How a Desk Fan Can Help Bring Your Indoor Seedlings to Life

One of the smartest things you can do when starting seedlings indoors is to mimic the natural world. You may already know why it’s important to choose the perfect grow light or the benefits of bottom watering, but it can be easy to forget another crucial element: airflow. In a 2013 study published by Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology, it was found that proper airflow led to less lettuce tip burn and that “steady horizontal airflow” did more to reduce this type of damage to plants as air fluctuations. temperature. Another 2020 study published by Frontiers in Plant Science had similar results: a group of researchers studying plant growth in a controlled environment with the goal of producing space-grown food found that proper distribution Air is necessary for the overall health of plants in this environment.

However, there is no need to invest in sophisticated air circulation systems to grow plants at home. Circulating air around your plants and seed trays can be as easy as installing a simple desk fan. If you’re growing on bakery shelves, a collection of mini desk fans, like the Comfort Zone Portable Fans, can attach to each shelf to keep the air moving. This can save you from having to constantly rotate trays and reposition fans. Otherwise, something more substantial, like the LEVOIT tower fan, will cover a wider area.

Generating good circulation around your seedlings has several different benefits. On the one hand, it can prevent plants from experiencing damping off, a condition caused by fungus or mold that weakens plants. When affected by this disease, the stems collapse below ground level, then the plants fall and die. Once disease has taken hold, it is no longer something that can be cured, so your best course of action is prevention. Airflow helps reduce moisture on the soil surface and promotes good air circulation, making it more difficult for it to become infected in the first place.

Photosynthesis also benefits from the help of blown air, as it efficiently redistributes the carbon dioxide needed for the process. With stagnant air, plants will eliminate nearby carbon dioxide and have no way to access more. Natural air movement (from wind, a fan, or otherwise) also stimulates a plant growth hormone called auxin, which is essential for the development of a plant’s stem and makes the plant stronger. Fans should be placed close to the seedlings but not too close or directly on them and should run for 24 hours for best results.