Folding leaves

[DanDanger]

Hey, everyone.
I've got some leaves on my plants folding. Not outward, or curling. Literally folding. One of them started to fold along the main vein part of the leaves. Then another started.
Is it Vapor Pressure Deficit? Is something going on here that I am unaware of?
I'm a relatively new indoor grower. My temps are 75 to 77 degrees at night. And 83 to 85 degrees during the day. Humidity has been going from 38% to 61%. It's all over the place lately, seems like I can't have a rather steady RH. At around 55% to 65%. But, no. For some reason everything is a bit more difficult on this run.
I use T5 lighting, 8 bulbs. 4 high output, and 4 regular bulbs for a mixed spectrum. With an added 45W CFL bulb.
2 oscillating fans. One fan that blows air around. 1 200cfm exhaust, and then about a 12cfm computer fan pulling air into the cabinet. The cabinet is 2' x 2' x 4'
With a total of 12 plants inside.
This leaf folding issue is really frustrating. Leaves folded right up the middle, and newer stems kinda bent over. As if the plant wants to not take in any light. I've got a couple bottles of sugar, water, and yeast pumping out CO2 during lights out.
Need a little help here I'll post pictures of the issue once the lights go back on in a couple hours.

 

[_tessarecting]

Take pics, check for pests, probably a humidity swing thing unless bugs...the bent stem thing is suspect. Look under your leaves for eggs. Report back.

 

[Levitationofme]

You msy also want to keep your co2 going
With lights on. I believe thats when the plants
Use it.
I have similar setup. Also making co2 as best possible. Hard to keep levels up in a small space with good circulation

 

[DanDanger]

No mites. I check regularly, and just checked again. Also try to use essential oils to keep them at bay. I think it's the RH jumping all over the place at the moment. It's usually very steady while in the closet, until I move them to the cabinet.
Here's the extra thing... The leaves are folded sometimes, and not folded other times. Leaves are folded, from what I've found so far, right before the lights go off...

I'm going to keep the CO2 going the whole time. Must the reason for why I could smell it so heavily during lights off, and not so much during lights on. Hahaha! I thought CO2 was used during lights off. My mistake!

I'll grab a picture tomorrow before the lights go off. Because, right now everything is fine. Leaves are all looking normal at the moment. Any reason for this? Heat? Temperature fluctuations? RH fluctuations? Light conditions?

 

[Phaeton]

My garden is a hobby using lots of toys, including several light meters. Most of the leaf folding occurring here is accompanied by too much light. Your comment "As if the plant wants to not take in any light" is pretty much spot on.
Too much light (radiated heat is considered light) causes avoidance reactions, folding of the leaf and/or turning away both reduce the cross section exposed to the light source.

Too many variables to give exact answers, but most T5 reflectors do not mix well closer than ten inches and have hot spots. Vented reflectors run much cooler than solid reflectors. Multiple lights should be offset with a gap directly above the plants, less overlap on top means better balance down the sides.

VPD is temperature related but in unsealed rooms the RH is not under direct control. Somewhere is a thread with a table showing temp/RH ideal numbers. I am too lazy to do a search right now.

 

[DanDanger]

My garden is a hobby using lots of toys, including several light meters. Most of the leaf folding occurring here is accompanied by too much light. Your comment "As if the plant wants to not take in any light" is pretty much spot on.
Too much light (radiated heat is considered light) causes avoidance reactions, folding of the leaf and/or turning away both reduce the cross section exposed to the light source.

Too many variables to give exact answers, but most T5 reflectors do not mix well closer than ten inches and have hot spots. Vented reflectors run much cooler than solid reflectors. Multiple lights should be offset with a gap directly above the plants, less overlap on top means better balance down the sides.

VPD is temperature related but in unsealed rooms the RH is not under direct control. Somewhere is a thread with a table showing temp/RH ideal numbers. I am too lazy to do a search right now.

Yes! Perfect advice. Thank you so much. I'm going to move the lights up a little bit, as they are rather close to them. I've always wanted to keep the T5 bulbs closer to the plants, because I like to keep them shorter during veg. But let's see what happens with the lights up a little higher. Makes sense, since the problem only seems to happen when the lights are fixing to shut off.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, Phaeton!

 

[RockinRobot]

Fans blowing too hard directly on plants can also cause weird leaf issues. I would guess a combination of that and the low humidity.

 

[DanDanger]

I'm taking all this in, and considering it all. I've moved the fan around. Removed the one stationary fan, and kept the two oscillating ones in each corner. Making sure they don't blow constantly at any of the leaves. Added a humidifier to the room to add a bit of moisture. I'll play with the dial as humidity gets a bit better in the cabinet. Trying to keep it at somekind of a constant RH.
Moved the light up a smidgen, too. Let's see if this all helps.
Thank you, everyone!

 

[DanDanger]

Yeah. Folding leaves issue has been resolved. No mites either. None. Humidity was the issue.