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| My seedlings are still only a few days old. I have them under lights, and I just added a fan. Is it good to start using the fan this early or should I wait until they are a little bigger, have true leaves, etc.? Also, I find it difficult even with an auscultating fan, to hit them all, esp. with the lights in the way. Do you use the fan all the time, or maybe just at night with the lights off? It would be tiny bit of a pain, but they are on chains, so when I need to I raise them with clips a little to make access easier. I could raise them at night and just use the fans then. Is there a method that yields better results with stronger stems? |
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| It doesn't have to be much of a breeze. I have mine on a timer and they run 30 minutes every 3 or 4 hours during the daytime. Even if they get the backwash from the fan, that is helpful. I rotate my trays around every day or two so different ones are closer to the fans at various times. Seems to be effective. Betsy |
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| Mine run 24 hours a day. They are 16" diameter oscillating fans set just above plant height and 4-6' away from the plant tables. They run on low except on really hot days. The goal is to stir the air, to keep the air moving in among and around the plants. If you can see the leaflets stirring lightly they are close enough. Dave |
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| Mine runs 24 hours, just like Dave does. I do turn it off when I'm working around the plants, though. I don't aim it directly at the plants. The room is small, so I bounce the airflow off the wall. Everything stirs just a little. Yes, the fan is on them right from the beginning; the seedlings don't need to be bigger. |
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| Thanks, everyone. I will try to remember to rotate them. 24-7 it is. Now I just have to remember to turn the lights off at night. Last night is the 2nd night in a row I forgot to turn them off. |
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| Sue, Leaving the lights on at night a few times won't hurt. But what you might want to do is get an inexpensive timer and use it. That way you can set it the times you want the lights to turn on and off. If you are using more than one bank of lights, I suggest a timer with ground plugs, and a "power strip" also with ground plugs. That way you can plug the timer into your wall outlet then plug your lights into the power strip. I have three shelves with lights over them and all six of my shop light assemblies are plugged into a power strip that is plugged into a timer. The fans I use are 6" clip on fans and they are plugged into a timer on one of my power strips (I actually have two power strips with overload protection, daisy chained). The main timer is set to run for 16 hours a day. The one for the fans has the little tabs you move to turn 30 minute increments on or off. I have it set for 3 1/2 hours off and 30 minutes on. Because my fans are 6", I do have to rotate my trays. I do it when I water. I'd like to put an oscilating fan on the plants, but there isn't room for one in the narrow spot I have for my plant stand.
It looks like a mess, but it works for me. I hope that helps. Betsy |
This post was edited by bets on Sun, Apr 7, 13 at 13:11
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| LOL, thanks Bets, I actually have a couple of those timers somewhere, I just have to fish them out. By the way, I have a ceiling fan in there but it is useless because the lights protect the seedlings from the fan. I have them in a power strip already, so I only need the timer. |
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