Growing in an insulated Garage (Help)

Edit*un-insulated*

Good Morning Colorado!!

So, for those of you that don't know me, I'm currently about to begin week 6 of my inaugural (first) grow.

I'm using a Secret Jardin Dark Room (tent) which is housed in my garage.
As you know, we had our first cold night last night.

When temps get real low I've been tweaking my exhaust to recirculate the warm air back into my tent enabling me to adjust temps up or down with about a range of 20-30° depending on where I place the ducting.
I.e.= currently my outdoor temp (garage) is 54° with recirculation my indoor temp (in tent) is solid 71°

From the looks of things, my girls did great last night.

My question is with temps being only in the 50' s today...

What is lowest temp threshold during the night cycle?

Should I add a space heater if my temps get below 60 ish?
Where to place space heater?
It is small yet effective for small spaces, i.e.= 5x5 tent.

Inside tent? Or outside tent blowing air into a side vent?

I do apologize in advance for all the questions, and I'm off to research the topic a bit myself..

But since the best growers are in Colorado...I'd thought I'd ask the seasoned vets here.
Thanks for reading!!

Usually "they" say a 15 F drop in temps at night is ideal. More than that you may get your soil too cold. That's a bad thing as you want the soil not to go under 68-70 F. I grow in my garage too but in a framed up corner of it near the furnace and hot water heater. It says above the 65 F minimum at night with a little help from a small electric heater. I'm in the high desert of NV.

You can also run your light at night instead of the day. Since your temps are warmer when the suns out, have the light off so the sun will keep it warm. then at night when the temps drop have the light come on so they stay a nice temp.

I do this in winter since i take my AC out and just run the super cooled outdoor air straight through my cooltube and into the tent.

But i also have 2 tents so i always make sure one tent is on so that it will keep the rest of the room warm.

I love growing during the winter. Elec goes down since gas is being used more, and all the free cooling a grower could ever ask for. Not to mention the nice drop in humidity. I get some of my best work done in winter.

Hey!!! Thanks for the quick replies gents, very helpful info, much respect and appreciation!!

I've got it figured out for now..

I have a stout little space heater and placed it about 12 in. away from a lower side mesh vent, aimed the warm air to blow directly in...

When I turned my lights off@8:30 , the temp went from a solid 71° all the way down to 58° in about 1 hour.

So, I acted immediately and added the space heater...

The garage is still in the mid 50s, but now my tent temp is solid 65°..

There is also a barrier underneath the pots, so they have the tent bottom, floor matt, and a thick sun visor underneath, used for reflection and the purpose of keeping the pots from contacting the cold concrete.

I'm going to monitor the temps all day, as I'm home with the flu..
Space heater has a pretty accurate thermostat, and I SHOULD be able to fine time of need be..

Also.. I do run my lights at night, as this seems ideal for Colorado temps.

Thanks again guys..awesome help as always..+ rep

Place a heater in the garage outside of the tent, the ambient temps will be drawn into the "secret jardin" ( is that Latin for garden?) through the vents, and negative pressure, assuming you have an exhaust fan expelling the tent room air! Also as previously mention, you could run the lights during the night (as I do) and have the warmer part of the day during dark cycle! In CO that is the ideal times! It won't keep your garage "right" but it's going to reduce energy costs IMO!

Temps between 60-70 will allow any powdery mildew to go crazy.
My backyard is a PM factory right now.
zuch, squash, lilacs are all covered with pm right now.
PM won't grow unless it is introduced somehow.

Low temps will slow growth, temps in the 50s will stunt growth.

You might want to insulate your garage doors etc. if you are going to run a space heater.

Pretty easy fix imo, just cut your exhaust drastically and let the bulb do all the work, keep circulation at your canopy to keep all that hot air moving. Will do wonders for internal temps.
If you need to borrow a shitty fan controller to turn it down I can let you use for a while until you get things sorted. I'm local.

Naice, seems I may have somewhat of an instinct for this” growing gig”...lol

Instinctively have done all the above advice, and currently sealing up all cracks and crevices and larger gaps in the garage..

@Sah .. Shortening the ducting is brilliant!!, as it is excessively long...and I think Harbor Freight has some cheap controllers, so I'll pick one of those up..thanks bro!!

Currently...my night cycle (8:30am-8:30pm) stays around 65-70° with RH consistently around 30-40%

Day cycle is solid 71°-75° RH is about the same... Humidity never exceeds 50 ish (since the HOT days anyhow)

PM has not been an issue, had a small little scare in that regard, but never really existed...lol

Kind of” lolly-popped” everything that was not receiving heavy light penetration and have plenty of circulation..

Thanks for all the replies!!..

In the winter months I always run my lights at night to help with heat issues. Last winter I ran a lil space heater inside the tent during the day to keep the temps right. A very small space heater.

Don't buy a fan speed controller unless it is made for that or you could burn out your fan motor.
I love Harbor Freight, but you get what you pay for.
Two out of the 3 timers I bought from them do not work. I would have been better off buying one $12 timer.
A fan speed controller is about $20 at a hydro store.

High Tech has them, if you are up north.

I don't think that will help at night time though! Gonna need a heater to stabilize the ambient temps! In Colorado in insulated garage is gonna hit 50's and below perhaps! Have it on a c.a.p temp-dne, it's where you plug the heater into the temp-dne and once it hits below a certain temp it will kick on and heat the space!

Lol... I know we are all stoners...so we tend to forget things..

Did I mention I got the temps figures out by placing a small space heater outside the tent?
I could look back?...haha

But seriously, this is why the Colorado section is so great...people helping each other with solid advice without any combative nonsense..

Again...the best of the best are right here...

Thanks to All that chimed in..
@Trousers..

My man...you are damn right!!.

Harbor Freight is awesome for cheap vacuum pumps that come 20% off!!

And you always get what you pay for..
I bought a level there once...it still works...

The vac?...nope...lol
Edit: ? For Trousers..
The temps of 60-70° creating an environment for pm?

Does this apply to night cycles also?.. With proper circulation of course?

60-70 is what pm needs to germinate
if the plant already has it or if you bring some in those temps will bring it out

if you do not introduce pm, it won't grow

I went years with no problems then had a cold snap and bam

it might have been in the clone, got that one from a dispensary