misting - Orchid Board

springblooms2 · #1 03-16-2018, 07:03 AM

Do you mist your orchids daily? Is that important? I live in WI and it is winter/spring so I am assuming it is dry.

Thanks for the tips.

Orchid Whisperer · #2 03-16-2018, 08:10 AM

I don't mist them at all.

While plants are indoors for the winter, I do try to keep them close together on plant stand with grow lights so that the plants are keeping the humidity up (normal plant process of transpiration).

WaterWitchin · #3 03-16-2018, 10:12 AM

For me, depends on the particular orchid. My short answer is never daily, because I get sidetracked easily. Lucky to remember to get my hair combed and teeth brushed.

I try to twice daily mist my tolumnia, when they're in bloom because they're upstairs. Since I'm in Kansas, wintering indoors is a must for me. In warm months, everything goes outside. And it's usually pretty darned humid here in summer.

In winter, I have an area in my basement where all orchids live, unless in bloom. Two years ago I set up an automatic misting system to go along with the raised humidity. (I use a pond pump bubbling in a big aquarium, housed under the tables.) I can DEFINITELY see a difference in the quality and quantity of blooms. So it was worth it. I would never get around to misting daily if I had to do it by hand. But that's me.

If I have something upstairs (where it's drier because of heat) I will occasionally take something to sink and water and shower when it looks necessary. Other than that, nothing daily.

Hope that helps.

SundayGardener · #4 03-16-2018, 10:45 AM

Also in Wisconsin, still not sure about misting. I have humidifiers to boost humidity. I never mist leaves, and in general I don't mist phals. I do mist new roots. I also use a mister just for watering plants mid-week because I can direct the water where I want and control the quantity of water.

I have noticed that in cooler rooms, with no humidifier, bark and other media stays wet longer and that causes a different set of problems for me (unhappy roots).

malteseproverb · #5 03-17-2018, 10:29 PM

I don't mist most of my orchids, but I have a daily watering schedule with a select bunch. I do mist a mini vanda and a couple other mini mounted orchids I have every day. If it's a larger mounted orchid, I take them to the tub and water it with the shower head every day or every other day, as misting is not enough. Misting makes sense depending on what you're growing, like with smaller bare rooted plants or anything that likes to stay super moist. I have phals with a lot of aerial roots that are never misted, for instance.

Ray · #6 03-18-2018, 08:23 AM

Folks frequently get the mistaken idea that misting their plants is a way to increase humidity. In fact, it is a particularly poor way to do that, and can cause other problems - fungal attacks, for example.

The idea is to humidify the air, not to wet the plant. Hand misting in the air around the plants boosts the humidity extremely little, and for almost no time at all.

Read this.

malteseproverb · #7 03-18-2018, 06:13 PM

I guess when I interrogate this question further I realize I'm not talking about misting, I'm thinking of spraying. I'm using the nozzle that makes the water come out in a stream, not a fine cloud of water droplets. I use a humidifier for humidity so I would never spray to accomplish higher RH. I use a spray bottle only because it's an easier way for me to water smaller bare root orchids than bringing them to the shower--where I "spray" larger mounted orchids with the shower head--every single day. Watering in place when possible is just less of a time suck. It's the same process and impact of watering, as I ensure the roots get thoroughly wet. When I think of spraying a fine mist on my orchids, I really can't see the point in doing that ever. That's just getting the leaves all wet.

So what kind of misting is everyone talking about here? Does it all have the same result? I've found my method of watering by spray bottle daily does have a real effect on my orchids. For instance, the only roots that grow on my mini vanda are those that I spray regularly. If it's growing a root that is too long or in an awkward place, I don't spray that root and thus control its growth habit.

WaterWitchin · #8 03-19-2018, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by malteseproverb

I guess when I interrogate this question further I realize I'm not talking about misting, I'm thinking of spraying. ....
So what kind of misting is everyone talking about here? Does it all have the same result? ....

Excellent point! When I talk about "misting" my Tolumnia that are upstairs in bloom, what I'm actually doing is watering them with a coarse spray from a hand-held mister. Same with blooming Vanda roots. Because for me it has to happen daily when they're upstairs.

The automatic "misting" system in basement I refer to in my previous post is actually similar... a misting system with the spray set to fairly coarse, which waters my non-blooming mounted orchids and no media growers (tolumnia and vanda). Anything that's in a bark or LECA medium is watered with a hose sprayer directed at the media in the pot.

I don't "mist" for humidity. I "mist" to actually water exposed roots that need more frequent care than a once to ten days watering when in bark or LECA. And when one utilizes that type of watering, there must be good air movement or we run the risk of a fungus amoungus, as Ray points out.