Let’s do a dive into air circulation within the indoor nursery. We did a bit of deeper research on this topic this winter and would like to discuss some of the things we know and have learned.
Air circulation provides for a vital function in the nursery. Among several functions, it’s essential for plant growth. It’s also one of your primary defenses against a thing called damping off. This is a soil borne fungal disease that takes hold in stagnant and usually cooler environments.
One of the things we’ve observed, since we both do and do not practice air circulation in our different indoor nurseries, are slight differences in plant growth. We see larger, bushier plants when there’s less air circulation. Smaller, denser plants when there is greater air circulation.
One can certainly theorize on this. Air circulation impacts transpiration, soil moisture evaporation and influences where the plant places its energy. A plant focused on staying upright in wind needs strength, whereas unobthered plants can focus on leaf growth and height.
There are both academic and non-academic studies (kind of like we do) on this topic, too. In the academic world, air circulation is explored for plant development in outer space and indoor farm facilities. Both feature isolated, fully controlled enviornments. Finding the ideal point of air circulation for plant growth is crucial.
We don’t need or want “cubic inch per minute” level of precision here. But, we have found that playing with levers can often make significant differences. What the research indicated, for me, is that “optimal” is likely found between “air circulation all the time” and “little air circulation.”
One of the tests we’re conducitng this year is turning our air circulation fans on and off during our lighting hours. This creates periods of stillness and also periods of turbulent flow. If my theory is correct, this will likely result in “more optimal” indoor growing conditons, better balancing both plant strength and plant growth.
Ultimately, we want both growth and strength. We want growth for maturity reasons, but strength because our plants must survive well in the outdoors. Although our results will be entirely subjective, we’re curious to see how this change to our setup will play out this season!
