I sent Janett over here to check out the thread on light stands, she lives in Sweden and needed some more lighting in her home to start seeds. After reading the thread, she suggested maybe using aquarium heaters, dropping it down into a jar/jug of some sort to put out humidity for the hoya's. Has anyone ever tried this? I've never had an aquarium, but she said after she put one of these in her tanks, that the humidity raised in her home, and helped out her plants. Hmmmmm?
aquarium heaters
Sounds complicat4ed. Tami...at the drugstore they have Wet/Dry heating pads. Put the pad on something other than wood. Put a cookie sheet with a lip on top of the heating pad. Fill the cookie sheet with gravel (aquarium shop...driveway). Put your plants you are rooting on the gravel. Turn heating pad on low.
Take two glasses of red wine...down them slowly to some nice music. It is done.....if you have a temperature probe, test the soil for the heat...if too high....turn it off and run it only at night...I used 4 heating pads in this configuration for the first 2 years. I put some old clay tiles down, the heating pad on them and then the rest. No problem. Your DH can surely rig a temperature control mechanism to turn it on and off at a certain temp.
Keep smiling..... :>)
Carol,
I found a propagation matt at the nursery last week. The cuttings are liking it alot. I just have a problem keeping the humidity up past 30. I have saucers filled with water and mist them. I even put bubble wrap around my light stand as Mel had suggested. I just cannot keep the humidity in there.
At a nursery supply place, you can find big clear "domes" that fit over the shallow trays. Same concept as the Mini Greenhouses but on a larger scale. They are great for keeping the humidity 'in there'...and not dissipating out in space..... or put a pop bottle over the top of ever pot....?
Nothing complicated at all, just put it in a jug filled with water and plug it in the wall. You can also adjust the temp on it and therefor also the humidity it creates. Just DON`T fill the jug with COLD water when it runs and don't let the jug run empty. Here you have a picture of it.
Janett
Hi Tami. Before I had a GH, I grew orchids in a large bathroom. I bought a small, inexpensive table-top humidifier to get the humidity into the 50-60% range I wanted. It was very easy to do this. I had a small humidistat to give me current humidity readings so that there was no guesswork.
The brand-name of the humidifier was "Holmes" and it was not a large unit at all. The humidifier that I purchased was designed for a room/home, and it had filters that needed to be changed out periodically. Of course, water was added as needed. The humidifier worked VERY well and I grew my orchids indoors for years! (I think I got the unit at a Walmart.)
Here's a pic from "life before a greenhouse". Shelves were mounted right up to the window. The humidifier was placed on the countertop next to the sink. The orchids did very well in there! For "extra" humidity, I turned on my shower for a few minutes.
I am using an aquarium heater on the cuttings Carol sent me. It is in a large mason jar with water around it and is placed inside a 20 gallon aquarium with the florescent light on 24 hours a day. The plants are doing great, lots have lots of roots and a few are starting to put out new leaves. It is VERY humid in there and the the aquarium heater puts out enough heat to warm the interior to about 78 degrees.
The only thing you have to watch is to keep water inside the mason jar or the heater could crack and no longer work.
Sue
Thanks all for your input. Sue Iam glad that you have had good luck with this method. I'm def. going to try it. I do have a humidifier but it just doesn 't seem to work very well. It's almost like the room gets much colder than normal. I guess a cool humidifier will do that Huh? My cuttings are taking off and growing under the lights now, I would just like an easier way to get them humidity.
My seedlings have put on their first leave!!!
Tami