Hello board, I am Kayt. And I have a question about dry air.

[Kayt]

Just popping on to say "hi". My name is Kayt and I'm an apartment dweller in Ohio. I adopted a tiny little phalaenopsis about two months ago after it was abandoned at my hotel. As far as I can tell, it's doing a-ok so far. Today I took a big step and picked up a second phalaenopsis from a plant store. It looks like it's just about past blooming.

I think they're all getting plenty of water, fertilizer, light, and love, but the apartment is a tad on the dry side. I'm wondering now, what are the side effects of having a dry air environment? How does the extra humidity benefit the plants? I'm sure it does, and I'm sure I need to fix this, but please let me know what differences I should expect to see or what to look for to tell if my plants are suffering from the dry air.

Thank you and I look forward to sharing orchid stories!

[John D.]

Welcome. Most orchids appreaciate humidity in the 50-60% range. The blooms expand more and last longer. I have kept mine in the house - air conditioned in summer and heated in winter and they have grown OK. I have seen an improvement however since I added a humidifier last spring and tried to maintain 55% target.Humidity trays are often suggested but it takes a lot of area to evaporate enough water to make a difference.

[kiki-do]

Hello Kayt! Welcome to OB!
I tend to have dry winter air also. I heat my home with wood in the winter, so I have a double whammy going on. I sometimes run a small fan in the winter during the daylight hours to circulate air. I also have a humidifier going, plus use humidity trays and I mist the roots every other day or so.
One thing that you can get from dry stale air is pests on your orchids. Another thing you may notice is the leaves will crack or look like an accordian (pleated).
Having said the worse case scenario, I have a friend who grows orchids and heats her home with wood, has dry conditions in her home, and doesn't spoil any of her orchids in any way...yet she has beautiful blooms and growth just the same.
So keep an eye on them and if you see anything negative happening, perhaps it's time to adopt some moisture-giving solutions.

[Orchidophile]

Welcome to the OB Kayt!, I could only maintain an average of 40% last winter but it didn't seem to hurt the orchids but I did spray them about twice a day.