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soil Wind Therapy and Soil Help

moruga

moruga

I have my three shelves all lit enough to you guys' satisfaction (thanks) and now I am adding some "wind therapy": pointing a fan at the plants on high so they wiggle. How long should I have the fan on them? I am thinking an hour a day might be good- what do you think?

ALSO- I am planning on having topsoil delivered to my house for the planters. Naturally I will lay down the planters and till the Earth in the box, then black plastic the walkways. Question is- what should I add to topsoil? AACT? What else??
 
i turn my fan on around 9am then off around 5pm, nothing scientific about timing, other than outside it is still in the negatives and by 5pm, it gets cold in the basement whilst i am typing valuable info on the hot pepper forum or surfing nudies on the internet.
 
You should have a fan on them all the time during the day (ie whenever they're under light). Plants don't have lungs, so rely on the wind to provide fresh co2, whereas we can breath in and out supplying our lungs with fresh oxygen. Without air movement, a leaf will use all the available co2 around it in roughly 2 mins, shutting down photosynthesis until it has fresh air. So without a fan, those lights aren't going to help as it won't have co2 to combine with water and light to form sugar.

That being said, always use an oscilating fan so that the plants don't get wind burn. Under a constants breeze, especially with dry indoor air, the leaves generally won't be able to keep up with transpiration of water from the stomata, forcing them to close to prevent drying out. Without transpiration the leaf can't cool itself and will start to overheat, eventually burning the tips (goes yellow, the brown and crisp). It's not the end of the world but the goal is to increase the growth rate, not induce stress which consumes more sugar and reduces energy available to flowers/fruiting.
 
Monkey Hunter said:
You should have a fan on them all the time during the day (ie whenever they're under light). Plants don't have lungs, so rely on the wind to provide fresh co2, whereas we can breath in and out supplying our lungs with fresh oxygen. Without air movement, a leaf will use all the available co2 around it in roughly 2 mins, shutting down photosynthesis until it has fresh air. So without a fan, those lights aren't going to help as it won't have co2 to combine with water and light to form sugar.

That being said, always use an oscilating fan so that the plants don't get wind burn. Under a constants breeze, especially with dry indoor air, the leaves generally won't be able to keep up with transpiration of water from the stomata, forcing them to close to prevent drying out. Without transpiration the leaf can't cool itself and will start to overheat, eventually burning the tips (goes yellow, the brown and crisp). It's not the end of the world but the goal is to increase the growth rate, not induce stress which consumes more sugar and reduces energy available to flowers/fruiting.
Click to expand...

Best explanation monkeyhunter! Thanks!
 
unless you are growing plants in an airtight container there is always C02 available....the main reason I use a fan is to strengthen the trunks and to keep mold down if I overwater.
 
Here is my regimen. Put the fan on low pointed at the shelves twice a day for about an hour for circulation. Then one hour of intense closeup fan that makes the plants shake- to promote a strong stem. Good?
 
The problem is I have three shelves of plants. As it is now, the fan is a good 5 feet away from the three shelves in a spot that reaches all three shelves. When it's exercize time, I move the fan really close and put it on high.

I will keep the fan on them more.
 
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