What is the temperature of the inside of your greenhouse. I love the humidity to be high in the winter so it stays nice and warm, but there has to be a balance.

You might want to cut back on your watering or do it a different way than just spraying everything.

Greenhouser you gotta love the south....I had problems with my hair when I lived down there. Kidding aside Orichdude is right I cut back on watering and opened her up like stressbaby said to do and it worked. Oh and plus fans. I have little white bugs on my daturas I sprayed them yesterday. I am getting ready to go out there now to see if there are more. I am waiting for the pods to develop so I can colect the seeds from them. I wish the best. Barb

I don't water by spraying everything because of the fans, cacti, succulents and disease dampness brings. I use a watering can. It's staying over 60 with the doors open and goes up to 70 and 80 when closed, even higher once I can't open the doors in winter. I'm keeping it at 58F this winter because electricity just went up 20% here.

rosepedal: I'm happy you can afford to run your heaters 24/7 with ventilation. Truly I am. But we can't leave a vent or door open to ventilate because we can't afford to have the heaters running 24/7 out there. It's a hobby for me, not a business. I can't write it off or charge more for the plants to compensate. I don't sell anything. The cost would be prohibitive for us. :*( I already water less because of the mold and mildew problems of last winter. I'm careful not to spill water. As you can tell I'm starting to get discouraged and disillusioned,

Sending a big cyber hug to you. Smile... I shouldnt have been kidding around. I truly hope someone can jump in and figure this out for you.....Big hug from rosepedal

rosepedal: Thanks for the hug. I needed it. :) I'm not having the best week here.

On the brighter side many of my Orchids are in bud or blooming. Even one of the small Lowe's $5.99 Cattleas popped a scape and small flower. They do much better in an earthier mix so I don't plant them in the bark chips alone anymore. It's amazing how adaptable orchids are.

I also dug up two Pimento Pepper plants and the Japanese eggplant today. I'll try and keep them over the winter. They do better in my GHs than tomatoes do. I have young Burpee colored peppers just coming into flower now. These should be nice meaty peppers good for cooking and roasting.

Hi Greenhouser that is one flower I havent tried. The orchid. They look so dainty and hard to grow. I guess I am afraid of them. I love peppers. They are fun to grow. I havent tried any veges yet in the gh other than from seed to transplant out to the garden.

I will look forward to your responses throughout the winter on how they do. Barb

Its all about that water. Try letting the plants and everything else dry longer. Test the pots by sticking your finger into the pot about 4 to 6 inches deep. If its still wet or damp, dont water. Your percentages are not bad and instead of going this direction to control it, you might have to look at some fungicides or something to control it another way. The humidity will help keep the heating bill lower also. A dry greenhouse can cost alot to heat.

I sprayed my plants with orthene last weekend, its amazing how fast the bugs kill over. Add a little soap to the mix, it works really well.

Rob

Rob: I will look for Orthene the next time I hit the co-op. It's not close to me. It's a good 60 to 70 mi round trip.

Barb: I only have the easy to grow orchids. Nothing expensive or fancy. Most came from Lowe's, Home Depot, Kroger's and Wally World's mark down section. ;-)

Hey Barb...it might be worth just ordering some in the mail. I think they will ship the stuff. Sixty miles is a long way for a 6 dollar item.

Orthene is good, because if you have sooty mold, it may not be a humdity problem, it is probably a pest problem. I cannot think of a time when I found sooty mold that I did not find an undiscovered pest on close inspection.

SB

The "pest" is whitefly which nothing seems to kill. I had a problem with black sooty mold on my front porch this year and no pests were on the impatiens. I didn't even see spider-mites on them. The porch gets little air circulation in summer. We have a hot humid climate here with some very still days when the air just stifles. Nights can be worse with the air dripping humidity. It makes me wonder how anyone lived here before the days of A/C.

Orchiddude: Orthene is only $6? =O

Have you tried putting one fan in the open doorway to draw air into the greenhouse and one fan directed at an open vent? This should draw the air in and out of the greenhouse and create a better circulation. It might help with the mold problem. Also, you might set your vents to open earlier or at a lower temperature. I open my doors before work if it is not cloudy and I have a vent fan that is in the top of the greenhouse that comes on at 85 degrees.
Make sure that you have good drainage to take the water out of the greenhouse. I know that you have crushed gravel, but you do not have plastic beneath it, do you? I usually just water with a water hose and humidity has not been a problem.

Sooty mold is nearly always a bug problem,not a humidity problem. Have you tried Marathon? It's good stuff and lasts a long time, but you can't use it on edibles. Well you can, but then you just can't eat them....
One thing, if you can't get the humidity down any other way, buy a dehumidifier. Try not to overcrowd your plants, and cut back on watering as much as possible.

thebarefootgardener: No plastic under the crushed gravel. I'm in zone 6 which is colder than your zone. The vents open at around 65 to 70F. Two of the 4 fans are oscillating fans. I squeezed another small fan under one of the plant tables. I can only blow air into the GH when it's over 60F or the heaters will come on = $$$$. We don't get many days that warm here in zone 6 winters. The vents will open most winter days that are sunny though so there is some air exchange, more when I can crack the door a few inches. I'm going to see if I can place one of the smaller fans towards a vent tomorrow. I spread the plants out more by putting some in the HFGH and bringing more into the house (sunroom) itself. Some that were very badly damaged were disposed of in the burn-barrel.

I never heard of Marathon but did buy 3 different organic mold/mildew killers. The black mold thrives on them all.. and it loves the fishy smelling Organicide which is supposed to kill powdery mildew and black spot.