Humidity When Growing Orchids Outside

[Elk Point Kid]

After reading numerous articles in this forum, I've noticed that humidity doesn't seem to be a concern. How much concern should one put into providing adequate humidity for orchids grown outside in the summer? Where I live summers can get fairly high, which causes the humidity to become quite low. Should one be growing in a covered area to increase humidity? Thanks for the help.

[Ross]

Firstly, I am not one to worry too much about humidity. I have two conditions - high humidity, these go into a wardian case with 90%+ humidity, and all others - these get whatever the conditions dish out. You really can't control the humidity outdoors (not in a practical means) and I would recommend not worrying about it. Lots of mine get humidity from lows of 30% to highs of 60% based on nature, rainfall, humidity of the day, etc. They seem to do fine.

[Weebl]

When reading graphs on locations of orchid habitats, im guessing humidity levels are based off 24 hour averages, and an average of those for monthly humidity levels. If this is true then my location has an average humidity of 65%, with nights at the 80-90% mark and days can dip to 30% for a couple hours in mid afternoon. Even with this Im growing a few laelias, dendrobiums and oncidiums mounted just fine. More than anything, direct sunlight dries things out much quicker than airflow ever will. So shadecloth would help immensely if humidity levels are lower.

[Elk Point Kid]

thanks for the information......I'm not going to worry about it !!