I'm currently a green house grower but I would think that one of the ultrasonic misters from Kelly's corner would be a great solution. You can put it on a timer and have it only mist once a day for 15 minutes or many times a day for any number of minutes per cycle. That said, let me explain that I go on vacation twice a year for 3 weeks and keep my plants right out of flask in a clear storage container out of direct light with no watering (although they are planted in sphagnum moss) for the whole period and even longer periods in the winter. It is completely closed with no fans inside. It shouldn't work but works like a charm. Oh yea, it has a clear tops as well. I leave it in our front entrance way with a sheer curtain over the window and door.

I am a partial window grower. The longest I have been away from my orchids is ten days. My vacations are generally during the cold months so i can get away from frozen Ohio. This also means most of my orchids are in some stage of rest. I generally just let them be with a couple of adjustments: all but 1fan are off, drop the temperature a little (to the low end of intermediate), where appropriate I take my mounties down and place them vertically, and fill the humdity trays. I have yet to lose one on vacation, but they are not always happy when i get back

I like the ultrasonic mister idea also.

Thanks guys! I really appreciate your help. Other window-growers out there, what do you do?

Sue

My tanks are really small: the Crosswind sphere is 10" i.d. and the cylinder is 7 3/8" i.d., 16" tall. Sphere gets SW light partially blocked by neighbor's house and filtered by the Tilly. The cylinder is in a corner and is down several feet from the SW exposure but level with NW tree-filtered light. The sphere dries out in 1-2 days (really! water in the bottom pebbles gone or mostly gone and sphag around plants dry, so I mist and add water daily. I know that blocking one side isn't enough (disaster: both Phals lost their largest lower leaf and one also made a scrunched-up leaf). I don't see how to set up misting for these tanks, so Bob8's modality is what I will try: closing it off completely and moving into a tree-filtered NW window. (I've already learned how hot it can get inside the sphere in bright light even when fully open.)
Here are the set-ups. In the sphere, the (well-boiled) mopane wood holds 3 mini-neos (âÂÂBabeâÂÂ; which all flowered and now are producing pups) and 2 mini-Phals on the side facing the window; and on a cork mount is an Aerangis hyaloides which arrived somewhat tattered but has now started a new leaf.)

The cylinder has ~ 1 inch of glass pebbles and water near or at the top of these, then a tree-fern pot with some sphag and potting soil in it for the ferns and sweet flag, and on one side is a piece of mopane wood attached to a tree-fern slab for the orchids. Water wicks up the pot to the sweet flag, Lemmaphylum microphyllum, Microgramma heterophylla, and a Fissidens-like moss (not IDed yet). The orchids are 2 Podangis dactyloceras and 1 each of Sedirea (Aerides) japonica, Haraella odorata (flowering), Lepanthopsis astrophora, and Oberonia japonica (looks to be initiating flowering).

I am totally stoked that Bob8 and Greencurls replied to my post. I love orchids for their foliage alone (weird, I realize), and flowers are a sweet bonus! Even with my restricted space (once the other houseplants come in for the winter), thereâÂÂs such a huge variety that I might grow! Naturally IâÂÂd like to have more and maybe even a brighter light variety upstairs in the study window (SE), but want to be sure theyâÂÂll weather my occasional absences.

Just remember that I have sphagnum moss in my containers. If I were you I'd put some in your containers, just remember if it's going to lay against plants or roots that it should be soaked and then wrung out well. If it's not touching the plants or roots it can be wet.

Thanks, Bob8! I will do that! If you hadn't responded I would not have thought of it.

When I used to grow close to a thousand mini's I'd lay them in bins of sphag sitting in a layer of (clean) water for a trip... the sphag does a good job of keeping things wicked evenly and humid... I'd lose flowers and growth was uneven when i got back, but it kept them at ok condition. But I'd only use this method for longest 5 days... I had an automatic spray system for longer trips, but even then I'd have to have someone refill the reservoir... (easier than telling them how to water them). I was a nervous wreck leaving them for too long... LOL

Thanks, Badanobada! I have a 1-week absence coming up in a couple weeks. Then a 2-weeker in January, and a 3 weeker next May, as well as another 1 weeker next March, so this problem is something I really need to work out. I'm not above hauling the tanks along in the car for the 3-weeker which is an annual thing to a beach house, but that's not an option for the other trips. There's no reason I couldn't remove the mounts from the sphere to set up some kind of wicking arrangement with sphag, but I'd rather not dismantle the cylinder. Also, I'd hate to have to pick sphag bits out of every nook and cranny of the cylinder after every trip. Just wondering...have you tried cellulosic sponges instead of sphag? Or putting the sphag in nets, maybe?