7 Tips to Help Your Grow Tent Beat the Heat in 2023

07/08/2021

When it comes to maintaining an indoor cannabis grow tent or room, keeping temperatures cool can be difficult during the dog days of summer. Protecting your cannabis plants from experiencing heat stress is crucial when it comes to being a grower, and also one of the most challenging. Whether you are growing for the first time, or are a grow guru, we’ve got the best tips and tricks in this article to help your grow tent beat the heat!

Before diving into what it takes to keep your grow cool, it’s important to know the basics of growing indoors before you can make adjustments elsewhere. First, an optimal temperature for growing cannabis indoors ranges between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, or 21 to 27 degrees Celsius when the lights are on. When your lights are off, temperatures should range between 57 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, or 14.4 and 21.1 degrees Celsius. While these temperature ranges are recommendations, you’ll want to find a temperature to keep your grow tent consistently at to avoid your plant from experiencing stress and to maximize photosynthesis. Allowing your tent to fluctuate in temperatures may reduce yields by disrupting photosynthesis. You also need to make sure you are taking your Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) into consideration, which we will cover in our next section. If you find yourself struggling to keep your tent within these temperatures, or are beginning to start your first indoor grow, these tips will keep you and your plants stress-free!

The Importance of Vapor Pressure Deficit

Don’t let this long term intimidate any beginner growers out there. We are going to break this down for you and provide you a link to a chart to help you determine your VPD for your grow tent. Essentially, VPD is the measurement of the drying power of the air and how much it has. The greater the VPD, the quicker your cannabis plants will dry out. Having a lower VPD means more moisture stays within your plant. Why does this matter? Because in order to live, plants must transpire (sweating for plants) through their stomata. For that to happen properly, the air in your grow tent needs to evaporate moisture from their leaves within a certain range, not too quickly or slowly. Vapor Pressure Deficit represents this force numerically, and we can control this number through proper temperature and humidity. VPD perfectly demonstrates the effect humidity and temperature on cannabis plants.

If you let your VPD fluctuate too high, your plants will experience heat stress and dry out. On occasion the effects can look like a nutrient deficiency, but most of the time your cannabis plant will become droopy and dry out. On the other side, if your VPD is too low, moisture builds up on the surface of leaves and pauses growth. Unable to evaporate moisture from the surface of their leaves means your plant can’t transpire. Causing your roots to stop pulling nutrients into the plant, stopping plant growth. Additionally, a low VPD can introduce harmful pathogens such as Powdery Mildew, other fungi, and can cause bud rot!

  • In order to calculate VPD, here’s what you will need. The temperature of your grow room.
  • The temperature of your plants leaves (Measured via infrared thermometer) If you do not have an infrared thermometer, you can estimate the leaf’s temperature by subtractive 5 degrees Fahrenheit or 3 degrees Celsius from your grow tent’s temperature.
  • The relative humidity of the grow tent.

After you’ve gathered the data you need, you can now calculate your VPD using this VPD calculator. After calculating your VPD, your cannabis plant’s success depends on maintaining the ideal range of VPD. The ideal range for VPD is dependent on your plant’s growth stage. Typically, younger plants require a lower VPD. As they mature and grow, the VPD will steadily increase as well. Finding out how to manage VPD correctly will take trial and error, but with the help of the VPD calculator and the VPD chart below, you will figure it out in no time!

Do I Need a Grow Tent to Grow Indoors?

To explicitly state a grower NEEDS a grow tent to grow indoors is not true. However, having a grow tent is HIGHLY beneficial when it comes to keeping your cannabis from experiencing heat stress and maintaining various other aspects of your indoor grow. Grow tents provide growers a controlled environment to experiment with different methods of growing while ensuring your other resources are maximized. Light, for example, reflects throughout the entire tent helping the plant grow and produce a higher yield. Additionally, grow tents provide your cannabis plant security from unwanted pests, shield it from the eyes of the public, and help keeps the smell from overwhelming your home. However, grow tents ultimately help indoor growers protect their cannabis plants from fluctuating temperatures and losing yield.

Why Is My Grow Tent Heating Up?

When cannabis plants experience heat stress, there are many different reasons as to how the grow tent’s temperature increased. Your ventilation system may need maintenance, or your grow tent may not have any ventilation at all. Perhaps you need an extra boost of cool air and need to implement a portable air conditioning system. But one of the most common reasons for grow tents overheating is due to grow lights. Lights emit heat, and not calculating the proper amount of light your plants need can be detrimental to your cannabis plant’s growth and yield. While your plants should experience a little bit of warmth every now and again, let’s look at some tips to help make sure your cannabis plants beat the heat this summer!

1. Establishing Proper Ventilation

Fresh air is essential to a plant’s survival, and having an efficient and optimal ventilation system is one way to ensure your grow tent beats the heat this summer. There are a few different factors to consider when establishing your ventilation system. Proper ventilation is achieved through the use of inline and exhaust fans. These fans create a constant flow of fresh air inside a grow tent, in addition to cycling hot air out. However, it is important to note the size of fan you purchase is dependent on the size of your grow space and the amount of heat generated by your lighting system. So before you make any decisions about your ventilation system, it is recommended to set up your lights first, turn them on for a duration of time, and determine the amount of airflow your grow tent will need to maintain a comfortable temperature for your cannabis plant. If you need help improving air flow to beat the heat this summer, these fans are exactly what you need!

AC INFINITY CLOUDLINE S-SERIES, QUIET INLINE DUCT FAN SYSTEM WITH SPEED CONTROLLER

JETFAN MIXED-FLOW DIGITAL FAN

AC INFINITY CLOUDLINE T-SERIES QUIET INLINE DUCT FAN SYSTEM WITH TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY CONTROLLER

2. Air Conditioning

Relying on an air conditioner can be one of the simplest, yet most dependable methods to keep temperatures in your grow tent cool. If you are aiming to avoid heat stress reaching your cannabis plants this summer, the Active Air Portable Air Conditioner is what you are looking for! This air conditioner’s portability makes it ideal for growers who don’t want to invest in pricey ductwork or central AC installation, and those who require spot cooling between 62 and 95 degrees in areas up to 800 cubic feet (this is equal to a 10' x 10' grow room with an 8' ceiling). You can also get the Active Air Portable Air Conditioner shipped to you for free when you purchase it from our site!

3. Light Usage & Keeping Them Cool

When it comes to your lighting situation and keeping your grow tent cool, maintaining a climate friendly atmosphere for your cannabis plant takes some more due diligence than other aspects of growing. Firstly, it’s important to note that if you’re wanting to reduce heat, you should immediately start with LED lights. LED lights are known for producing significantly less amounts of heat compared to the more traditional style of ballast lighting. It’s important to remember that LED lights do emit heat, just not as much as non-LED lights. Additionally, you will watch your electricity bill decrease and watch your wattage output increase with LED lights, while boasting a longer life-cycle compared to other grow lights.

Secondly, verify your lights have proper fans and heat vents. These cooling mechanisms can be crucial helping growers keep their grow tents a few extra degrees cooler during summer. Fans in grow lights ensure any heat accumulating in the light is moved out, keeping your light and grow tent cooler. Heat vents in grow lights have become significant towards directing heat out of the mainframe. Hot air tends to rise due to it being lighter than cold air, and heat vents are typically located in a manner to help hot air leave the grow light and ventilate outside the tent. Much of a cannabis plant’s heat stress can be avoided if you perform proper research and take time to carefully plan your lighting situation. If you are in need of LED lights to minimize heat in your grow tent, these will help you beat the heat!

CALIFORNIA LIGHTWORKS SOLARXTREME 250

CALIFORNIA LIGHTWORKS SOLARSYSTEM® 550, 120V

KIND LED K3 SERIES2 XL450 LED GROW LIGHT

SPIDER FARMER SF1000 LED GROW LIGHT FULL SPECTRUM

4. Changing Light-Cycles

Maybe you are already using LED lights with heat vents and fans and are still struggling to keep the temperature down. This can be especially true for growers who live in areas that tend to have dry, hot summers. If this tends to be the case, we suggest a simple, yet effective method of changing your light-cycles in your grow tent. If the outside temperature is hot enough to be affecting the internal room temperature of your grow tent, then wait to turn on your lights when the temperatures are cooler outside. One of the benefits of growing indoors is your ability to manipulate environmental factors such as light-cycles, and create ways to optimize your grow tent to your surroundings.

5. Using Carbon Dioxide

Introducing Carbon Dioxide to your grow tent provides numerous benefits for your cannabis plant. Most importantly, Carbon Dioxide is essential for a plant’s survival. However, using Carbon Dioxide can also help your plant become more durable to heat stress. Placing a CO2 bag in your grow tent won’t make it cooler, but if you are able to regulate your grow tent’s CO2 levels under elevated, your cannabis plant might be able to withstand an extra four to six degrees of heat if you were unable to make immediate adjustments. It’s important to note the introduction of CO2 bags should be carefully researched before they are in a grow tent, and should not be used until you’ve gained some experience.

6. Using Monitors & Timers

There’s a chance you have the best equipment money can buy, but you still can’t seem to keep your plants from experiencing heat stress. One reason this could be happening is due to the fact you are not able to be in your grow tent 365 days a year, 24/7. Temperatures can fluctuate throughout a hot summer day, and your equipment could even fail you from time to time. Without the use of an environmental controller or grow tent monitor, your cannabis plant could fall victim to heat stress even under the most perfect circumstances. Grow room monitors and environmental controllers vary widely in prices and features. You could be a minimalist grower and only need a monitor to tell you the temperature and notify you of any undesirable conditions taking place. Or you might be the type of grower who travels from time to time, needing an all-purpose environmental controller allowing you to adjust the climate, lighting, and watering schedule of your grow tent; all from the comfort of your phone. If you’re struggling to maintain a consistent climate, or would like to gain more knowledge about when your tent gets hottest, these monitors are just for you!

PULSE ONE ENVIRONMENTAL MONITOR

LINK4 IPONIC 614 ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLLER

CALIFORNIA LIGHTWORKS SOLARSYSTEM® CONTROLLER

7. Clip-on Fans

Strapped for cash and need to find a way to cool your grow tent this summer? Clip-on fans are one of the best grow accessories to purchase regardless of your finances. For starters, they take up little space and are lightweight. You can clip these fans anywhere to your grow tent’s poles and let them go to work. Secondly, clip-on fans ensure the dissipation of heat is taking place while simultaneously making your cannabis plant stronger. Creating a consistent breeze inside your grow tent is important for plants because it provides the stems and branches the opportunity to grow stronger. Overall, clip-on fans are cheap, reliable, and a great way to help eliminate excess heat from building in your grow tent. Check out our selection of clip-on fans here and on our site!

ACTIVE AIR 6" CLIP FAN, 15W

ACTIVE AIR 6" CLIP FAN, 5W

ACTIVE AIR 8" CLIP FAN, 8W

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