Winter time - balancing heat and humidity?

[orchidwitch]

Originally Posted by thefish1337

buy a small indoor hygrometer/temperature sensor from amazon and place it in your growing space. you will be able to get a reasonably accurate idea of your humidity to assess the conditions your orchids experience. you can then buy a humidifier (if necessary) and put it on to help keep your humidity up on those cold clear days that tend to cause indoor humidity to fall sharply.

Thanks! I've purchased two on amazon for each area of my house where I have the most plants. Do you recommend a certain type of humidifier that works best for orchids?

---------- Post added at 02:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:03 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Roberta

I hope this is just a terminology issue... epiphytic orchids (which is what you're likely to be growing) don't want to grow in soil. Bark, or (loosely packed) sphagnum gives them the air, as well as moisture that they need. (They want "moist air", not "wet".)

Right! I keep more than just orchids, so many of my begonias, succulents, phylos, and palms, etc, have soil. I should rephrase as "touch the potted media..." I use my tactile senses to intuit if things need water, haha.