Am I doomed to fail!?!

[Traci]

I guess an ice tray would not be the worst idea but not sure that the moisture would evaporate into the air and dissipate too quickly and not help the plant. Maybe a humidifier?

[T4tlrman]

Ray, unfortunately I don't know what hybrid it is. And I didn't have a camera at the time it was in bloom and totally forgot what the flowers looked like.
Two of the four new phals that arrived recently have the information which is pretty rare considering they were grocery store orchids. But they were of the more expensive type.
The ice tray raised humidity from 20 to almost 50 percent after it had melted. Thanks for your advice, T

[Carolla]

One of the hardest things with orchids is the slow growth and patience is needed. I deal with that by getting more pretty orchids to play with while the others are growing and getting ready to bloom again...

[T4tlrman]

You can say that again... guess what! Keiki has started a root!

[kspalding]

Lucky you. Even the phal I posted that I rescued from the extreme crown/root rot and mechanical damage didn't produce one and if thats not stress I don't know what is. Some day I will get lucky but until then I live vicariously thru my friends on this site that have been blessed. Thanks so much for the "baby" pics.

[T4tlrman]

Very well put - when I'm not looking at my plants I'm looking at everyone else's. It's really impressive how the bug bites some, if not most, people for life.

We have one member that amazes me in particular... his obsession is (IMO) over the top! While I'm waiting for pictures of his latest addition he buys 2 or 3 more! His taste is exquisite, his choices are fantastic. No doubt he owns some real prizes and deserves to be recognized. I feel like I haven't seen anything yet... that's why we're here. Isn't it?

[panam]

Thinking of building an ice tray to set my 3 phals above at night. It might not provide the humidity they need but it might lower the evening temp.

Great idea! I have most of my orchids sitting over humidity trays, but I hadn't thought of ice cubes in the trays at night. Because we run air conditioning 24/7, we don't have the flux in temperatures. This might help.

[T4tlrman]

I used a shallow plastic tray that held about a square foot of ice (which turned to cold water after 2 hours) but didn't see the drop in temperature I was hoping for - though the humidity went from 20 percent to 50! Considering fabricating a mini- swamp cooler. Have a small fountain I can use to run water over a wash cloth with a fan behind it. Thinking the moist air blowing over the plant will help increase the temp. drop and provide humidity too.
Let me know how you make out, T

[78Terp]

Terry-
I don't know if everyone is familiar with the term swamp cooler.

A swamp cooler is an evaporation cooling system, relying on water (in a low humidity location only, they don't work at all in a humid environment).

The concept is similar to what happens when you mist and then blow air over it. It naturally cools the surface the water is evaporating from.

[Traci]

I love your swamp cooler idea Terry!