Mist king question?

[Tetra73]

Originally Posted by greenpassion

Thank you Tetra. I didn't do anything at all about the humidity last winter, and the worst that happened was that I had some shriveled roots. Conversely I had more spiked and more blooming than I've ever had before...this spring was my best ever.

We both live in the North East..me in NYC. NYC Winter is brutal. My house apartment is more than 70 year-old with very poor insulation. For me, a large tent is the way to go. It shields my collections from cold drafts and keeping my humidity very stable. Ideally, you want a room and keeping the humidity high enough and moisture won't escape...ways to trap the moisture.

[Optimist]

I do have a large aquarium at a far end of the living room. From about 10% humidity in the winter, the humidity average overall went to 30-40%. So it is a good idea for raising overall humidity if you are in a desert environment. I have some humidifiers too. Other plusses of humidifiers is they are better for human skin, lower nose dryness, lower colds and keep the dust level down. They also work with heating and cooling in some way.

[greenpassion]

It's kinda funny. The island that is now my light garden (with 16 phals and 7 tillies on it) was where I used to have a 125 gallon aquarium. I raised Braziliana ciclids. 🙄

[Leafmite]

Originally Posted by greenpassion

Those sound like really good ideas! Could you clarify what you mean by 20 gallon tank? Should I buy a 20 gallon aquarium with an AirStone?

I use it to grow the orchids that need higher humidity such as the Bulbophyllum. You would not need that large of a tank for an air stone. You could set up a vase with an air stone for humidity.

Here is a fun video that helps one understand how plants can add humidity to the air:

[estación seca]

Mammals raise humidity by exhaling humidified air. Get some more people, dogs, cats in your house.

63-65 is pushing it with Phals.

Fungus gnat larvae are not aquatic. They live in moist, organic potting media. They do not live in aquaria full of water.

[Ray]

GP, with a larger, "open concept" room design, no small humidifier is going to do enough. The minute the water molecules evaporate, they are going to be spread uniformly throughout the room, and then into adjacent rooms. The only way to humidify that adequately will be a large humidifier and plan on controlling it for the entire room.

The only way to achieve a "localized" humidity increase is by use of an enclosure.

[Tetra73]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Mammals raise humidity by exhaling humidified air. Get some more people, dogs, cats in your house.

63-65 is pushing it with Phals.

Fungus gnat larvae are not aquatic. They live in moist, organic potting media. They do not live in aquaria full of water.

The problem is that your tank isn't aquatic with fish swimming inside. Is just a body of water with no filtration or what so ever. Otherwise, the fungus gnats and their larvae would get consumed by the fish.

[greenpassion]

Thank you for that little film Leaf mite. It really makes things so much simpler to understand. And if I have this right it was ES that mentioned the pingala plants? I love those. I no longer have them among my orchids but I had many for years. I have a couple of pitcher plants that I will be bringing in from the deck. And yes you are right Ray I know about the difficulty in humidifying a large room like this in the house. I had mentioned in an earlier post that last year I worried about the humidity but didn't do anything extra to raise it, and other than some wrinkled air roots, everybody did just fine. So I guess I'll just keep an eye on things and see where it goes from here. And I might just get some more pingula plants!

[Joseia]

I grow all my orchids in Exo Terra terrariums to keep them happy in high humidity without turning the rest of my condo into a jungle. Only drawback is it limits the size of the plants I can grow. Our air gets very dry in the winter, so I run a humidifier all winter long, but that is for the comfort of the humans that live here. 😏

[greenpassion]

I love having my house like a mini jungle...I have a ton of plants (mostly orchids) in every room in my downstairs. I have two bedrooms upstairs but I have the upstairs closed off from Oct thru late March to save having to heat rooms I never use. So I live downstairs and I love having my plants around me