So my family is leaving for the winter in a couple weeks, and they don't return until late April/early May. They live in a private trailer park sort of area in a secluded place out of town. I was thinking of using their shed while they are gone. It's insulated and I know it has a/c but no heating system. I live in South Dakota so we are talking temps below freezing at night during this potential grow. Anyone care to lead me in the right direction? Thanks!
I don't know how much help you'll get with this. It is not cool to grow on soneone else's property/home without them knowing. Even if they do know, it doesn't seem right for you to jeapordize their property. Good luck.
I should rephrase, it is my parents in referring to and it's my trailer, shed, and land. I pay the land and it is under my name. They just come for the summer as they are retired.
I apologize if I interpreted your post wrong. When you wrote "they live" I took it as it was someone else's house or property. I hope now someone can help you out with your question, no hard feelings and good luck.
Lol do you like mac miller? Or do you just enjoy nikes on your feet haha. It's completely possible, but you need to do a few things first. Research, research, research. Everything you can think of, and I mean EVERYTHING. You'll think you've thought of everything but then once you begin growing you realize how many fine details you forgot (Are my lights too close? What's the proper humidity for seedlings? Do plants prefer 24/0 or 18/6? How am I going to ventilate? etc.). As to answer your question about the cold. I'm not sure how big your shed is, but lets assume it's 4'x4'. You could put a 600w MH/HPS lighting system up and that would probably be enough to keep it warm. You need to figure out how you're going to bring air in and expel unwanted oxygenated air. Lucky for you, going into winter the air is naturally going to be more concentrated with carbon dioxide so hopefully you wont need a CO2 supplement. Now...get to it.
I don't really know where to start! The shed is 15' by 10'. It is connected to the trailer electricity. I just am super overwhelmed!
If you plan on flowering youll need to insulate for sure, I would do that first. Also like post above me said youll need air exchange youll need to circulate the air out of the shed.
Well the shed is already completely insulated, I did it myself a few years ago actually. And as far as ventilation goes, the shed already has a vent and fan, but is that alone enough? And realistically how can I keep a she did that size warm enough when it will be below freezing most nights?
One lamp will most likely not be sufficient heating when temps are dropping below freezing. Oil filled heaters can be used for heat as they dont put off any light. You could also just fill it with autos and a couple of 1k lights. No need for a dark cycle so the lights would help warm it up. It sounds like that would mean higher power usage, but a small space heater can easily pull 1300w. Might as well get some light out of it. Could easily get a lb per light every 70 days.