Heat Remedies for Indoor (Garage) Grow Tent? HELP!

So I’m in a bit of a dilemma. I’m currently vegging in a grow tent in my garage (I know, not ideal but it’s what I have to work with right now). I’m using:

-4 x 6 grow tent

-4 T5 bulbs, 20 hours on 4 hours off

-Oscillating fan

-Charcoal filter with an exhaust fan/ tubing leading out into the garage

-12 Plants total

-1 gallon pots, Fox Farm oceans soil & perlite mix


I’m in Hawaii so it’s a warm climate and in the tent itself temps get up to around 88 (give or take) with humidity varying around 55-60.

I share a garage with our downstairs neighbors FYI and they're totally cool with me growing.

To kind of mitigate the temps so far I've tried to:
-Open up the side and back vent on the tent
-opened our garage door a smidge and aimed the exhaust fan outside
-Kept our door leading into the garage open which creates a very minimal breeze in addition to propping the garage slightly open
-Lights time off from 12-4 pm (the hottest it gets here)
-Moving the lights up a little higher than a few inches from the tops
-Put the oscillating fan on it's side by the back vent with the hope that it will pull in some air from outside, though it's Hawaii so it's relatively warm air

Temps are still high and vary between 82-90 and as you can see by the pics they're not growing much as a result (almost 2 weeks into veg!):


I've been told to get a portable AC but since I'm sharing this garage with my neighbors and we're all splitting Electricity, I don't think they'd be thrilled with seeing my AC cooling the garage....

What would you suggest in this case?
Are there any very tiny port AC's you could recommend that will do the job that I could prop in the tent (with an exhaust leading out)?

Anything else?

I'm running out of options and I'm super bummed that the plants aren't doing great!!

Mahalo for your assist!

What also sucks is that the neighbor that sold me everything used to grow in the same garage and I'm not sure how he got his plants to thrive in these conditions, as I can't get a hold of him...

Put a fan in to cool them down..

EZ to make and u just need to replenish the ice when it melts

OP you have seedlings that look two weeks old, they're not growing slow, there's a lot of rooting taking place right now. Be concerned why they're leaning.. 4 T5 bulbs how far from tops? centered over seedlings? They're reaching for something, and leaning in the process.

On temps, exhausting out of the garage will have little impact, if it were an HPS bulb maybe. will it cool down there? you may have to settle for elevated temps if you have no easy way to bring ambient down. Fix your lighting and seedlings. rake some top dirt top form a mound around the lower stalk, they need some kind of support.

what he said ^^

Run more equatorial strains that tolerate that environment more!

Six9 said:

OP you have seedlings that look two weeks old, they're not growing slow, there's a lot of rooting taking place right now. Be concerned why they're leaning.. 4 T5 bulbs how far from tops? centered over seedlings? They're reaching for something, and leaning in the process.

On temps, exhausting out of the garage will have little impact, if it were an HPS bulb maybe. will it cool down there? you may have to settle for elevated temps if you have no easy way to bring ambient down. Fix your lighting and seedlings. rake some top dirt top form a mound around the lower stalk, they need some kind of support.

Click to expand...

Yes they're directly over top of the plants and probably about 6-8 inches from the tops. I've been adding more soil, will continue to do so.

Thanks for the info!

Six9 said:

OP you have seedlings that look two weeks old, they're not growing slow, there's a lot of rooting taking place right now. Be concerned why they're leaning.. 4 T5 bulbs how far from tops? centered over seedlings? They're reaching for something, and leaning in the process.

On temps, exhausting out of the garage will have little impact, if it were an HPS bulb maybe. will it cool down there? you may have to settle for elevated temps if you have no easy way to bring ambient down. Fix your lighting and seedlings. rake some top dirt top form a mound around the lower stalk, they need some kind of support.

Click to expand...

Also, I noticed some flies which I think are Whites and also an aphid. I have Mighty Wash & Neem lying around right now, is it too early to hit em with a light dose? Or any sprays I can make (Garlic) etc that you recommend? Just want to knock these out early!

808Budz said:

Also, I noticed some flies which I think are Whites and also an aphid. I have Mighty Wash & Neem lying around right now, is it too early to hit em with a light dose? Or any sprays I can make (Garlic) etc that you recommend? Just want to knock these out early!

Click to expand...

Best research that one, ive not had bugs. I'd say too early, maybe spray neem solution on soil

Your plants do not look heat stressed. Anything 85 degrees or less is fine for veg. Occasional 90s isn't a big deal unless they dry out.
Flower is an entirely different matter. High temps + high humidity = foxtails