Humidity

[nross]

Don't think foggers would work that well. Actually don't know what they are but most of the plants are right in the living room by the big window. Our loveseat, sofa, etc. nearby. We do have a ceramic tile floor but not sure how big an area a fogger wets or where to get one.

---------- Post added at 06:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:10 PM ----------

The little humidifier was attractive and seemed perfect but would be difficult to make a tent over the plants etc. in the area. Before you get to the window there are two floor to ceiling posts with 2 clear acrylic shelves with humidity trays and mainly phals.& a few paphs. probably 20 or so. A wide sill in the window with small catts., oncidiums and higher light plants
plus a little cart with a few more orchids.
Refilling the reservoir not a big problem and could put the humid. on a little stand but it sounds from what you said that it wouldn't work. They have been growing here for several years but don't do as well in the heat season and wanted them to have as much advantage as I could get. Since this is our main living area didn't want to have plastic tents etc. over them.

[RandomGemini]

I would just water them more during the hot season then, and if you wanted to help cool things down a bit, you could add a fan. They make these great tower fans that you can get at places like Bed Bath and Beyond in the spring that are pretty quiet and they are well worth it.

[naoki]

Gemini, nross meant during the winter (when she uses heat). Brooklyn summer is pretty humid (but AC could cause low RH).

It is tough to give the optimum growth condition because each person has to work within their constraints. It sounds like the orchids you have can grow ok within your constraints. But if you want to try to make improvement, how about blowing the humidifier output directly onto the 20 orchids? From home depot, you can get those clear vinyl tubing. You can run it above the growing area, and make small holes to the tubing so that the fog will target the plants (connect the other end directly to the humidifier). Basically it is what tindomul is suggesting, but I don't know what kind of fogger he is using.

[james mickelso]

Unless you are growing something that definitely has to have higher humidity there is not a good reason to try to humidify the entire room which is what you'll need to do to get the RH up. Check out Gublers Orchids website. They are up in the high desert and unless they've changed things they deal with low humidity all the time. And they grow beautiful healthy orchids all year long. Just water as needed. There are days here in SoCal where the RH is down to single digits for days and no problems.

[orchids44]

I have had a Crane drop humidifier for over 2 years and it's still working great. In North Carolina our humidity is very high in the summer, a humidifier is not needed then. Most of my chids are outdoors then anyway. Late fall, all winter, and early spring the Crane is used constantly. I use regular tap water and clean it weekly. I use water and a small amount of vinegar to clean, exactly what the directions recommend.
The orchids seem healthier since I started using it, especially the Oncidiums, Miltassias and Vandas.

Happy Growing!!!

[Leafmite]

I just rely on my banana and other tropical plants to provide the humidity. Seems to work well for me.

[cbuchman]

I have a small sun room that is attached to the house which is my winter growing space.


- I use humidity trays and the benches hold 1/2 inch of water. These are self draining so they are refilled when I water .

- Have a small fountain that runs 12 hours a day on a timer. i do have to keep it filled and I learned to us distilled water in it. our water is sooooo hard that the pump gunks up in no time at all if I use tap water.

- I also use water glass bread pans with humidifier pieces fit into the pans to increase surface area. I found that metal pans get holes in them from our VERY hard water. I will put these on top of the electric baseboard heaters in the sun room that come on when the temps get really cold.

- When it gets extremely dry, I will mist the exposed brick walls of the room.

- For those that need really high humidity and warmer temps, I use table top terrariums (empty in the pictures) that are sitting in heating mats.

Generally, even when the heat is running full blast (i.e.m the coldest part of winter), I can keep the humidity at about 50%, which is good for us humans too

[Leafmite]

That is a beautiful set up! Love it!

[cbuchman]

Thanks Leafmite. My husband is amazing with his construction of the benches and tubing to automate drainage. The final draininage is into a dry well through pipes in the floor. I still haven't talked him into an RO system; though I did get a rain barrel last spring, but it will need to be shut down before it freezes... soon....

[RandomGemini]

Okay, now I want a sunroom too! Can I borrow your husband to set it up?