This is my first indoor grow. I have a 3' x 3' x 5.5' Agromax growhouse. I have 2 seedlings in 3 gallon pots with a 400w hps about 12" from the pot. Last night I watered them till there was a little bit of water in the runoff trays. This morning I checked the temp/humidity and it is at 76* F and 31% humidity. The soil is completely dry to the touch too. Should I water them again already?? Also what is a good way to raise the humidity level? Everything I've been reading says to keep it above 40ish. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! ~JRTOKIN
"gently break up the top of the soil to check for dampness before watering" jorge c. to raise humidity spray water in the tent or place a bucket of water in there to evaporate
no way a seedling is going to dry out a fully watered 3 gallon pot over night. I'm guessing the soil is not dry but there is definitely something wrong there. I would of started off with much smaller pots so its easier to have the soil to dry out more evenly. with big pots like that your not going to be watering it very often at all. the easiest way to check if the soil is dry is by feeling the weight, while you get used to that dig in the soil a bit but be careful you don't damage the roots. your lamp sounds very close to your seedlings, what is the temperature at the canopy? its best to keep it under 30'c or it can cause problems
Temps are at 27 C right now. If the soil is still wet near the bottom of the pot, will the seedling still get that water?
I'm just a novice and will always be, but I had this problem also at one point and I backed my 400W hps off to 18" and put my exhaust fan on a timer and staggered the on/off times. It worked fine and my plants were fine after that. There's just no way a seedling can drink all that liquid in one night, so it has to be too much heat from the lamp and over-exhausting the tent. Check your leaves now and then for dryness. Also, when you water do it slowly... put in a cup and let the soil absorb it, then another cup, etc. Do that until there's an 1/2inch or so in the run off tray. Hope that helps. Good Luck.
the seedling will send a tap root very deep in the pot, reaching the bottom of even the deepest of posts in a very short time. however you don't want the top parts of the roots dieing back from it being too dry, you don't want the bottom of the pot constantly wet either or root rot will set in. this is why the correct size pot makes a big difference. when your plant is big, healthy and has a fast metabolism you won't have to worry about things like this. your temperature sounds great, I'm not sure why your soil is drying out so fast. what's your humidity like? are you able to push your finger in the soil and see how deep you can get before you feel dampness. I'm just having trouble getting my head around it drying out so fast. did you definitely give it a good soaking to start with?