Plants create their own humidity, the main problem is usually getting rid of it so fungus doesn't move in. You will certainly want to cover the trays with plastic to keep the humidity near 100% until the seeds germinate. Then you just water sufficiently and provide more or less enclosure as needed to keep the humidity up or down. Unless you're trying to grow ferns in the high desert you shouldn't need anything more.

Thanks SINCERELY Shrubs_n_bulbs but I'm not in the UK and nor am I without some small experience at growing plants under lights. I'm just asking if anyone has ever used a home humidifier to pump warm humidity into a small and enclosed grow light evironment?

Plants are wonderful to me because miracles can happen there, instead of just the labor from my hands when God takes over. I cannot make a seed grow... but I can make it possible so that God can. I only want to increase my chances at success and ponder the use of home humidifiers in a grow light environment.

As an aside I also want to know WHY Barbra Streisand is so celebrated when other real singers are douuble blossomed compared to her? Add to that my questions regarding WHY anyone might get a tatoo or piercing instead of the joy to grow things early under lights.

I am now content to make my gardens grow, but I'll confess that when I was a young and pretty boy, I was tempted make fertile girls bloom. Instead I married for now 34 years and ask only about humifiers.

I never took drugs but it now may seem I did. I just need to know if anyone ever tried using a home humidier.

jim

I am not sure where to begin, but lets just say Barbara Streisand doing Broadway show tunes is unbelievable.
Hence, the blossoms.

I don't think a home humidifier is a good option for a small enclosed space. too much moisture and not enough air movement. I think if you use a spray bottle and mist your plants every day lightly, that would be a good thing. Too much moisture can cause fungus problems. Good luck.

opplam.. I agree that Barbra Streisand is truly incredible. Surely NOBODY ever drew so much attention and reverence as her with a talent that I'd call pedestrian at best. She's no James Taylor or even a poet or songwriter. I do like her nose, and the fact she kept it, but she loses me when she also thinks she should be a polital left wing force asking us to overlook the fact she never even graduated from high school.

I may still try to use a home humidier, and your advice is VERY appreciated. I'll just allow that humidifier to only run now and then for a few minutes, and not so long that fungus takes over.

I may be dead wrong on everything , but Barbra is for SURE a great uneducated singer that nobody really needs.

j

My plants never did better than when I ran a home humidifier and a fan for them (especially when the outdoor temps were below 32F. We are supposed to have a humidifier for our piano anyway. When the outside air is very cold the humidity indoors gets to Sahara Desert conditions.) The proof is in the pudding.

As for Barbra. She may not be such a nice person -- if you listen to Joan Rivers, whom I would tend to believe -- she may not have academic degrees -- in common with many other bright and ambitious people -- but her leftist opinions are not at all unusual in the NYC area. Brooklyn, where she comes from and where I live, has a population equaling that of the Republic of Ireland -- and there are 18 million in the metropolitan area. Not only that, but the opinions that are commonplace here are shared by the majority of educated people the world over, including the before-mentioned Republic of Ireland. It is the so-called heartland values that are out of step -- though the last election showed that that too may be changing.

How do we get from a humidifier to Streisand to Ireland, via Brooklyn?

To answer your question, yes you can do it. If you don't want to invest in a humidifier consider a cheap vaporizer for the area. I use one in my orchid growing area until I turn the hydroponics units on and swim in humidity. You can get a vaporizer at Xmart for $10. I too recommend a fan for the plant area.

Brooke - proudly living in the heartland

If you're enclosing your shelf unit in plastic, I think you will find the humidity is quite high enough, like a terrarium, without needing to add any.

I have a 9x11 foot grow room with unenclosed shelves and assorted grow lights. Once I added the HID light, it got very warm and dry, so I bought a room humidifier and the plants did much better. Also kept the spider mites down.

FYI - just saw in this mornings paper that Barbara Streisand has a new live CD set coming out in a month or two. The review says its very good.

LOL highjack! I have no idea how this topic went to Ireland and Brooklyn over a bad off-topic joke I made about Barbra. My apologies.

I do appreciate everyone's help however, and yes... I was also thinking of a "vaporizer" for such a small enclosed space. As suggested, I'll also provide a small fan that will run on a timer. I've ordered some 2 mil Mylar to enclose it, so in a few days I should have this experiment pretty much wrapped up and ready for eventual success or failure. I used to do this sort of thing but it was in a southern California climate, and it's been many years since then. So for me... it's now almost like a new hobby I have to re-learn.

I love this Garden Web arena, where I can benefit from other people's experience... so thanks again!

jim

I use an evaporative humidifier for my plant room. I grow African Violets and orchids primarily, with a few other miscellaneous items. To keep down fungus issues, I run a fan 24x7.

If you go this route, I have two suggestions. Get a unit with a humidistat. That way, you can keep the humidity from getting too high. Constant humidity above 50-60% can cause mold issues in your walls and carpet. Also, get a unit with a large water tank, so you don't have to fill it twice a day. Mine actually has two, so that each one isn't too heavy, and a full tank lasts 3-4 days in a fairly large room. The 'natural' humidity in my apartment is about 20% in the winter, which is apparently lower than average for the Sahara...

Good growing!

since were on the subject of humidity and humidifiers, i have a question.....

Hi i have a 6'x3' mini greenhouse. I have 2 4 tube FL fixtures for a total of 160 watts per tier with about 2500 lumens per tier. I have a Candvish banana or however you spell that lol,a key lime tree, Vanilla, and soon to be Black Pepper and Miracle Berry tree. I live in WA and its cold in the winter so my GH stays at about 68-70 during the day and about 63 at night with about 65-80% humidity. My plants like higher temps than that though. so what would be the best thing to use to warm it up a little but yet keep my humidity up. I know i can use a humdiifer but im thinking that would be to much for a small GH as mine. any ideas?

A good way to increase the temperature in an enclosed area is to use insulation. If natural light is not important then stick a blanket over it, add some bubble wrap (designed for insulation, not the packing stuff), or put expanded polystyrene sheets around the greenhouse. Draught-proof it if there are large gaps. Details will depend where the greenhouse is, whether you need it to remain transparent, how much ventilation you need, etc.

Or you could just add more lights :) After all, if you want some heat, you might as well get the bonus of extra light with it.

ok thanks shurbs but i also dont want a decline in humidity. well i have a humidity cover over my greenhouse too! im going to also get a mini fan to keep air circulation up because actually my humidity at night is about 80-90% and during the day its about 70-75%. I have been using 2 big containers filled with warm water so it would help warm it up while also maintaining the humidity. it seems to work pretty good. but in the summer im going to need a humidiifer or someothing because its gonna get pretty hot and the humidity will be much lower. so the fan will also come in handy alot then too.

actually i just used my new thermo/hygro that i bought and it says that my mini GH is about 75 degrees and 45% humidity during the day and about 60 degrees and 75% humidity. but 45% to low for my tropical plants that i have in there, they like at least 60%. so shouldn't i be increasing it a little?

I have a big roll of mylar here for increasing light refelectivity but I haven't yet been able to glue it to a substraight and enclose my mini GH. I sort of put it off since I was waiting on yesterday for a vascular surgeon to stent my bum leg.

Even without using all the tricks, bell and whistles I have seed plants growing to what seems another true miracle. As suggested... I bought a cheap vaporizer but haven't run it yet. Most of the planting dates are two or three weeks away anyway.

Just think about it my friends. I tried to make my sons see the THRILL of growing plants from tiny seeds and FEEL the miracle, but as all boys do... they are currently too caught up with the miracle of girls. THIS is good. I wouldn't want a daughter in law named Bruce.

Even their Mother thinks I am weird to still have this long time hobby, but by Spring she will have tons of flowers to plant and she'll maybe admit again that "Damnit you were right" for a change.

So I nurse my early plants and they make me more GENTLE about living life. It's part science and part passion, but few people have it. Only gardener's can make a garden grow. Us gardeners have to stick our butts up in the air bent over for the neighbors to watch and ruin a maincure if you are a woman or just weird guy.

As of yesterday some surgeon gave me a new leg with a blood supply, so look soon for my butt in the air.

jim