John Perez's book on growing orchids well

[Vanda coerulescens]

Hello all,
I'm wondering if anyone of you out there have had the pleasure of reading John Perez's book which gives you secrets on how to grow better and bigger orchids? Thanks Paul.

[cb977]

You don't need to buy a book that gives you "secrets" to growing...ask for help here on OB and you'll get suggestions for the best way to grow a particular plant. Keep in mind that all suggestions should be researched further and make sure they work in your conditions

[Vanda coerulescens]

Thanks,
My orchids seam to not have a good root system. I'm trying to increase the humidity in the room, but of course I don't want to increase it too much because too much humitidy is not good for a building/house. I was thinking on using some of my mulch that I use for my garden outside but I'm not sure on the bacteria, viruses and microbes would do to my collection. I was thinking on moisting the mulch, then placing it into the oven to 150 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Then make a tea out of it and feed my orchids. I'll use the sickest one of course but haven't gotten around to doing all this. I have a new mulch pile in a full-size pick up bed liner but that new one is for blueberries and is very acidic around 4.7. That leades me to ask the question, what is the PH of most orchids? Thanks for your reply. Paul.

[BikerDoc5968]

For what it's worth section appears this link on OB:

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ez-e-book.html

[beanluc]

Originally Posted by Vanda coerulescens

Thanks,
My orchids seam to not have a good root system. I'm trying to increase the humidity in the room

Hi, Vandaman,
I'm not sure what makes it seem to you that your roots aren't good, but if they done rotted, it was from too frequent watering, not from insufficient humidity. Increased humidity doesn't facilitate healthier roots, though it can be critical for the plant's overall health and growth, depending on the plant and your location.

On the other hand, if the roots rotted and you're now trying to bring the plants back to health, then, yes, they're going to need more humidity due to the fact that they now can't draw as much water from the roots and should be helped to retain as much of the water that they could draw as possible. Make sure you trim and clean the rotted roots and don't re-use the old potting medium. Here's another post with more info about this. It also talks about how to ensure that your plants are drinking plenty of water while keeping the frequency to a minimum, so that the roots can dry between waterings. This insures against future root rot. The roots must not be wet all the time, so, reducing the watering frequency is essential.

Pebble trays will increase the humidity right around the plant without wrecking your whole building. It's important to use pebbles, not just open standing water, because the pebbles wick the water acoss their surfaces and double the surface area involved with active evaporation. Use a tray that's big enough, or use enough of them, so that the entire crown of the plant is above the wet pebbles, and an extra several inches beyond. Also, any kind of enclosure will keep the humidity closer to the plants. A big aquarium will work great, or even just one or two panes of glass that isolate the plants from the rest of the room. It doesn't have to be completely enclosed, just reduce air circulation. Some plants and some locations need increased air circulation, so many of us use small fans. The trick would be to blow the fan right across the wet pebbles toward the plant(s) so that they get the humidity before it blows away. Again, barriers to keep the humidity near the plants work when you're using a fan too. Finally, I have used seedling heat mats under the pebble trays to make the water warmer and thus evaporate faster right under the plants. Like this

You can get a cheap humidity meter to measure the effectiveness of your trays. I have this one.

Also, none of these techniques will damage your building/house, because they'll localize the humid area and the entire room is plenty big enough to absorb it as it dissipates without the whole room getting elevated humidity. Additionally, I don't think that even a whole roomful of 60%-90% humidity, or even higher, would be as damaging as you think, especially if the room is kept warm, which your orchids probably will want anyway. Many of us have this level of humidity most of the time. Constant condensation is what causes problems, so, as long as the extra humidity isn't condensing on cold surfaces all the time, I think everything will be totally fine. Your house/building will never notice the difference.

Good luck,
BL

[Vanda coerulescens]

Thanks so much for your input I'll forget about the book.

[Vanda coerulescens]

thanks BL