Most people think of indoor growing as an isolated area not affected by the outdoors.
In reality there are often times that mother nature can still affect you under a roof and four walls.
As winter rolls in and all the outdoor crop is harvested, a lot of growers are preparing for indoor season. That is, growing in an indoor environment.
Newer growers might make the assumption that by growing indoors, their plants are automatically safe from the outdoor conditions. In a lot of ways they are.
But there is still plenty of foresight and preparation that goes into indoor growing that deals with combatting the outside conditions throughout the growth cycle.
Power
The best part about growing outdoors is that you have the solar system's biggest energy source right above your head, giving free energy throughout your growth cycle. Growing indoors cuts that supply off completely (unless you have a light deprivation indoor set-up).
That's why the first thing to think about is always back-up power. If a power outage happens in your area and you’re in the middle of flower or veg it may not be detrimental, but if it lasts for days It could end up causing total crop failure.
Without power, not only are you without lights, you are also without heat, A/C, and air circulation which can also affect the plants. If you live somewhere that stays warm year round but you grow indoors, going just one day without power can raise the temperatures in your grow room enough to destroy your crop.
Environmental Control
One of the most common problems we see at Cultivate in the winter with indoor growers is the ambient temperature outside and how it impacts the humidity swings indoors. This can be fixed easily with a dehumidifier running all night, but it needs to be addressed before your walls have water running down them.
There are plenty of ways to maintain proper environmental conditions indoors, and thats's one of the reasons people love it. The customizability of indoor set-ups are basically infinite, and you can tune your environment to the exact degree, humidity and air flow you want with the right gear.
Just know that the best gear won't be cheap, especially when it comes to indoor growing.
Cold is Your Enemy
That's really the moral of the story here. The reason we all grow inside in the winter is to be able to still grow quality plants without them being impacted by the cold weather. The biggest component you need to worry about the cold impacting is your water supply.
If you are using a reverse osmosis or de-chlorinating water system, make sure it is in a warm place. Often times these are left in open hallways or in garages that can reach low temperatures. When this happens the water freezes in not only the hose but in the filter, and it can break the entire filter. Always be on your toes and remember, just because you’re not outside doesn’t mean mother nature can't affect you inside.