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! :-)


--

Claude,

Humidity is a pain in the ass to control precisely.

Basically, I don't worry about it in the summer, and in the winter, i struggle to keep the RH up.

The trouble is that the RH goes up as the temperature goes down at a constant "true" water content
of the air.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

.. . . . . . . . . . .
"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! :-)


--

Subject: Question for Al or Ray !
From: "PhalGuy"
Date: 4/25/2004 6:55 PM Central Daylight Time
Message-id: m

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?




ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!!

The humidity should increase at night, because of lack of light, and cooler
temperatures.

-

theoneflasehaddock

Xref: kermit rec.gardens.orchids:58987

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! :-)


--

Well, I *am* Ray or Al, which puts me in good but relatively thin company
when I consider the other orchid know-it-all type people milling about in
this newsgroup.

In my greenhouse relative humidity generally goes down during the day and up
at night, and this makes sense to me because air cools at night and can hold
less water vapor. The warmer the air, the more water it can contain, and
the cooler the air, the less it can contain. Relative Humidity expresses
how much moisture is in the air as a percentage of the total moisture the
air can contain at the current temperature. For a given amount of water in
the air, the relative humidity will change inversely with temperatu as
the temperature drops, the air becomes relatively more saturated, and the
relative humidity goes up.

If you grow in a home rather than greenhouse you will not see rh much above
about 40 to 50% very often. And only this high if you work at it. Grouping
lots of plants together is the best way to increase it because plant
transpiration puts water into the air in large amounts. (I would bet they
put out more water at night than during the day, but I don't know for sure)
Ferns are humidity factories and very helpful plants for low humidity areas.
Most orchids will get somewhat used to these lower humidity levels in a
home. Putting mist in the air around plants may help a bit to keep humidity
up and will work best if the area into which it is pumped is separated and
isolated from the larger volume of dryer air circulating about your house.
Putting mist on the leaves is a dangerous way to raise humidity and probably
not very effective anyway. A thin layer of moisture on leaf surfaces is
exactly what fungus/bacterial spores want. Don't give it to them. A lot of
customers seem to think watering the plant more often will help compensate
for lower humidity, perhaps by making more moisture available for
evaporation. This will lead to root rot problems. Only water when the
plants need it not when the air needs it.

Your source below says humidity should be lower at night than during the
day. I think this might be a general recommendation meant to help control
fungus and bacterial diseases, although humidity is probably the least
controllable environmental factor you have to deal with. 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."


"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!
:-)


--

"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!
:-)


--

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!
:-)


--

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!
:-)


--