Increasing Humidity

13 years ago

Hi everyone, I'll be getting a few Nepenthes in the mail soon here, and I am worried that my windowsill won't be able to support them well enough without slowing their growth.

So my question is: what is a good and economical way to increase humidity in a select area? Obviously, I don't want my house that humid, and I am not really looking to do a terrarium. Are those my only options?

The only effort I'm putting forth right now for humidity on my N. Ventricosa is misting it multiples daily and setting it on a stand with water surrounding it, but not letting it soak in the soil.

Any help is appreciated,

Thanks,

Samuel

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Comments (13)

tommyr_gw Zone 6
13 years ago
A pebble tray or a small humidifier.

What is the humidity of that window area now? You do have a hygrometer right? Maybe it's already humid enough. You may need a humidifier in the winter time once the furnace kicks in.
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samuel_01
Original Author
13 years ago
I don't have a humidifier actually; Is that really bad? Hah

It's not like I wasn't planning on getting one though, I'm just new to the whole plants thing, less than 1 month in, so I am still getting things I need.

The only indications I have is how my plant is progressing.
I have a N. Ventricosa and it came looking like this

{{gwi:556083}}

A few of the pitchers then died off, but it produced more. The largest pitcher (not grown by me) was bigger than the ones it is producing now in my care.
I give it purified water, I don't let it sit in a water tray, and I give it bright, indirect light which as far as I know is the correct care of it, so it leads me to believe humidity is a problem.

It looks like this now
{{gwi:556681}}

Since its still producing pitcher its obviously doing well enough, I just hate to be slowing its growth.

And also I'm worried because I am getting an N. Truncata, N. Mikei, N. Sanguinea and i'm worried that they won't do as well as my ventricosa since I know ventricosa's are pretty tough and good at adapting.

In saying that, those species could be even better, I just don't know yet, I haven't researched them enough to know for sure.

How much are humidifiers usually and how do they work in terms of the space they humidify. Also, what's a pebble
tray?

Thanks,
Samuel
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samuel_01
Original Author
13 years ago
Sorry, when I said I don't have a humidifier, I meant i dont have a hygrometer, my mistake,

Thanks again,
Samuel
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tommyr_gw Zone 6
13 years ago
Your local garden centers should have hygrometers. They also come with most thermometers sold in garden centers. Once you get one leave it near the plant about 8-12 hours then let us know the % is. Where in the U.S. are you? Your profile doesn't say.
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samuel_01
Original Author
13 years ago
I live in Philadelphia, PA, so zone 6. I'll update my profile now.

I'll be getting my hygrometer tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have a reading by tomorrow night, and I'll post it up here.

On a side note, I am going to test a plant under artificial light, and I would like to a light timer, and I was just wondering a good brand, or something someone can reccommend. I don't need anything fancy, I just need one taht can do 1 time set everyday.
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tommyr_gw Zone 6
13 years ago
This time of year your humidity should be plenty high enough. Unless the plant is in an air conditioned room, then it'll be too low possibly and too cold for the plant. Bright, indirect Sun is what it likes. Any light timer will do, your garden center probably has those as well. Don't go over thinking this, it's not that hard to grow these things!
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twotut
13 years ago
I also have a question about humidity. I have drosera plumiflora and made the mistake of taking off the dome too soon. Sometimes I can do some stupid s%#@. Anyway, it's pretty pitiful.....I was wondering if I can revive it by using the dome again. Would that help bring it out of the dumps, or should I keep it as it is (it's been about 1 1/2 wks since I first took the dome off).
Thanks
Marian
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twotut
13 years ago
I got mine at Lowes and I think it's a primuliflora.
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petiolaris
13 years ago
Samuel: N. ventricosa is a pretty tolerant plant. You're fortunate. Humidity won't be the biggest issue. I'd be more concerned with trying to provide light for ~11-13 hours per day. Neps are essentially equatorial. Once the photoperiod gets lower than 11 hours they will stop pitchering.

Twotut: Depending upon the plant species and the current state of a given plant, too much of a change can put a plant in shock. A fresh "Lowes Cube Of Death" plant can tolerate more than one that has been hanging around for awhile. I would put the dome on again and over time, take it off during the day and back on at night, weaning it to being off 24/7. Existing leaves may be "toast", but if it puts out new growth it should be okay.
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twotut
13 years ago
Thank You! Now one more question...where did World-of-carnivores forums go?
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petiolaris
13 years ago
I had to google that one. I never heard of it. I tried 3X to access it and each time I got this message:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl on this server.

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apache/2.0.52 (CentOS) Server at www.cpforum.world-of-carnivores.com Port 80
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taz6122
13 years ago
If you really want to know what's going on with worldofcarnivores.com then send an email to "webmaster@worldofcarnivores.com"
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jc91745
13 years ago
i have bicarlata or how ever u spell it..
how much percentage humidity does it need??
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