My Growing Space #2

[Myxamatosis]

So I am a student at UNL (Nebraska), living in the dorms, so this how I manage.
150 watt HPS light suspended between the two beds using rope. It can get very hard to work with them because the gap between the beds is only about 1/3-1/2 of a meter. I have a cold humidifier on a timer that runs at night to help drop the temp because well, dorms don't have the best heating / cooling.
I recently started using the humidifier, and I have not determined if the night time humidity helps breed pests.
Dromitorie rooms breed creative solutions, I keep around 25 in the room, which means every open space has something growing on it.

[LauraGR]

Oh, my gosh! This made me laugh out loud. Congratulations on your determination to care for your babies in a rather harsh environment! I was imagining the campus police getting a notice that the electricity use in your dorm room was excessive and coming in to bust you for growing pot! You are truly a geek among us.

[PhalPal]

I thought of the campus police raiding in the middle of the night also!!!!

[kmarch]

Very clever and creative solutions Myxamatosis!!!

[Blueszz]

I love this, it made my laugh too but not in an offending way.
Put some benches in your growing space and you can even cramp more chids in it. :-)

Thanks for sharing!

[mdomingz]

well, here is how my balcony goes these days. This part of the year i get full, harsh, dry season sun most of the day, but i still get to keep all my plants out. Behind the lattice, next to the wall (which gets the least sun) i have all my stanhopeas, bolleas and pescatoreas. directly on the lattice i have a couple of gongoras, mini dens, epi, and others. These get watered accordingly. On the opposite side of the balcony i have my "dry side" with my mormodes, cychnoces, catasetum and at the very corner, an arachnis attached to a branch which i have to water quite a few times a day! The same as last year, there are some plants flowering out of season.... i wonder is there is something the world leaders are not telling us!

manuel
panama

well, i couldn't resist posting some pics of my gorgeous (to me) sharry baby!

[PhalPal]

Very nice Manuel!!!

[Tommyr]

Originally Posted by PhalPal

Very nice Manuel!!!

I'll second that! Nice job!

[hulaorchid]

My growing space!! Finally pictures!!!
It's about 6ft x 4ft. I have my orchids, plumerias, hellaborus, xmas cactus, gardenia and a camillia!

[Sam_Smith]

I must have posted several months ago, forgive the absence, I recently changed a few things with my orchid space I thought might give others some ideas. The table is still 8' x 4' and about 7' tall, Now I have walls on three sides the long side is transparent to let light in through the large window I have the whole unit up against, the walls are just wood frames with plastic and 1/2" wire mesh attached to let me hang pots on the walls, this also lets me water them without moving the pots as the water drains into the 8'x4' tray on the tables surface, I just punch a hole in each pot and make a wire hanger to crimp into it out of galvanized wire.
Now the misting system is new, there are 11 heads (I have 4 extra I can attach), with a simple low flow high pressure ro diaphragm booster pump to drive the misting heads, the misting units are labeled "tefen" and are low flow mid to high pressure units something like 20~200 psi not sure the exact specs, bought em from a guy on ebay, sells them and the 1/4" t's they screw into. The pump was the whole problem until I found out that ro booster pumps are fairly cheep 60-80.00 (ebay to) and will supply the needed pressure, just need to make sure they can also supply the needed flow, each nozzle uses something like 0.006gpm so you can have a fair number of em attached before you loose pressure, This outfit cost about 200.00 to put together, and could even be attached to a fan to distribute the mist, this is apposed to a hydrofoger that runs 600+, and with this system you can place the nozzles where ever you wish and direct them! Plus the diaphragm pump is self priming! I have the pump on a timer to run a few times a day making sure the plants dry off in between.

Hope this helps someone with their system!

P.S. I have seen these nozzles selling for reptile care but are more expensive.

[Sam_Smith]

Two pictures with as full a view as I can manage its in a smallish room. Pardon the lighting, its not that great.

[Myxamatosis]

/envy
Very very cool. how do you determine when to water? I see that you have a timer on what i assume to be the mister. does the mister water the plants or just boost humidity?

[Sam_Smith]

Actually the analog timer you see is for the 600w HPS light, I have the misting system on a digital 1 minute timer. The misting system is just to maintain humidity, since I use rain water its good if I don't have to water to often so if I spend 10 liters of water misting to save me 1 watering I save about 10l of water and my plants are happier.


Sam

[kid a]

ok so i decided to get creative kinda and use my camera to take a virtual tour of my grow space lol. The quality is not great and my voice sounds a little different but you can get the idea lol. I live with my grandma so basically everything is in my bedroom so that explains why you are touring my bedroom lol. I will be moving in the next month or so i was thinking maybe i should post one now of the current and then after moving post another since it wil be completely different lol.

YouTube - DSCN0466

[RPfeiffer]

Kortney, what a great idea! Your growing area looks great! What I would love to know is where did you get those fans that are on the sides of your terrarium walls? I need some of those!

[Tommyr]

Originally Posted by kid a

ok so i decided to get creative kinda and use my camera to take a virtual tour of my grow space lol. The quality is not great and my voice sounds a little different but you can get the idea lol. I live with my grandma so basically everything is in my bedroom so that explains why you are touring my bedroom lol. I will be moving in the next month or so i was thinking maybe i should post one now of the current and then after moving post another since it wil be completely different lol.

YouTube - DSCN0466

Very nice! Where there's a will, there's a way!

[kid a]

Those actually aren't fans just vents. They came built in with it, it is a zoomed tank. the vents have covers that can snap on over them and on the back wall about three or four inches from the base there is a plug that is interchangeable to insert a water pump or something with a filter or something. I could probably do more with it. If Chauncy ever dies I will use it for orchids. I ve grown used to having all of them in my room so it will be different having them in aanother are of my living space.

[PhalPal]

Kortney fantastic Idea!! This is what all of us need to do - step it up a notch!

Tommyr - "Where there's a will, there's a way" - I sort of like to think "Where there's a WALL, there's a way!"

[articuno75]

Originally Posted by PhalPal

Kortney fantastic Idea!! This is what all of us need to do - step it up a notch!

Tommyr - "Where there's a will, there's a way" - I sort of like to think "Where there's a WALL, there's a way!"

Wall, stand, mount, pot, rack..... Flat out, if there is any kind of room there is a way!!! LoL

BTW, Nice vid Korts!

[grandmapenguin]

Great job, Korts. You keep them really neat. It is so enjoyabl
to see how other members grow. Thank you all.
Terry

[kid a]

You're right there is a method to my orchid madness lol!

[Kayla]

It is amazing that there is such a passion for these. I want to be an orchid lady.

[PhalPal]

Kayl sometimes I think it is more MADNESS than PASSION!

[lynda]

Thankyou, I really enjoyed your home video........

[kid a]

lol your welcome! I moving this week into my own place so maybe i'll make another soon once i get them situated. This time they won't be crammed on top of everything in my bedroom lol! I am planning to get one of those big wire shelves for them we'll see how they adjust lol.

[tizzycat]

Great movie Kortney. Good luck with the move.

[Bird Song Farm]

Hey Kortney, Good luck with the move. You are so going to enjoy living on your own and haveing your things where you like them and how you like them! LOL

I know your orchids are going to like it too and you'll see lot's of new growth soon.
Al

[SShide77]

Hello!

I live in a very small apartment and have been struggling with creating a decent growing space for some time. I live in a first floor apartment which is part way underground (windows at ground level)..until now I have been growing some orchids under a grow light, with *some* success, they arent doing bad, but I wouldnt say they are thriving either. I have very little space and was just wondering if there is anyone else who struggles with the same issue and some advise would be greatly appreciated. I have mostly paphs. (which actually seem to be doing the best out of all) phals and two dendrobiums, which have great looking greenery,. ,but I cant seem to get them to bloom. Please help!

-Sarah

[kid a]

I did but just recently moved to my own place. I piled them ontop of every freakin surface in the room lol! My best advice is put anything ontop of a dresser/table/desk/area into a box and under your bed and fill that space with orchids lol! here is what I did, infact I just moved last week so I haven't moved the plants to the new places yet:

YouTube - DSCN0466

I kept all of them in my bedroom which I shared with my four old son. since I lived with my Grandma I had to keep them all in my room.


Oh and tv dinner trays help ad space too

[kmarch]

Take a look at tour Growing Spaces thread. There are TONS of examples of how different members grow in different spaces, some of them small and awkward. I'll copy this thread into that one .

[benetay]

Wow! certainly very well use of space, if only i have my own space i will literally fill every inch and crevices with orchids! Thanks for sharing! I really love to see how people manage small spaces with a lot of orchid.

Cheers!

[Aleksa]

I'd like to share with you one picture of 3 very different orchids... The green one is Paph Maudiae hybrid, pink is Phal Noid, and small one is Ophrys, native orchid in my area...

I don't know whether I placed this post in right thread... Sorry if I didn't...

[KenFL]

Here is my shade house

[Sharyn]

Ken: I LOVE your shade house. Looks like the perfect space for all your beautiful orchids. Nice place to have your morning coffee or evening cocktail! I'll be waiting for my invite.

[KenFL]

Sharyn,
You are invited any time. Coffee in the AM. Pina Coladas after 5 PM
Ken

[Ray]

Grrrr. I HATE folks who can grow outdoors.

Just think how many more orchids I could have if I didn't have to pay for greenhouse heat!

[kid a]

I moved the orchids in today And put together my shelf....suddenly 45 didn't look like as much as it did before I moved them here, so I am happy to report you won't hear me complain about space issues for a while at least lol! I didn't have enough room in the car for the lights but I'm not sure if I will even need them. After having them in my room for so long I couldn't just couldn't put them anywhere else lol. I'm sure it won't be long before they are spread about the apartment though. This setup may change a bit though in the next couple of weeks once figure out if things are burning or not. The sun beams straight in the window from 1ish to twighlihgtish. I put the highlight closets to the window and others in front or underneath.

[virgil]

Looks like Fred and i have the same designer for our green house, mine is 10' x 12'

[benetay]

I'm so envious having personal GH. I will fill everything to the maximum if i have a personal GH & maybe built it into a small nursery. Oh, thanks for waking me, i must have doze off dreaming while typing.

Cheers!

[delphiguy]

Our growing space is getting smaller, we have already made plans on expanding
it, probably gonna happen in about 2-3 months. at the moment the neighbors
have complete view of it and they can even go near the plants, as long as they
don't harm them, i even saw some posing and taking photos of them.

anyways here's a view of our small garden.
pictures 1 & 2 are the front of the house. while the rest are the main growing
area in different angles that is almost full of orchids and nephentes. It about
1.5Meters wide and 6Meters long.

[hulaorchid]

Very nice!! Yes, you need more space!!!lol

[delphiguy]

yes more space is needed indeed, this addiction is getting expensive, and the big problem
is that i have no plans on slowing down, the break pedal doesnt seem to be working at
the moment.

[hulaorchid]

You will learn control! Or NOT! lol I have a little space too. But I have trees to hang orchids in!!

[delphiguy]

thanks, i'll stay away from garden stores for a while, until my bday, then i'm gonna let go.
yehey.

[digitalgate]

i once squeeze 743 plant into my small apartment. I can't see why you can do that. Your growing space is bigger than me. (a year ago_

[-k-]

Sweet setup..love the hanging arrangement... can't wait to see the expansion

[Plucky Purcell]

I'm jealous! Love the setup, especially the one that looks like a den hung upside down. Beauty!

[Jirel]

Beautiful set up! I can't believe the neighbors, I've seen some LOVELY flowers (a large patch of wildflowers comes to mind) but I've never taken pictures unless I had the guts to go to the front door and ask permission.

[Tom F]

Oh how I wish that I lived where I could grow outside. Love your setup.

[delphiguy]

digital
you squeezed 700 plants in a space smaller than mine? geez, i need to do some re-arrangements then.
i'll see what more space i can make this weekend.

K
thanks, hanging orchids i think is the norm here, but thats just me.

Plucky
thanks, yep i've got 2 dens that i hang in a coco wattle, just dont know which kind it is.

Jirel
Yep, the neighbors are starting to get to the wife's nerves, because they seem to treat my garden
as a park, especially the kids. Also we have received news that there was already a history of
orchid thiefs in the area so we are now planning on putting up a fence or wall to enclose our garden.

Tom
thanks, we still have a few plants inside the house, but no orchids there. thats why im planning to
get another big orchid and place it in the living room.


thanks to all of you who have looked at our humble growing space, in about 2-3months time i would
probably have another one, this one it'll be twice as big, if the wife wont intervene.

and thanks a lot to you all for helping me with my orchid problems.

[arleneg]

WOW! Great growing spaces and ideas. I haven't visited this thread for several months, and look what I've missed.

Btw...welcome to new members.

[Anton]

Delphiguy, I was intrigued by those spiral holders you have your Vandas in, quite unique.

Not only do they give the roots a chance to wander, but also gives the plant something to climb up too.

[delphiguy]

glad you liked it, yeah it does let the roots breath and grow crazy.

[davetheorchidaddict]

I have come to the realization that I will never have enough space, no mater how large a space I get. I do not think that is anywhere in the relm of possibility.

[PhalPal]

Okay....so it's not Anton's greenhouse!! But after talking about and planning it for waaay too long with many delays along the way, we have finally gotten serious with my orchid room! It was once a guest room but everything is OUT with stuff all over my house but the laminated wood is going in on the floor, I have half the room painted a pretty botanical green, new baseboards are in and the table is painted and moved in. Yippee!!

Now I will move my lights and some of my orchids over to the new table and we will start on the other side of the room.

Pictures are:
#1 table I got from a store going out of business for $50. The top shelf is thick glass and they are heavy metal; I have two of these.
#2 the mess you see in the rest of the room,
#3 my dining room table where half of my orchids are residing until I get the other two tables up there.

25% done, 75% to go!!!!!

[kid a]

Cool! It will be fabulous! Can't wait to see what it looks like when your done!

[delphiguy]

oh PhalPhal, you will have a very good setup there, dont forget to post pics of them when your finished.

[jay]

Very nice setup.

One problem though, I see more shelf space than there are plants. Looks like you will have to fix that when the room is finished.

[dorothea]

PhalPal, I love this wall color, it goes so well with redish laminate. your orchids will love their new room

[PhalPal]

Originally Posted by jay

....One problem though, I see more shelf space than there are plants. Looks like you will have to fix that when the room is finished.

I'm not so sure about extra space Jay; I have plants displaced everywhere right now!! There is a table full of orchids under lights just out of camera range in the orchid room, some are in my kitchen, lots and lots outside, many have taken over my formal dining room and a few here and there all over the house. With the weather heating up so fast I have to get busy with my outside Catt house too!! Yikes all of a sudden it's summer!

[PhalPal]

Originally Posted by dorothea

PhalPal, I love this wall color, it goes so well with redish laminate. your orchids will love their new room

Thank you Dorothea! If you knew me it would be no surprise that even my orchid room would have to be color coordinated!

[dorothea]

PhalPal, I'm the same that's why I notice things like that

[lynda]

Gosh, thanks to all of you who have shared your very interesting and helpful pictures................

[SheilaJ]

I grow in a 9x11 foot spare bedroom with a small but bright west window. The table has a 400 watt HID light over it with an Agrosun Gold metal halide bulb. The trays are washing machine trays from the home store, with closet organizer shelves. This way I can water fairly freely without moving the orchids, and the water mostly evaporates before the next watering. It also gets the orchids closer to the lights (I could lower the light but then I'd bump my head!)

I also have a tall chrome wire shelf rack with shop lights and a high output T5 light fixture. It used to hold houseplants but I am transitioning it over to orchids too, since my collection keeps expanding.

The grow room has a humidifier running all the time, so I can usually keep the humidity around 50 to 70%. Low temps are about 69 degrees, highs run 75 to 92 depending on how hot and sunny the afternoons get.

I grow mostly phals, some phaius and minicatts, and one small dendrobium.

I was going to post a photo, but the forum won't let me until I've made 5 posts. So ignore the next 4 garbage posts, and then you'll get to see my photo!

[SheilaJ]

garbage post 1

[SheilaJ]

garbage post 2

[SheilaJ]

garbage post 3

[SheilaJ]

garbage post 4

[SheilaJ]

There are about 37 orchids in there now, a few more than in the photo. And there's a lot of lovely green algae in the drain trays too!

[PhalPal]

Very nice Sheila!! I recently took over a guest room also, but I got a LOT more orchids in there!!! You have mega-room to expand!!

[PhalPal]

Back in May of 2008 a 'geek named Palm City Orchid made and sold us some of his ladder mounts that we saw in his pictures. Here is an update on mine; I would love to know how the rest of you utilized them and how they are doing!!

I put four small Catts on mine with a little sphagnum. One died and the other three are putting out tons of roots that are wrapping around the wood and going crazy. I would expect them to bloom this next blooming season. I took a close up of just the roots but it was too fuzzy, will try again tomorrow.

#1 - back of ladder where most of the root tips are
#2 - as close up as I could get without fuzz
#3 - front of ladder

[solay]

Phalpal, the orchid room is going to look great. I love the paint color as well. I tried to paint my Kitchen sort of that color but didn't quite get it right. What is the name of that color?

If you make it to my place you'll the the crazy painting job I did. Hahaha! You can't say I'm afraid of color that's for sure. Some guest love it and others hate it. Go figure.

The ladder mount is looking good with the new roots. I had branches off the oak tree to try something like that but never got around to it. I was getting ready to burn them in the fire place. Maybe I'll hang on to them now. After seeing it I'm inspired to be creative again.

[ran]

My meager grow spot. They get lots of air and afternoon sun which is shaded through a makeshift shade cloth. This has to do until I can make something more elaborate...

[nenella]

Hi ran, I think it looks like a very good spot and not a meager grow spot either!
You are very lucky to be able to just put them outside like that!
If you feel it looks 'bare' a few more, even, 'non orchid' plants round your set up would make it look wonderful!
I look forward to seeing your blooms so keep us posted.

[Tommyr]

Originally Posted by ran

My meager grow spot. They get lots of air and afternoon sun which is shaded through a makeshift shade cloth. This has to do until I can make something more elaborate...

Looks like a fine spot to me! Good job and good growing!