my problem is it costs a lot to run an oil heater in the 8x8 tent in the winter. I don't know if my logic is flawed, but I am thinking or hoping I can decrease the oil heating and the ambient temp in the tent a bit, and make up for it with the heat mats (18 watts each x's 4) by heating the roots directly. If the mat is radiating heat up in to the root zone enough that it makes a difference with lower ambient temps then I'd be very happy with that. But I don't know if lower temps at the canopy is going to be too hard on the plant even though the root temp is good. That's one question I have.
Grow Mediums seedling heat mats under autopots
- Thread starter lunarman
- Start date
my problem is it costs a lot to run an oil heater in the 8x8 tent in the winter. I don't know if my logic is flawed, but I am thinking or hoping I can decrease the oil heating and the ambient temp in the tent a bit, and make up for it with the heat mats (18 watts each x's 4) by heating the roots directly. If the mat is radiating heat up in to the root zone enough that it makes a difference with lower ambient temps then I'd be very happy with that. But I don't know if lower temps at the canopy is going to be too hard on the plant even though the root temp is good. That's one question I have.
Damn I’m good. I believe I said upper 60’s to low 70’s lol.
If this is your house and your gonna stay here for a while growing u might want to look into a insulated room. Will probably pay for itself in two winters if built and insulated well.
So, you were just kinda guessing ballparking pulling that temp out of your ass, eh? Nicely played! :smoking:
Its a garage and it is insulated. Not sure what R factor, but I know it's not up to a house standard. So what's done is done and not much I can do to improve what is already there without tearing it out. I know the tent needs heat and all that and the expense of it. So I started thinking of localizing the heating I'm doing right at the root zone. Put a heater right under the plant basically.
No it was in my memory bank from years of reading lol.
Not sure how much heat would be good for the tray warming the nutrient solution. This might become a petri dish for bacteria growth. The pots just sit in the tray so there is a buffer between as they aren't in direct contact with the heating pad so how much heat would actually get transferred to the root zone. I know in winter my room goes anywhere between 45-70F lights off/on and still had nice growth. I don't run any extra heat source.
If raising pot base temperature actually worked, we'd all know about it. Have you seen evidence that this actually works?
I think the whole plant needs proper temperatures, and insulating the base/bottoms from the floor and just heating the air makes most sense.
With insulation, what is the problem retaining heat in the tent? Are you running input/exhaust flat out all the time, not using a thermostat to control the fan (or is it really that cold where you are)?
Wow man that is letting the room get cold. 45F? That is 7C. I try not to go below 17C/62F. I have to rethink/research what I'm doing then.
If I do put a heat source under the trays/valves, I'll have to reduce the heat, measure it and monitor and see if I can do this without harm.
No evidence yet, but I'm doing it now. Started all 8 plants on Friday. But what about the evidence that a seedling heat mat helps seedlings? There is some evidence. I'm taking that a bit further though and will do it up to at least day 20 so well in to grow. Once I turn on the autopots, then that's a different story.
I do run inlines in and exhaust. 4 inch in, 8 inch out. The garage is cold inside in the winter and the inline fan brings in cooler air to the tent. I have speed controllers on both fans. Not thermostats. I adjust them manually but more to control humidity. If in growth mode I like to dial in VPD to the sweet spot which I do by adjusting the humidifier output and by how fast the exhaust pulls that out. It's a totally observe and react kind of thing I do.
