[missann]

I got this idea yesterday when I was picking up moss out of a terra cotta saucer. You probably all know this already, but I thought I would put it out there for someone else like me.

I have not tested this little idea of mine yet, but I thought that if you got a large terra cotta pot, got it wet, (let it drain of course) and then set your orchid (in it's pot) inside the pot, I think it would work better than a humidity tray.

Or you could just use a large terra cotta saucer and get it wet, and set your orchid on top of it.

Or you could do what I did, and put tape over the hole in the bottom of a terra cotta pot, fill it with wet sphagnum, and cover the top with the saucer so that little bugs can not get in. Then place your orchid on top of that. It makes a nice plant stand and increases humidity at the same time.

My logic on this is as follows:

The terra cotta surface is porous and thus increases the surface area that the water sits on, and thus would evaporate more water more quickly than having just a plain saucer of water.

Of course it would work to use a saucer of pearlite dirt etc, just as long as there is no threat of the orchid pot actually sitting in water.