Are you ready for Summer?
Summer is by far the most difficult time to grow indoors. Outdoor temperatures start to soar and your indoor grow lights increase heat levels even further! Very few plants enjoy temperatures above 28°C (82°F), and most prefer conditions around 24°C (75°F), which can be extremely difficult to maintain. Fortunately, we stock an array of products that can help you do exactly that.
The temperature of your nutrient solution has a massive impact on plant health. 18°C is ideal, but once nutrient temps start to creep into the low twenties, things can get messy: oxygen levels drop and your tank can become a breeding ground for pathogens. If root diseases, like pythium, take hold, entire crops are destroyed overnight. Anyone with experience of it will tell you that it's a problem you absolutely do not want to be facing! Luckily, there's help at hand - Silver Bullet kills 99.99% of bacteria and fungi. It's non-toxic and non-corrosive, so it wont damage your plants or leave harmful residues, but it will help to oxygenate the rootzone during the most difficult months of the year. An absolute must-have for anyone growing in hydro systems.
Chiller units are designed to maintain nutrients at optimal temperatures, no matter what the time of year. They're easy to set up and highly effective. The concept is very simple: nutrient is pumped (using a separate pump) from the reservoir, through the chiller and back out, keeping your temps bang-on at all times. With access to cool, refreshing water, root-zones stay oxygenated and plants have a means of controlling their temperatures. This ensures that rapid growth rates can be maintained all year round.
Getting the environmental conditions right is more important than the brand of nutrients you choose, or just about anything else! Opticlimates combine a heater, an air conditioner and a dehumidifier in one box, allowing you to get everything 'dialled-in'.
Opticlimates are serious pieces of kit and not for the faint-hearted. They will require quite a large outlay and should be installed by qualified technicians. However, once they're up and running, the performance you can expect will be unsurpassed by anything else out there. Expect to see perfect environmental conditions, no matter what time of year it is, and truly exceptional growth rates. This makes the Opticlimate a very wise investment for those looking to push things to the next level.
Extraction systems remove hot, CO2 depleted air from the grow space. This, in turn, draws in fresh, cool, CO2 rich air to replace it. Your extraction system is a crucial component of your set-up, so it's important to get it right. You'll need something that's solid and dependable, with plenty of airflow. Mammoth duct fans are ideal for the job. Go for the Mamoth TT if you're on a budget or a Mamoth Juiced or S-Max if you want a digital fan with even better performance.
They team up nicely with Mammoth carbon filters, which kill grow room smells stone-dead before they can escape out into the open. Better yet, take a look at our complete kits that include everything you need, including ducting and duct clips.
The Enviro Controller takes care of fan speeds for both AC and EC fans - and not only that, it can also regulate 'on' and 'off' times for practically any piece of equipment in your grow room! Lights (up to 1200w), heaters, humidifiers, and even pumps, can be controlled using data gathered from the environment. This simplifies your set-up, making it easy to maintain perfect conditions from a central point.
If you're on a tighter budget and you're running digital fans, check out the EC1, which gives you all of the features you need for a knock-down price.
Plants in grow rooms that are supplemented with carbon dioxide can handle higher temperatures. Not only that, CO2 supplementation causes plants to pile on extra weight, too, making your indoor garden even more productive, despite the high outdoor temperatures of the summertime. Mother Nature CO2 Generators are a cost-effective, refillable way to boost CO2 levels quickly and easily.
