A successful cannabis crop does not just come from good soil and seed. Knowing and controlling the environment to maintain a perfectly balanced ecosystem is what turns your crop from good to excellent. Here are some things that will help.
Smart Fog Humidifiers For Cannabis
Smart Fog Humidifiers maintain a precise humidity level for each growing stage, while retaining a clean environment with no wet spots. What makes Smart Fog an ideal solution for cannabis growing? It is all about our humidifiers’ key features.
- Smart Fog Cannabis Humidifiers are completely non-wetting, no wet spots mean a consistently balanced environment which is vital to growing this plant successfully.
- Smart Fog can maintain non-fluctuating humidity 24/7. Maintaining precise humidity enhances the quality of the crop and eliminates the possibility of condensation, which can cause mold and other issues.
- Our technology uses clean fog, so you can expect no bacteria, no viruses, no cysts, or other pathogens.
- Smart Fog designed their humidifiers with fully automated controls and data logging capabilities. This is essential for maintaining different humidity levels throughout every stage of the growing process. With Smart Fog, you can change and verify the humidity 24/7 with easy-to-use time-frame programs, so your crop can reach new heights!
How Our Product Helps
Our humidification and evaporative cooling solutions offer the following benefits to your plants:
- Improve plant quality & uniformity
- Increased germination
- Reduces stress on plants by eliminating the excess humidity & regulating the temperature evenly
- Speed up plant growth
Easy installation and low maintenance make Smart Fog Humidifiers the only choice for “dry fog.” The Smart Fog System’s large 1.5 mm orifice will not clog like pinhole foggers, so easy annual maintenance is sufficient. The Smart Fog Humidity Sensor gives accurate and reliable control, with full data reported and stored on a PC.
Smart Fog® utilizes the patented enforcement technologies to reverse the correlation effect. This causes a consistent water droplet size of 4.2 microns to be distributed and enforced into the air uniformly. All systems operate utilizing only low pressure compressed air (100 psi) and any available water pressure.
Using our fully automated ES100 System specially designed for SIMPLE INSTALLATION & LOW MAINTENANCE, you’ll be able to achieve the following:
- Precisely Maintain Humidity
- Save on Topping Costs!
- Eliminate Mold, Bacteria & Dust
- Conserve Energy & Water
- No Wetting Ensured
Controls and Monitoring
You will need to monitor your plants carefully. Checking them every day. The timing of the light/dark cycle is very important when growing cannabis. Generally, looking for 16-20 hours per 24-hour period while in vegetative growth, and 12 hours of light per 24 when you want them to bloom. It is essential to keep the same cycle every day to reduce stressing your plants.
It is also a good idea to keep a pH meter or test kit on hand so you can check the pH level of your water, nutrient solution, or soil. Cannabis prefers a pH between 6 and 7 in soil, and between 5.5 and 6.5 in hydroponic media. Letting the pH get out of this range can lead to nutrient lockout. Plants are unable to absorb the nutrients they need, so test your water and soil regularly to be sure the nutrient mix you are feeding your plants falls within the desired range.
You will want to automate the monitoring process. While there are sophisticated and expensive units available that control lights, temperature, humidity, and CO2 levels, Smart Fog Cannabis Humidifiers come with fully automated controls and data logging to ensure that your environment is always perfectly balanced.
Mediums and Container for Cannabis
There are different mediums to choose from, whether it is pots of soil or a slab in a hydroponic tray. Here are the two most popular for high scale manufacturing.
Soil is the most traditional medium for growing cannabis indoors and the most forgiving. High-quality potting soil will work, just make sure it does not contain artificial extended release fertilizer (Miracle Gro), which is unsuitable for growing good cannabis.
An excellent choice is organic pre-fertilized soil (super-soil) that can grow cannabis plants from start to finish without added nutrients. Typically purchased pre-made from suppliers but you can make your own.
Hydroponic requires feeding with concentrated solutions of mineral salt nutrients absorbed directly by the roots through the process of osmosis. This technique requires a precise disbursement as plants are quicker to react to over or underfeeding and are more susceptible to nutrient burn and lockout.
Choosing a container will depend on the medium, system, and size of your plants. A flood-and-drain, tray-style hydroponic system will use small net pots filled with clay pebbles or just a big slab to grow many little plants. While a “super-soil” grow may use 10-gallon nursery pots to grow a few large plants. Either way drainage is key, as cannabis plants are very sensitive to water-logged conditions.
Nutrients and Water Used for Growing Cannabis
Growing high-quality cannabis flowers requires more fertilizer and nutrients than most common crops. Here are the primary nutrients (known as macronutrients):
- Nitrogen (N)
- Phosphorus (P)
- Potassium (K)
Secondary nutrients or micronutrients needed but in much smaller quantities are:
- Calcium
- Magnesium
- Iron
- Copper
If you are not using a pre-fertilized organic soil mix, you will need to feed your plants at least once a week using an appropriate nutrient solution. Pay close attention to your nutrient levels however, cannabis has changing macronutrient requirements during its life-cycle, needing more nitrogen during vegetative growth, and more phosphorus and potassium during bud production.
Water
Water is something people will not think twice about in regards to their plants. Depending on your location, some water contains high amounts of dissolved minerals that can build up in the root zone and affect nutrient uptake, or it may contain fungus or other pathogens that are harmful and can lead to root disease. Additionally, some places may have high levels of chlorine in the water supply, which can be harmful to beneficial soil microbes. For these reasons, some choose to filter the water they use in their gardens.
The most important thing to remember during this phase is to not overwater. Cannabis plants are very susceptible to fungal root diseases when conditions are too wet, and overwatering is one of the most common mistakes.
How Does Smart Fog Help?
Remember the basic principle that warm air holds more water than cold air? Keep this in mind and know relative humidity and temperatures interact with one another when growing your cannabis.
Just like temperature, there are optimal humidity levels for you to maintain throughout your plants’ lives.
These levels are:
- Cloning: 70% to 80%
- Vegetative: 40% to 70%
- Flowering: No higher than 40%
Smart Fog takes the guessing out and does the work for you!
If your humidity levels are too low, your plants may end up drinking too much nutrient solution because they are not able to get any moisture through their leaves. This can cause nutrient burn, when plants consume too many nutrients in too short a time, causing wilted leaves with brown edges that look burned. This can lead to crunchy and dried out leaves, which reduces your yield. If humidity levels are too high, it sets your plants up for mold and mildew problems during the flowering stage. If you see or smell any mold on your flowers, they become unusable and thrown away immediately.
To increase humidity, you can increase the temperature in your grow room with lighting or less ventilation, or you can use a misting humidifier to add moisture to the air. Smart Fog Humidifier Solutions can help your cannabis thrive in an environment that is ideal for growing your plants.
Maintaining consistent humidity levels in greenhouses provides a comfortable environment in which plants can thrive. Enhancing ventilation, maintaining humidification, and ensuring proper cooling can aid in seedling development and healthy plant growth.
The most common issue regarding greenhouses is the combination of low humidity and high temperatures. When humidity drops below 30% RH, serious issues ensue, including stunted plant growth and slowed photosynthesis. Just like with low humidity, high humidity levels can also affect greenhouse plants. Oedama, edge burn, soft growth, and mineral deficiencies are among many of the issues that can occur due to high humidity. However, elevated levels of humidity most commonly encourage the development of disease outbreak, which can be very dangerous and harmful.
Cleanliness
Humidification and evaporative cooling solutions are perfect for maintaining and creating the perfect environment for marijuana plants without wetting. Smart Fog designed non-wetting humidifiers for cannabis to help plants reach their maximum potential. Make sure your space sanitized; cleanliness is important when growing indoors, you will want to use easy-to-clean surfaces. Avoiding materials like carpeting, drapes, and raw wood that are difficult to clean. Smart Fog also takes cleanliness seriously. Using antibiotic fittings and piping as well as generating pure fog.
Lighting
Light leaks during dark periods will confuse your plants. Cannabis require a ton of light. Sometimes up to 20 hours a day! Increasing the energy budget significantly. Smart Fog can help lower your energy costs with its patented technology, it reduces the utility costs by stabilizing the grow environment instead of usual spikes and dips throughout the life-cycle like other systems.
Exhaust fans disperses the heat generated by your lighting system. HID systems put out a ton of heat. Turn your lights on to test them before using, this will determine how much airflow you will need to maintain a comfortable temperature for your plants. If the odor of cannabis plants in bloom will cause you problems, add a charcoal filter to your exhaust fan. Alternately, you can create a sealed, artificial environment by using an air conditioner, dehumidifier, and supplemental CO2 system, but this is quite expensive and not recommended.
Circulation
It is a good idea to have a constant light breeze in your grow room as this strengthens your plants’ stems and creates a less hospitable environment for mold and flying pests. It is important to keep in mind the movement of the air and proper ventilation to prevent the buildup of plant pathogens, such as fungi and bacteria, which manifest in still air conditions.
Plants need fresh air to thrive, and carbon dioxide (CO2) is essential to the process of photosynthesis. The temperature will need to remain within a comfortable range normally 70 degrees F and 85 degrees F when lights are on and between 58 degrees F and 70 degrees F when they are off. Some varieties prefer the lower side of the range, while others are more tolerant of higher temperatures. A wall-mounted circulating fan works well for this purpose — just do not point it directly at your plants, because that can cause windburn.
Related Links:
https://smartfogman.wpengine.com/humidity-control-cannabis-growth-success/
https://smartfogman.wpengine.com/commercial-humidifier-medical-marijuana/
https://smartfogman.wpengine.com/faster-growing-better-quality-cannabis-production-using-smart-fog/