I am looking for advice on the best course of action to take based on the weather I am going to be getting over the next few days. Here is a link to my main post.
We have had some real nice spring weather over the last week (high 60s/low 70s days and mid 50s nights) and I’ve been stoked about getting my plants outside, but that’s coming to a screeching halt for 3 FULL DAYS of rain an struggling to get anywhere over 50…
I have 2 plants in 5ish gallon pots, and 2 plants in 3ish gallon pots outside but they have migrated to the garage for safekeeping for the next few days. My questions are as follows:
Should I leave a garage door open to allow some bit of natural light to reach the babies? Or is the normal light in the garage good enough to keep them on cycle for a few days? This sort of leads into the next question since I am worried about the temp of the roots…
My garage is better insulated than most (heavy insulated doors and ceiling), however, should I consider setting up a space heater to heat the pots? Since they are sitting on a cold concrete slab, and are near the garage door…
I’m glad that I didn’t go with crazy huge pots or straight to the ground like I was originally considering, or this could have been quite devastating!
This past February, I had a power outage and my plants (veg stage) had 3 days in complete darkness and 55*F temps. Within a few days of the power being back on, you never would have known that there was ever an issue.
In my opinion, they will be okay in the garage for a couple of days. The ambient light is nice and should be enough for a little while. Space heater would help minimize the shock and may help you feel better. And could be used in subsequent years to address similar issues.
I got a couple space heaters off craigslist that I was happy with.
I would consider a pallet or something else to raise them off the concrete floor.
@BlackShirt and @AAA thank you, this eases my concerns quite a bit. I think the garage stays warmer than the basement does if I keep the doors closed!
I’ll be building some little platforms for them and I do have an infrared temp monitor so I’ll be keeping track of the temp of the pots and using the space heater as necessary for peace of mind
Here we are, door closed, staying warm and dry! The soil under the mulch checks in around 60 F. Testing how warm the outsides of the pots are getting with the heater on very low…still trying to come up with a solution for a lift off the ground…
Be careful using space heater so close to clay pots. Clay will retain heat better than smart pots or plastic so can stress plants if they get too hot. If they’re cool to the touch you should be fine but wanted to throw that out there. Good luck👍
@Sirsmokesalot thanks for pointing that out! Thankfully the red pits are plastic and not clay. I brought in a few bricks from the rain and disassembled my long aluminum straightedge and use it as 2 planks to cross the bricks and get a few inches off the cold concrete! Working with what I have available.
Tonight is the last night of rummy weather, we have been in the garage since Saturday night and want some sunlight badly! I set bricks out today in the lawn in preparation for the move back outside tomorrow morning!
I’ve had lots of time to research and have decided on my trimming and training regiment and plan on putting it in effect after the strong plant gets some sun and an early am fish watering.
Thanks to all for the advice this far! I’ll be continuing my follow along in my grows main thread! Here’s some Tuesday night blues in the garage pics…
thank you, this eases my concerns quite a bit. I think the garage stays warmer than the basement does if I keep the doors closed! 
