Hey Rado, I've been browsing this grow journal and it's likely we have a few things in common. That you mentioned in your opening post that you live along the Mississippi River, and tonight mentioned outside temperatures that are below zero, I imagine that you and I are at least at a similar latitude, (about 42 degrees North).
Yep . you found my neighborhood
I admire your RO system, but I have to ask. What specifically is it about the Mississippi River water (as it comes out of your tap) that has you believing that it is undesirable to use as a source to feed your plants, especially since you appear to be growing in a soil medium? My tap water comes from Lake Michigan, and my city publishes the chemical analysis of the drinking water once a year. While it isn't exactly what most people preach about optimum Ph, I have found it to work just fine for my purposes in my soil grow. Perhaps your city water supply isn't as consistently predictable as mine or perhaps you are using a well. I'm just curious what had you go to the expense of installing an RO system.
Our family drinks water more than soda, milk etc.
The RO is for drinking water first, and plants second.
Doc Bud has put a lot of research into adapting Hi-Brix soil conditioning and farming techniques to indoor cannabis.
While not needed, reverse osmosis, along with standardized peat moss, worm castings, amendments and treatments help create a standardized growing environment where cannabis can flourish. But lights, temp, are important too
I too am growing in a basement in of a 100 year old home. Mine is a brick bungalow and I have the good fortune of having my basement divided into two sections. The area where I grow is semi-finished with built in cabinets along most of the exterior walls giving me some added dead-air space. Even so, since I drop the house down to from a daytime normal of 69 degrees to 64 degrees at night, starting at midnight. To counteract this drop-off, I have adjusted my lighting schedule (I'm using CFLs so they are similar heat output to yours) to deal with this by starting my plant's "day" so that the lights come on a two hours after the house thermostat has dropped back to the night time setting. By the time the grow lights turn off, the house is back on the day time heating schedule and the grow room is back up into the upper 60's.
What has resulted is a high of about 73 degrees, and a low of about 63 degrees during every 24 hour lighting cycle.
If your basement is only registering 50 degrees right now during this cold snap, but the low on your thermostat is showing 68 degrees since switching to the timer, you must have some serious insulation around your planting area. Then again, I'm not sure what your current light schedule is. If it is the traditional 18/6 for veg, you might begin to have a more extreme fall-off of the low temperature once you shift over to a flower lighting schedule.
Just something to think about!
I like stuff to think about
My basement doesn't have any heat except what leaks down from above, out through the furnace and in through the windows and walls. 58 was summer. Winter low so far is 50. Nighttime and daytime temps are mostly consistent day after day.
Rather than insulation, I went with a small room heater and a small room.
Heater (black fins) on the right
Heater in the back (10 days ago)
Heater still in the back (2 days ago)
