Humidity too high?

[AdamD]

Since I put a new filter in the humidifier, it has been pumping out about a half gallon to a galon a day into an 8' x 8' room. This translates out to about 90% humidity all the live long day. I haven't had to water plants in awhile and new roots are all the rage down there. The only problem is what looks like bacterial mold settling onto the leaves of a few plants, my Lady Isabel and den. spectabile being the main casualties. I'm treating the LI with physan spray twice a day!:

So what should I do? The humidifier is the main source of air circulation as well, I cleaned my grow room with a mild bleach solution yesterday, this didn't get rid of the problem. I put an extra fan blowing directly on the affected plants, still had mold today. The humidifier is set to run constantly, the next lowest setting is 60%, which I feel is low for recent deflasklings... Plus everything else seems to love the bump in humidity. So, should I knock it down to 60% durring the day and full blast at night? Knowing circulation will be cut down as well? Or just keep battling the mold twice a day? I feel it will inevitably spread, eventually down near roots...

P. S. I do use bacteriostat in the humidifier

 

[wjs2nd]

Don't use Physan twice a day. It can be hard on your plants.

Put your humidifier on a timer. Have it on for an hour, off for an hour. Also, make sure that on fan is moving enough air. You may need to spray everything down with a water, hydrogen peroxide mix. That should kill offer mold.

 

[The Orchid Boy]

Have another fan going in there, that's what commercial growers do. Super high humidity and fans like crazy.

P.S. What humidifier do you have? I want it!

 

[ALToronto]

Sulphur spray works well and doesn't harm the plants. HD carries it under the Green Earth label.

 

[ehanes7612]

buy a humidistat

 

[AdamD]

I have two other fans (besides humidifier fan) going full blast. Any more air movement and it would be an EF1 tornado! Just kidding, I will put another fan on. I'm running out of outlets,with two lights, two fans, and a humidifier already. I think the problem may lie in the placement of the fans. They're all below the plants. Did I mention the undersides of the leaves are immaculate? I will put an elevated oscillating fan in. I agree that physan takes it's toll on the poor plants. I hate doing it but it was all I had at the moment.

@ orchidboy- the humidifier is here
http://m.lowes.com/product?langId=-...d=1125803&store=595&view=detail&nValue=SEARCH

I will try h2o2 solution as well. What kind of ratio?

 

[dodidoki]

Since I put a new filter in the humidifier, it has been pumping out about a half gallon to a galon a day into an 8' x 8' room. This translates out to about 90% humidity all the live long day. I haven't had to water plants in awhile and new roots are all the rage down there. The only problem is what looks like bacterial mold settling onto the leaves of a few plants, my Lady Isabel and den. spectabile being the main casualties. I'm treating the LI with physan spray twice a day!:

So what should I do? The humidifier is the main source of air circulation as well, I cleaned my grow room with a mild bleach solution yesterday, this didn't get rid of the problem. I put an extra fan blowing directly on the affected plants, still had mold today. The humidifier is set to run constantly, the next lowest setting is 60%, which I feel is low for recent deflasklings... Plus everything else seems to love the bump in humidity. So, should I knock it down to 60% durring the day and full blast at night? Knowing circulation will be cut down as well? Or just keep battling the mold twice a day? I feel it will inevitably spread, eventually down near roots...

P. S. I do use bacteriostat in the humidifier

Adam, please take few pics because your problem is not obvioulsly caused by germs, it could be simply overhydration, what looks similar to bacterial infection!!!!

 

[Secundino]

There is one thing I don't understand - you don't need to humidify during the night, right? With lowering temps the humidity rises automatically and eventually condenses. I think the timer is the easiest solution.
The mould on top of the leaves doesn't look nice, I know, but it doesn't need to be an infection at all - unless you like to call epiphyllic algae an infection.

 

[NYEric]

I agree, can you post a photo?

 

[Justin]

Definitely overkill on the humidity. I would also worry about damaging the house with mold at that rate...Suggest running a small fan and putting the humidifier on a timer.

In my house the humidity gets around 20% or lower in the cold weather. I have a whole-house humidifer right in front of the plants that I only run twice a day...for a couple hours in the AM before i go to work and for a few hours when i get home before the lights turn off. During these two periods I get the growing area up to 40%+ RH. All my plants are doing just fine.

Also just a note temp is 72 F in the day and around 67F at night. All my plants have continued growing through the winter.

 

[NYEric]

I still want to see 90% humidity in a house!! :evil:

 

[ehanes7612]

with a humidistat you can select the humidity you want (like a thermostat for temp), and keep the humidity constant..timers (and I have used them) are nowhere near as effective. And I bought into the high humidity myth too...for a couple years I ran humidity at 70-80 during day and it would naturally go to 90 at night..i had a host of problems like algae, slugs and rot even with three strong fans running..now it's running at 50-60 during the day and 70 -80 at night..algae gone, slugs gone and no rot. and I am also down to one fan. The greenhouse is quieter and less electrical cords..simpler is better

 

[Rick]

I have my humidistat set at 70%. A lot of my barbata types (especially the south pacific species) would pitch fits at lower humidity than that. The multis and parvis are tougher.

Even in the GH when north winds coming down in TN, the GH would drop to <40%.

Now the system is built up with wet walls and a fogger so generally the fogger rarely runs at night, and humidity will generally go above 70% (frequently 90+%).

During the day, the fogger will run even on dryer winter days, and quite a bit in the summer heat.

I doubt I could ever dry my collection out enough to spontaneously get rid of slugs. Every rock and board I flip outside of the GH in the yard is maxed out with snails and slugs, where its already a lot dryer.

I don't have mold problems, but algae can grow on the walls. As I cut back on fertilizer, I see much less of extraneous growths anyway.

 

[AdamD]

The problem has been amended by deep cleaning of my area with weak bleach solution, got rid of the algae on the tile. Also moved some fans around so plants get direct air flow instead of indirect. Also set the humidistat to 60 during the day, still gets to 85 or 90 at night. I do think the problem might have been overhydration. It looked like powdery mildew on the leaves, which sounds about right for overhydration. Like I said, new roots abound. It hasn't come back. Yet.