Data Logging Grow Rooms

BY STEPHEN BROOKES

Where do all the best stories start? Most of them, at the very beginning, but here’s a glimpse of the end before we begin.

Picture this: You’re far away from your grow room. You might be away at a conference, on a beach relaxing or skiing on the freshly fallen snow. Your phone rings and alerts you that the grow room has gone beyond the parameters you set before leaving. You’re not worried, though, because the system you have has pre-empted the rising temperatures or the dipping humidity levels, and automatically began making adjustments before you even heard your phone buzz. Knowing that your room is in safe, automated hands, you can relax and continue with your day.

Now, snap out of that lovely daydream, because you’ve forgotten to reset the max-min button on your thermometer!

You’ve just seen into the future. It’s something we will all be doing in our grow rooms over the next five to ten years, depending on how quickly technology advances. From anywhere in the world (with phone signal), the data logging software will alert you to fluctuating temperatures, or let you know when the lights have involuntarily gone off, or when the watering system has fed the plants. But before growers take the technological leap of faith, they must cross the thermometer/hygrometer to Wi-Fi chasm.

All growers should own a thermometer/hygrometer. If you own one already, you should have two, and if you have two, you should own three; you get the gist of the importance I place on knowing, with reasonable accuracy, the temperatures and humidity levels around your plants in the grow room. The essential gadgets should all have the max\min feature on them as well, so you will know how exactly the grow room’s environment has been.

Having several around the room will allow you to gauge the overall average and will also enable you to spot-check any thermometers that have gone awry indicating a low temperature of 2°C and a high temperature of 37°C, leading to a massive argument about the placement of air intakes… but that’s another story. Having a thermometer is essential, but having multiple thermostats can save your friendships!

To ‘cross the chasm,’ we need technology that allows us to place our trust in software and the ‘ether.’ Affordable data loggers work via Bluetooth and are easy to understand. Fortunately, that technology exists and is already sold in shops today as the AirComfort. When your phone is in range, it will use Bluetooth and send its data to your app, logging the temperatures and humidities over the previous days, weeks, and months in graph format.

When you finally use this device, you’ll wonder how you ever coped with only a thermometer/hygrometer. Knowing that the temperature spike lasted for ten minutes before it dropped again is very reassuring, as opposed to the max/min feature which can have growers running around frantically trying to figure out why the room was running at 32°C all night.

This data logging method also means growers who like to test products can compare previous grows to current temperatures and humidities. Every grow shop owner has experienced their customers trying a new product over the summer and thinking it was rubbish when actually, the air in the room was at 30°C for the full flowering cycle. It’s good to know your data; it’s even better to use it and improve your knowledge for future grows.

Bluetooth technology and data-loggers are just a mental and financial stepping stone towards securely encrypted Wi-Fi. The next stage of grow room data logging is devices that send temperatures, humidities, and in some cases, VPD’s (Vapour pressure deficits) in real time. The main benefit is that any spike or decline in parameters can immediately be resolved. This is where Wi-Fi has the edge on Bluetooth, which will only display any problems when the app is in range of the sensor. It could all be too little, too late by then.

The biggest hurdle to cross is grower confidence in putting data ‘out there’. Faith comes with familiarity, and as these products become increasingly popular, people will naturally be more comfortable using them in their grow rooms. Once that happens, the companies that produce Wi-Fi data logging technology will have the money to invest in the software for complete grow room automation at a price that doesn’t make you weak in the knees and light-headed. And this is when you find yourself at a conference, on the beach, or skiing while technology regulates any issues in the grow room.

The environment is critical, and you will never achieve the best results without understanding, manipulating, and learning from it. Listen to what your environment is trying to tell you, and make sure the plants are given the best opportunity possible. Relax; data loggers are coming! 3

BIO

Stephen Brookes is a science fanatic, hydroponics obsessed bookworm. His experience comes from running two grow shops, an additives company, and NPK Media. Along with obtaining a bachelor degree of Science in Outdoor Education and Geography and an MSc in Nutrition and Scientific Investigation, he is now working on a PhD, researching the effects of different ratios in cannabinoids on the human body. Motto: The more you learn, the less you know!