Lets get one thing straight: MISTING

[jai_star]

Ok orchid buddies , I have read countless book and seen comments left by others regarding the subject of misting your orchids.
Some say to mimic morning dew in nature, others say its a waste of time unless you stand there all day misting and causes black spots on leaves.

I have never done misting on my orchids they are indoors on a windowsill. So I'm asking everone what is your take on misting? I know in a glasshouse situation its crucial to raise humidity but how about the indoor or basement growers?

[sand_tiger86]

Don't even bother. It does absolutely nothing. You cannot change relative humidity by misting a couple of times a day.

[sammywolffox]

I do not know if this qualifies as misting but some of my plants such as Mexican Laelias have long Winter rest periods. During these periods they receive very little moisture except morning dew. To mimic natural conditions I mist these plants one or two times a week. These are the only plants I mist. I do not mist these plants to raise humidity. I have no idea if it helps the plants but it seems logical.
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[OrchidAddict]

The only purpose I've heard misting actually being beneficial for is lowering the leaf temperature via evaporative cooling when you are trying to get a plant to spike and need significant temperature differentials. Having said that, I've never actually tried it. In general, I try to keep water away from the leaves as much as possible, as occasionally I've had some water accidentally get in the crown and cause crown rot. Some of those high-volume sprayers can really put out quite a lot, and it goes everywhere. And misting with one of those travel spray bottles for hair spray is just a joke, unless you want to develop "mister's finger" and lose the use of your good hand after a month....


Anyway, I've never seen misting do anything beneficial. For a while I was trying to mist the top layer of my orchids' potting mix daily for the sake of raising humidity around each plant (hence the water going everywhere and the "mister's finger") and it never made any difference anyway. Not to mention the fact that it took me a couple of HOURS each day to get to each plant. No benefit at all.

So I would say you might as well skip it, unless you are really trying to get a plant to experience a rapid "cool-down" for the purpose of getting it to spike, but even then, the evidence is anecdotal at best as to whether it's beneficial.

But hey, if you try some new misting technique and it's AMAZING, please share!!

[catttan]

Our growing conditions here are completely different. We grow outdoors 24/7 under 50-70% shade, the relative humidity is almost always above 80%, rainfall 100-120 inches a year. I sometimes mist 3 times a day during the dry season( Dec-Feb/Mac with humidity still in the 60s ). Misting for us is more to bring down the temperatures 2-4 deg as humidity is always high.

[stateless]

I've heard to never mist, however last year I got a patio mist system that I set up for my vandas and used during summer and it seemed to work wonders, it would lower the temp a little and the vanda roots loved it, I saw an impressive difference in a few months, lots of new root growth and stonger roots. I grow outside 24/7. But to use a spray bottle forget it I would need a prosthetic finger by now.

[Gurj]

I don't ever mist. I think it can unnecessarily invite fungus/rot if mist accumulates.

[tucker85]

I wouldn't mist orchids that are growing indoors. It doesn't raise the humidity much at all and there's always the chance for water to sit on the plant too long and cause fungus problems. On the other hand, misting orchids that are growing outdoors has always worked well for me. I mist the roots of vandas growing outdoors and I also mist my mounted orchids that are growing outdoors. Those orchids get a lot of fresh air and they dry almost immediately. Misting is not a good culture practice indoors.

[V-W]

I mist less for humidity then I do for supplemental watering. When my orchids are newly transitioning to S/H I find they appreciate the extra water since their roots are not drawing as much up being unused to the new medium.

[Ron-NY]

The goal is to keep the humidity between 50% and 70% around your plants while also making sure there is some air movement at all times. Misting will not help humidity levels. There have been times I have misted aerial roots or a new mount but other than that I have never misted.