Hi from Arizona!
 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eyabu/shares/08rLEA

Hi from Arizona!
New member, I have a small collection of orchids in several of my windowsills - most of them Phels since I am addicted to the sale rack in Lowe's :roll: but a couple of Paphs , Catts and two Oncidiums. I am definitely partial to Oncidiums and so far they seem to bear well the Arizona dryness, but it is a struggle... at least we have light aplenty!
I would love to hear from other people that live in very dry climates and what they do to help their plants thrive. I have experimented with a few watering schedules and potting media but I don't think I have hit the right ones yet.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eyabu/shares/08rLEA
Hopefully this shows... it is a self made humidity tray at one of my windows.

Welcome! There are a number of Westerners here from dry places in AZ, CA, CO, MT, NM, OR, WA, WY.

Keeping all your plants in one room makes a difference in ambient humidity. Leafy houseplants that need frequent watering raise humidity. Ultrasonic or steam humidifiers make a big difference. Aquariums with aeration bubblers make a difference. Humidity trays don't raise humidity at all but they keep water off your furniture. (The amount of water evaporating from the tray is so small it makes no difference.)

The more mammals around, the higher the humidity. So get married, have kids, take in elderly relatives or roommates, increase your dog and/or cat count. After all, it's for the orchids.

Join your local orchid society. There are one in Tucson and two in metro Phoenix.

Almost forgot the most important thing... our water is extremely high in dissolved minerals. Very good for humans, very bad for orchids. Collect as much rain as you can, and use that. Or use reverse osmosis water on your orchids. You can get a kitchen RO unit or buy it at an aquarium shop cheaply. Fertilizer is formulated differently for pure/rain/RO water vs tap/well water, so get appropriate fertilizer.

:welcomeflowers:

Hehe thank you for your advice... the animal biomass of my household is reaching critical levels already, so not much I can do here, but I can definitely do something about the quality of my water. I have been wanting a RO system so maybe I can ditch the delivery water... will have to do the math.
Isn't the East Valley Orchid society having some kind of show in March or April? I should check their internet page again... and save some money...

Welcome to OrchidBoard :)

Welcome, and happy growing.:waving Turn your swamp cooler to low cool in late April, and don't shut it off until September. That's the only way I can manage in the heat. It does add a lot of humidity and cools the air in the house. I run a small fan and keep the windows cracked open in the summer.
Take care,

Welcome to the board. It's pretty dry here in Wyoming also. I have 2 humidifiers going all the time in the winter and I do have a swamp cooler in the summer. I have heard they don't work so well where you are however. But they work good here if you keep them in the shade.

As far as media and watering goes that is going to depend. What have you tried and why do you think it has not worked well? It is also going to depend on what type of orchids you have. I'm still working on all that as well.

I initially tried a coarse fir bark, I have a couple of Phels on it, they like it but it dries way too fast, which means more watering, and I suspect it will be worse in the summer. I bought a media called Orchid Gold from a local specialty nursery, and that stuff is horrible, looks like pure dirt. I am still figuring out if it will work on any specific plants. should have read the Internet before I bought... The latest repotting have been on RePot Me Orchid classic which is a coconut chip based mix (Phals again) - seems to retain water better but still drain well, we will see how it goes. And I recently bought some Gubbler's fine mix for some younger and smaller plants. Time is coming to repot a small dendrobium, and this time I will read more before I do it.

I am wondering if I should change to a medium with some sphagnum to help moisture retention??

I can't figure out proper watering with bark nor moss. Both seem to take forever to dry. Bark was easy years ago when I lived in S California, and most Desert Valley Orchid Society members are happy with it.

I tried a few different genera in semi-hydroponic culture and they took off! I'm moving most of my orchids to this, or mounted. All my Vandas are in vases.

The next meeting of the DVOS is Thursday, Feb 18. The speaker will be Ron Parsons. Hope you can make it.

I also use coconut chips for my bigger Phals. And they seem to do pretty well in there, I will keep doing that for now. I got a finer seedling mix to use for my mini's and I am experimenting in adding in more moss. They seem to like it but I still have to water them about every other or three days. I only seem to be able to go longer when they get into larger pots.