What's new
By:
GrowWeedEasy.com
You're browsing as a guest. Sign up to join the conversation, share your grows, and get help from thousands of fellow growers — it's free and takes less than a minute.

Power Outages

DnkTnk

DnkTnk

New member
so I'm dealing with a power outage and am curious what others have experience with this phenomenon. I'm expecting power to be restored within a few hours but I think it went out overnight or just an hour after lights would've turned on in my garden. I believe my biggest fear would be if the plants hermied but I believe that is caused by light leaking in during a dark period, not darkness during a normal light cycle... Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
I have a generator on stand by all the time in case this happens. The power company had to cut my power for a few hours about 2 months ago to replace some power poles and I used it to keep everything going as normal. If you live in an apartment of course that wouldn't work but you could probably use some a 12 volt battery set up with maybe a large cfl bulb or two according to how big your grow is. At least that would keep them from being in the dark. I figure it like this-in nature the sky sometimes goes overcast or even dark during the day when storms come, so dim light is normal now and then, but not complete darkness. If you have only a few plants maybe you could move them next to a window for those few hours?
 
It's back on now, was only out two hours. I've lived in my house for 5 years and this is the longest outage I can remember. I live in a rural area with only electric heat pump so always kept in mind to buy a generator for the house
 
...but it's just an expense that I thought in practice, isn't necessary currently. I live alone but with family nearby and they all have generators. Anywho... I have a small perpetual garden split between a t5 lit veg tent and LED lit bloom tent, 3x3 with all the dressings. I'm about two years in to the hobby and hovering on the point where I'm able to supply me and a family member w/ flower. Just haven't been able to put away that cushion/bumper amount of reserve supply but feel close. Went through some nirvana strains to find the right flavor and yield, so far white widow and jock horror are the ones I'm cycling but their yields are only about 2/3's of the way to where Id want them to be so Im considering trying Nirvava's rasberry cough, Crystal and blackjack. I know I might improve yields by switching to an hps from leds but Id rather see if I can find better yielding strains first. I had a black jack seed from their white fem pack but it was the only seed that didn't sprout. Still need to pop and run Ice from that pack. I liked papaya but wasn't impressed with yields. Taste great thou. I've also considered tryn some strains from seedsman. Anyone have any input on similar strains with proven yields?
 
Google Harbor freight generators. cheep!!!!! Would I get one to run my iron lung during power outiges? NO. But if you need clean emergency power these fit the bill. If you are rich like Green on the other hand you buy a Onan
 
I'm new to growing so no advice on strains but what size/brand led are you using? I just switched from clfs to leds(2 300w galaxyhydros) about a month ago & I always like to hear what others are using & how they're working for them. I'm hoping to upgrade again soon & just use the 300w for supplemental lighting.
 
It happened to me for a week lost it all, but only for one cycle I don't think much harm has been done.besides what choice have you got ?
after that I got a back up gen.not just for that I lost fridg.and heat to,happy growing
 
In the LED tent I have two Apollo Horticulture 300W panels, one a bit older with 3w leds and three fans and a newer model with 5w leds and one bigger fan. The second came to replace the first when two rows of lights went out but I just never returned it and kept both up and running, another row of leds has since gone out in the older model so 3 rows total are out currently but new one has no issues. I believe the actual wattage draw on each is in the 130-140 range. I will also sometimes supplment with two 30 watt apollo screw in LEDs when it gets dense in the tent. People have suggested swapping LEDs out for a 250watt hps which I never considered before but I recently set up a carbon filter w/ exhaust fan anyway. I'll probably order a new round of strains to try running w/ my LEDs, ones that have stated better yields than Nirvava's Jock Horror and White Widow. Again, I'm leaning towards BlackJack, Chrystal, Rashberry cough, and maybe even Wonder Woman??? I still have an Ice seed to sprout and other Jock Horror's. Of the two Jock's I sprouted, one pheno was much better than the other, better looks, better smell, better smoke and better yields.
 
I've had many many power outages, caused by storms, in the spot where I've been growing for the last six years- some up to 18 hours long, most just a few hours.
Surprisingly, it's never caused me any issues in the flowering room.
I do use digital timers mainly because of the power outages- so at least the basic schedule stays somewhat on track in the long term, instead of being thrown off by a mechanical timer.
If a person was worried about it- as RR said- any small light will preserve the integrity of the light cycle. Even an led flashlight should work fine.
However- like I say, I just haven't had any problems with it. (Have had problems with everything else ;) )
 
A generator is a valuable thing here in "hurricane alley". Hurricane Matthew put us out of power for 10 days. Before that the longest had been 6 days. It's heavily wooded here w/ lots of big old oak trees & strong winds coming off the ocean so the power goes off fairly often from large limbs or trees falling on the lines. Always somethin' :)
 
During a power outage as Weasel pointed out you can use another source of light such an LED flashlight to maintain the light cycle but I do know after 48-hours of darkness the plants will start going into flower if they haven't already, if already in flower no problem. I always loved the idea of having a generator for those power outages and being prepared, but when I actually have endured long term unexpected power outages I learned a lot quickly such as the need a generator has for gasoline. Can't just jump in the car to run go get more because you needed a enough gas just to get where you could get more gas for the car and the generator and drive it back home again a couple more hours. When it was all said I done I really learned about wind power and how that is better than solar power in some places when considering your energy needs for times of power outages. If you are in a place where you need heat, don't forget to think of that as well in your needs of backups... I've learned you never really think everything through until you are in that moment when you are put to the test and then find out everything you forgot to plan for.
 
rwdyredhead said:
A generator is a valuable thing here in "hurricane alley". Hurricane Matthew put us out of power for 10 days. Before that the longest had been 6 days. It's heavily wooded here w/ lots of big old oak trees & strong winds coming off the ocean so the power goes off fairly often from large limbs or trees falling on the lines. Always somethin' :)
Click to expand...

I can attest that growing up and living in Central Florida gives you plenty of opportunities to 'rough it' from time to time. Generators are a plus but for long term that's not the issue. If there isn't any access to fuel then it doesn't matter-been there done that through many hurricanes. But it just comes back to chance-nice to have but if it's going to crash then so be it.
 
Luckily the generator wasn't neccesary this go around. I run about 5 plants in various stages of flower in the 3x3 led tent in 3 gallon smart pots. I do the short cut mainifold training and use moderate defoliation and lollipopingI the very bottoms. I've had success getting average yields in this set up. Some really pretty stuff especially tops but never really gotten anything more than just under an ounce per plant. So I know I have room for improvement somewhere along the line. Thoughts? Rwdy RedHead, how do you like the Mars LEDs? I think they are comparable to my apollo leds. Until I raised my panels to the ceiling, they were kinda rough on the tops.
 
Before you really consider Mars LED, I'd check out their YouTube video "We Are Mars LED" and watch it all the way through... Platinum LED does comparison videos of the different LED brands on the market on YouTube, I did a bit of YouTube watching when I really wanted to dig into LED's and see how brands really stack up and figure out what kind of a company am I buying it from. Seriously not LED's are created the same and its really worth the time to see what brands are worth the money and which one's aren't.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top