mounted orchids in low humidity, with drip only?

[lodhurhavskjold]

Hello everyone! Just joined, so this is my intro. I'm big into plants, permaculture, & setting up little ecosystems. So far I've owned 4 orchids, all of which are still alive! (OK, 2 I've had for 3 days...)

I've set up a screen cage for a baby veiled chameleon. This is my most ambitious effort yet. It rests on two 10 gallon aquariums side by side. Big plans for that, but I digress. I live in New Mexico, & even with a swamp cooler it can get very dry (its 25% humidity in my house right now). I have had a phal mounted to bark in my bathroom since 11/9, and somehow it didn't die. Now I'm moving it into the chameleon cage, which has less humidity. In this 4 foot tall cage I have a timed drip system running water from the aquarium to wherever I want. I also picked up 2 more on sale (quit blooming): a dendro of some kind & an oncidium sharry baby I plan on mounting as well.

Unfortunately, veiled chameleons are reported to suffer under too-frequent misters or foggers. I am wondering if the drip system will suffice. Also, should I have the drip falling directly on the leaves? (I know to avoid soaking roots) I will hand mist if I must, but I find that the tap water here kills fish no matter how I treat it, & I'd like to keep my distilled habit to 1 gallon per week for topping off the aquariums.

Eagerly awaiting your replies.

[Ross]

Welcome to the board. Glad you chose to join.

I can't tell for sure what you plan to mount besides the Dendro and the Sharry Baby. Be advised these can get very large under proper care. I don't think you'll be happy with the results of the proposed setup. Sharry Baby won't like constant moisture on the leaves and needs to have dry roots between waterings. Even misting is not a good idea. Oncidium can take some pretty low humidity, but I think you are dealing with single digits in New Mexico? That's pretty low. A dry tank might be a better idea. Forget the misting, just water and fertilize and replace the plants into the tank. Provide air movement with a small fan or two and cover the top to hold in some humidity. If you can achieve 50%, you'll be fine. Don't forget to provide bright light - no sun on the tank or you'll fry the plants. Good luck.

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[epiphyte78]

Here in inland Southern California we have pretty low humidity as well. Generally, I've found that increased watering for mounted orchids can compensate for low humidity. Increased watering means less medium but that's what epiphytic orchids prefer...again, generally speaking.

For example, I have a drip system run up my Cedar tree. When night time temps are over 55F I run it at night for around 20 to 30 minutes every other day and by the next morning the roots are still damp. The orchids then pretty much dry out during the day.

But in my shade shelter area I have a few mounted Pleurothallids and Bulbophyllums that stay pretty evenly moist. Dendrobium is a huge family so it's hard to identify the watering requirements without knowing the group it's in. Sherry Baby can definitely handle drying out between waterings but might be able to handle staying evenly moist if it is actively growing and mounted without any media. The Phalaenopsis probably has the highest moisture requirements and can probably best handle being evenly moist.

There are 1000s of species of orchids to choose from and probably quite a few that are perfectly suited for the conditions that you can provide them. What might be fun to do is to research the epiphytic orchids that come from the same place as your chameleon.

In terms of water quality I'd say that 60 parts per million is really good for orchids.