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Humidity in greenhouse

Hi, I live in Las Vegas, NV. (Not the best place for a plant that requires ANY humidity). My greenhouse is 8' by 6' and is 10' high. I have a swamp cooler, and that keeps the temps under 90, but it doesn't keep the humidity efficient for my neps and other plants! It is 70%+ at night time, but the 20-30% humidity makes it so I cant even keep dew on sundews. I will be recieving a lot of plants in the next few weeks, and I want to get the humidity stable (60% or higher). Any suggestions would help. I've tried water trays, hanging wet towels on the rails inside the greenhouse, and one of those hot water vapor things that let out a tiny bit of vapor in the air. NOTHING WORKS!!!! Please Help

Thanks,
SunPitcher
 
The only thing that really helps in arid conditions is a hydrofogger. There are several models out. I have noticed also that after my greenhouse was packed full of plants (and water once a day) the humidity naturally stayed much higher without running the hydrofogger. By the way, a good hydrofogger cools the temperature faster than my evaporative cooler.
 
Hydrofoggers are REALLY expensive. ($500+) on ebay. Would a cool mist room humidifier work. Would the humidity reach 50% + with the swamp cooler and the cool mist? Also would the floor of the greenhouse affect the humidity. Currently I have artificial grass as the floor. Would gravel make a difference? How about real grass?
I REALLY want to grow large nepenthes in hanging baskets.

Thanks
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what about a room humidifier?

i got on from sears for around 150...
and they are about as high as your knee, and a good arms length width.. they humidify a whole house very nicely..

you could try and see if you can make the settings higher so more humidity comes out. and a greenhouse that size shouldnt be to hard.
uses alot of water though.
have to fill it nearly every day

my husband and i got a bloody nose nearly every night, cause we live in tucson, arizona.. very dry.
we have this now, and for nearly a month we havent had any problems and no more bloody noses.
the humidistat is only at 1/4 the way, so it could put out more then we are asking it to..
perhaps it will help?

here it is
http://www.sears.com/sr....4417000
 
About the floor of the greenhouse, does it make a difference in humidity?
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In the winter time I move my swamp cooler into the green house. This makes it so it doesn't seem to cool too fast (since the humidity is high)... while recirculating and increasing the humidity level. Also, I do use a ultrasonic humidifier (pure water only) on a timer.... It doesn't run at night (since it is humid in there at that time anyway) then it does run most the hours in the day. (except peak hours where the swamp cooler most likely runs to humidify) it takes some playing with but I've got mine (Tucson, Az) so it is never lower than 55%. Hope this helps!
Andrew

Oh, and I don't think the ground makes much a difference... I've tried spraying the ground and didn't see a difference except for moss and stuff growing... ewwww....LOL
 
i would think that if your greenhouse was sitting on dirt, and you didnt have any kind of floor.. that it would make a difference.

cause the dirt is absorbing your humidty and water and heat/cold.

and then seeping it outside.

i would think that perhaps some kind of insulation/seperator would help prevent your resources from escaping or things getting in.

not sure what you could put though.
 
WAtering the floor down DOES make a big difference. I have a pea gravel floor in mine and it gets soaked frequently everyday, the water evaporating from the gravel makes humidity skyrocket to perfect levels for the plants. Before I started misting even my N. truncata was reluctant to pitcher!
 
  • #10
Thanks! That really helps! I'll tell you if it works!\


-Alex
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  • #11
You said you already have a swamp cooler? To me, it seems that it keeps the humidity about 1/2 the minimum, just get another one. I have also found that a steam humidifier raises humidity a lot more than a swamp cooler, though it does raise the temps a bit.
 
  • #12
NG is spot on.

With an appropriate base wetting the floor down is fantastic for maintaining humidity.

On the advise of a local glasshouse manufacture/installer I run what is called here in Aus. 7mm Road Base or Black Metal. It's the gravel they add to tar for making roads. The black absorbs heat, the density of the gravel is good for holding heat (both good in winter) and the large surface are (when wet) helps with humidity maintaining humidity.

Only on the hotter days once temps get up over say 30C will the misting system come on.

It’s very easy to automate the wetting down of the gravel with a simple garden sprinkler system and a cheap tap timer. In winter I set it to spray for 1 minute 2x per day and summer 4+ times per day.

Aaron.
 
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