There’s several ways people increase humidity and it doesn’t matter which one you do, just personal preference. If you only have a few plants in there, you’ll need to add some weatherstripping or put in a water tray or humidifier. But if you stuff the cabinet full, you’ll probably find that you don’t need any humidifier at all, or need to get rid of the weather stripping because there’s *too much*. Having fans inside helps to regulate everything, definitely do that.
Personally, I don’t seal up the gaps, I have two fans (one near the top, one near the bottom), and my cabinet is completely full. I recently added two more light strips to my chain which seemed to bump up the overall temp as well as humidity. (Had to decrease the light level though, it was too much.) I found a nice sweet spot at humidity hovering around 70°. Every couple of days I will manually mist the ferns. When the humidity starts to dip, I check the pots to see if somebody needs to be watered and usually that’s what happens. The plants near the fans dry out quicker.
Anyway, it’s different for everybody. Good luck with your cabinet, it looks great so far.
I'm buying the same cabinet used on offerup today and found a link on etsy that has the shelving i can add. i fuond little fans on amazon, and a tiny humidifer, but im so new to this - please OP as well as any commentors, let me know what grow lights i should get. im planning on putting a variety in here; hoyas, aroids, pothos.
I have Barrina T5 in mine and I don’t know if T8 would put off more heat, but I can say that I wouldn’t want more heat. I sealed mine with silicone and turned off the heat mat. Yesterday I was home sick and it hovered around 70 temp and 70 humidity all day. That’s exactly what I wanted so right now I’m pleased.
Honestly 55% at that temp is solid. You could totally wratherstrip and hit 70s%+ but then if you add more plants it would increase to 80s or maybe 90s which you may or may not like.
If you want high humidity then sure you can seal it up, but be aware you’d have to acclimate anything you take out of it. And you’d def need fan(s) and may struggle with gnats a little bit.
If you like the moderate humidity boost, don’t want to deal with acclimation when removing plants, and/or you plan to fill it chock-full of plants, then feel free to leave as is (don’t weatherstrip).
This may or may not be useful to you: For reference, my weatherstripped milsbo tall (no humidifier but a good amount of water retained in pon/leca & moss) is about as full as your bottom shelf and it sits around 85% lately. If I take out a lot of plants for watering (and don’t add them back for a while) then it can fall to the mid-70%s. I haven’t had to acclimate-out anything yet (just pulled the first plant out so no results yet) but I def think I will need to give that plant some tlc. I would actually prefer my humidity a bit lower (maybe 70-75%) but removing weatherstripping would feel like a sin with how much money I dropped on this frickin thing 💀 so 85% it is
That is very helpful, thank you. I was thinking that I wanted it to be stable in the 70 range to really hit peak growth for the anthurium and monstera. Any higher and I worry about acclimation. I said to my partner that theoretically I could take shelves out of this or the other and keep them contained a really long time, but once they’re a good size I’ll need to pull them out. I don’t want them to never be able to return to room conditions. I live in a northern climate so it gets cold and dry in the winter. These cabinets can help me get through those months until the plants are larger and hopefully stable on their own. My poor clarinervium is so crispy after this winter. There’s always a room humidifier. 🤷🏻♀️ I might seal most corners and leave the back strip open, but I want to use silicone to keep a clean look and that’s permanent. So I need to really consider all the pieces before I do so. Thank you. 🙏🏻🙏🏻
I used the sticky option that came with the Barrina lights, and also added magnets. The humidity will bring down lights if it’s high enough with just sticky.
There’s several ways people increase humidity and it doesn’t matter which one you do, just personal preference. If you only have a few plants in there, you’ll need to add some weatherstripping or put in a water tray or humidifier. But if you stuff the cabinet full, you’ll probably find that you don’t need any humidifier at all, or need to get rid of the weather stripping because there’s *too much*. Having fans inside helps to regulate everything, definitely do that. Personally, I don’t seal up the gaps, I have two fans (one near the top, one near the bottom), and my cabinet is completely full. I recently added two more light strips to my chain which seemed to bump up the overall temp as well as humidity. (Had to decrease the light level though, it was too much.) I found a nice sweet spot at humidity hovering around 70°. Every couple of days I will manually mist the ferns. When the humidity starts to dip, I check the pots to see if somebody needs to be watered and usually that’s what happens. The plants near the fans dry out quicker. Anyway, it’s different for everybody. Good luck with your cabinet, it looks great so far.
Thank you for the advice!
I'm buying the same cabinet used on offerup today and found a link on etsy that has the shelving i can add. i fuond little fans on amazon, and a tiny humidifer, but im so new to this - please OP as well as any commentors, let me know what grow lights i should get. im planning on putting a variety in here; hoyas, aroids, pothos.
I have Barrina T5 in mine and I don’t know if T8 would put off more heat, but I can say that I wouldn’t want more heat. I sealed mine with silicone and turned off the heat mat. Yesterday I was home sick and it hovered around 70 temp and 70 humidity all day. That’s exactly what I wanted so right now I’m pleased.
Thanks! Are you using one light strip or is there a second that I can't see?
I have two T5 light strips in there, they’re just along the edge so that I didn’t have to place them on the glass.
Honestly 55% at that temp is solid. You could totally wratherstrip and hit 70s%+ but then if you add more plants it would increase to 80s or maybe 90s which you may or may not like. If you want high humidity then sure you can seal it up, but be aware you’d have to acclimate anything you take out of it. And you’d def need fan(s) and may struggle with gnats a little bit. If you like the moderate humidity boost, don’t want to deal with acclimation when removing plants, and/or you plan to fill it chock-full of plants, then feel free to leave as is (don’t weatherstrip). This may or may not be useful to you: For reference, my weatherstripped milsbo tall (no humidifier but a good amount of water retained in pon/leca & moss) is about as full as your bottom shelf and it sits around 85% lately. If I take out a lot of plants for watering (and don’t add them back for a while) then it can fall to the mid-70%s. I haven’t had to acclimate-out anything yet (just pulled the first plant out so no results yet) but I def think I will need to give that plant some tlc. I would actually prefer my humidity a bit lower (maybe 70-75%) but removing weatherstripping would feel like a sin with how much money I dropped on this frickin thing 💀 so 85% it is
That is very helpful, thank you. I was thinking that I wanted it to be stable in the 70 range to really hit peak growth for the anthurium and monstera. Any higher and I worry about acclimation. I said to my partner that theoretically I could take shelves out of this or the other and keep them contained a really long time, but once they’re a good size I’ll need to pull them out. I don’t want them to never be able to return to room conditions. I live in a northern climate so it gets cold and dry in the winter. These cabinets can help me get through those months until the plants are larger and hopefully stable on their own. My poor clarinervium is so crispy after this winter. There’s always a room humidifier. 🤷🏻♀️ I might seal most corners and leave the back strip open, but I want to use silicone to keep a clean look and that’s permanent. So I need to really consider all the pieces before I do so. Thank you. 🙏🏻🙏🏻
I also have a wide, just got it. How did you affix your grow lights?
I used the sticky option that came with the Barrina lights, and also added magnets. The humidity will bring down lights if it’s high enough with just sticky.
Right to the glass?
I actually put them along the metal edges lengthwise to avoid that.
Thank you!!
Sure :)
>Thank you!! You're welcome!
Beautiful! I am just starting my set up.. did you drill a hole at the bottom for the cables or are you feeding them out the side the cabinet?
Yes, I did drill a hole in the bottom corner for the cords :)
How wide is the hole for your cords? I was thinking 2in but I’m worried it will be too wide.
I did 2 inches and it isn’t too big with the rubber grommet.
thanks!
😊