Heat Stroke

[Admin]

by Dave A.

I'm a medical patient in Michigan growing in an urban upstairs bedroom where heat is always an issue. I'm running two 1,000-watt dimmable HID lights with air-conditioning, and in the summer the temperature at the center of my canopy can reach 85*F. At what temp should I start to dim my lights to 750 or even 600 watts? Keep in mind that at 600 watts, the plants in the corner of my room (about 36 inches from the center of the light) won't be doing much growing...will they? I guess I'm' asking suffer. Also, this is only on some very hot days, so should I let them run a little warm for a while to keep up the bright sunshine?

[Admin]

Dear Dave,
My recommendation is to get yourself an atmospheric controller that will dim your lights automatically when the temperature reaches a certain level. You don't want temperatures higher than 80F at canopy level, so set your controller to dim at that temp in order to cool your room and allow growth to continue unfazed. As for the plants in the corners, you can either use a light mover to reach them or, much more affordably, simply move the plants around yourself so that the ones in the corner are in the middle of the room some of the time. That way, you won't see them suffering form a lack of intense light.