Humidity Level
 

Hi,
I have been wondering what is the acceptable level of humidity to raise orchids indoors. My home, in the South, naturally stays about 42-46% humidity in the winter. My orchids are in a southeastern exposure and get early morning sun. Most of them are planted in sphagnum moss, but I plan to switch them all over to a bark based medium. The moss stays moist for over a month or more without watering! My home is rather cool in the winter at 66-67°. I am not sure what will happen this summer. The humidity level most likely will drop a bit as I will aircondition my home to about 74-76°.
Is my current winter humidity level good or should I think about getting a humidifier?

your humidity sounds ok to me I like it a little higher but I dont think there are to many orchids that will get upset with it at 42-46%

if you live in the south, the summer humidity will rise to up to 80% and your winter humidity indoors is fine for some kinds of orchids....but if you grow equatorial orchids you need to up it to at least 50% to 60%
I grow Vandas and Mokaras....so I have to invest in a humidifier to constantly give it 80% humidity all year round.....if you decide to get a humidifier, get the ones with small oscillating fans for good air circulation to rule out fungi and bacteria infestation; cold water spots on leaves and root rot=high humidity in winter can cause dampness indoors so I up my temperature to 80F with the help of electric heaters

80 degrees and 80% humidity in your apt...year round? YIKES! That's a serious mold factory. How does your landlord feel about that? Do a little reading about toxic mold...it's amazing it can start behind the walls or under the carpets and you don't even know it's there....until it comes through the facing areas. It's very dangerous to the building structure...and to your health...as well as the health of your neighbors.

Glittermom -- I grow in the house during the colder months and outside when it's warm. Living in OH our humidity can swing from the single digits into very high numbers...I do nothing to increase the humidity when it's at it's lowest and I've never had any trouble. Certainly, I would never try to grow Draculas but what I do grow (a wide variety of orchids) do just fine w/out any supplementation of humidity.

you could do a couple of things ( if you haven't already)
- gently mist plants and roots in early morning with fresh warm ( 75f ) water
- group plants together to raise ambient humidity
- use humidity trays specifically designed to raise humidity
The best is to get an evaporative humidifier ( creates air movement ), but if you do the above it needn't stay on 24/7.
I do all of the above despite having a whole-house humidifier set to 50%. Higher humidity is good for people too !

If your orchids/plants grow fine, don't worry about the humidity. If you are concerned, buy a bunch of plants to add humidity. Bring the rainforest into your home. :)

---------- Post added at 06:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:43 PM ----------

I never do anything to raise humidity. I had to put my haraella in a little terrarium but everyone else seems fine. My big worry was the theobroma cacao...understory, lowland, equator rainforest tree...how do you grow that in a terrarium? Turns out, no need. That seems to be the case for most of the commonly sold orchids. I don't grow the dracs either, though. If you do notice your orchids are having trouble, then it is time to re-evaluate. :)

the reason why I do what I do is that I see the benefit to the plants. Actually - you can go to any orchid greenhouse and see this in action. I have never been to any orchid greenhouse that doesn't have higher humidity year-round. They allow temps to vary, but humidity is fairly constant.........and I got that from a huge commercial orchid grower.

Not all g/h's have constant high humidity...unless they are putting the humidity in the air via misters or other mechanical equipment. Just like in a house...the RH in a g/h is subject to what is going on outside the structure.

As for the higher humidity in a g/h...yes, it's beneficial to plants...but people don't live in a g/h and there can be detrimental effects on humans who are exposed to elevated levels for extended periods. Not to mention the effect that can be had to the building structure of homes/apts when kept at very high levels of humidity for extended periods. There have been countless studies done over the years that state indoor RH is best for humans AND the structure when maintained at levels between 40 and 60%...45% being the "ideal". Fluctuations above and below those figures are normal but those figures are considered the ideal as a constant figure we should be shooting for.

When the santa anas are blowing around here with RH around ther single digits none of my orchids suffer one bit. I used to grow massies and milts with no problems. I wouldn't worry about it. 40-60% is just right.

I have a hard time trying to keep the humidity at 45% I'm luck if I can get it at 25% so I mist every morning and so far every one is happy