Hello Everyone, this morning we had a real humidity disaster.
I have just brought my first orchid home from texas two weeks ago(to
New York)
My 2 year old daughter thought it would be fun to explore the
humidifier by breaking the water holding tank.....to make a long story
short, she pushed it off the coffee table while our house keeper was
cleaning up...
Now, I'm going to get a new humidiifer on Monday, I'm not too familiar
with places to shop for them here in New York, so my brother is taking
me, but not utnil Monday.....
So, will my 2 plants die out with just a few days of lower humidity
than usual?
This time, I was thinking about getting someone to install those whole
house humidifiers, but I'm going to settle on a room humidifer for
right now, just because of my plants.
Anwyay, any advice would be appreciated
Thanks so much
-Sandra

Sandra,

Despite the popular misperception, orchids are actually pretty sturdy,
especially Phalaenopsis - some orchid genera are more delicate, but it
takes quite a lot to kill a Phal unless you are overwatering it (killing a
Phal by watering too often is easy, or so I am told). I once posted a
message to this news group humorously asking for advice on how to kill an
orchid, since despite lots of abuse and neglect I have not managed to kill
an orchid yet.

I did not get a humidifier until about a year ago, and I have been growing
Phals for 3.5 years, and they have been reflowering for me even before I got
the humidifier (I live in Washington DC, so I assume not too different
conditions than New York - the heating in our apartment is on high and the
humidity very low in the winter). A humidifier is not strictly necessary to
keep Phals alive and even thriving in an apartment, though they prefer
higher humidity they adjust to lower humidity quite well (even in the 20-30%
humidity range Phals can live and reflower).

If the difference in the conditions that the plant is used to and the ones
it currently gets is too drastic (too large a difference and too fast,
without an adjustment period) then you might get bud blasting or untimely
flower wilting. So if you have unopened buds or if the plant is in flower,
this difference in conditions may result in the Phal sulking and you may
need to wait till the next flowering season. However, the plant itself will
be ok, just the buds or flowers may not make it. Or then again they might,
hard to predict this sort of thing.

You could try filling some containers (saucers, bowls) with water and
putting as many of them close to the plants as a temporary measure of trying
to increase the humidity just a little bit - won't help much, but it might
help some.

Mainly, don't worry too much! The plants will certainly be fine, and if your
plants loose flowers/buds, then get another orchid, since the more orchids
you have the less you are likely to worry about one of them not being in
bloom for one flowering season.

Best,
Joanna

"sandra" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello Everyone, this morning we had a real humidity disaster.
I have just brought my first orchid home from texas two weeks ago(to
New York)
My 2 year old daughter thought it would be fun to explore the
humidifier by breaking the water holding tank.....to make a long story
short, she pushed it off the coffee table while our house keeper was
cleaning up...
Now, I'm going to get a new humidiifer on Monday, I'm not too familiar
with places to shop for them here in New York, so my brother is taking
me, but not utnil Monday.....
So, will my 2 plants die out with just a few days of lower humidity
than usual?
This time, I was thinking about getting someone to install those whole
house humidifiers, but I'm going to settle on a room humidifer for
right now, just because of my plants.
Anwyay, any advice would be appreciated
Thanks so much
-Sandra

From what I've been told the whole house humidifiers will only get you
30-40% humidity, so you would still probably want a room humidifier near
your plants if you want higher levels than that. The whole house humidifier
can definitely help though. Like Joanna said, if you have run-of-the-mill
Phalaenopsis, Dendrobium, or Cattleya type orchids a few days of lower
humidity shouldn't cause any damage.
-danny

what joanna said. right now, i think the hygrometer says 42%
downstairs. i've got 2 (maybe 3) phals and one vuyl in spike. we get
NOID phals at the office for the reception desks, and the humidity there
can drop as low as 25% (yes, i've brought a hygrometer in to the office
to try and make a point to the building engineers. :-) they keep
blooming just fine.

now, if you were to do something like take the plant from a 65 degree
house out into 45 degree weather for three hours and bring it back in,
you might have a problem. but the humidiy shouldn't do anything drastic.

--j_a

On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:48:11 -0800, sandra wrote:


So, will my 2 plants die out with just a few days of lower humidity
than usual?

Your plants will be just fine.


This time, I was thinking about getting someone to install those whole
house humidifiers, but I'm going to settle on a room humidifer for
right now, just because of my plants.

A room humidifier is good enough really. For you and the plants.


Tom

Hi Sandra,the best advise I could give you from my own ups & downs growing
orchids is DON`T overwater & don`t pamper them tooooo much!I know its hard
not to when you only have two plants,but they do thrive on a bit of rough &
tumble.My very first phal i have to admit to killing it by overwatering it,
in its decorative pot sitting in water .This is the best way to kill a phal!


--
Thanks Keith,England,UK.
"Tom Randy" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 16:48:11 -0800, sandra wrote:


So, will my 2 plants die out with just a few days of lower humidity
than usual?

Your plants will be just fine.


This time, I was thinking about getting someone to install those whole
house humidifiers, but I'm going to settle on a room humidifer for
right now, just because of my plants.

A room humidifier is good enough really. For you and the plants.


Tom