So we’ve put together some tips on how to keep your grow cool this summer.
Max headroom
Keeping a room cooler is so much easier, if you’ve got good headroom. Anything around 6ft or higher is ideal. It’ll allow for more air movement and enable better temperature control.
Keep the air moving
Try using an oscillating fan, to keep the air moving around your grow room. This is a great way of cooling the room. Where you position the fan is important though. Make sure it’s below the plant blowing through, rather than above the leaf canopy. This will avoid them getting ‘wind burn’.
Keep solution cool
If you’re using a hydro system, then you need to keep the nutrient solution cool. There’s a number of ways to do this depending on your budget.
- Connect your system to a chiller. This will enable you to keep the solution cool and at a consistent temperature, maximising oxygen availability. Chillers can be quite expensive, but are perfect in some months.
- If you’re looking to keeps your costs low, whilst also lowering solution temperatures try putting an ice pack or two into your reservoir. This works particularly well on NFT systems. It helps to lower the temperature of warm nutrient solution, so it can be recirculated over the plants roots. The best thing is, this’ll only cost you a few quid to try.
Remember, in most hydro systems if the solution temperature gets higher than 21oc, you’re going to find that oxygen levels reduce, which will affect the growth of your plants.
Put ‘em up
Your lights that is!
Try and keep your lights 10-20cm higher than you would normally. Not too much light will be lost, but can help to keep your plants cooler. You’ll know if your lights are too close to the plants as the leaves can develop rusty marks.
Release the fans
Using a temperature controlled fan speed regulator you can ensure that your exhaust fans are working as hard as they can to make sure they cool the air in the growing environment. They work by increasing the speed of the fan if the temperature rises and falls when the temperature reaches your desired level.
Take the cool air
If using an intake fan, try to draw air from a place cooler than the grow room. This cooler air will dilute the warm air and bring the temperature of the grow room down.
Follow our tips, keep your grow cool and enjoy your best summer yields yet.
