Al,

Actually, I know I had said that I planned to spray this plant with Physan,
even bought the Physan, but then I wound up not spraying it.

However, ever since I increased the humidity, the bud has been progressing
nicely (knock on wood). The humidifier can increase the humidity in my
apartment to be consistently in the 45% to 55% range (right now it is over
50) -- and after the shower or cooking I have had humidity readings higher
than 70%. Before the humidifier, or during a time when we were not as good
about remembering to refill the humdifier (during the time when the
cochleanthes bud blasted) we had humidity getting as low as 30% and a few
times even 20% and it very rarely was more than 40% -- the Phals had no
problem with that, they adjusted to non-ideal conditions, but the
cochleanthes is another matter. I do not know to what extent the increase in
humidity now is due to the humidifier only and to what extent the whether is
contributing, but since we have a small apartment, a humidifier can make a
huge difference.

The leaves are always dry by night fall, I am very good about watering only
in the mornings. Air circulation is not excellent here, but it is not bad
either. We might get a fan for the summer, so that would help.

Ok, I will try to pay less attention to it, but that will be very very
difficult for me. :-)

Thanks for all your advice,
Joanna

"Al" wrote in message
...
If the leaves of the plants stay dry while the temps are going down and if
you make sure the air around the leaves is always gently moving then you
have done all you can do to naturally prohibit fungus and bacterial spores
from settling on you plants and doing nasty things to them.

I know you have also sprayed them with Physan recently and I suspect your
cocleanthese bud issue is humidity related anyway, so I would say don't
change anything.

How much difference has the humidifier made in the rh of your apartment?
Hopefully it has helped tip the rh balance scale and this new bud will
hang
on. Try to affect an air of indifference around the bud. Pretend you
don't
care what happens to it. This will make it crazy to get your attention
and
might be enough to make the darn thing flower.

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
...

"Al" wrote in message
news [snip]
Perhaps the author
is trying to say something like, 'if you have a humidifier on during
the
day
turn it off in late afternoon so conditions ripe for fungus/bacterial
problems can not develop when the sun goes down and/or the lights go
off
and
cause the air to cool and moisture to settle out of it and onto plant
parts."

Al,
We have a humidifier running on high both day and night in our
apartment --
is this a mistake? I am reluctant to turn the humidifier off at all
right
now, since the cochleanthes bud is so much closer to actually producing
a
flower this time and it seems to need lots of humidity to do so, however
I
wouldn't want to endanger my orchids and make fungus more likely. Should
I
adjust what I am doing or not?
Thanks,
Joanna


"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
I'm not Al or Ray, but ... ours live with what Mother Nature gives
them.
--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids
http://www.jborchids.com

"PhalGuy" wrote in message
s.com...
Hello AL ! or Ray !

I have read in many books and on the monreal botanical garden that
the
relative humidity for orchids like Phal, Paph, Onc should be at
around
70%
during the day and 40 % at night!

Is this true? Do you do this or do you maintain the same
percentage
of
RH
all the time?

Thanks

Claude

PS: AL, I`m very jalous of your greenhouses ! Can I go work for
you!
:-)


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