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[TexasTim]

After checking carefully, the humidity in my house is at 27%. That will in no way be adequate for growing orchids under indoor lights. Question 1 - How do I effectively, efficiently and economically raise the humidity without rotting the walls and growing moss?

I am going to use shelving from Home Depot to hold the plants with humidity trays under them. Question 2 -Will fluorescent T5 or T8 lights work? Which is better? If the shelving is 48" wide by 24" deep, should I use two fixtures per shelf?

Ambient temperature in my house is currently, for "winter in Texas" a high of 70 degrees and a low of 68 degrees. Question 3 - Would computer fans placed on the shelves provide cooling enough to reach the lows needed for blooming?

[WhiteRabbit]

Does the humidity go up at night? Where I am, there's usually very low humidity during the day, but it goes up at night.
Also, you're near 30%, which isn't horrible - you shouldn't need so much humidity that walls will rot Most potted orchids are fine if their roots are kept happy.

If you do need to increase humidity, a cool mist humidifier is probably the best way to go.

[lotis146]

Winter humidity levels are something I'm wondering about as well. After hearing and reading about the success others have had with humidifiers I'm about to hook one up myself. It seems that water trays help in terms of "micro-environment" but I've heard here time and again that the change in overall humidity is negligible. Of course not all Orchids require the same humidity so I'd imagine one can get away with lower levels depending on the species. The reason I've decided to get a humidifier is because many of my plants were outside for the summer, but the humidity inside was still higher than it is now. My Miltoniopsis - which was outside most of the summer - recently came into bloom but the flowers are smaller and they didn't exactly open all the way and "flatten out". Also my Phal spikes have been growing incredibly slowly. One such plant bloomed more readily from an old spike I left, while the second new spike has been taking forever to come into bud. At the same time these buds are looking rather small. I believe my plants are begging for more humidity.

I've not measured my levels but I'm in the Midwest and we are all running our furnaces now for sure.

[Ferns Daddy]

I use a cool mist humidifier for my orchids and other tropicals. The humidity is about 65% if I don't use the humidifier the humidity goes down to about 16% so I would use a humidifier to be on the safe side. I also run a ceiling fan to keep the air moving

[snowflake311]

I have a mini cool mist humidifier that I keep right next to my plants to help bring up humidity around my plants. I think the use of a humidifier is Key to living in the winter. I use them for myself too it helps.

I also have a lot of water in my house. I have a 80Gal fish tank close to my orchids and a 100 gal aquarium in the other room. I know these tanks help with humidity in my house. Maybe you should get into fish keeping. haha J/K thats more trouble than orchids.

[RNCollins]

Tim,

I have the majority of my orchids in a bedroom. I use a humidifier. I keep the humidity around 60%... I don't want mold or the paint peeling off the walls so I don't keep it too humid.

I just got a T5 light stand. So far it's been great. Here's a picture of the stand (from the factory picture):


image by cponsolle, on Flickr

I use a fan I got at Amazon for air circulation... They are cheap enough to replace when they konk out...

Amazon.com - Lasko 2004W 2-Speed Clip Fan, 6-Inch, White - Electric Personal Fans

[weederwoman]

I would use 2 T-5s. Gives more flexibility. Catts ,etc. can go up close to the lights, set lower light plants further away.I set trays of water, put in a terra cotta pot under my pots to raise plants up higher. The terra cotta raiser pots absorb water to increase humidity. Plants that like cool damper roots, like miltoniopsis, I pot in terra cotta too. And I mist a couple of times a day. This works indoors in my climate. In yours I imagine you will need a small humidifier near the plants, as people have said. I have storm windows. I crack the inside window near the plants most nights and that seems to get me a good cooling. I suppose if you have a lot of tall low light plants, you might want a t5 shelf and a t8 shelf. I grow my slippers under 2 t-5s. There are just not right up close under the lamps.