Humidity Tray Suggestions

[boxerfan]

What types of vessels do people use for humidity trays? I've seen some on websites, but they seem awfully pricey. I was thinking of using pyrex casserole dishes or disposable aluminum pans. Suggestions? Thanks, Lisa

[Anton]

Lisa, those cheap plastic storers are good, you know, thin ones designed for fitting under beds ? !

You can build a wooden frame around it, or tizzy it up some other way. Can't remember where it is, but a few weeks ago there was a thread talking about humidity trays and what people are using to make them.

Fred ? Fred ? Can you help us out here ? Oh wise one of the Forum, are able to dig out that thread ? Ta.

[tom499]

my way of doing it

plastic hexagonal netting-buildings merchant or somewhere similiar
plastic plant trys - garden centre, like 30p each

you can just lay the netting over the trays, the netting needs a trim with plyier (the bigg scissor things ) or you can put a wide headed nail thru the lip on the trays and through the netting.

[fred]

Oh wise one here

I hope this helps

http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/gen...=humidity+Tray

Plant Stand w/ Humidity Trays and Lights - Need Your Opinion!

custom built humidity tray

Inexpensive idea for humidity problems

[Anton]

[DDS2007]

plastic pots always come with some sort of (dish) to fit under them as to minimize the mess created by water leakage when u water the pots.

i use these dishes, fill them up with gravel and place my orchids on top. very inexpensive idea, costs me less than 5$

i use the huge plastic pots for my other garden plants.

enjoy

[Vivienne]

all of my orchids have their own tray, either terra cotta or the small plastic ones found at any home garden place (Home Depot, Lowe's, grocery stores), with small river rocks (walmart, hobby lobby).

[janet_a]

6 pyrex baking dishes (on sale) with linen closet racks (US$4 ea) laid across the tops.

the ants are enjoying throwing themselves in and drowning for some reason.

[DDS2007]

my idea resembles vivienne's , put a lot larger trays under the pots (gives more humidity)

[mayres]

What works well for me are the plastic 6X30 (you can also get 6X24) shallow trays that are made as drip pans for planter boxes at places like home depot or lowes. My indoor growing space is approximately three 2X5 foot spaces that a set of these fit into nicely. I fill them up with small pea gravel and they are ready to go. They are about 5/8 to 3/4 inch deep. A couple dollars each (of course on sale is best! ).

[robb]

excellent ideas all! as our humidity drops (summer coming! averaging 20-25% humidity on a good day) i need to keep spraying the poor phals quite a bit! looking at this gives me some ideas...

[Bolero]

I personally don't feel there is much value in humidity trays......I tried measuring any increase in humidity both with a tray and without one and could not find a difference.

If you use a tray with a number of orchids it might create a micro climate but a tray for a single orchid may not make a big difference.

Just my thoughts on it.......not sure if you need a tray for several or single orchids.

[Sharyn]

I use the black plastic nursery trays with a piece of plastic flourescent light grate on top. They're filled with a couple inches of water and work well for me - inexpensive too.

[janet_a]

Originally Posted by Bolero

I personally don't feel there is much value in humidity trays......I tried measuring any increase in humidity both with a tray and without one and could not find a difference.

i see a 10% increase over the trays measured with a cheap hygrometer--however, my trays contain about 10 square feet of water surface. you may have to get up to a certain critical mass of trays before you see a difference.

[electric.chowder]

If you have an old chip 'n dip bowl (that's what my old ceramic teacher called them, it's a bowl with a smaller bowl in the middle) that's what I've been using for one of mine (I fill the outer bowl and sit the pot on top of the inner one) I also sit my plants on inverted pots and have have several bowls filled with water sitting around and under all of them, I'll try to get a pic of the set up and post it

[Bolero]

Originally Posted by janet_a

i see a 10% increase over the trays measured with a cheap hygrometer--however, my trays contain about 10 square feet of water surface. you may have to get up to a certain critical mass of trays before you see a difference.

That's sort of what I meant. You need a micro climate of a number of plants to produce a difference in humidity. 10 square feet is definitely a good amount of space.

;-)