green house

[orchid em]

So, I live in nosara costa rica. we are definately warm but we do have 2 destinct seasons a wet season and a dry season. My husband and I are almost finished building our home and when we move in I want to get sarted on building a green house/orchid house. In the wet season I think air ventilation and light will be needed and in the dry season shade and humidity. Any suggestions? I am new to growing orchids so all suggestions are welcome........planting medium, organization, humidity control etc. what ever you have I'll take.
Also I am very into cattleyas at the moment, I only have 2, they are very healthy starting new growth and roots. Any suggestions on types of catts I should look for next. Or any interesting info. on cattleyas. Thanks for all the great orchid chat, I love it!

[tom499]

I find the main issue is temperature. For where you live an unheated greenhouse may well do fine. You can get some fans and a humidifer sorted easy, but making sure it stays the temp you want it to is the main factor. This decides what kind of greenhouse you want.

Do you know other orchid growers in your area who use greenhouses? your best bet is to speak with them, or anyone with a greenhouse nearby and ask about temperatures they get, winter, summer, day and night. You can then cross reference these with the temps your orchids want and see if you need more or less heat.

I say all this because if you need it to be heated you will want a more insulated style greenhouse and if it were nonheated.

Good luck, keep us informed how it goes

[orchid em]

Thanks tom
temp here is pretty great for growing warm weather orchids, the lowest it gets at night in the rainy season is high 60's. the average is 80's. i cant wait to get started and have more space to grow. thanks again!

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Even if your location does not get very hot, sun entering a greenhouse will raise the temp considerably. An evaporative cooler can move a great deal of air and add to the humidity some, tho for me not nearly enough. I managed to have a severely over heated GH last winter when I left my cooler/vent fan unplugged for a couple of days. It was over 110F with moderately cool temps outside, but natural ventilation had been restricted for the winter, so I lost a fair number of plants, mostly those hanging on the west side. You might want to look at the pictures of my temporary GH, not for the main house design, but for the peripheral equipment, just to get some ideas for discussion.
http://www.pbase.com/schnitz/temporary_greenhouse

[jerrymeola]

Your growing conditions are probably easier than mine in SW Florida.

I also have a wet and dry season and temps over 100 down to 30.

I am installing 3 new greenhouses and asked many other professionals what they liked or disliked about theirs. Now I an talking commercial green houses and thousands of plants in each.

Uniformly, commercial growers did not like high roofs (most are still built that way) and while swamp coolers work great when they are working, if you have a power outage for any length of time (like when you are away) good by orchids. Everyone said not to rely on them. Fans are the most important piece of equipment and fairly cheap. Air circulation cools and helps move moisture to where needed.

I am installing my green houses with shade cloth only. No plastic. I will fight the cold some winters and the rain some summers, but it still seems the safest. I will be putting $60,000 in plants in them this summer, so be assured it is not something I recommend lightly.

Stick with orchids that will like the conditions. Cattleya will be excellent, Oncidium if you can give a little more shade and cooler section (under 80). Buy some native orchids since you have excellent choices.

Have some easy way to water, both manual and automatic. Never rely on automatic sprinklers. You should examine the collect once a week and water whatever looks like it is being missed.

I would not be concerned about humidity. You can add some misters if you like. They will lower temperatures and slow evaporation. They have a tendency to clog so put a good filter in the water system to remove the dirt particles that clog the misters.

Leave a good walk around area, It is tempting to add more and more plants but crowding hurts the plants, and without a good work flow you will not give them as much attention as you would if access was easier.

[orchid em]

Thanks so much, jerry that is all very usfal info. It seems like the shade cloth is the way to go down here. I think I will use plaxiglass for the roof as well and shade cloth because it really rains a lot in the rainy season and I'd like to keep that under control. thanks again for all the suggestions.