Grow Tent - Temperature & Humidity Control

[stevek216]

I have a 4x4 grow tent set up and this is my current strategy:

Grow light: High powered LED (Spider Farmer SF2000) - probably overkill but I have some high light orchids that seem to love it, and I like the idea of the lower shelves still getting very solid light. I may add another at some point since I'm currently only really growing in half the tent.

Humidity: I have a humidifier running on the same timer as my light. Humidity varies between 75% and 95% when everything is on. I was initially worried about this but I have strong air movement and I've had this setup going for close to half a year now with no sign of any fungal infections.

Air movement: I have two decent sized fans running 24/7. They're not inline duct fans, they just recirculate the air in the tent. I do crack one of the vents at the bottom and the vent at the top for some turnover, but like Ray said I don't think it takes much to turn over the air in there sufficiently.

Temps: It's winter in Michigan here so probably slightly warmer than Quebec but not by a ton. My house stays around 70F during the day and down to 60F or a bit lower at night. When the grow light is on the temps in the tent tend to hover 5-10F above ambient. We have hot, humid summers so I'll be watching to see how the plants do if the tend gets consistently up into the 90s, but I figure I can always just vent it a bit more if need be.

So far pretty much everything I've put in their is thriving, with the exception of some stuff that I think I blasted with a little too much light. That stuff is still doing fine it's just on the red side. The roots seem to looooove the high humidity, I have green root tips everywhere. I've taken to potting most things in those mesh hydroponic pots so they get a lot of air movement around the roots. With the very high humidity I don't end up having to water all that often even with the mesh pots.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions about the tent. I was a bit reticent to set it up but now it's definitely my happy place, and the orchids' happy place as well!