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Keep Your Growing Room Warm

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Keep Your Growing Room Warm

Keep Your Growing Room Warm

So to keep in line with my last post, here are a few ideas to keep your growing room warm for your plants this winter. Many grow rooms are situated in modern homes with central heating.

Even though this year’s autumn has been pretty mild, temperatures are starting to drop, especially at night, as winter approaches. As a result, every indoor gardener will be looking for ways to maintain grow rooms at the ideal range of 25–28°C when the lights are on and 18–21°C when they are off.

Low grow room temperatures can harm your plants; one of the first symptoms is purpling of the stems, which is followed by sluggish or stunted development as nutrient intake and photosynthesis levels fall. Since, let’s face it, nobody wants a subpar harvest after all the hard work you’ve put in over the previous weeks, the outcome will not only be a bad final output but also a lower-than-expected level of harvest quality.

So, the simple way would be to keep the central heating on 24/7. The problem with this is that it would probably be too warm for us humans to tolerate. Individual radiator thermostats are a great idea, as you can control each radiator. including the one in the growing room. If the radiator is set to a certain temperature, it will change how much heat it sends out to match. Don’t forget that heat is given off by your lighting and ventilation, so some sort of control will be required to maintain a certain temperature.

Heat control can be easy to maintain, provided there are no dramatic temperature changes.

Some methods of heat control

By using some of these ideas, you can keep the temperature from dropping too much. thus resulting in poor-growing plants and a smaller harvest. Earlier, I mentioned the lights. Of course, this depends on what lights you are using. Older lighting systems emit a lot of heat and can drastically change the temperature. LED lights burn at much lower temperatures and are more controllable, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, we have a large number of Victorian houses in the UK. These larger stone terraced houses are much more difficult to control, even with central heating systems. Therefore, there should be a couple more safeguards to look at.

  1. Fan speed controllers can be used to reduce the amount of air intake and extraction (making things hotter or cooler)
  2. For older properties you could add extra heating such as electric fan heater with an in built thermostat if possible.
  3. Its always a good idea to Insulate your grow room floor, wall and ceiling (there are many products on the market at good prices)
  4. In a water tank then use a water heater for large volumes of nutrient solution (dont put cold water onto your plants ! remember the 19c rule)
  5. Buy a maximum and minimum temperature gauge and regularly check the humidity readings.
  6. Dont pull in freezing air so obtain your intake air from a different room (Keeps the temperature ambient)
  7. Ensure your nutrients are stored at the correct room temperature
  8. Change round day and night by running your grow lights during the night and lights off during the day.
  9. I hope this will help new growers in particularly.
cold weather

Hydroponics Winter Basics

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Home » Archives for December 2021

Hydroponics Winter Basics

Hydroponics Winter Basics

Winter is now upon us in the northern hemisphere. Here in West Yorkshire, we have already experienced several frosts and a snowstorm. thus making it impossible to do any outdoor gardening.

Most plants that are hardy have already closed down for their winter break. The deciduous trees have lost their leaves, and only the conifers still have green leaves. In my case, my lemons and other citrus fruit are sitting happily in their cosy greenhouse, together with LED lighting to lengthen our dark winter days.

So, indoor hydroponic growers can experience temperature fluctuations during very cold spells of weather. Roots are very intolerant of temperature changes. Changes in growth can make significant changes to the growth rate if the temperature is allowed to drop below 19 °C. So at this temperature, the plant’s root zone could easily be damaged. The growth begins to slow, and the outside of the root can be damaged.

Even plants in the right zone can be harmed by the cold.

Why do plants suffer from cold

The causes of this are numerous and depend on the location, soil, length of the cold, and other elements. Depending on the type of plant and the aforementioned criteria, different plants respond differently to cold. The USDA’s recommendations for plant hardiness are simply that—recommendations.

A plant’s real hardiness will vary depending on its microclimate, exposure, water and nutrient uptake, and general health. There are several reasons why cold might harm plants, but we’ll focus on the most obvious ones.
A plant’s health and hardiness are impacted by every circumstance that it encounters.

Plants that aren’t getting enough water may droop and even die. Negative plant health can also result from too many or too little nutrients. In a similar manner, meteorological conditions can harm a plant’s vitality. Plants are damaged by the freezing of their cells, which also obstructs the movement of water and nutrients.

Many experts believe that the ideal root temperature is between 20 and 21 degrees Celsius. So, to enable the plants to absorb nutrients correctly, Providing a nutrient solution that is strong enough to stimulate new growth is important for the development of a healthy plant. Keeping good oxygen levels and content is imperative for good results.

Concrete floors can be a problem

When writing this blog,

I was thinking primarily about temperature variations in a building with concrete floors. We all know about the cold feeling we get when we walk inside a building with a concrete floor. Particularly in the winter. So, if plants are grown under these conditions, then there is likely to be a large temperature variation. This could be overlooked when starting out your growing season in the spring.

Even a small garage used for growing will suffer variations in temperature in the winter. As a result, many growers use some type of rubber mat to help insulate their precious crop. Personally, I would raise the plants off the floor to prevent them from getting “cold feet” and ruining the crop at a later stage.

Cold can also affect the temperature of the water tank used to mix and provide the nutrients. Growing rooms must be well insulated so the air temperature does not change significantly in a cold spell. As I previously stated, the 19th century standard should not be compromised. Your plants will be open to attacks from many pests and diseases. The weaker your hydroponics plant is, the more likely it is to have been attacked.

Of course, all this will lead to a poor crop and disappointment. So prepare for winter by making your plants as cosy as possible to avoid disappointment and a poor harvest. Heaters are the answer!

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