Humidity only 22%. first time grower

[smurfette]

Hi there,

I have 10 strawberry bubble girls just going into the 2nd week of 18/6... I'm concerned that humidity is so low. I have x2 600w lamps on yo-yo's at their maximum height positioning... temp is between 75-87 deg. I have tried putting a bowl of water in the tent to see if this will increase humidity but to no avail. I have a hurricane fan on the floor tilted upwards on the middle setting on a timer schedule of 15 mins off & 15 mins on. The girls seem to be growing well, although some of the smaller bottom leaves are a lightish green & are curling up & crisping brown around the edges... I've had to remove these. They are currently taking a total of between 5-7 litres of feed every other evening after lights out... & with a foliar spray this seems to increase humidity to a max of 36% for a few hours during night period but I just can't seem to get it above 20-22% during the day... my understanding is that it should be maintained between 40-60%. Am I doing something wrong? Can anyone advise? I'd be so grateful...

 

[KeepItSimple]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

yea in vegative growth u want to maintain between 50-70% humidity id sugest buying a humidifier there not that expensive

 

[smurfette]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

Hi KeepitSimple... Thanks a million for your advice. Yes I was looking at this one... what's your opinion?

Humidifier Ultra Mist Pro, 3000 +, [GT02-05-220] - £34.99 : Norfolk Lights Hydroponics Shop, UK Center

In the meantime I've put a glass dish in there with a larger surface area than a bowl, with warm water in it... & I've hung a wet tea-towel at the rear of the tent where the air from the fan will be on it from time to time hopefully putting moisture molecules into the atmosphere! I'll have a look in an hour or so when lights are off for the 6 hr night period & see if it's helped any. Going to give them a foliar spray every evening too, after lights off, cos that seems to help for a while...

 

[smurfette]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

I've also just found this for a home-made humidifier!

Homemade Humidifier For When Your House/Air Is Dry - Important: Read Side Notes Also - YouTube

 

[KeepItSimple]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

Hi KeepitSimple... Thanks a million for your advice. Yes I was looking at this one... what's your opinion?

Humidifier Ultra Mist Pro, 3000 +, [GT02-05-220] - £34.99 : Norfolk Lights Hydroponics Shop, UK Center

In the meantime I've put a glass dish in there with a larger surface area than a bowl, with warm water in it... & I've hung a wet tea-towel at the rear of the tent where the air from the fan will be on it from time to time hopefully putting moisture molecules into the atmosphere! I'll have a look in an hour or so when lights are off for the 6 hr night period & see if it's helped any. Going to give them a foliar spray every evening too, after lights off, cos that seems to help for a while...

yea just checked out that humidifier looks a bargain i couldnt find 1 anywhere in a hydroponic shop near me so i had to go with 1 from argos for 50 quid also i like the fact its from a hydroponic shop coz u no it will do the job as they usually only sell recomended products that work well also if i was u i wud take that towl down mate then tend to coz mold and with the fan blowin the mold that grows in the towl will b blowin all round ur grow plus u dnt no what cud b in the towel (no offence intende) id just mist them and leave the fan blowin on a big bowl of water the low humidity wnt kill them straight away it will stress them but u will be safe if u can get it up above 30% an get the humidifier in next fewdays also make sure ur hygrometer isnt sittin right under ur light becoz it will give u false reading about half way up the tent in the shade will give u a truer reading one last thing sorry for the essay but be carefull disturbing the dark period mist them right before lights out u dont wanna disturb the dark period it causes hermies and stress uve got to replicate outside conditions imagine wot u wud think if the sun popped upped tonyt for 5 mins youd be thinkin wot the hell it really messes the cycle up

 

[smurfette]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

KeepitSimple... thank you so much for coming back to me again. The tea towel is clean but I hear what you're saying about mould... got me to thinking about the detergent molecules that may be trapped inside some of the fibres of the tea towel & how that wouldn't be good having that released in moisture molecules all around the room! I shall remove it now... & put the dish closer to the fan.
I've just done a foliar spray for 15 mins (tops & undersides of all leaves) & it immediately it has pushed the humidity up to 49%... fabulous! And brought temp down from 86 to 82. During vegetative stage I have it on good authority that you shouldn't foliar spray during photoperiod because the water droplets act like tiny little magnifying glasses & the leaves burn. It's recommended to foliar/bud spray whilst lights are on during flowering because the amount of hydration they need at this time will cause bud mould if done when lights are off & temp drops.
I'm going to order humidifier now... & also ph soil tester as I think I may have potassium deficiency too... but need to sort humidity out first as it may just be this...
Thank you so much for taking the time to advise. Are you keeping an on-line 420 journal?

 

[shottafire]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

You should be ok as long as it does not go down below 20%. are you using tap or ro water? post some pics so myself and others can help better!

 

[smurfette]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

Hi shottafire... it's drops as low as 19% during the day... way too low... causing leaves to yellow, crisp up & curl up... recommended optimum humidity range is 40-60%... no more, no less. I've put a dish of tap water in there for now but it did cross my mind to use bottled water fro the humidifier when it arrives... I'm using tap water when I feed & foliar spray though & all seems fine. They are thriving... just the humidity is the problem.
Have just moved so not sure where my digi camera is... not happy to take pics with my android phone cos your service provider keeps a record of all texts & picture messages sent & these can be accessed at any time by government henchmen & henchwomen! Grow ops aren't legal in the UK yet As soon as I've located my digi cam...
Thinking I also need to change my proxy settings on my pc as well so that I can remain anonymous on the web...

 

[KeepItSimple]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

yea misting with the light on will burn ur leaves thats y its best to mist just before lights out they wont burn within 3-4 mins before lights out becoz i cant stress enough that u need complete darkness wen the lights off as disturbin that period cud really set u bk if not cost u ur hole crop also go into ur profile options and edit ur location i can see ur in london delete that and also try Hide My Ass! Free Proxy and Privacy Tools - Surf The Web Anonymously its free just click the big yellow button and u can surf the web anonymous but u wnt b able to sign into ur account and post but u can view every1elses posts

 

[Icemud]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

Get some wet towels and hang them in your grow room/tent.... should raise your RH by at least 10% and possibly more....will have to re-wet them 2-3x per day, but it helps for a cheap and easy fix....

A humidifier would be your best bet though...

 

[smurfette]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

I use a low level green light to work in my grow room after lights out... feeding, watering, foliar spraying, cleaning up the floor, inspecting the leaves with my scope etc... my understanding is that green is the only colour from the spectrum that does not interfere with the photoperiod... several friends have shared this with me & Jorge Cervantes confirms this in his marvellous book about growing.
Thank you for the info/advice re Proxy & Privavcy... I'm home from work with frozen right side of neck & right shoulder today so I'm going to do some work on that. I think there are some proxy settings within my own PC that I can adjust... will have a look at the link you sent me as well though. Thanks again. Being home now over the next 3 days also means that I can regularly mist the growroom to increase the humidity... until my humidifier arrives
Hmmmmm... there's been a development with some of the leaves this morning... they are going light green around the edges... I think it's a nute deficiency... gonna have a look at the fabulous page that 420 have put together detailing problems & pests with accompanying pictures... its really ace! I need to find my camera today so I can't start posting some pics for help. Is there a particular place I need to post pics or can I just post within a thread if I'm needing & asking for help & advice on something...?
Thanks for all your help KeepitSimple

 

[smurfette]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

Hi IceMud,

Thank you for you post. I'm not going to do the wet towels thing (I removed one yesterday I'd put in there after being advised to) because this increases the risk of mould etc. And if you think about it... you wash towels in detergent... there's bound to be some molecules of detergent still trapped within fibres of the towel, however small those molecules... but once you've wet the towel & you've got the fan blowing all these moisture molecules (possibly containing detergent) around the room... not good for the girls! I'm growing organically... no chemicals of any kind. I certainly don't want detergent molecules flying around in there!

 

[KeepItSimple]

Re: Humidity only 22%... first time grower...

I use a low level green light to work in my grow room after lights out... feeding, watering, foliar spraying, cleaning up the floor, inspecting the leaves with my scope etc... my understanding is that green is the only colour from the spectrum that does not interfere with the photoperiod... several friends have shared this with me & Jorge Cervantes confirms this in his marvellous book about growing.
Thank you for the info/advice re Proxy & Privavcy... I'm home from work with frozen right side of neck & right shoulder today so I'm going to do some work on that. I think there are some proxy settings within my own PC that I can adjust... will have a look at the link you sent me as well though. Thanks again. Being home now over the next 3 days also means that I can regularly mist the growroom to increase the humidity... until my humidifier arrives
Hmmmmm... there's been a development with some of the leaves this morning... they are going light green around the edges... I think it's a nute deficiency... gonna have a look at the fabulous page that 420 have put together detailing problems & pests with accompanying pictures... its really ace! I need to find my camera today so I can't start posting some pics for help. Is there a particular place I need to post pics or can I just post within a thread if I'm needing & asking for help & advice on something...?
Thanks for all your help KeepitSimple

yea ive read 2 of jorges cervantes books and have heard of the green light spectrum apparently its the only light that the plant doesnt recognise as light might have to invest in 1

 

[smurfette]

Re: Humidity only 22%. first time grower.

KeepitSimple... you'll be so pleased you did. I just picked up a £10 lamp with bendable arm & then got a green spotlamp bulb... it's perfect... & a really nice mellowing end of day experience when you get in from work, have a little smurf & get cocooned in the silver growroom with just green light all around you... like being in a spaceship! (at least that's what I imagine anyway!)