This one’s simple: without a dehumidifier, you're opening the door to mold, fungus, and rot.
Luckily, you can easily prevent these problems by ensuring good airflow and choosing the right dehumidifier for your space.
When purchasing a dehumidifier, make sure it has an adjustable humidistat. Without this feature, you won’t be able to properly control the relative humidity (RH) in your garden, which can lead to unwanted issues like mold and rot.
Also, beware of cheap dehumidifiers, especially those you find on Amazon that extract only 5 to 50 ounces of moisture per day. These simply won’t be effective in an indoor garden because they can’t extract enough moisture from the air to maintain a healthy environment.
What you want is a dehumidifier with an adjustable humidistat that can remove at least 200 ounces of moisture per day. This will ensure you're maintaining the right humidity levels, preventing mold, and promoting healthy plant growth.
During the vegetative stage, set your dehumidifier's humidistat to around 55% RH. In the flowering stage, you should lower this to around 45% or even 40% RH to reduce the risk of mold while encouraging strong, healthy buds.
A common myth is that 70% or 90% RH is ideal for the vegetative stage—but that’s only true for plants that have just sprouted or are in very early root development stages. For plants that are well-established in the vegetative stage, 55% RH is optimal.
I hope this article helps someone prevent mold, fungus, and rot in their indoor garden.
Peace, and happy growing!
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