Episode 16: Demystifying Humidity

Tips on Humidity:

• Humidity is a term to describe the moisture that's in the air. The humidity changes as a function of pressure, as a function of temperature, and over time.
• Absolute humidity is a measure of how much moisture is in a parcel of air. Volumetric humidity is how much water vapor there is in the air per unit volume.
• Humidity management is so critical because it does change. It does fluctuate in response to other environmental factors.
• Vapor pressure deficit (VPD) is the driving force of water loss from a plant. Vapor pressure deficit becomes an absolute critical factor in a plant's health and in the plants ability to grow to its maximum genetic potential.
• Vapor pressure deficit combines the relative humidity in the air temperature to describe the difference between the actual amount of moisture in the air and the maximum that can hold it a given temp. Both too high a vapor pressure deficit and too low vapor pressure deficit are sub optimal.
• Early on when the plants are young, you want a higher amount of moisture, because it's beneficial for the plants as you go through the flowering cycle of the plant. A lower amount of moisture is beneficial to allow them to start bringing in more nutrition and to transpire more water to speed up their metabolism.
• Data: You can measure rates of transportation in real time by a transportation meter. It sits on the stem of the plant and it monitors the internal temperature of the sap. It puts a very small amount of heat into the plant and then it watches the temperature change, it to figure out how quickly moisture is moving through the plant. Therefore, calculate a rate of transportation geared towards your general cultivation environment.
• Humidity and temperature cannot be managed separate from each other. That's why horticulturalists prefer the metric of vapor pressure deficit. It is an intersection of temperature and humidity -- just knowing relative humidity without a number for temperature is not a complete picture.

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