New Orchidarium Misters? - Orchid Board

h2o517 · #1 04-06-2021, 08:09 PM

Hello people !

This past years I've become more fascinated about orchids but living in AZ it's hard to keep them going cause there's not a lot of humidity.

Temperatures ranges around 70 by nights to 77 by day inside the cabinet. I repurposed a old rifle cabinet and made sure to coat it really well inside to avoid any wood problems.

I've installed a humidifier to keep the temperature low and humidity at 65% , I'm planning in adding a misting system just to add water to the plants.

There are fans for air circulation inside and as well on the outside to push air into the cabinet; lights go on and off according to the day cycle . I have Oncidiums, Cattleya, Dendrobiums and Phalaenopsis growing besides some Spanish moss and air plants.

My question is : Does anyone have any recommendations as far as the setup? I've tried to research about the misting and the fog but I can't find much information online about settings or how often or how beneficial would it be misting them ?

How much humidity is it necessary ? Moss is preserved moss, the bottom its layered medias: starting with a 1" layer of lecca and then garden fabric and then kiwi bark all the way up.

Fog is constant but I feel they need some spraying every other day or so as I see the roots not really moist and lots of them just dried?

The problem is that having the humidity at 65 I found right away on two Phals some lighter spots and on the bottom on a oncidium and cattleya some black spots that right away I thought of them to be fungus due to the humidity being so high.

Im new to this plants, and to the whole setup and I'm wondering how to take care of all this plants. Ive kept alive lots of Phalaenopsis but never got spikes back, or roots. now with all together and trying to give them all the perfect environment I don't know what I am missing to start seeing an improvement on some.

Advise on watering , misting system , temperatures and humidity will be really appreciated.

Roberta · #2 04-06-2021, 08:21 PM

First, Welcome!
Your orchidarium in the cabinet is beautiful as well as functional.
As far as Phals not blooming... how many hours a day do you have the lights on? I found that 12 hours a day of light greatly improved my percentage of reblooming of Phals.

Take a look at the Terrarium Gardening forum (about 2/3 of the way down the Forum list) There are lots of discussions about set-ups and other information about what people have done in that environment.

h2o517 · #3 04-06-2021, 09:04 PM

Thank you so much 🥰

So far now in spring here they are getting around 11+12 hours starting at 6 30 am and turning off around ,6-7 pm