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| I'm curious what everyone thinks about keeping orchids in trays that are filled with water and pebbles to increase the local humidity around the plants. You see this recommendation all the time, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If you are keeping orchids in a home, then the air movement and large room size would seem to make it impossible for a humidity tray to really be able to increase the local humidity around the orchid plants. Is my thinking wrong on this? Are humidity trays really helpful in compensating for the typically dry winter air inside a home? Has anyone found that using them really makes their orchid plants happier? |
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| I haven't done it with an orchid yet (just got mine a matter of weeks ago) but with African Violets, during the winter, I would sit a tray with pebbles on top of the radiator in my living room, and keep water just below the top of the pebbles. They did great that way, blooming constantly. Lynn |
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| If you purchase one of those humidity gadgets and take readings around your home you will find that the trays do not do much in raising humidity levels. A small glass-house jammed with plants works much better if the door is closed. Anyway, i think all this tropical/ humidity stuff leads many a new grower astray. The room where i'm typing this has a 600 litre heated fish tank. Even with the door closed the humidity leaks out into the rest of the house. Just as well it doesn't work as many imagine humidity trays do, because there would be green mold on the walls. |
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- Posted by tolumniamatt 6a (My Page) on Fri, Mar 1, 13 at 21:55
| TillyGrower, I think they are useless, messy, and probably only offer humidity just above the water. Better to buy a Vicks brand "Vaporizer" humidifier. Low cost, easy to use and lots of humidity. |
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| Totally useless in my opinion. A humidifier would be much better, as tolu says. |
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- Posted by tillygrower (My Page) on Sat, Mar 2, 13 at 0:33
| I'm glad to hear that my supposition that humidity trays are useless is probably correct. Interestingly, this is what the American Orchid Socety says about it on their website: "Humidity is important to phalaenopsis... In the home, set the plants on trays of gravel, partially filled with water, so that the pots never sit in water." :-) |
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| The cheap vaporizers work the best. They are small and you can put a few around your room. I would group your plants together on tables and place the vaporizer nearby. They do work but in winter, you wind up having to fill them every few hours. Orchids will survive the low humidity for a few months until they can go out in spring. In this shot you can see a steam vaporizer on the floor on an egg crate. Jane |
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| Would you talk about the supplemental lighting you use, Jane? |
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| The lights are inexpensive floor lamps I bought in Home Depot and Target. I put CFL's in each one. I like the octopus floor lamps because you can point the bulb at a plant and control the distance to the plant. I would buy these when on sale and had quite a few. This shot is taken in a small room I used for orchids which needed warmth and higher humidity. My house was large with high ceilings and quite cool in winter. The orchids which needed more heat went in the small room. This is a shot of my large room which was quite drafty and cold in winter. I went overboard with the floor lamps! Jane |
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| I disagree about the use of humidity trays. I think they do help a bit in a couple of ways: 1. They do release a little humidity, especially if kept wet. My orchid growing room (spare bedroom) is usually 10-15% higher in humidity than the rest of the house in winter, but then I have 15 'pebble' trays in there also. Your mileage may vary, Bob |
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- Posted by tamela_star Zone 8a (My Page) on Mon, Mar 4, 13 at 14:36
| I mist my plants in the morning once a day. I've been doing that for many years and they thrive. All you need is a cheap spray bottle from the dollar store. Once a week I take my orchids to my sink and give them a good watering with the spray hose. (except for when I fertilize them) I use Luke warm water and again I do this in the morning. |
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