Hi V_coerulea,

Yes, a swamp cooler is more efficient than air conditioning for raising
the humidity. However, during already humid conditions, it will not
lower temperature and becomes very inefficient; thus, most high
temperature desert days lend itself nicely to a swamp cooler in which
case I have seen an 82-87 degree temperature in the greenhouse when
temps have surpassed 100 and humidity is low.
Unfortunately, misting is not always the answer either. If misting
occurs late in the afternoon, water remaining in the crowns of vandas
will produce rot. Disease also will sometimes occur when both humidity
and temperature are high. I have had blooming plants for weeks inside
the house wihen humidity has dropped to 15-30 (temperature inside is
moderate due to air conditioning) and still thrive when returned to the
greenhouse; so, I am not too certain that for some species that dry
conditions for short-term are terribly negative. (I know this might be
contrary; however, I have kept plants inside (w/ heat and air
conditioning) which were in bloom and developed pods for the duration of
the pod only to have them come into bloom again)).

.. . . Pam
Everything Orchid Management System
http://home.earthlink.net/~profpam/page3.html flasks, too --
http://home.earthlink.net/~profpam/flask.html

V_coerulea wrote:

It would be great to raise the humidity level of the house to 40% or so, and
then maintaining the humidity in the area immediately around the orchids
would be a lot easier. When I did pennance in Yankeeland for some years
(Yes, Ray, I did live in Yankeeland for a number of years in my younger
days), we had a humidifier inserted into the main heating duct and supplied
with its own water supply. We did have to periodically clean the tray due to
the mineral precipitation. The drum rotated evaporating water into the dry
air. There ae probably better ones on the market today, but they do exist.
And we had significantly fewer colds and lower heating bills since the air
was more comfortable.
Gary

wrote in message
. org...


On 3 Jun 2005 21:40:17 -0700 in
ps.com
wrote:


I read that just building a constant humid enviroment for your orchids
is best.
They need the 24-7 moisture and misting drops off in a matter of
minutes, plus it can lead to stuff like crown rot and other stuff.


Any pointers on how to keep that constant humidity going?
I've done a winter of feeding humidifiers for orchids in the house
and have enjoyed the extra humidity myself. But I'm thinking it
might be smarter to do something automatic for the whole house
to bring up the base humidity for the house so I'm not refilling
humifiers as often.

Thoughts? Suggestions?


--
Chris Dukes
Suspicion breeds confidence -- Brazil