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hikenyura

How to increase humdidity

hikenyura
16 years ago

I recently gotten some nepenthes and i was wondering how do i increase the humdity easily, i hate going to teraarnuims and that stuff. I hear misting helps, and i want to know other things you can do to raise humdity, even if it's only by 10%.

I can only mist it once a day and i need other options that could help me raise the humdity by ATLEAST 10-15% for like 6 hours while im gone at school and the humditiy is low.

Comments (7)

  • mutant_hybrid
    16 years ago

    Hello Hikenyura,

    Misting can only help out short term unless you really wet the plants and topsoil well. You can use trays, but not to water them with.. just get a large water tray under the plants and place their pots on a pedestle to keep them out of the water... that will raise ambient humidity around the plants as the water condenses. If you have to you can buy a humidifier, but that is an expense you might not need if the water trays raise the humidity enough. Most Nepenthes like humidity around 50-70 percent or higher, but many can adapt to humidity that is down to 30 percent or lower.

  • don555
    16 years ago

    Buy a 5 or 10 gallon aquarium. They are pretty cheap if you are buying the aquarium only. Pour a bit of distilled water in the bottom, put your Nep. on a tray and place it in the aquarium (you want it on a tray, not right in the water, because the roots will rot if kept too wet). Then use plastic film or some other see-through cover to cover up part of the top of the aquarium. You can easily raise the humidity anywhere up to 100% this way (though you'll get mold problems if the humidity is too high).

    If you grow the plant in sunlight, you don't want to cover up too much of the top of the aquarium or heat will build up inside and quickly fry your plant. But if you have the setup under fluorescent lights, you can cover as much as you want without worrying about heat.

    -Don

  • don555
    16 years ago

    Hi again,
    Here's a couple pics to illustrate what I'm talking about above. The first pic gives an overall view, the second is a bit closer. The Nep. pots are in a 10 gallon aquarium with about 1 cm of water in the bottom, and set under shop-light fluorescent lights. The two pots on the left are in trays to keep them out of direct contact with the water. The pot on the right has no drainage holes, so is fine to rest directly in the water. "Saran" plastic wrap covers most of the top of the aquarium (and is the shiny stuff coming down the outside of the aquarium). Not the prettiest setup, but seems to work.
    -Don

    {{gwi:565108}}

    {{gwi:565110}}

  • petiolaris
    16 years ago

    You could also use a large Prego spaghetti sauce jar, filled with water, and place a small submercible heater in it.

  • ilbasso_74
    16 years ago

    Is there a humidifier on the furnace? Check that out.

    I'll fire up a room humidifier in the winter. It is mostly for musical instruments but the plants will also appreciate it. There should be one available that is fairly inexpensive. You only need a small room sized one if you're only concerned about a small room or two.

    Certain neps may prefer levels of humidity that you cannot comfortably provide and tanks could be needed. What species do you have?

  • daveyjones
    16 years ago

    This goes back to my days of keeping hermit crabs, which being tropical creatures also require a high humidity environment. (They are actually really interesting animals, a lot more complex then most would think) This device, when used in conjunction with a covered aquarium seems to work fairly well at raising the humidity, it just takes a little time. Here's a picture first...

    {{gwi:565112}}

    What you'll need... Most items can be bought at the local pet store

    1 Glass Jar with Lid
    1 Rather Large Sponge
    1 aquarium air pump
    2 aquarium air stones
    1 T connector
    1 Water back-stop
    A few feet of air tubing, I prefer the silicon type, it bends easier
    A drill
    Optional - 1 coffee mug warmer

    First you will need to drill 3 holes in the lid of your jar, a little bit smaller then the air tubing so that you get a nice and tight fit. Next, put the sponge into the jar. Fairly easy so far, right?

    Next take the air tubing, and cut two lengths to support the back stop (this keeps water from frying the air pump), and then connect the T connector. At this point you will want to feed two lengths of air tubing into the top of the jar, and attach one end of each to the t-connector. Then attach the air stones to the other end. When you close the jar, the air stones should be about half way down.
    Finally, add water to the jar, about 2/3 of the way up. Take a final length of air tubing, and insert it into the third hold on top of the jar. This tube should not be under the water, but in the air bubble between the lid and water line. Take this final length and run it into the aquarium. Here is a basic schematic... where === is air tubing

    Air pump====back stop====T connector====air stone

    If you put the mug warmer underneath the jar, it heats the water up a bit for some added humidity, I wouldn't suggest leaving it on all the time though for safety. Make sure there is always water in the jar and you are good to go.

  • tommyr_gw Zone 6
    16 years ago

    Misting is useless unless you're going to do it every 5-10 minutes 24 hours a day. Get a humidifier. They are fantastic. It's the only real way to do it right.

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