Grow tent has become popular lately among plant lovers for its sheer benefit to grow plants in a more controlled way. The grow room has a filter that will purify the air with activated carbon and let the plants thrive in the purest air. Since it is a well-sealed room, the humidity level inside the grow tent can be too high, hurting the plant’s health.
Thus, you should know how to lower humidity in grow tents to help the plants grow big and strive in perfect condition. While installing a dehumidifier in the grow tent to control the moisture level can be expensive. Instead, you should avoid overwatering the indoor plants, improve the grow tent ventilation, and eliminate the stagnant waters. Also, you should maintain the right density of the plants inside the grow tent and use the porous soil to lower the humidity.
What Is The Right Humidity For Plants?
Before we jump into finding the ways to reduce the humidity in growing tents for plants, we need to know how much humidity is ideal for the plants. The humidity level is linked with the room temperature and age of the plants.
That’s why plants will strive in the different humidity levels in different stages of their growth. You must know it to control the moisture level perfectly in the grow tent. If you lower the humidity too much, the indoor air will become drier, and plants will have difficulty soaking moisture and water. It will hurt their health and growth badly.
Growing Stage of the Plants | Preferred Temperature | Preferred Humidity Level |
Seeding | 68°F-77°F | 60% to 70% |
Vegetative | 71°F-82°F | 40% to 70% |
Flowering | 68°-79°F | 40% to 50% |
Late Flowering | 64°F-75°F | 30% to 50% |
Although many suggest that you lower the humidity level by 5% each week until the plant reaches its proper growth stage, ensure that you never set it below 30%. If the grow tent humidity level is lower than 30%, the environment will be too dry. So, plants will fail to get proper moisture, and the leaves will die, eventually turning yellow.
Reasons for High Humidity in The Grow Tent
Although during the summertime, the relative humidity of the grow tent will remain on the higher side, sometimes the grow tent may become too humid for other reasons. You need to learn these possible causes of higher humidity since it will help you control the grow room’s moisture better.
Enhanced Transpiration
As plants grow bigger, they leave more moisture in the air through their bigger leaves. It is a basic rule of botany that plants with bigger leaves will have increased transpiration. It will level up the humidity level in the grow tent quite significantly. Thus, as a thumb of rule, the bigger the plants grow, the lower the humidity level should be inside the tent.
Increased Density of The Plants
When you increase the number of plants in a grow tent suddenly, it also boosts the transpiration of the plants. Consequently, you will see a rapid increase in the moisture level of the grow tent. Technically, you shouldn’t plant more than 1 to 4 plants in 1 square meter space of the grow tent.
Overwatering Issue
Many times increased humidity is caused due to overwatering of your indoor plants. When you overwater the plants, it forces the leaves to leave more vapors in the environment that in turn causes humidity. Also, overwatering will make the grow tent soil soggy, contributing to the increased humidity inside the grow tent.
Open Water Surfaces
Sometimes, people will install a large water reservoir or leave the floor of the growing tent wet. These sources will work as the open water surfaces. When the grow plant indoors has such open water sources, it boosts the humidity level of the space. So, be careful not to leave the floor wet and install too many containers inside the tent.
How to Lower Humidity In Grow Tent?
Grow room with controlled temperature, humidity, and light offers the plants a perfect environment to grow and thrive. Also, it protects the plants from bugs and supports easy maintenance. However, with the grow tent, you need to control its humidity level, keeping in pace with the growth stage of the plants.
The following tips will help you lower the humidity level of the grow tent without spending too much on it.
Use a Dehumidifier
Dealing with the excess humidity level inside the grow tent is no easy task. On one side, it needs time to bring down the moisture level to an optimal state for the plants. On the other side, you can’t just do magic and find the humidity level right where you want.
If you want to lower the humidity level rapidly, you must install a dehumidifier. Although a dehumidifier can be an expensive investment for the grow tent, it best controls the excess moisture. Also, you may consider installing a portable and compact dehumidifier for this purpose.
When choosing the dehumidifier for grow tent, you should determine the size of the grow tent and the exact humidity level it needs. Then, you can get the dehumidifying device accordingly. You should also set the thermostat following the humidity required for the plants in different stages. Plus, ensure the dehumidifier works properly.
Moreover, you should opt for a dehumidifier with an energy-efficient rating. It will save the electricity bills that you will surely love. Plus, ensure a quiet dehumidifier since it will help your plant enjoy a quieter environment.
We recommend choosing a cordless rechargeable dehumidifier because it is portable and needs the least electricity. Also, you can place it anywhere inside the grow tent to control the humidity level.
Use an Air-Conditioner
When the temperature inside the grow tent is low, the humidity level will also decrease. Thus, many people prefer using an air-conditioner to lower the humidity level inside the grow tent. However, it is even more expensive than a dehumidifier.
Also, the amount of decrease in humidity level with the air conditioner is pretty negligible. So, we don’t encourage you to install a dehumidifier for the grow tent. It’s practically not a great idea unless you don’t have any issues with the budget.
Even if you choose the air-conditioner anyway, make sure you have the right size and capacity. Or else it can condensate moisture instead of reducing it inside the grow tent.
Don’t Overwater the Plants
The key reason for over-humidity in the grow tent is often overwatering the plants. Putting too much water on the plants and the soil inside the grow tent creates two problems.
- Firstly, overwatering makes the grow tent soil soggy and wet. So, it becomes damp, and the plant will soak more moisture.
- Secondly, plants will create more vapor through their transpiration process due to the sogginess of the soil. Damp soil is abundant with water, so plants collect more water through their roots. Eventually, it will force the plants to leave more moisture in the air through their leaves.
Ideally, you should apply half a gallon of water for each plant pot gallon. For instance, if the pot size for the plant is 5 gallons, you should use 2.5 gallons of water for it. This way, you can minimize the humidity level by avoiding the overwatering problem in the grow tent.
Moreover, when you overwater your plants continuously, their roots might be rotten, which is the last thing you want. Thus, you need to be careful about it. So, be aware of and stop overwatering the plants for the sake of their health and lowering the humidity level.
Improve the Air Circulation
If you don’t like using the dehumidifier or air conditioner to control humidity, your best option is improved ventilation. When the grow tent receives fresh air and has proper air circulation, you will surely get less humidity inside the grow room.
You can opt for the following tips to gradually increase the ventilation in the grow tent and gradually reduce the humidity level.
- You need to allow more air to come inside the grow tent. As fresh air from the outside comes inside, it will lower the humidity level. For this, you need to create intake holes inside the grow tent. Many grow tents might already have intake holes. If it has an intake hole previously, you can create another one.
- You can also install an exhaust fan for the grow tent. It will allow you to improve the vent system and air circulation. You should remember that the performance of the exhaust fan depends on its CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) capacity. It refers to how much air can the exhaust fan circulate. So, you should go for fans with a higher CFM rating.
- You may even consider an atmospheric controller. These devices often come with humidity settings. Since it operates automatically, the atmospheric controller will detect the humidity level in the grow tent and set the exhaust fan speed accordingly. It will ease out your humidity control problem for the plants.
At times you may even choose an inlet fan to remove the humid air from the tent interior. Thus, you have many options to improve ventilation and reduce the moisture with the fresh air inside the grow tent.
Decrease the Grow Tent Temperature
The temperature in the surrounding has a direct correlation with the humidity level. When the temperature rises above the normal condition, the relative humidity level will also see a sharp rise, detrimental to your plants.
Thus, you need to find ways to keep the temperature inside the grow tent in normal condition. You may choose an air-conditioner for this purpose. It is particularly important during the summertime to control the grow tent temperature.
Also, it could be a great solution if you live in tropical regions where the room temperature tends to remain on a higher side. Increasing the fresh air ventilation may also help you decrease the heat inside the grows tent to control moisture development.
Use Your Grow Equipment Cleverly
Inside a grow tent, you will be using multiple grow tools for the plants. It includes lights, gardening hoses, etc. Particularly, the light has a direct role in the overall humidity level of the grow tent. If you put too much light, it will increase the interior temperature and boost moisture development. So, you need to balance between the lighting needs of the plants and the humidity level.
You may also choose to grow tent lights with low heat emissions. It will lower the humidity level and also, your electricity bills superbly. Thus, it brings 2-in-1 benefits for you.
Use Absorbent Soil
When you grow plants indoors, you need to cleverly use the different soil types. In this regard, the use of porous soil can be a game-changer. The absorbent soil will soak more water and keep it underneath to keep the environment inside the grow tent less humid.
You can use sandy soil with the main soil in your grow tent. Sandy soil will absorb water better and offer you less humidity. Also, perlite can be a great solution if you have its budget. It will minimize the evaporation rate and consume the water for more time. So, plants can receive better water through their roots. It also improves the health of the plants.
Defoliate the Plants
The more leaves the plant has, the more moisture it will release into the air through its enhanced transpiration. Thus, one of the best budget-friendly and convenient ways to minimize humidity is to defoliate the plants.
When you cut the unnecessary branches of the plants and shed their leaves, their transpiration rate will slow down. Naturally, the grow tent will become less humid.
Final Words
The increased humidity level inside the grow tent can hurt the plant’s health. So, you should know how to lower humidity in grow tent. You can choose the dehumidifier or air-conditioner to immediately deal with the high humidity.
If you have time and are ready to wait to lower the humidity level slowly, you can use absorbent soil, increase the ventilation, and stop overwatering the plants. Thus, you will love the improved health of the plants without higher humidity.