An old newbie

[Nita M]

OK, dumb question #17 - why are there so many different ways to reply? Ay yi yi! I finally saw the little box that says Post Reply - after I asked the question. Just a little short on marbles here. :-)

Thanks for all your help

Nita

[Nita M]

OK - another question - what on earth is that little symbol on the left hand side of your posts that says "digg this post"?

Nita

[Dorothy]

Now, Now Nita - the only dumb questions are the ones that are never asked
The reason why there are so many ways to answer a reply is so that if you forget one .. there is always the another one there to use
This is a thread on 'Digg This Post' - http://www.orchidboard.com/community...digg-post.html

[Nita M]

Kiki - what a beautiful house with wonderful big windows! I saw all that snow. I like that skylight too. I notice that you don't have all your phals sitting on humidity trays and they seem to do well anyway? How do you go about watering them? - take them to a sink or do you water them where they sit on those shelves?

I keep hoping that it will get warmer pretty soon so I can put mine outside. We're in Michigan right now and we're going to be lucky if temps get into the 60s for the rest of the week and of course, down into the 40s at night. So all my babies will stay inside for awhile longer.

Nita

[kiki-do]

Nita, Thank you for such kind words. I should have my chids on humidity trays, but I don't. I use a humidifier all winter and seems to work well for me.
Yes, I water them all at the sink. Quite a process. Every day I water some, especially those that are mounted. When I "fuss" over them and check them for any potential problems or for new growths, I bet it takes me two hours to do that plus watering. That is the part I really enjoy! I do that on a weekday when my husband is at work...he's not in my way and I'm not in his. Don't want any problems to arise.
We are getting much the same for weather temps. I do open all those windows in the sunroom during the day as it gets up in the 80's out there. It gives them excellent air flow, plus I have ceiling fans out there.
I will move some out on my front porch when it gets warmer like I did last year. Whereever I spend time, I surround myself with orchids. It's only fitting.

[William]

I see you talking about humidity trays. In another thread I spoke about my Phals with withered, wilted leaves and I was wondering if I might need humidity trays even in South Florida. I unpotted one and noticed that although I water every day, the roots at the bottom of the pot are dry.

[kiki-do]

Hi William, Humidity trays are never a bad idea. Do you soak your phal roots good when you water? Usually when you water, the moisture leaves the plant from top to the bottom. I have mine in clear pots and that is how I know to water again, I look at moisture beads near the bottom. I don't let my phals dry out completely, but very near that. I find that where I live, if my phals lack water, it's not the leaves that give me the hint, but a couple buds will start to dry up. That has only happened twice now. I try to stay on top of it more since then. What medium are you using, how old is it, and how is your main root system looking. Anything happening at the core of the plant?

[Nita M]

William - I live in Ocala in the winter - a lot chillier than Miami and I bought an old jelly roll pan at the Goodwill store, filled it with rocks (some kind of lava stone that I originally bought to plant my phals in and one grower in Leesburg told me NEVER to plant my phals in stone) - so I figured they'd work good in a humidity tray. Of course, I barely got that done and we left for Illinois. And it's been too cold since then to put them outside and leave them. But I am going to try to use the tray when we finally get back in July after roaming around the countryside (Michigan, Wyoming, Illinois and probably back to Michigan now and again and eventually roost in northern Illinois until time to leave for Florida again). I either need to stop collecting orchids or stop roaming around. :-)

Nita

[cb977]

Hi Nita

It's very nice to have you here with us...welcome to Orchidboard

We'd love to hear more from somebody who has orchids with frequent flier miles

>>>>

[Dorothy]

If you want to kick up the humidity a notch up from the trays there are always room humidifiers - like the 'penguin' in this thread - http://www.orchidboard.com/community...-my-setup.html
Google 'penguin humidifier' and you'll get many responses
(I have even seen frog, pig and cow humidifiers )