Urgent humidity issues

Hey guys, I'm having some urgent problems with environment control. I've already spent a bunch of money, trying to cut corners where I can....

I've got a pair of plants, a Lumatek 600w ballast, Hydrhut 3x3 and a 6" ducted hood (which has a 250CFM fan ducting from bulb side to hut exit). The hut itself is exhausted with a 500CFM fan, which runs 24/7 (because I can't find a wall plug thermostat anywhere around here).

I'm hitting 85 degrees in the tent, even with lower screen vents open and the 500cfm fan going. The worse part is that humidity is basically 0%. I've tried a couple different methods - Vick's humidifier I had laying around, and the paper towel in a bowl of water trick, and neither of them are producing any kind of results. if I turn the 500CFM fan off, temps will skyrocket, and I'll gain very little humidity.

Amd I just shit out of luck here and need to spend another $1000 on parts or what the hell am I doing wrong? I've been beating my head on this for a couple of days now and if I can't get the environment right with two soil plants, then I'm gonna give up on the hydro idea (which I've already built all the parts for)

Should I just be spraying the plants down with water every hour on the hour? The new grow on the tops is curling (overnight) and I know the heat and lack of any moisture in the air is going to kill them. I've tried searching the forums for hours searching for "increasing humidity" and I am not really finding stuff that I haven't already tried.

Frustrated - please help.

You gotta vent the 600 outside the room, not just the tent. Also... go hydro. The plants will evaporate more water that way. Turn the lights off as much as you can... that means 16 hour veg days and 10 hour flower days if you have to. Get a cool mist humidifier.... $30 at the drugstore and make sure to use high quality (low EC) water.

Ahh, that would make way, way too much sense...

Going to store now to get ducting...... Thanks for the immediate response!


Also - the room is ~72 cubic feet, and I was brilliant and put a 500CFM exhaust fan in (which runs all the time). Do you think this is simply just evacuating the humidity too quickly?

don't know how much space you have, but this might work. bread pans (NOT bedpans) on shelves, 2/3 - 3/4 full of water. cheapo foil type will do, some other size might fit better, but if they are too shallow u will have to add water more often. how to get water from the pans into the air? easy and cheap. an air pump and air stones, connected by tubing. u could even add a timer, but it sounds like they need to run 24/7. IMPORTANT POINT: Make sure no water can hit your lights! clear plexiglass or plastic doesn't block ur view and protects ur bulbs.
for the best results they should be between ur air intake and the girls.
til u figure something out, mist'em like hell often. good luck and keep us informed.
p.s. the more stones in the pans, the more humidity, but the water will dry up faster. experiment.

Hey, I just want to say to both you guys - thanks for responding as quickly as you did. I shut the system off for ~6-7 hours, humidity rose right back up. I think what I'm going to end up doing is replacing the 8" 500cfm exhaust fan with a 4" 80CFM fan because the 500 was just far too overkill, and it wasn't really having any effect on exhausting the heat from the Hydrohut.

I'm also going to re-duct things to find a way to duct in cold air to the hut, and duct the hot air out of the room that the hydrohut is in (it has 2 windows that get a good breeze - but apparently not enough during bright daylight to keep ambient temps lower than 75).

Again, thanks for the quick responses. You definitely helped me out - new growth and the leaves are looking better - not 100% as they should be, but the new growth looks great. I'm going to stick with the 18/6 schedule. My motivation to move hydro once I can get clones off these two girls is once again renewed and I'm anxious to put the hardware I've built into action!

Thanks again!!

get a cool mist humidifier it will lower your temp down and bring up vital humidity. i had the same problem with my grow room. installed the cool mist and boonnnggg my temps went down 15 deg. check any filters some times they get clogged with dust and prevent air movement ( had it happen) the cool mist should also allow u to put the fan on a timer
that will allow for the co2 to build around your plants better. vent 5 min per hour
good luck