The peak day and night time temperatures influence plant growth by triggering cell elongation to increase the size of the plant. As a general rule, when it’s warmer during the night, plant growth is stunted and the stalk doesn’t stretch. By keeping plants warmer at night, you can slow their growth. Likewise, by ensuring warmer temperatures throughout the day, you can promote rapid growth for larger plants and quicker yields.

However, heating your plants all night or trying to cool them throughout the day can be pretty tricky depending on the season and where you live. Plants can be fooled into reacting to a -DIF by cooling the grow room down for 2-3 hours at dawn. Automatically cooling the room by 10 degrees half an hour before the sun rises, and keeping it cooled for 2 hours will trick the plant into reacting to a -DIF situation and help to limit stem growth to keep plants short.

On the other hand, if you’re having issues with stunted plants and want to improve the rate of growth in your garden, you can improve cooling throughout the night and keep your plants warmer during the day for a +DIF that will trigger cell elongation giving your plants faster growth and longer stems.

Differential temperature is a very easy and efficient way to control plant size and growth. It doesn’t require expensive and worrisome chemicals or synthetic suppressants, and you can create an automated system to control and monitor and the temperature using timers and your existing ventilation. All in all it’s a pretty easy way to improve your greenhouse grown plants during any season. What do you think? Have any experience with DIF control you’d like to share? Leave us a comment below or send us a message through Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or Instagram!