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The November meeting featured several AAOS members who
described various ways they grow orchids successfully indoors. The presentations
were especially encouraging to those of us without greenhouses, yet would still like
to grow a diverse collection of these fascinating plants. It was also interesting
to see how different members had solved problems common to all who would grow orchids
in their homes: adequate lighting, humidity and temperature.
Duane Duman described how his plants are rotated from lath house to greenhouse
to bay windows in his home, depending on seasonal temperature changes. As temperatures
drop toward the fall, first the grammatophylums, then his phals, paphs and others,
until finally his cymbidiums "migrate" to the windows, where they can be
enjoyed in cold months. One window faces southwest, the other northeast.
Duane described a customized drip tray he built to fit one of the bay windows.
Made of fiberglass-lined plywood, this allows for more convenient watering of the
plants and helps in maintaining proper humidity, augmented by daily misting. When
asked how he manages watering, he explained that he uses triple-filtered water from
the tap, well water (in the greenhouse), or preferably rain water with a few drops
of sulphuric acid to increase acidity. Duane also encouraged us to consider such
"transferable addictions" as ceramics and 3D puzzles, spinoffs from his
interest in the plants.
Although maintaining adequate humidity is often a challenge for those growing orchids
inside the house, this was less so for Paige Hartman because of the water-to-air
heating system in her home. Upstairs she has a selection of plants in windows that
face south and east, respectively. These are arranged attractively on an antique
wooden ironing board and an antique ladder. The southern window, with floor to ceiling
windows, provides ample light for dendrobiums, among other plants. Several pine trees
outside this window prevent the light from becoming too intense, and so reduce somewhat
the need for watering. She has phalaenopsis in the eastern window. To facilitate
watering and to maintain adequate humidity, her plants are placed on plastic trays
of gravel.
Downstairs, Paige has shelves hung with fluorescent lights and wrapped with shower
curtains to increase warmth and humidity. Here she grows masdevallias and cymbidiums,
among others, setting them on top of overturned pots to ensure the appropriate closeness
or distance from the lights. Each shelf has a bank of four fluorescent tubes over
it which are kept on 14 hours a day. Her set up includes an oscillating fan to supply
ventilation to the plants, a humidifier, and for the winter, a space heater. (Her
orchids share the room with her dog, who enters and exits the house via a door in
this room).
Mercedes True also has had success with growing under lights in her basement. Originally,
she grew her orchids in upstairs windows, but the sills were not wide enough for
her expanding collection.
To solve this problem, she built a free standing shelving system approximately
six feet tall, two feet deep, and eight feet wide. These were hung with banks of
four foot long fluorescent tubes, on two tiers, and wrapped with plastic sheeting
that was hooked at the top of the frame. The frame was built of wolmanized lumber
and screwed together so that it could be easily modified later as needed. Silver
mylar was used in the back of each shelving unit to maximize light reflection from
the fluorescent tubes. For safety reasons and for ease of access the electrical strip
for all the lights was mounted at eye level, well away from wet areas. She also used
commercially available closet shelving units that allow her to adjust the distances
between plants and lights without stacking plants on top of pots and other platforms.
For example, her phalaenopsis plants can be moved down fairly easily when they begin
sending up flower spikes.
Mercedes offered several useful tips to those of us who grow under lights. With
two tiers of lights, it was possible to maintain more even temperature levels by
timing the lights to go off at different times. Fluorescent daylengths range from
twelve hours in the winter to about fourteen in the summer. By placing thermometers
and hygrometers at different locations on the shelves, she was able to determine
different micro-environments that allowed her to place plants with different needs
accordingly. Finally, she was able to increase humidity significantly by using felt
cloth to wick up moisture from the base of her egg crate drip trays. Overall, her
set up was designed to provide both flexibility and maximal use of a small space.
Hossein Bina s "Orchid Boxes" were three attractive, cabinet style cases
stacked one on the other, arranged for short, medium, tall and very tall plants.
He grows paphiopedilums, phragmipediums, phalaenopsis and others. The case reaches
to the ceiling, with a storage area underneath. Fluorescent tubes are used as a light
source and small fans for ventilation. To moderate temperature, which occasionally
reaches ninety degrees, Hussein simply opens the doors of the cases. Maintaining
humidity is still a challenge; he uses black plastic humidity trays for this purpose,
as well as a room humidifier.
(Sean Eaton's comments) As with several other members, I began growing orchids
on a windowsill in my home, in this case a small bay window facing south. Here the
intensity of the summer light was moderated by the dappled shade of a locust tree,
and in winter, the bright cool location was apparently acceptable to a small dendrobium.
However, limited space and competition with my wife's cacti drove me to the basement,
where I stowed most of this collection inside an Orchidarium, a commercially available
Wardian case.
It is essentially a big plastic box. Light is provided by high intensity, U-shaped
fluorescent tubes. A small fan provides ventilation, and vents allow me to moderate
temperature and humidity. The temperature range in the Orchidarium depends a lot
on ambient room temperature, and is typically 65°to 80°F. Humidity can
be kept at approximately 70% relatively easily. Among the plants that have done fairly
well so far are warmth tolerant Masdevallia hybrids, Maudiae-type paphiopedilum hybrids,
Howeara, and a miniature Angraecum. I am currently experimenting with a number of
other genera to see what other plants will do well in the Orchidarium.
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~ Submitted by Sean Eaton
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