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Grow Tent Getting Too Hot? – A Comprehensive Guide

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Ideal grow room temperatures are more than just what shows up on a single thermometer in your grow room. While it’s easy to give you the ideal indoor grow temperature (between 65°F and the low to mid 80°F’s) we know that it’s not simply the room temperature alone that helps you get the yield you want. We're going to go over the affect temperatures play in your marijuana grow tent, from the temperature outside your growing space to the grow lights inside of it.

Are High Temperatures Bad for Cannabis Plants?

If you are growing marijuana in an environment with high temperatures, or in an area where heat is unable to dissipate, the ambient temperatures may be much higher than the ~70 degrees Fahrenheit that your plants find comfortable, and lead to heat stress. An increased temperature can lead to slow growth, reduced harvest, and even eventual death of your cannabis plants. Heat is especially a concern during the flowering phase of the cannabis plants or for those who are growing hydroponically, where the roots are exposed (as opposed to being protected by a pot and layer of dirt). Fortunately there are a number of techniques, and supplements which can be used to control temperatures, and reduce heat damage to your cannabis plants.

Take a look at these simple steps to start reducing the heat temperatures inside of your growing area.

What can you do when grow tent getting too hot?

Oscillating Fans Inside Grow Tents

Oscillating fans do not entirely take away the excess heat in the grow tents. The oscillating fans circulate the heat generated in grow tents.

In a typical grow tent, plants are usually close to the lights that generate the heat. Thus, oscillating fans placed close to the plants helps circulate the heat from the lights to keep the temperature regulated.

With Vent for Grow Tent Exhaust

Building a vent for your grow tent exhaust is very important. This helps to suck out the hot air from the grow tent.

It is often recommended that you use a ceiling vent; this is because of the direction the heat rises. Placing the exhaust vent on the ceiling enhances the drawing out the heat from the grow vent.

A Cooling Humidifier

This is another technique of reducing the hot air and heat in the grow tent. A cooling grow tent humidifier also improves the humidity of the tent to the level suitable for the growth of the plants.

This technique must be carefully monitored. This is because an increased level of humid air causes the temperature to rise, which limits the growth of the plants.

The recommended level of humidity for a grow tent is 40%.

Using a Container of Water or Ice

This is a traditional method of regulating the temperature in a grow tent. This involves creating a heat sink that will suck away the heat, causing the weak growth of the plants.

The cold water or ice is placed inside a bucket and positioned where it can absorb the heat. This provides a controlled humidity level as well as reducing heat in the tent.

The method works together with the use of the oscillating fans, where the fan circulates the hot air towards the bucket of cold water or ice, and the temperature of the hot air reduces.

The Distance of Grow Lights from the Plants

In a usual grow tent, the grow lights are usually at a height from the plants, hanging from the ceiling of the grow tent.

Keeping the lights at a reasonable distance from the plants helps limit the heat directed towards the plants.

At a closer distance from the plants, the excess light causes more heat and reduces the growth and reproduction of the plants. Plants become more heat-resistant with the grow lights kept at the recommended distance.

Small-sized Grow Lights

This does not mean that grow lights with low production of power.

However, grow lights with small size that still produce the required amount of light are advised to be selected when choosing to fugrow lights.

Small-sized grow lights also create more room for the ceiling vents that suck out the heat generated.

The metal halide (MH) and the high-pressure sodium (HPS) lights are not advised to be used because of their big size.

Regulating the operating hours of grow lights

The excess heat that is often generated in the grow tent is usually induced by the number of hours the grow lights are allowed to operate.

Some farmers run their grow lights for 24 hours, thereby increasing the temperature in the grow tent, and this diminishes the growth of the plants.

The recommended amount of hours to run your grow lights is 18 hours, followed by 8 hours of darkness. This regulates the heat generated by the grow lights.

Start with a Heat-Resistant Strain

Some strains are inherently more resistant to heat than others. For example strains that originated from the equatorial region, including many Sativa and Haze strains, can resist much higher temperatures than strains that originated in colder regions, such as many Indica strains.

  • Choose a Sativa or Haze Strain
  • Avoid Indica Strains
  • Avoid Auto-flowering Strains – The ancestor of all auto-flowering strains is a type of wild hemp known as Ruderalis. This plant originated from Siberia which is very cold for most of the year. Because of this part of their ancestry, many auto-flowering strains tend to be less resistant to heat, especially if they’re mixed with a lot of Indica strains.

If you’re looking at a Sativa or Haze strain, you’re already getting something that’s inherently much more heat resistant, but here’s a strain I know to be extremely heat resistant, easy to grow and potent:

Kaya Gold

  • In addition to doing well in the heat, this strain is overall easy-to-grow and resistant to pests and mold
  • Has a surprisingly short flowering stage (8-9 weeks) for a Sativa-dominant strain, and doesn’t get too tall
  • Buds produce very heavy effects – more of a brain-melter with couchlock than a good choice for social situations
  • Does well indoors, and also grows exceptionally well outdoors (plus it is ready to harvest earlier than most other strains)
  • Great yields

Final thoughts

Managing grow tent heat is one of the more difficult, frustrating aspects of indoor growing.  Controlling heat in the grow room is one aspect of growing marijuana indoors that can be difficult for many of us growers. Grow lights provide our plants with lots of life-giving light, but they also produce heat, and big grow lights can produce a lot of heat!  Most cannabis plants start suffering when their temperature gets over 80-85°F (27-30°C), so it’s important to keep your grow space below that threshold. 

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