countering sudden dryness

[lobotomizedgoat]

Here in our region of southern California we're currently being bothered by dry katabatic winds from the desert, colloquially known as the Santa Anas.


^our balcony

Luckily, most of my outdoor orchids are fairly accepting of dry conditions (eulophia, oeceoclades, reed-stem epis, cymbidium). But I also have some dendrobiums I recently acquired and a couple others that are possibly less tolerant.

I figured this would be a good time for people who grow outdoors in usually humid conditions to share what they do when the weather turns suddenly dry. Personally, I think I'll just be watering more often, but I did already take the opportunity to give a couple dusty plants a shower.

What's your strategy?

[Roberta]

I just give the mounted plants especially the small ones (and the pleurothallids generally) an extra drink in the afternoon. (They get watered routinely in the morning) I have never had any problem with the occasional dry spell, it only lasts a few days. Ditto for the heat. A little extra water is all they need. Just make sure that they're secured so they don't blow over or get hit by flying debris.

Anything that has pseudobulbs, or other water storage (like Dendrobium canes) are especially tolerant. But the Pleurothallids, bare root Vandaceous, and even leafless Microcoelia survive the ordeal fine. This weather pattern happens pretty much every fall, and occasionally at other times in southern California. I have been growing outside for lots of years, and don't think I have ever lost an orchid to a Santa Ana. (The weather pattern has other names in other places... Diablo, Sundowner, etc.)

[estación seca]

In similar conditions with outdoor orchids I use the hose to spray the entire growing area and all the leaves at night. There is no danger of rot; everything will dry quickly. The extra humidity and cooling helps the plants at night when they are respiring.

[katsucats]

It's dry-ish here all the time since I'm not coastal, but if I had to deal with such a problem, assuming you don't want to spray the growing area all the time because the humid days greatly outnumber the dry days, then what I would do is to use a microcontroller powered power strip
Iot Relay - Enclosed High-Power Power Relay for Arduino, Raspberry Pi -- Amazon

hooked up to a humidity sensor that turns on misters for some time after sensing low humidity. Unfortunately as far as I know, pre-built products that do this cost too much. But seeing that you have a humidity graph maybe you're technologically inclined enough to get this to work.

[Roberta]

Good solution for inlanders but closer to the coast, I think Mother Nature is going to take care of the problem in the next few days... forecast is for fog in the mornings starting tomorrow morning. So it appears that the warm, bone-dry weather pattern is nearly over at least for now. (And nights will be warming up a bit)

[Dimples]

I’m super ready for foggy mornings again. I’ve been running the humidifier all week and we’ve barely been able to keep the house above 45%. That’s not unusually a problem but our overnight RH has been below 20% all week too. The dry and the nightly smoke plume haven’t been fun.

A humidistat controlled misting system sounds like a fantastic idea.

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