Quote:
Originally Posted by deruo
Just a quick question/comment... Isn't that a little too humid? I've read and been told that you should not have consistent humidity in your home more than 50% as thats when you get mold and other nasties growing. Or does the generally accepted level of humidity vary with geographical location?
A home inspector here (Canada) told me that during the winter, your relative humidity should be between 35-45%. Dry enough not to cause mold and moisture issues, and "wet" enough that your skin doesn't crack and fall off. ;-)
|
You know, I did some research about that very thing several times, and what I came up with was recommended anywhere from 30-60%. Im really not too sure how it matters weather or not its winter or summer. In summer, the average humidity indoors is usually around the 60% range, so im not sure why mold or other such nasties would be more of a concern in wintertime with generally the same humidity indoors as summer. Wintertime here, without humidifiers,indoor humidity levels dropping to 10-25% is not uncommon, and that is WAY TOO DRY, especially for me. The other thing, at least for my place, the humidity isn't constant. At times at night, especially when its below freezing and colder, the humidity even with the humidifiers running will drop into the mid 40's to 50%. Its not a constant, and it generally goes the way of outdoor temps and humidity. On days when its warm (50s) in winter, I have to adjust the humidifiers down, otherwise the humidity will soar over 70%, and it starts to feel like Florida in here. Nothing in my place stays "wet" or even damp. Even all of my plants dry out in a normal amount of time. The only time I get condensation on the windows is when its fairly cold (30's or colder outside). I also have the very old fasioned radiator heat, which is notorious for really drying the air out. Placing pans of water on the radiators hardly increases the humidity at all, which is why I gave up on that long ago and went to humidifiers.
stevelau1911: In regards to your question, Im not really sure what you are getting at. Do you mean the leaves got skinnier width wise? Or are you talking about the pseudostem? If its just the leaves, I dont think that is much of anything to worry about. The Pseudostem, well, I suppose that could become an issue, causing a weakened point in the stem, but I'm not sure what would cause that. Maybe you could post a photo?
Thanks for the advice thus far everyone! Now, can anyone recommend a good insecticidal soap that kills spider mites, and is ok to use on houseplants, tropicals, and bananas? Im all for natural remedies, but im going to need some extra help this year it seems. Thanks again!