I have a humidifier. It's an Air O Swiss, model number 7142, I believe. If I don't use it, humidity dips around 20% and below. When I do use it, humidity can go up to 25% (on the days when the air is so dry my hygrometer won't register it) to 40%. On avg days it hovers around 30-35%, which is still a big improvement for me. When it's 20% or below, I definitely feel my sinuses drying out and my skin gets really rough. The pluses: it holds 2 gal; it humidifies my large room; it's pretty quiet; it's a warm air humidifier, with an option to make it cold air if you want; it has a silver stick which is supposed to prevent bacterial growth in your water; it puts out a lot of mist. The minuses: it's expensive; in order to get my humidity up that high, it runs on high, which means you fill the 2 gal tank daily; it has a hygrostat which is frequently faulty in this model, so even though you can set it to regulate itself, it doesn't read the humidity correctly, so you absolutely need an external hygrometer to measure your humidity levels - you'll have to lower the setting or switch it off yourself, or your humidity will skyrocket to 75% on rainy days even though the meter on the humidifier still reads 37% (40% is the lowest setting you can choose). Oh, and Air O Swiss's customer support is supposed to be atrocious, from what I've read doing a Google search of reviews for this model. Do I like it anyway? Yes. However, I'm not sure that running one humidifier will do that great a job of being humid enough for a fern that needs high humidity, unless your room is smaller than mine. I have orchids that require 60% or above, and for them I built an acrylic case which does keep the humidity at 75%-90%. I have a maidenhair fern in there too. It was doing well for a while, but now it's going all brown. I don't think it's going to make it. I have no idea why it's dying, but it sure isn't the humidity. The orchids are doing fabulously, so it's not something that's bad overall. Depending on what type of fern it is, I might suggest enclosing it in a terrarium sort of setup. Hope that helps in some way!

Hi Acacius..Are you growing the tropicanna in a pot or ground? Since trops are bulbs, what will happen is, foliage will start dying off..(this is normal) After leaves are completely dead, cut off closest to bulb, then place in a rodent-free, cool area, out of sun. If it's in a pot, then you can either remove from its pot, or leave inside, but I've heard it's best removing from pot.. The hib is a different story..If you're sure it's a tropical hibiscus, then set indoors in the brightest light possible..South or west is best..I keep my hibs in a cool room, south window, w/artifical lighting at night..Can't recall the type of light I have hanging, but it's nothing fancy or expensive..basically a step up from a shop light. I use one cool white and one warm light bulbs..U can also buy gro lights, but they're highly priced and I don't see any difference when it comes to growing plants. Are your orchids inside now? Did you have them last winter? If so, and they did well, I'd continue growing the same way you did then. Back to the hibs, you may lose some leaves at first..some will yellow..it just takes adaption time, then yellowing stops. Remove yellow leaves. Make sure soil dries between waterings. I'm unfamilar w/CO weather...but here in IL, I fertilize hibs until flowers stop sprouting..And to be cautious..check plant for insects upon bringing indoors..Hib can attract mites, so hose down thoroughly. I spray plants with Fish Emulsion to prevent scale..don't know if it'll work for mites..But this is done w/every plant that is brought outside for summer..I also add 2-4 drops of dish soap, and (optional) ground citrus rind and finey crushed garlic..Then mist entire plant..None of these natural ingredients will harm your tree. Good luck, Toni

There are all kinds of reasons for the payment being late, I guess I just fail to understand why it's your problem. Your tenant has the responsibility to get the rent payment to you by the due date, no matter how she gets it there. Period. Your tenant does not get to chose the method of payment either. If you do not wish to have it direct deposited into your account, then you don't have to. Now if she has been a long time, paying on time tenant, then I could understand that you may want to inform her that the payment was late by x number of days and while you understand that she is trying something new and are willing to forgive the late fee for this month, she needs to ensure that the rent is paid by the 5th (for example) in future months or she will be charged a late fee. In writing, by certified mail. Then do it. YOU should not have to call the bank, your tenant should. This is not your problem, your problem is that the rent is not being paid on time. Her problem is that her chosen method of payment is not accomplishing that.

In my opinion - the humidifiers that use a wet type media filter or wick do work, but you do have to suffer through the cleannig and changing out for new wicks every month. Messy and cost of new the wicks every month. For years I have struggles with using the floor/counter top standing Holmes units and they too have worked very well - right up until I have to clean and change wicks on all four of them. You see, we had one on our bedroom and one each in our kids rooms, and one in the living room. Once they were all cleaned out and wicks changed out, the humidity in our home was fine. However, that once a month deal was a killer to do - especially when I skipped a week or so becasue I didn't have or take the time to do it faithfully - a must! I read up on the Desert Spring 3200 model and liked what I read - I bought one and installed it. Lowes carries them for $198.00. I felt the difference right away, but have not been able to get the humidity above 40% - pretty drafty home. Even so, I don't think I need it to be much over that to be comfortable. With the old Holmes units, we could raise the % way up in a given room. I don't think this is too healthy - seems like we get other molds, mite or other issues when % was so high. Desert Springs claims 14gal a day output. Also, if your home is like mine - not well built - I loose a lot of heat and the upstairs rooms the furthest away from the furnace barely get any heat so moving the moisture around is better in some rooms than others. The vents in our bedroom are shut off mostly so it will get less moisture than the living room (of course we get the moisture from our bathroom). They say that it takes a few weeks to re-build the moisture in a home after the winter season starts. Wood that has dried out will soak up a lot of moisture in the first few weeks - so they say. Sounds possible. Anyway, it seems to work very well, and not messy at all. You can also buy the Auto flush option that changes the water out ever 48 hrs if you don't run your furnace very much and the water does have a chance to stand around. Our furnace is not very efficiant and runs a lot. I just put a reminder on my email calender to drain and check the small holding tank every first of the month - same as I change out my furnace filter. very easy to do. You can also install a ball valve to the bottom drain tube very easily to make the water change out just a simple twist of the wrist (this is what the auto flush does automatically). I think there are pros and cons to both - I just like the idea of less mess and ease of use and maint on the desert springs unit. Let us know what you end up doing.