Humidity levels and wrinkled leaves - Orchid Board

grasshopper · #1 05-25-2010, 11:27 AM

I have an Odontocidium Succubus 'Dragon Dreck' that I converted to S/H back in December and so far it seems to be happy. It's got 2 new pbulbs, one of which is plumping up quite nicely. The other one is still relatively new. Back in March I noticed that a few of the newer leaves were a bit wrinkled, so I began to water more frequently - upped it from 2x a week to 3x a week - and things appeared to be ok.

However, the heat is upon us in Dallas and the room in which I grow this little guy maxes out around 84 degrees F in the afternoon with 58-60% humidity. I'm still watering 3x a week and I mist the top layer every morning, but I'm still noticing some wrinkling on one of the new leaves...argh!

Questions:

1. Do I need to water more frequently?
2. Should I increase the humidity? What is ideal humidity?
3. Do wrinkled leaves "hurt" the plant or it is more of an "aesthetic" thing?
4. Can I grow this orchid outside? (Dallas gets into the 90s in the summer and sometimes triple digits with 50-60% humidity.)

Sorry for the long post!

MH

WhiteRabbit · #2 05-25-2010, 06:06 PM

The pleated foliage doesn't 'hurt' the plant if the problem causing it is corrected. I grow a number of oncidium types in much lower humidity during the summer. Usually the pleated foliage, in my experience anyway, is caused by under-watering. The pleated foliage won't smooth out no matter what you do, but as the foliage grows, the newer parts should come in smooth if the problem has been corrected.

Of course the plant can also show signs of under-watering if there are no good roots as well, no matter how much you water it. A skewer in the pot can help determine how often to water. You may also want to check the roots.

Hope this helps

grasshopper · #3 05-25-2010, 06:42 PM

This lil' guy has new roots all over the place with this lil' baby, so it sounds like I really just need to water it more often.

I thought of another question, too. I have a ceiling fan running on low speed in my growing room, and the orchids' leaves do sway gently, so it would seem that they're getting decent air movement. If I set up a few "muffin" fans on the growing rack and position them to blow across the drip trays, would this help to increase the humidity? Would it help any to reduce the temperature in the room (like a breeze across the bay keeps a waterfront area cooler than a landlocked area)? Am I just wishful thinking here?

Thanks for any and all advice. I'm stepping outside my comfort zone and am trying new types of orchids. As Murphy's Law would have it, I'm drawn to the cooler growing ones (those that don't really like to be warmer than 75 degrees F) and I'm trying my hardest to find a way to change my indoor growing conditions to suit them!

WhiteRabbit · #4 05-25-2010, 06:58 PM

yes, the new growths are initiating roots now - but if the older growths roots aren't good, the new growth had nothing to get water from causing pleated foliage. I don't know if that is the case with you - just pointing out the possibility. In any case new root growth is good.

As to fans - I don't know - maybe someone else can chime in. My Miltonia, and Miltoniopsis hybrids all take some very dry heat over summer here - tho temps at night drop significantly - and humidity increases then but still not higher than your daytime humidity. I do water them a lot in hot dry weather. So I think you are ok temp and humidity -wise. Tho I guess with temps not dropping as much at night as they do here (if that's the case) extreme heat for days might be worrisome - tho I don't know for sure.

WhiteRabbit · #5 05-25-2010, 07:01 PM

Oh - and I think you could grow them outside, so long as they don't get too much sun (and are brought inside before it gets too cold) Some sun in the morning before it gets too hot would probably be best. I have some outside and temps in 90s are frequent with occasionally in triple digits - tho as previously said, night temps are significantly cooler. That said - maybe someone who lives in your part of the country will chime in - as I can't say for certain

grasshopper · #6 05-26-2010, 11:21 AM

Thanks, WhiteRabbit! I got hooked on this hobby back in September, so I'm still in "learning" mode. Trial and error will tell if I can grow this orchid outside here in Dallas - at least in the summer and through most of the fall. And I may just have to buy a few small fans and test 'em out.

WhiteRabbit · #7 05-26-2010, 04:55 PM

Keep your eye on em - especially during extreme heat. Make sure they are shaded before the heat becomes too intense. During some extreme heat here last year, my plants in the back yard cooked, but ones in front were fine - I think because the front gets morning light, and they were shaded before the day was extremeley hot, While the ones in back were baking in the hot late afternoon sun when it was over 100 degrees. (They all survived - just looked a lot worse for wear)