Broke college student = DIY Wardian Case

[Orchidflowerchild]

So, this is the second DIY wardian case I hae built. This one out of some PVC pipe, orange securtiy fencing (like at construction sites), some aliminum mesh, 4 mil plastic, some recycled shop lights, and a lot of cable ties (zip ties).









I painted the whole things white so as to look less cobbled-together. It may not look like much, but wait until it's full of Pleurothallids and ool growing Oncidiinae!

Meanwhile, I earned green points by using almost entirely recycled materials (except for two shop lights, 4 mil plastic, and of course the fan, humidifier, thermometer, and zip ties).

If necessity is the mother of invention, poverty is the mother of innovation, n'est-ce pas?

-Cj

[Anton]

NOT JUST A PRETTY FACE !

Well done.

[Orchidflowerchild]

Yeah, i couldn't sleep one night, a few weeks ago, so at three in the morning, I was sketching design ideas and making materials lists.

Can you tell I come from engineers?

For the record, my last DIY case was made from stainless steel wire bread trays I got from a dupmster behind a Mrs. Baird's store that was closing.

-Cj

[arleneg]

CJ,

Nicely done!

[gore42]

That's a great design I like the way you handled the lighting... should really help keep it cooler inside.

I made one when I started collecting orchids several years ago. Also on a budget, I made it out of a cheap wood frame and plastic sheet sides and back... but I splurged and bought plexiglass for the front (after 6 months, actually).

This is what it looked like. It needed more lights in the top section.



Unfortunately, I outgrew it pretty quickly. The following year, I tore it apart to make some benches to grow under HID lights, and then tore those apart to make room for better ones....

- Matt

[Anton]

And the rest is history.......

[Orchidflowerchild]

Yeah, keeping things cool was my biggest priority, not actually living in a Masdevallia-friendly area, and all. There is an opening cut in the plastic, just behind the humidifier (which is, for all intents and purposes, a small evaporative cooler), so it intaking conditioned air (I like my house cool) and humidifying it, then the fan creates quite a breeze in there. So far it's been between 62 and 77 (once), with humidity between 60 and 80%. I imagine humidity will become less and less of an issue, as I fill it with plants. You know how they create their microclimate.

My first caSE was actually built into an alcove with a north-facing window and a window unit a/c blowing directly into the lower part of the case. I flowered Masdevallia ignea and racemosa regularly in Houston, TX.... I was really quite proud of those two, but I actually had quite a variety of pleuros and other sundry coolies (Soph. coccinea, etc. few Odontoglossums). I tell you, the old-timers at the Houston Orchid sociey were all surprised to see blooming M. veitchiana and the like on the show table, each month.

It wasn't so fun, however, when we had rolling brownouts, one summer, and I had to spend a day spraying the plants with icewater to keep them cool until the power came back. Fancy me, dripping in sweat, middle of july, spraying the cool gorwing orchids with chilled water...

Addiction? What?

-Cj