Arctic blast bringing 25 degree lows to my area Monday night.

TerrapinBlazin said:

The ones I’ve used definitely exhaust a lot of gross stuff. The forced air would have to be ducted inside the cold frame and the heater would have to be run outside. I’m interested to see how the buddy heater and 30 gallon tote full of hot water does. I’ve got a full 30lb bottle of propane ready to go and I’m picking up another one after work tomorrow. It’s going to drop below freezing around 5pm and that’s when I’m firing up the heater.

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Mine is running now.. I just changed out the tank and restarted it. Burrrrr its cold out there. I swear it was still in the 60s at night this time last year! Wth 2020?

the propane heater thing works great as long as you have the space and the right kind of set up. I've done it, but it can be a pain in the ass, because you really have to time it right and check it to make sure you don't burn anything. it sucks, but it is worth it for a good harvest. you can also heat water up throughout the night and early morning, not boiling, but warm, and lightly water the roots in 2 hour increments... that only works if you don't have extreme cold though, because the water can freeze if it's too cold... you'll also be up all night, and can only do it so much so as to not drown the roots... i'm in the same situation, and got a new "mr.heater", but I forgot the damn canisters... hopefully it doesn't get too cold tonight and I can pick some up tomorrow... it's already 34 here... 25 is where it gets really dicy... these cold snaps suck... I get em every year, usually even earlier than this year, and it's always a challenge... I grow mainly sativas, and many aren't done until late November into December, which makes this time of year especially difficult for an outside grow... i'm south enough to get the light needed, but high altitude enough to where it gets super cold early... but it's wonderful... and i'm high... and apparently very talkative... sorry.

I didn't realize it was going to get so cold last night so I left my plant in it's 15gal. pot out on the patio- got up this morning at 6:30 and it was 25 degrees, which I think is a new record. My plant was all drooped and froze and looked terrible. I got my propane heater and a fan going on it, but I had to take my wife to work because the head gasket blew in her car last friday (ugh) so I turned off the propane heater. I got home at 8:15 and the plant looked a little better- it wasn't frozen at least. I turned the propane heater back on for ~30 min. until the sun started hitting it, it was ~35 degrees then. It's starting to bounce right back I'm happy to say. I'm probably about 10 days from harvest and this is the best-looking dope I've grown

Well I just ran home on my lunch break to fire up the heater. We got a really severe cold front last night with some very high winds and the tent held up beautifully. None of the PVC came out and none of the plastic tore. I’ve got a little bit of air transfer set up in there for the heat. It had already dropped below freezing when I got home to turn the heater on but it was still much warmer inside. Here goes nothing.

One more update and then I’ll sit back and observe for a bit. I didn’t measure the temp inside the cold frame but it is much warmer than the 25 degrees it currently is outside. I’m running the heater on low for now but I’ll turn it up to high once it gets dark. I should have plenty of propane to get me through without buying another bottle.

And one more update. We got close to a foot of snow overnight, and it partially collapsed the cold frame. One pipe broke under the weight. some plastic came in contact with the heater, and that caused the plastic to partially melt and triggered the safety shut off on the heater. I shook all the snow off and reassembled the frame and everything seems to be just fine. We’re not expecting any more big dumps so I’m not worried about snow and the heater has already proven that it can handle the low temps. The plants show no signs of frost damage.

TerrapinBlazin said:

And one more update. We got close to a foot of snow overnight, and it partially collapsed the cold frame. One pipe broke under the weight. some plastic came in contact with the heater, and that caused the plastic to partially melt and triggered the safety shut off on the heater. I shook all the snow off and reassembled the frame and everything seems to be just fine. We’re not expecting any more big dumps so I’m not worried about snow and the heater has already proven that it can handle the low temps. The plants show no signs of frost damage.

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awesome!

TerrapinBlazin said:

And one more update. We got close to a foot of snow overnight, and it partially collapsed the cold frame. One pipe broke under the weight. some plastic came in contact with the heater, and that caused the plastic to partially melt and triggered the safety shut off on the heater. I shook all the snow off and reassembled the frame and everything seems to be just fine. We’re not expecting any more big dumps so I’m not worried about snow and the heater has already proven that it can handle the low temps. The plants show no signs of frost damage.

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My god. You must drive a rolling coal diesel, dump old engine oil on the ground, and start forest fires for fun. Mother nature really hates you!

JoeBlow5823 said:

My god. You must drive a rolling coal diesel, dump old engine oil on the ground, and start forest fires for fun. Mother nature really hates you!

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It sounds a lot worse than it was. I had it partially built into the fence so only one corner collapsed. I’d say it held up to the foot of snow pretty well, since I was expecting matbe 3 inches when I built it. Plants are happy though. Tumbledown coldframe in bigfoot county, snowed so hard that the roof caved in, lol.

TerrapinBlazin said:

It sounds a lot worse than it was. I had it partially built into the fence so only one corner collapsed. I’d say it held up to the foot of snow pretty well, since I was expecting matbe 3 inches when I built it. Plants are happy though. Tumbledown coldframe in bigfoot county, snowed so hard that the roof caved in, lol.

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Im talking because the bitch threw a foot of snow on you and its still october.

Sir Napsalot said:

I didn't realize it was going to get so cold last night so I left my plant in it's 15gal. pot out on the patio- got up this morning at 6:30 and it was 25 degrees, which I think is a new record. My plant was all drooped and froze and looked terrible. I got my propane heater and a fan going on it, but I had to take my wife to work because the head gasket blew in her car last friday (ugh) so I turned off the propane heater. I got home at 8:15 and the plant looked a little better- it wasn't frozen at least. I turned the propane heater back on for ~30 min. until the sun started hitting it, it was ~35 degrees then. It's starting to bounce right back I'm happy to say. I'm probably about 10 days from harvest and this is the best-looking dope I've grown

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Looking pretty sad


Starting to perk up:



Today:

TerrapinBlazin said:

We’re getting a serious cold snap on Monday, and all my outdoor plants that are growing in the ground still need at least 2 weeks. I bought a bunch of 3/4” PVC and 4 mil plastic and made a little cold frame. I need to add more PVC to brace it better, but this was a rush job. It looks shitty from the outside but I didn’t have a whole lot of time to make it nice. Here’s a view from the inside. I’m going to run my propane heater in there when it gets really cold and I think that will get my plants through to harvest with no issues. After that the cold frame should let me go as long as I need. I can just bring the potted plants inside for the night.

Is there anything else I need to consider? This is gonna be a hard freeze.

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They should be fine , they look big and healthy . I had lots of plants out in the open during hard heavy frost every year doesn't bother them.

TerrapinBlazin said:

Thanks! I’m feeling pretty confident. I’m about to go buy some more PVC to make it stronger, and then I’m going to tape up the seams really well. I think for my size area I’ll just have to get a 30 gallon tote and drain my water heater into it, and I think that will work okay. The area is only 6x7 feet and the propane heater isn’t very big. I work for a general contractor but we don’t do much concrete so I’ll skip the blankets. A nice forced air kerosene heater would be totally awesome, but also totally out of my budget.

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i suggest black gorrilla tape

TerrapinBlazin said:

It sounds a lot worse than it was. I had it partially built into the fence so only one corner collapsed. I’d say it held up to the foot of snow pretty well, since I was expecting matbe 3 inches when I built it. Plants are happy though. Tumbledown coldframe in bigfoot county, snowed so hard that the roof caved in, lol.

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Jerry Garcia forever

I think we’re through the worst of it. I’ll get through to harvest no problem now. That foot of snow would have totally trashed them. I’m glad I did what I did.