When plants are in full bloom...

[Pilot]

What do you do when the plants you grow under lights are in full bloom? I'm asking because I grow mine in my basement and down there they enjoy 68F nights, 75F days and 50% RH (I used to grow my chids in my solarium but the heating zone that heats the room broke and it'll cost us a small fortune to fix it so we're waiting for spring and money!). People who know me know I live at a high elev and I struggle to get any decent humidity except the moment after it rains. The moment after that it's back to no humidity! lol

So many of my phals are coming into full bloom and keeping them in the basement stinks! I wanna see them! Good thing is, I spend lots of time down there enjoying them, but I want my wife to enjoy them too.

So what do you guys do?? Do you have a special display or make any special provisions for your plants going from ideal to less-than-ideal situations? I'm considering keeping the chids out during the time we'd enjoy them and return them to the wracks at night when the lights come on. Your thoughts?

Thanks!

[tucker85]

Even though my situation is different than yours, I do have a growing area and a display area. I move my blooming orchids into areas where they can be viewed and enjoyed. This can sometimes mean that the blooms don't last quite as long as they would in a better growing environment, but that's OK with me. I'll provide a good environment for my orchids when they're growing and they can provide me with a beautiful environment when they're blooming.

[Bud]

you can display the Phals spread about in your living room and as a centerpiece in your dining room table...provided you put them in pebble/water humidity trays
thats easy to do since your area have nice colored pebbles around your environment and a saucer or shallow soup bowl will do the trick(you can clean them all in the dishwasher after)

[camille1585]

I follow pretty much the same line of thought as Tucker. Even if the display area conditions are less than ideal I'd rather have orchids bloom a shorter amount of time and I get to enjoy them, rather than leave them under lights where they last longer, but I rarely get to see them. But then again I don't have such a serious issue with humidity. Outside their growing area it's still above 50% most of your time. Humidity trays can always help out a bit.
I've even started bringing blooming plants to the office, where they spruce up my desk.