Humidity

ive recently harvested my first of 4 plants and its been curing now for a few days its quite nice, a bit fluffy due to lack of a circulating fan and lumens for amount of plants but ive now addressed these issues and am overall very satisfied with my first grow so far, the problem that has plauged me through the entire grow is low humidity, it doesnt even register on the hygrometer, ive tried damp towels/ shallow bowls/trays of wet pebbles, and bought a humidifier about a month ago it takes forever to get the humidity up then if you dont refill and restart immediately the humidity just gets sucked straight back out, its only a slim growspace (D x 1', W x6', H x6') so i cant put it in there with all the electrics, how crucial is high humidity, and how would it of affected my plants so far and is the only solution to keep up this regime of damp towels etc?
250w hps & 2' T8 Twin Fluorescent, 4" rhino filter/inline fan, in soil, 1 x Northern lights 1 x humboldt 2 x lowryder#2's

a misting system maybe.........

the more sealed your room is the better it will be at holding in humidity.

do you have constant intake or exhaust?

there is a 4" in line fan with rhino filter attached directly to it then a 2' run of 4" ducting which exits directly through external wall no bends or restrictions and runs 24/7, i havent made any intake holes yet but have been tempted to recently though i thought it was drawing in enough air through gaps, also i wasnt sure how this would affect temps, may have to just drill a couple of holes and see what happens was worried about light leaks though.

what are your temps like when your not running your exhaust?

im not sure ive never turned it off since it was fitted for fear of smell, its always been a bit of a nightmare trying to measure the temp being such a small space if i put the gauge at very top of plants its like 80, but in the same place with a cardboard shade its 75 and on top of plant pot its 70,im just going on info found on the internet/forums but theres so much conflicting info its hard to know if im gettin it right or not.

scroglodyte said:

a misting system maybe.........

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just done a quick search on misting systems, was thinking i could prob knock up a diy version easily enough, still a bit worried about the water/electrics in such a tight space though what do you think?

Rough sketch of grow space layout

if you bring in cooler air then the humidity should go up! so try putting a passive intake in. or you could try running your extracting fan less when lights go off, so put it on a timer to come on for say 20 mins every hour, your humidity is always higher when the lights go off.

right reding can be gotten at plant height not directly in the light. often in small rooms you have to wing it and tell by whether your plants are burning or not lol

ROBSTERB said:

if you bring in cooler air then the humidity should go up! so try putting a passive intake in. or you could try running your extracting fan less when lights go off, so put it on a timer to come on for say 20 mins every hour, your humidity is always higher when the lights go off.

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the grow space is in a wooden outbuilding which is on 'skids' [wooden battens] so i could drill a few 1" holes in the floor below electrical sockets/opposite end of fan to bring in fresh air and i shouldn't get a problem with light escaping/entering, should i put some sort of filter or mesh over holes to stop insects etc.

alphawolf.hack said:

right reding can be gotten at plant height not directly in the light. often in small rooms you have to wing it and tell by whether your plants are burning or not lol

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so if ive got my thermometer at plant tops with a little shade over it that is the temp i should be working on? as you can see the northern lights is a bit crispy as the result of experimentation lol, also ive let the humboldt get a bit thirsty, i feel sorry for these plants at times for what i've put them through there like guinea pigs.

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teddy westside said:

the grow space is in a wooden outbuilding which is on 'skids' [wooden battens] so i could drill a few 1" holes in the floor below electrical sockets/opposite end of fan to bring in fresh air and i shouldn't get a problem with light escaping/entering, should i put some sort of filter or mesh over holes to stop insects etc.

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you will def want some sort of filter to stop all the bugs coming in, hepa filter will do the job, are you using a cool-shade? i see your in the UK and with a cool-shade you shouldn't need ac,

ROBSTERB said:

i see your in the UK and with a cool-shade you shouldn't need ac,

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quite the opposite ive got that tubular heater on a timer to come on when the lights go out otherwise temps plummet

ROBSTERB said:

are you using a cool-shade?,

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just googled that, i didnt even know they existed, will def be purchasing one of those in a few months, thanks

yes air cooled lights help. they make a little stick with a white cardboard circle attached to it that has a clip to attach to surfaces to provide shade for thermometers. yes you definitely have a heat prob. you need to exhaust that room somehow or cool the light

the burns were from the old grow space let the nl grow too close to bulb, recently relocated them to a larger space due to height issues pictures shown are new space and lights can still be raised by approx 2' , and its snowing at the moment so trying to keep them warm now, its like a constant juggling act with temp, humidity etc.

check out my setup on this thread pretty simple set up inside a tent. i finally got my humidity perfect last nite. okay heats from last spot cuz it looked like your light was high enough if its winter you will be good just keep the air moving in the canopy air directly on the leaves is good they will stiffin up and resist the wind eventually then get a duct of some sort to vent out of area

id love to have a tent it looks so spacious my poor plants are all cramped up in there but stealth is key for the time being, gonna drill a couple of intake holes in the bottom when i get some hepa filter as suggested, also ive only recently installed a fan to circulate the air and that seems to be makin a big difference. Really appreciate all the advice and experience from everyone as it saves me quite a lot of costly mistakes and frustration.