Gary,

Good thoughts, all. We kind of keep track of humidity with remote Oregon
Scientific units. They are mostly for temperature, but do show humidity.
Everything seems normal for this area.

More interesting is the reference to industry. We are in a residential area
with no factory or other type of heavy industry for many miles. About half
mile away are a few gas stations, but they have been there longer than we
have been growing orchids and they don't seem to be doing anything different
now.

What *is* present is a tremendous amount of construction. Roughly a mile
west of us there is a 'city' being built. Even now, while the house is
closed up and the a/c is on, the dust that we get is horrible. There is also
a subdivision going up in the other direction, but it is far less extensive
and produces less mess. Perhaps three miles away a new WalMart is going in.

So, I suppose there may be more particulate matter in the air, given the
construction equipment. Interesting.

Diana

"V_coerulea" wrote in message
.. .

"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
.. .
All,

Here's a topic for discussion, hopefully. Have any of you seen variables
in the blooming seasons for some of your orchids? I'm not talking about a
plant or two, but many of them.

Since the storms of 2004, it seems to me that lots of our plants have
decided to bloom *out of season*. I can understand that for last year, as
the plants underwent a load of stress the year before. But we didn't have
any significant storm activity in this area last year, and yet the plants
are still off kilter.

Diana

One reason for different amounts of sun could be a change in the amount of
water vapor in the air which you could verify through NOAA. Most
southerners know the difference in summer-sky blue. There's white, bluish
white, powder blue and light blue as opposed to autumn and winter blue,
"sky" blue, and deep blue. Qualitatively humidity is an important part of
a southerner's life but you may not have noticed it quantitatively.
Secondly, you may not have changed anything cultural with your plants, but
what about neighbors including industry? I have no idea what kind of area
you live in and what industry there may be within several miles, but their
emissions may have an impact in amount of light as well as specific
chemical interactions. You might check out neighbors upwind and what
they've been doing.
I have had some plants bloom more than once this year which is a little
unusual. But they're inside, under shade, cooling pads, etc. So I never
thought anything of it.
Gary