Humidifier?

RWillieK

I have humidity trays under my bonsai, but would a home humidifier help?

Thanks!

Robbie

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Jow

sure would

BonsaiMon

..I've heard that humidity trays do not supply much himidity to the plant. The air in houses is so dry(depending on type of heat) that lilttle to none gets near the plant. Any extra humidity you can provide will help.

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peace,
tom stoute

http://bonsaiinsights.spaces.live.com/

clrosner

I have a humidifier running 24 hours a day seven days a week, but I also have to tell you that my trees are in an enclosed deck, which my wife calls my "TREE hOUSE".
By the end of a very damp winter, my walls and part of the windows are covered with green slime.
So you can imagine what a humidifier would do to your home, if you do not have a sparate growing area.
When I am able to open up the windows in late spring, the slime, mold disappears, although I may help it along with a squeegee and vinegar in the water!!!

PS My Ficus microcarpa (retusa) are growing areial roots!!!!

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Carl L. Rosner - near Atlantic City zone 6/7
arteacher3725@yahoo.com

CHECK OUT MY UPDATED WEBSITE AT[B]:
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thejimmyrigger

I've contemplated building a small fountain with a fogger in it. My brain say 'yes!' but the wallet keeps saying 'no!', one day I'll throw that thing out But, if you built/bought a small one and put it in real close to the trees it would build up a good local humidity.

jim

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Jimmyrigging is much like jerryrigging, just go a bit lighter on the duct tape and wire coat hangers, and hit said broken item more. Remember: if it isn't broke don't kick it.

leustek

Such a high level of humidity is not necessary to benefit your indoor bonsai. The better models of home humidifiers have control capability. With control it will be possible to achieve a comfortable and beneficial, but not saturating humidity level in your home.

node

The one I just bought also has several cutoff points, I don't believe it will even go higher than 65% before shutting off, and I don't even get that in a small room.

I've done the humidity tray thing, and I've measured the humidity in the area directly above the humidity try, and have noticed very little to no improvement.

Directly above the humidity tray at a distance of about one foot (30cm) you might get a 10% improvement max. (Being very generous here...)

In Winter my basic humidity indoors is about 35%, with humidity trays I can get the area around my plants up to somewhere between 40%, the humidifier raises the total to about 55% in a room that is about 9' by 12' (3m x 4m)

What I'm actually wondering about is how much effect the fan has on the humidity around my plants. You always read about that so called 'microclimate' a humidity tray is supposed to provide, but if you start moving the air around in you indoor area, I'd assume the humidity from the trays gets carried away by the air movement. So a fan in all probability will deteriorate the effect of the humidity trays near your plants.

I've now tried to setup the airflow in a way, that it will take the air from the humidifier and carry it across the whole growing area. Basically I'm trying to find out if I can get another few % humidity by getting the airflow just right. Will take a couple of days to see if there are any differences at all, but now that I've started I'm going to see how far I can actually improve my situation.

Finally just for information, a basic fan can be as cheap as 8$-15$ and humidifiers start at around 70$ here, going up to about 300$ for larger more advanced household models. If noise level is an issue, get an ultrasonic one, mine makes rather a racket when going full tilt. They are usually rated on how much liters of water they will evaporate in 24h.

Stefan

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clrosner

When the outside weather is down in the 20 degree (f) range (-6 C) the humidity drops to about45 to 50%. Even though my deck is enclosed the outside temperature does affect how much the humidifier puts out. Yes, the Humidifier does shut down at its set limit.

I would rather keep the fan oscilating, since it keeps the pest population down close to zero during the winter.... To me that is a great big PLUS!

__________________
Carl L. Rosner - near Atlantic City zone 6/7
arteacher3725@yahoo.com

CHECK OUT MY UPDATED WEBSITE AT[B]:
www.carlrosner.com

Mr_Untouchable

If you are after more humidity in your home, open a window near your tree on a "normal day". In a 1013 hPa range, classified as a normal day, would give you around 40-60% humidity, and a humidity tray would help you acheive that...