I have High Temps with Low Humidity for my Paphs

[rbarata]

Unless you have a lot of air drafts, there's a solution.
When temp goes down, relative humidity gets higher for the same qty of water vapour. That's pure physics/thermodynamic.
Supposedly when one goest to sleep, all the heating is turned off or at least lowered. So, if your growing room is at 22ºC with 60% HR, if you lower the temp to 16 those 60% increase to 65% (this is just a guess but it can be calculated given the accurate variables values).

I do this in the living room where I grow my plants that require higher HR. Keep the A/C at 22ºC and when it's bed time I turn it off keeping the doors closed.

[thefish1337]

Originally Posted by DenmanNJ

My orchids are in my LR. My LR is 336 sq. ft.
My Humidifier I also got on Amazon - it is 6L and can handle a room that is 500 sq. ft.
Since it arrived, I am able (at times) to get the Humidity level up to 58%. Now, I do not run the humidifier overnight. Am I supposed to run it overnight? I read that you shouldn't.

I don't see a problem running your humidifier over night. The risks of running a humidifier too long is that you may bring the humidity in the house too high. Building humidity up and then crashing it down every-night is not going to help much. Set a realistic goal like consistently keeping it at 45 to 55% and monitor your humidity and adjust the output accordingly.

[DenmanNJ]

All of my orchids (multifloral Paphiopedilums) are on shelves in front of my LR window. This time of year I have to keep the blinds closed or Yes, there will be cold drafts. I have to maintain desirable Temperatures also in addition to at least 65% Humidity. I use a portable ceramic heater in the area in addition to the Ultrasonic Humidifier - I don't know if I can lower my heat down to 60-degrees F at night - that is very cool, and I have a Parrot in the room (in a very large cage). So, do I use the Humidifier overnight ?

---------- Post added at 02:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:55 PM ----------

Originally Posted by thefish1337

I don't see a problem running your humidifier over night. The risks of running a humidifier too long is that you may bring the humidity in the house too high. Building humidity up and then crashing it down every-night is not going to help much. Set a realistic goal like consistently keeping it at 45 to 55% and monitor your humidity and adjust the output accordingly.

I keep my Humidifier on High. Even with that my numbers are all over the place (35%, 58%, 41%, 48%) I don't see any consistency at all. I have hygrometers all over the place by the plants. The same goes for my temperatures (77F, 70F, 77F, 73F) and those are the readings just from today since I woke up. Even with the heater set on High, the temperatures are also all over the place.

[thefish1337]

Originally Posted by DenmanNJ

All of my orchids (multifloral Paphiopedilums) are on shelves in front of my LR window. This time of year I have to keep the blinds closed or Yes, there will be cold drafts. I have to maintain desirable Temperatures also in addition to at least 65% Humidity. I use a portable ceramic heater in the area in addition to the Ultrasonic Humidifier - I don't know if I can lower my heat down to 60-degrees F at night - that is very cool, and I have a Parrot in the room (in a very large cage). So, do I use the Humidifier overnight ?

---------- Post added at 02:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:55 PM ----------



I keep my Humidifier on High. Even with that my numbers are all over the place (35%, 58%, 41%, 48%) I don't see any consistency at all. I have hygrometers all over the place by the plants. The same goes for my temperatures (77F, 70F, 77F, 73F) and those are the readings just from today since I woke up. Even with the heater set on High, the temperatures are also all over the place.

I wish I could help you more but you're going to have to be the one to figure out the source of the variation in temps and humidity... nobody on this forum will have proper insight to the micro-climate of that room except you. i would shoot for consistency instead of 65% humidity since it looks like an unattainable goal in your room. additionally higher than 60% humidity is not recommended in the home. there is no danger of running a humidifier overnight as long as it is not raising the humidity to unsuitable levels. once you identify factors that raise your humidity and factors that lower it you can then use that knowledge to modulate your humidity with the humidifier.

[SpclK]

DenmenNJ, place your paph pot on a saucer then put it in plastic food carton which has uniform-sized leca, Hydroton, or stones from a stream, river, or lake. If stones, you may want to boil them in water for at least five or more minutes to sterilize them and have them cool down completely before putting them in a saucer or container. Take the stones out of the pot of water and put them on a surface which won't get damaged from the hot stones. Once the leca/stones is in the container, fill the container with water until the water level is halfway up the leca/stones. Set the pot on top of a saucer and place the saucer on top of the leca/stones. Make sure the container is wider than the pot so your paph (or other type of orchid) can receive humidity via evaporation of the standing water. This should boost your humidity in the immediate vicinity of your paph.

I leave my humidifier on at all times of the day/night. My temp is 68°F day and 65°F night. Normally the humidity stays between 45-50%; but after the fan motor of the humidifier burned out it's been a struggle to keep it that way as there's mornings where I'll see the humidity drop down to the low 30's overnight. In place of the motor running the humidifier's fan, I placed a dual window fan on top the humidifier blowing in opposite directions into/out of the humidifier to circulate the humidified air. The humidifier is a cool mist humidifier with wicks and a "funnel" over the wicks to concentrate the flow of air over the wicks. I also put an aluminum foil pan filled with water onto floor registers with covers over part of the register to direct the air over the pan. On days when I still need to supplement the humidity, I boil water on a very low flame on the gas stove just hot enough to create steam; I do this when I'm home and can monitor the pot and stove. It doesn't seem to kill the natural gas bill but I'll continue to keep watch and stop this if it raises our bill more than usual.

[DenmanNJ]

Originally Posted by SpclK

DenmenNJ, place your paph pot on a saucer then put it in plastic food carton which has uniform-sized leca, Hydroton, or stones from a stream, river, or lake. If stones, you may want to boil them in water for at least five or more minutes to sterilize them and have them cool down completely before putting them in a saucer or container. Take the stones out of the pot of water and put them on a surface which won't get damaged from the hot stones. Once the leca/stones is in the container, fill the container with water until the water level is halfway up the leca/stones. Set the pot on top of a saucer and place the saucer on top of the leca/stones. Make sure the container is wider than the pot so your paph (or other type of orchid) can receive humidity via evaporation of the standing water. This should boost your humidity in the immediate vicinity of your paph.

I leave my humidifier on at all times of the day/night. My temp is 68°F day and 65°F night. Normally the humidity stays between 45-50%; but after the fan motor of the humidifier burned out it's been a struggle to keep it that way as there's mornings where I'll see the humidity drop down to the low 30's overnight. In place of the motor running the humidifier's fan, I placed a dual window fan on top the humidifier blowing in opposite directions into/out of the humidifier to circulate the humidified air. The humidifier is a cool mist humidifier with wicks and a "funnel" over the wicks to concentrate the flow of air over the wicks. I also put an aluminum foil pan filled with water onto floor registers with covers over part of the register to direct the air over the pan. On days when I still need to supplement the humidity, I boil water on a very low flame on the gas stove just hot enough to create steam; I do this when I'm home and can monitor the pot and stove. It doesn't seem to kill the natural gas bill but I'll continue to keep watch and stop this if it raises our bill more than usual.

I have all of the Paphs in trays with pebbles and water. With the humidifer today I got decent readings - 89%, which was to high, 67% which was decent, and 55% which was also decent. It's going to take a while to balance the Humidifer setting with the heater setting. Temps have been 77F, 73F, 63F, 70F, 77F. Not bad.

[DenmanNJ]

Sorry to bother everyone again .....but I have a real dilemma going on here .. My Temps are going up, but my Humidity levels are going down. I have looked at the Miroco Humidifier on Amazon ...and I don't see any difference between that humidifier and the humidifer I have, which is also 6L, Cool-mist, and mist-adjustable. My Humidifier covers 500 sq.ft. The Moroco does not. I would just like to find out what I'm doing wrong here.

[rbarata]

I'm not sure if you've mentioned it before but what is the area (sq m / sq ft) of your growing area?
Is it a closed area or it has communication with other areas of your house?

[DenmanNJ]

Originally Posted by rbarata

I'm not sure if you've mentioned it before but what is the area (sq m / sq ft) of your growing area?
Is it a closed area or it has communication with other areas of your house?

It is 433 sq.ft., It is my Living Room, which is connected to my dining room which is small.

[rbarata]

That's a huge area and that communication with your dining room is to be added to it.
The best option is to find another location, a room much smaller than that.
Or find an indoor greenhouse.
Keeping a suitable HR in that area with humidifiers is not easy.