increase humidity

solid shadow

Well-Known Member
I'm having a bit of an issue with the humidity in my grow box. It's too low. Like, usually between 23% - 38%. Rarely does it go above 40%. I've tried putting an open container of water under my lights, but as I'm doing a CFL grow, there's really not a whole lot of heat and the water evaporates slowly. I have a humidifier but I'm afraid of getting the growbox too humid with it. I'm sure it's far easier to deal with low humidity rather than high humidity. Any suggestions?
 

Brokenhope420

Well-Known Member
Put paper towels dipped in water to keep the water moving. Put that under the cfl. make sure theres some real absorbing action going on.

my humiditys even lower... its just making the leafs feel very dry, but they arent crumbly or anything, just crystaly.
 

solid shadow

Well-Known Member
Well, I tried the paper towel trick... the humitidy rose 2% but the paper towel wicked nearly all the water out of the container within about three hours. The water dripped from the paper towel and pretty much all over the place... I'm currently sopping it all up with more paper towels. Will try something slightly different tomorrow.
 

Brokenhope420

Well-Known Member
Haha, that sucks. I filled a cup with half water, and then folded paper towels over... the white thick kind, so they are a wick, but fully in the glass, no part above the brim. It worked well... in a isolated place with a fan going.
 

FilthyFletch

Mr I Can Do That For Half
You should be ok with the humidity. Its high humidity thats the real enemy but you could add a heating pad under a bowl of water to get the water to evaporat or mist the plants once or twice in the day.Dont over do that though evil mol;d can move in
 

solid shadow

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I'm just going to have to resort to misting the plants a few times a day. Trouble is, I work ten hours a day and I'm typically away from home at least twelve hours a day... I can mist them in the morning and evening, and occasionally when I'm able to run home for lunch mid-day, which isn't very often. I've seen those battery operated misters and I thought about using something like that but typically they have canisters of some sort of chemical in them and I'm not comfy with misting my plants with that stuff.

I suppose with a 3 gallon bucket filled about halfway with water, some PVC tubing, a few mist emitters, a small water pump and a digital timer I could rig up a system which would mist for maybe a minute or so every, say, three or four hours... what do you think? Too much?
 

Tokecrazy

Well-Known Member
Down here I have seen in the summer the icecream stands around here that has outside service.They have fans with mister just in front them spraying.You can do that with your air circulation fan.Like you said rig one up and keep us posted on how it works in controling humidity. Peace
 

kho20

Well-Known Member
i use a old pickle jar and a piece of old warmy belt stuck thru the lid in a slit i made filled half way with water it works some what
 

jcrom001

Member
I got a humidifier at walmart for $25 and connected it to a timer so it cycles on 15 minutes off 45 minutes. You can adjust it to less time or more depending on the humidity conditions at that time of year.
 

MRsteverson

Well-Known Member
humidifiers are good... i suggest an ultrasonic fogger, u can get from ebay for 39.99 free shipping... the just fill up a bucket with water drop the thing in and turn it on... and check ur humidity guage.... find right amount u need and set it to timer... and plants love humidity, if the air if full of water then the plant is less likely to lose water via leaves..... i use them for my grow systems. foggponics deep wwater culture... but they make 100% humidity immeadiately so maybe have it go off so often to keep the moisture upp!......u using cfl cause of price or is it a head problem? if its the head then i suggest led light... the ufo from ebays like 190 bucks i got one and had great results start to finish... best of luck.. hope i helped
 

caliman39

Member
Down here I have seen in the summer the icecream stands around here that has outside service.They have fans with mister just in front them spraying.You can do that with your air circulation fan.Like you said rig one up and keep us posted on how it works in controling humidity. Peace
I have tried this and it soaks the floor of your room. Im in a garage so no biggie. Its just that the misters are fine outside but in a room hard to not soak your room.
 
I started out with a warm air humidifier that i got at walmart, but the problem was that with my well water, it would crust up and get really hard to clean on the heating element. at the time it was winter, and I was having a hard time keeping the temp above 65, but now its summer, i just started using a cool air humidifier and it works great. i also keep my area enclosed with clear poly vinyl sheeting with a zipper and i have no problem keeping the humidity at a very constant 60-70% whereas before, i couldnt keep it over 30%
 

iscrog4food

Active Member
LOL! You can call macguyver for assistance and rig up a system so that when you pull a string it starts a bowling ball down a track witch will in turn shatter a cage containing a live chicken. Then the chicken, being exitedly free from captivity, will fly about flapping its wings which will cause...............or just try out the damn humidifier. If it is too much humidity invest in one with a humidistat. I pick them up at yardsales for a buck or 2 each and give them a good cleaning and replace the filter and you have one for $5. also placing a box type fan blowing up off of the bucket will help. Also home depot sells humidistats for like $20, you could wire anything to it. Good luck.
 

iscrog4food

Active Member
Also wanted to say that anything under 40% relative humidity will inhibit plant growth because the stomata cannot open to their full potential.
 

samljer

Well-Known Member
In winter my electric baseboard heaters reduce humidity to 25-30% and ive actaully grown well in that
I have to water pretty much every day but they grow fine.
Id imagine as long as your under 80%, and above 0 lol you can easily fix or accomodate.
Ive done nothing to raise humidity either, plants are fine

And for record its a 4x4x6.5 under 400w HID x1
 

samljer

Well-Known Member
Also wanted to say that anything under 40% relative humidity will inhibit plant growth because the stomata cannot open to their full potential.
My experiance says otherwise, i can get 2" per day at 25% relative. which is what people report getting at 60%
You should probably not repeat what goes around, see for yourself, youll be wrong less often.
 
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