Higher Watts or Lower Temps

[Sleeper]

Hello! I am new to the forum and first off want to say that I have found this site to be an excellent source of info for my hobby! Thank's to all the senior members who take the time to share their wealth of knowledge with lesser experienced growers such as myself.

I am currently one week into my second grow and need a little advice. I
am growing in a section of a closet and the grow area itself is roughly 5sq. feet with an 8' foot ceiling. I am using 3 Hps fixtures of varying wattage;
150 watts, 100 watts,and a 50 watt for a total of 300 watts. This worked quite well in my first grow for two plants which yeilded about 3.5 ounces after curing. However, the first grow, I had a little better ability to control the temps as it was winter her in Fla. and daytime temps were much lower.
Currently with all three lights and two fans [one box and one oscillating], my temps are running around 89-90 degrees. If I turn off the 100 watt lamp I am able to maintain 83-84 degrees. I know that 200 watts is ample for the sq. footage but I am not sure if it is better to keep the temps down or watts up.......... I have two Skunk#1 seedlings one week into veg. Lights are 16 inches over them and the are healthy....Humidity is 47+- What do ya think? Sleeper

 

[Dr.GreenThumb]

Hello! I am new to the forum and first off want to say that I have found this site to be an excellent source of info for my hobby! Thank's to all the senior members who take the time to share their wealth of knowledge with lesser experienced growers such as myself.

I am currently one week into my second grow and need a little advice. I
am growing in a section of a closet and the grow area itself is roughly 5sq. feet with an 8' foot ceiling. I am using 3 Hps fixtures of varying wattage;
150 watts, 100 watts,and a 50 watt for a total of 300 watts. This worked quite well in my first grow for two plants which yeilded about 3.5 ounces after curing. However, the first grow, I had a little better ability to control the temps as it was winter her in Fla. and daytime temps were much lower.
Currently with all three lights and two fans [one box and one oscillating], my temps are running around 89-90 degrees. If I turn off the 100 watt lamp I am able to maintain 83-84 degrees. I know that 200 watts is ample for the sq. footage but I am not sure if it is better to keep the temps down or watts up.......... I have two Skunk#1 seedlings one week into veg. Lights are 16 inches over them and the are healthy....Humidity is 47+- What do ya think? Sleeper

IMO 89-90 degrees will not cause issues,if it gets 93-95+ then I would worry. How is your ventilation setup?

 

[Sleeper]

I have the box fan hanging adjacent to the lights extracting the heat out toward the open door and the oscillaor is basically just to stimulate stem strength........I have tried several different configurations with the fans and the stated temps were the optimum I was able to achieve.............the closet has an ac diffuser about 3 feet above the set up so cool air is being introduced into the mix. I guess the issue is which would affect the yeild the most, the higher temp or the lower wattage.........Sleeper

 

[Dr.GreenThumb]

no more then 90 degrees, use as much lighting as possible. Have you thought about using some floros?

 

[W ï l l]

Don't worry about the temp of the air....focus on the temp of the leaves.

An 85 degree grow space...with lights close enough...makes for a leaf that is easily 10-15 degrees warmer than the air around it. Easily.




Infrared thermometers make for some serious discovery and are a big time aid in tweaking the grow environment.

 

[Sleeper]

during my first grow, I used a couple cfl's to get light to lower branches during veg. During flower I lowered the 50 watt hps for the same reason since it has a relatively low heat out put...it helped thicken up lower buds that otherwise would have remained much smaller. Is a 30% light loss worth it just to keep temps more "optimum"...........Sleeper

 

[Sleeper]

Don't worry about the temp of the air....focus on the temp of the leaves.

An 85 degree grow space...with lights close enough...makes for a leaf that is easily 10-15 degrees warmer than the air around it. Easily.


View attachment 8930

Infrared thermometers make for some serious discovery and are a big time aid in tweaking the grow environment.

My thermometer is 6" from my seedlings under the lights so I think it may be fairly close to leaf temp...........Sleeper