For a bit of background, I am a beginner indoor grower (but learning quickly), growing in a country where the weather is often very cold and dry at this time of year. My kit includes 4x4 tent with extractor and carbon filter, 600W MH with dimmable ballast, humidifier and 2KW heater. My first grow failed completely at the seedling stage because of a number of climate related mistakes, so I started again. This time I am determined to get to veg stage, but I need some advice about climate control for my seedlings which are 6 days from seed.
Climate inside the tent is controlled by separate fan controller, temp controller and rh controller. I have noticed that if I leave the fan on low to keep cycling clean air inside the tent then a. It makes the air too cold, and b. It makes the air too dry. If I put the extractor fan on the temp controller so that it only comes on when it is too warm then I get terrible condensation inside the tent, but my temps are where I need them to be. So what I’ve done for now is I’ve turned off the humidifier, meaning my temps are in the ideal range, but I’m at 40% RH - way lower than the recommended range even for mature plants.
One possible solution might be to move the heater to outside the tent, which would solve the condensation issue, but would end up using a lot of energy to heat the entire room, so I would rather not do that, but at least then I would be able to keep the fan and humidifier on at the same time and raise the humidity. I suppose I could try and insulate the tent, but I’m not sure what’s a good way to go about doing that.
What’s everyone else’s experience of dealing with climate for seedlings? Is RH or temp more important or are they equally important? Should I insulate my tent, and if so then how, or bite the bullet and heat the whole room?
Climate inside the tent is controlled by separate fan controller, temp controller and rh controller. I have noticed that if I leave the fan on low to keep cycling clean air inside the tent then a. It makes the air too cold, and b. It makes the air too dry. If I put the extractor fan on the temp controller so that it only comes on when it is too warm then I get terrible condensation inside the tent, but my temps are where I need them to be. So what I’ve done for now is I’ve turned off the humidifier, meaning my temps are in the ideal range, but I’m at 40% RH - way lower than the recommended range even for mature plants.
One possible solution might be to move the heater to outside the tent, which would solve the condensation issue, but would end up using a lot of energy to heat the entire room, so I would rather not do that, but at least then I would be able to keep the fan and humidifier on at the same time and raise the humidity. I suppose I could try and insulate the tent, but I’m not sure what’s a good way to go about doing that.
What’s everyone else’s experience of dealing with climate for seedlings? Is RH or temp more important or are they equally important? Should I insulate my tent, and if so then how, or bite the bullet and heat the whole room?
