Orchid Care - Humidity
The good news is most orchids don't need a rain forest to grow. However, being the tropical creatures that they are, orchids grow best with at least 40% humidity.
If you live in a cold climate and your home has central heating, maintaining 40% humidity levels can be a challenge in the winter.
The problem is your furnace. As it heats the air, it's also baking out the moisture.
Growing healthy orchids in dry air is nearly impossible. If your humidity levels are less than 30%, you're going to have to make some improvements. Both you and your orchids will be more comfortable during the winter winter with higher humidity levels in your home.
Humidity (moisture in the air) is a vital ingredient in growing healthy orchids. 40-70% relative humidity is ideal.
To keep room temperatures comfortable in winter, central heating systems push out hot, dry air hour after hour. Maintaining 40% humidity under these conditions is impossible without help. Many homes in cold climates have humidity levels as low as 10-20% during winter months!
Low humidity makes life difficult for orchids. (10-20% humdity levels are normally found in the desert!)
Warning: Don't confuse humidity (moisture in the air) with water in the pot. Watering your plants more to compensate for dry air is another sure way to kill your orchids.
On the other hand, plants tend to dry out faster when exposed to dry air. So some of your plants might require more water when humidity levels are low. With hydroponics this is easy because the water gauge tells you when to water - you don't have to guess.
5 Ways to Increase Humidity (Moisture in the Air)
1. Misting Plants
Misting is great for people who think they always "need to do something" for their plants. But it doesn't accomplish much. Unless you mist your plants every 20 or 30 minutes, you're not raising the humidity because the moisture from misting evaporates quickly. Misting is a poor solution - you need to consider other options.
2. Grouping Plants Together
Grouping your plants together raises humidity levels somewhat.
This is especially true for plants growing in hydroponics because the water in the pot is not only nurturing the plant, it's also evaporating into the air (right at the base of the plant), raising humidity levels.
Warning #2: Never add extra water to the grow pot to increase humidity!
3. Grouping Plants Together on Humidity Trays (Very Good)
Humidity Trays are light weight, plastic trays that display your plants on a grid that sits above a water reservoir. As the water in the tray evaporates, the humidity around your plants increases.
Assembling your plants on Humidity Trays creates a micro-climate that increases humidity in two ways. First, moving your plants together naturally increases humidity. In addition, the water evaporating from the Humidity Tray gives your plants a real humidity boost.
4. Turn Down the Thermostat (also Very Good)
This is a big one!! And you'll save money!
Humidity levels are closely tied to air temperature. To promote higher humidity during winter months, try turning down the thermostat a few degrees, especially at night. Both you and your plants will be healthier!
Most orchids are content with evening temperatures as low as 50-55 degrees, So don't worry about your house being too cold. You'll be uncomfortable long before your plants will - even the "warm growers".
Likewise, in the summer, orchids enjoy the natural, warm, humid air from the outside. Air-conditioners make us more comfortable by cooling the air and removing moisture. Orchids have a hard time tolerating cold air drafts from air-conditioning because the air has been robbed of its natural humidity.
5. Invest in a Humidifier (also Very Good)
A room humdifier is also a very good solution to low humidity. Cost becomes a factor with this option however.
An evaporative-pad humidifier is better than a mist humidifier, because, unlike a mist humidifier, it doesn't leave your orchids with a white film (from the minerals in the water being deposited on the leaves).
Using humdity trays and a room humidifierand lowering the temperatures at night is by far the best solution to low humidity. And that's good news for both you and your orchids.
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