Will a heat wave ruin my grow!?! - First Timer...

[Gr8Xcape98]

I've got a serious problem going on! My home AC kicked the bucket a few days ago I'll have to replace the entire system! That's gonna set me back a few grand and I won't have the new AC system up and running for at least a week (it's summer so all the good AC contractors are back-logged). As a result my home is getting up to about 90 during the hottest parts of the day. Needless to say, the tent is getting WAY too hot. I'm more piss about the plants not getting any cool air than I am about sweating my balls off! For the past few days the tent has gotten up to the high 90's while the lights are on. One day the thermometer in the tent hit 102! I say that to say since the AC died the plants have been sucking up water (and nutes) at a crazy high rate. I'm pretty sure the girls are heat stressed. I'm hoping they can hang in there for another week to 10 days. I hope it won't be that long, but trying to get prepared for the worst.

Do these pics look like heat stress or something else?
Can the girls make it 7 to 10 days with temps around 100 during lights on and mid 80's during lights off?
Should I be doing something special while I'm dealing with the heat wave?
Will the high heat during the early stage of flowering cause my feminized seeds to produce male plants? (My worst nightmare!!!!) This is day 12 of flower (12/12).



Thanks for any wisdom you can share!!

 

[qwizoking]

No..
Its not ideal, but i harvested like 40 master kushes that hit 100 for most of the flowering. Dank, still went purple, still flowered between 50-53 days. Make sure they have water, you dont need as high ec/ppm. Good airflow and decent rh are good...also grew year round in tx.


Also fem seeds are not 100%
For some reason people think all plants and animals have an xy sex determination like humans this is not the case. Environmental factors play just as big of a role, i get 96% female off reg seeds

And thats not heat stress but you do have deficiencies

 

[dirtpower]

I see that the plant is just starting to bud, and yes, the plants look heat stressed...but they will survive... the stress may make them throw a few nanners...but the good part is that they will be feminized just do the best that you can to keep them as comfy as possible! good luck to you and may your harvest be bountiful!

 

[qwizoking]

The plants arent showing any signs at all of heat stress

 

[dirtpower]

Really?...My bad!

 

[Merlot]

Look like they need watering, but no stress. I have to water daily as my temps are between 90 on a cool day to 120+ on a hot day. Outdoors though, so cant exactly tell the sun to fuck off lol

 

[sixspeedv]

Merlot those temps sound like my part of town!

 

[Fluff Up]

I feel your pain having a hot summer over here as well, is there much you can do to improve air flow/circulation in the mean time? How's your humidity, is it low enough to put in an open bottle of water or 2 to soak up some of that heat?

 

[Gr8Xcape98]

No..
Its not ideal, but i harvested like 40 master kushes that hit 100 for most of the flowering. Dank, still went purple, still flowered between 50-53 days. Make sure they have water, you dont need as high ec/ppm. Good airflow and decent rh are good...also grew year round in tx.


Also fem seeds are not 100%
For some reason people think all plants and animals have an xy sex determination like humans this is not the case. Environmental factors play just as big of a role, i get 96% female off reg seeds

And thats not heat stress but you do have deficiencies

Hey Qwiz. Thanks for the insight. So it sounds like all is not lost - great news! I've been watering every other day for the past couple weeks, and adding nutes to every other water. So the plants are getting nutes every four days. So you think I need to change up that schedule until the temps are back under control? Say daily watering with nutes every other water but at half strength?

I think the airflow is ok. I've got a small desk fan blowing over the girls, a 6 inch 200+ CFM duct fan sucking air out (though I'm sure the carbon filter is slowing it down) and a 4 inch 120 CFM duct fan forcing air in. I think I'm maxed out as far as airflow, given the tent is only 3' x 3' x 6'.

I read somewhere that high temps can turn your plants into males. That's got me quite nervous. You're getting 96% fems from regular seeds!?!?! That's AMAZING! You have any threads where you detail your methods? This is my first grow but it won't be my last. I would love to develop some good habits early on!

 

[qwizoking]

Heat humidity then nutes are the most important factors, in that order ive found
My ratios will be cut to bout 80% just by having temps bout 75......so to germ effectively I keep temps 80-82°. Once they pop the surface I take it down to high 60's low 70's for 2-3 weeks. This marker has been observed by myself and others as when sexing takes hold in the plant and it will take on a lanky male appearance
I realize this sounds kinda superstitious like harvesting on full moon or some shit..but I promise this has been observed by many growers and even scientifically its been shown..again they do not have a typical sex determination system you are used to seeing. They are not predetermined from seed
"Cannabis has been described as having one of the most complicated mechanisms of sex determination among the dioecious plants."

With that said I veg 24/0 and just throw into 12/12..I don't believe given everything else is on point, that lighting is a significant factor in sexing.. but I have noticed a higher female count with plants receiving less light, specifically the intensity of light/saturation and not necessarily the time received.
Higher humidity, higher n will promote females

 

[Gr8Xcape98]

I feel your pain having a hot summer over here as well, is there much you can do to improve air flow/circulation in the mean time? How's your humidity, is it low enough to put in an open bottle of water or 2 to soak up some of that heat?

Hey Fluff. Yeah, pain indeed! I purchased this house a few years back "as-is". Turns out whoever installed the AC was a con-man. Been having issues that POS since I moved in. Just signed a contract to get a whole new Trane AC system put in. It's gonna kill my pockets for a while, but I'll be nice and chilly But enough about that...

I mention my airflow set-up in my reply to quizomking. As for humidity, its pretty high these days. Hovering between 60% and 75%. I've read those levels might be ok during veg, but for flower the humidity should be lower. Amazon sales tiny dehumidifiers for like 40 bucks. Think that would be a good investment? Should I even worry about the 70% humidity?

Never heard of the water bottle method to soak up heat, but I'm down to try pretty much anything, as long as it cheap.

 

[Gr8Xcape98]

Heat humidity then nutes are the most important factors, in that order ive found
My ratios will be cut to bout 80% just by having temps bout 75......so to germ effectively I keep temps 80-82°. Once they pop the surface I take it down to high 60's low 70's for 2-3 weeks. This marker has been observed by myself and others as when sexing takes hold in the plant and it will take on a lanky male appearance
I realize this sounds kinda superstitious like harvesting on full moon or some shit..but I promise this has been observed by many growers and even scientifically its been shown..again they do not have a typical sex determination system you are used to seeing. They are not predetermined from seed
"Cannabis has been described as having one of the most complicated mechanisms of sex determination among the dioecious plants."

With that said I veg 24/0 and just throw into 12/12..I don't believe given everything else is on point, that lighting is a significant factor in sexing.. but I have noticed a higher female count with plants receiving less light, specifically the intensity of light/saturation and not necessarily the time received.
Higher humidity, higher n will promote females

That's all super interesting! I'm taking notes! So germ kinda warm and then during seedling / early veg keep'em kinda cool. I'll have to think of how to maintain precise control over the temps. Of course I don't know your set-up, but I'm assuming one or more dedicated AC's are involved.

As for the impact of light, that's counter to what I've read. EVERYTHING online says once they get past seedling stage to dump as much light on the girls as possible. But just because everyone is doing something doesn't mean it's the smart thing to do. So do you back off your lights during veg or flower or throughout the entire grow? Do you do the 24/0 during veg to make up for the lower light intensity?

I'm in a super humid region, so I guess that's working in my favor. I really hope the girls turn out to be girls and crank out a few nice buds. My wife already thinks this is a "silly and expensive little hobby", but if I get even a few quality grams out of this experiment she'll be a believer.

 

[qwizoking]

Oh youll get more than a few grams, besides the def you have they look lovely. Try and get that sorted out, i can help but first go look at all the nute deficiencies, really learn about each one, how it effects the plant and what root bound is causes and how to mitigate etc etc. You need to learn to read your plant. Then come back, ill help you get the right answer but the goal here is for YOU to be able to do it yourself.

Once the plant is sexed i keep lights close, a 600 about 10-12". And yes having light 24/0 makes up for the slightly less intensity in that first 3 weeks. But also i dont have to worry about timers messing up. I prefer to only go to the grow house every week and dont need anything causing problems

Most often i move the thermostat from the house central ac to the grow area and control like that. Running insulated ducting from ac vent to wherever i deem best.
Lol in summer it always looks like its raining from condensation on the windows, this can be fixed though. But yea good luck, youll have dank soon enough

 

[Gr8Xcape98]

Oh youll get more than a few grams, besides the def you have they look lovely. Try and get that sorted out, i can help but first go look at all the nute deficiencies, really learn about each one, how it effects the plant and what root bound is causes and how to mitigate etc etc. You need to learn to read your plant. Then come back, ill help you get the right answer but the goal here is for YOU to be able to do it yourself.

Once the plant is sexed i keep lights close, a 600 about 10-12". And yes having light 24/0 makes up for the slightly less intensity in that first 3 weeks. But also i dont have to worry about timers messing up. I prefer to only go to the grow house every week and dont need anything causing problems

Most often i move the thermostat from the house central ac to the grow area and control like that. Running insulated ducting from ac vent to wherever i deem best.
Lol in summer it always looks like its raining from condensation on the windows, this can be fixed though. But yea good luck, youll have dank soon enough

Thanks for the vote of confidence Qwiz. I remember seeing a pretty detailed picture chart showing various deficiencies and what each looks like. I'll see if I can find it and do some studying. "Teach a man to fish," right?

I'm really surprised sex is determined so early on in the plant's life? Never would have guessed that. Sounds like you typically do a 3 week veg, is that right? I vegged my girls for nearly 6. I expect the ladies will be ready for harvest sometime in August, so grow #2 will likely start in Sept. Hopefully I'll have a solid temp control plan in place by then. That said, I won't have a dedicated "grow house" anytime soon - for now I have to leave that to you and the rest of the pros!

 

[Lil green leaves]

I've got a serious problem going on! My home AC kicked the bucket a few days ago I'll have to replace the entire system! That's gonna set me back a few grand and I won't have the new AC system up and running for at least a week (it's summer so all the good AC contractors are back-logged). As a result my home is getting up to about 90 during the hottest parts of the day. Needless to say, the tent is getting WAY too hot. I'm more piss about the plants not getting any cool air than I am about sweating my balls off! For the past few days the tent has gotten up to the high 90's while the lights are on. One day the thermometer in the tent hit 102! I say that to say since the AC died the plants have been sucking up water (and nutes) at a crazy high rate. I'm pretty sure the girls are heat stressed. I'm hoping they can hang in there for another week to 10 days. I hope it won't be that long, but trying to get prepared for the worst.

Do these pics look like heat stress or something else?
Can the girls make it 7 to 10 days with temps around 100 during lights on and mid 80's during lights off?
Should I be doing something special while I'm dealing with the heat wave?
Will the high heat during the early stage of flowering cause my feminized seeds to produce male plants? (My worst nightmare!!!!) This is day 12 of flower (12/12).

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Thanks for any wisdom you can share!!

Well.... just a thought.... I see you have many bulbs.... can u remove a few.... less light and less heat.... I would rather have them get less light than fry them.