Can Masdevallia tolerate low humidity for extended periods of time?
 

Thinking about growing Masdevallia after I recently saw a gorgeous looking M. ignea at a show.

Since I'm in the PNW, my outdoor conditions are pretty good for Masdevallia for half the year. But for the other half of the year where I need to bring them indoors, while I can provide the cool temps needed, I can't provide the humidity (indoor humidity is 50%).

How fast do Masdevallia succumb to low humidity? Because if they can just tolerate it for half the year, I think I can still hope to try my hand at them.

They will be okay if kept moist enough, I still recommend getting a humidifier.

this forum doesnt let me hot link youtube but there's a guy on youtube who grow masdevallia with consistent 60%, he would wet the leaves occasionally to keep them perky. Just search Masdevallia culture by Bennet Riley. which type of masdevallia matter too, and having a humidifier to keep the humidity from dropping too low when weather change.

They're not all the same. If you run into trouble, consider looking for a used aquarium at a yard sale. You can have a piece of glass cut to fit the top at a hardware store and epoxy a knob on the lid.

I re purposed my orchidarium for masdies after everything else has failed to thrive in it...They need lots of air flow to go with the humidity. The aquarium idea works. It takes a little more in engineering an environment when you put it in a case.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Orchid-sh...masdies-X3.jpg

How are you maintaining air flow in a case?

upper left hand a little fan for a computer you can see. if you zoom into the bottom, you can see the plants are on a rack over a reservoir where the fog rises up to the bottom of the pots :)

also have a room fan blowing over the top to cool it d0wn from the LED grow lights all around it. humidity comes from the exo terra foggers from PetSmart. the masdies come from Hausermanns online stock. well grown and bug free.

its working for them so far .. both thumbs crossed

You can easily wire a computer fan to a left-over AC to DC transformer/cord from an old appliance like a shaver, phone or peripheral hard drive. This is the device with a box (transformer) that plugs into the wall, and a wire with a connector on the other end for your appliance. Cut the connector off the wire. Separate the two wires. Remove the plastic coating with a wire stripper. Wind one wire to each wire on the computer fan. Use a piece of electrician's tape or an appropriately sized twist-on wire connector to secure the junction.

RJS: What is the typical temperature in that terrarium day/night?

stays between 70 night and 77 most days. not quite the spread that you probably would like. it fluctuates some but my home temp inside pretty much dictates the temp in the case. humidity stays around 70 most time.

---------- Post added at 04:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:27 AM ----------

you can make these work very nice too :)

exo terra reptile terrariums

petco.com

I was just dreaming. I would need some way to control the temperature. I don't mind temperature extremes so I don't use a lot of heat in winter nor A/C in summer. My house is in the upper 80s to low 90s F / 30-35C much of Spring/Summer/Fall and like a cloud forest in winter.