J-Bog

I have each of my trees in their own humidity tray, they sit in my room where my humidifier is (which isn't exclusively for my trees, I like the added humidity in the winter so I don't wake up congested) and I mist them at least once a day but sometimes twice. My trees seem to like it, they are thriving well and my acacia grew up into my florescent light and I had to do some pruning. So I suppose I must be doing alright.

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"It is said that you should never leave anything to chance; but, in operating like that, chance never leaves anything to you."

Rick Moquin

... and it depends where you are measuring.

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Bonsai Wonders

J-Bog

Don't you just measure the area around your foliage?

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"It is said that you should never leave anything to chance; but, in operating like that, chance never leaves anything to you."

Kansai

Thank you Centaura! I was beginning to think that I was the only person around who owned a hygrometer.

From what I can tell, the relative humidity at the surface of a humidity tray is indeed around 70%. But as you move away from the surface, the humidity rapidly dissipates, and once you get an inch or two above the tray the levels rapidly approach the ambient relative humidity of the room. Face it. Water just doesn't evaporate out of a humidity tray that fast.

As Rick pointed out, the only way to achieve high levels of humidity up around the foliage is with a confined enclosure. This doesn't need to be a big deal. A humidity dome, a tent, a big fish tank, whatever. On the other hand, it is a bad idea to raise the humidity of a room in your house to 70%. At this point, during the winter, moisture will leach through the walls, and condensate will form inside the walls. This will lead to problems you really don't want to deal with.

Another thing one should keep in mind is that humidity levels is part of a matrix of conditions. Humidity is more important during the summer when temperatures soar and light is intense. During the winter, when light is subdued and temperatures are mild, humidity is not so important. 55% humidity during the winter is actually pretty good. And safe.

I don't use humidity trays. I use drip trays.

DR

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centaura

Keeping track of how humid I go is the other reason that I have a hygrometer. I don't want to get up into the levels of humidity that would cause mold problems in the house, but I also don't want to be so low that my humidity-loving items would be totally unhappy. Rick is totally correct in saying that the best place to create a high-humidity environment is some kind of greenhouse/conservatory, and its my fondest dream to have one someday. The best I can do there is using seed-starting greenhouses to make minature conservatories, but that only works for really tiny stuff. I can't keep anything taller than 4 to 5 inches in them, and I have some orchids that are blooming right now where their flower stalks are being bent over. Someday I also hope to install a whole-house humidifier, attached to the furnace, but that would be mainly for my own health and only secondary for the bonsai.

-Centaura

a-mused

A "whole house humidifier / dehumidifier" attached to the HVAC system is, arguably, the best way to go. If you're lucky enough to have a DC motor on the HVAC blower, or can refit your existing unit to a DC motor, you wind up with an exceptional setup. Due to my wife's allergies, we installed a system like this a couple years ago. The blower is set to continually run on "low", keeping the house at a fairly steady-state humidity without risking moisture damage in the walls or attic. The humidifier/dehumidifer and UV/HEPA system run independent of the heater or A/C and with the blower on "low", the house has even distribution of temperature, humidity, and air quality. We don't use "setbacks" at night - they're a good idea in a perfect world, but frankly, in the winter, you end up using more electricity or fuel to get the home back up to temperature than keeping a steady temp. Also, since humidity is relative to temperature, you end up with a cold temp/high humidity scenario using setbacks.

Some of the other benefits; humidity or drip trays work more efficiently to set up a microclimate, the continual movement (and filtration) of air wards off bothersome things like powdery mildew, and creates unfavorable conditions for some pests, like spider mites. ... On the downside, mealy bugs and fungus gnats are downright happy. Yellow (or blue) sticky 'pest traps" work well to break the fungus gnat cycle, while the periodic application of Isotox (liquid) or Di-Syston (granular) (I make a solution after powdering the granules - just be sure to wear some sort of breathing filter and do the crushing in a garage or other outdoor space with a mortar and pestle) takes care of pretty much anything else that contemplates taking up residency like scale, aphids, thrips, springtails, yadda, yadda, yadda.

I typically mist three or four times/day, but that's largely for the benefit of the true tropicals - Ficus, Sagetria. The semi-tropicals aren't complaining either (dwarf crape myrtle & dwarf pomegranate - both of which get a rest period from leaf-fall until the temps hit around 40degF).

IMHO, trying to get things "right" with a stand-alone humidifier will only leave you chasing your tail and mucking up the house.

Best~
-d

Sruhl

A cheaper way to increase the humidity you get from a tray is to put a regular light (I use a desk lamp with a 40W bulb) right next to the water (almost touching it). It will warm the water and cause it to evaporate faster but it won't heat up your tree too much. I do this in my dorm room because I don't really have any other options at the moment. I have a serissa that is liking it.

artyanimal

Plants undeniably love humidity. However, before we go all no-holds-barred on this, a word of caution may be in order...

Plant stress due to anaerobic conditions in the root zone ARE HARMFUL! In simple terms, this means oxygen is deficient which, can AND DOES limit nutrient uptake especially, iron.

Anyone care to take a wild guess who one of the ususal suspects might be in this scenario called: iron chlorosis?

Yep, excessivly high humidity levels!

This is as valid a concern as temperature stress, lack of light, pests, harmful ph levels and so on.

Why?

The resulting restriction of respiration affects the plants uptake of minerals and (if you can beleive it) even water! Not to mention, the various harmful fungal threats this creates, or the fact that other essential minerals become 'bound' and unavailable to the plant.

One merely has to read any number of posts usually started by newbies that begin with: "Help! My so and so's leaves are dropping..." The response is usually: "too much water" which in reality, is often actually short for: See above, aka; TOO MUCH HIMIDITY.

Please be further advised that the humidifier approach may come with some homework. For instance, a few operating systems are warm-mist, cool-mist evaporative, ultrasonic, impeller, or the vaporizer. So clearly, what--YOU--need is the...uh....um...er...

In any event, all said and done, those of us who are fans of good ole fashioned misting and foliar feeding do (once in awhile) enjoy a little success.

Cheers,

Arty

treebeard55

You also need to take into account your own personality and habits. A humidifier is best for me, because I know I may miss a misting or two.

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artyanimal

Good point TB and a very valid consideration. I can't tell you how often customers have said to me: "I don't want to be a slave to my plants."

Then again, that is usually just before they buy three more trees. hehe

Cheers,

Arty