. But when the temperature increases, it leads to increased respiration in your plants. This affects the growth rate of your plants negatively.
A rotating team of writers and editors dedicated to providing reliable information for the readers of American Promise. We’re all passionate about cannabis and actively engaged in this “budding” industry.
Contents