Orchid Room

[Justin]

Hi All,

Wanted to share these pics of my plants in their new orchid room. These are mostly rothschildianum and related multifloral Paphs. With all the seedlings coming up I need to build another lightstand this year.

 

[SlipperFan]

Beautiful stands. You have good skills. Plants look great, also.

 

[mrhappyrotter]

This is me being jealous.

Technically speaking, my bedroom is my orchid room. I've got two stands as well, but I stick with T-8 lighting to supplement the ambient light from my window.

I'm assuming the plants in the first photo get compact flouros or some combination of sodium vapor & mercury halides?

 

[Justin]

Thanks! the mature plants and divisions are under a 250w Metal Halide lamp. The seedlings are under 4 x 48" T-12 fluorescent and compact fluorescent lamps.

I am going to add an HPS lamp for my next lightstand.

 

[JeanLux]

Lots of strong healthy plants :clap: !!!! Jean

 

[Trithor]

Your plants look great. I have never grown any plants under light, so the finer principles of it escape me.
What do you have n flask?

 

[NYEric]

Nice, ..but.. you really need to commit and give those puppies more space..

 

[goldenrose]

Nice, ..but.. you really need to commit and give those puppies more space..

:rollhappy::rollhappy:
way too neat, clean & orderly too!
GREAT job Justin!

 

[Justin]

LOL Eric.

Trithor the flasks are all Paph stonei.

 

[NYEric]

How can you keep the plants along just one wall!? :rollhappy:

 

[Trithor]

Are 9 of those stonei flasks mine?

 

[Justin]

ha unfortunately the are all spoken for

 

[eOrchids]

Great setup and healthy looking plants, Justin!

 

[Rick]

Those plant look pretty dang happy Justin:clap::clap:

 

[Cheyenne]

Justin, the plants look great. If you do not want to go out into the room further you can make your shelves taller. I have similar set up. I bought plastic shelves from home depot. The corner posts were round so I put pvc pipe extentions in to raise the shelves and make more room between them. Then have florescents on every shelf. I also built my own out of wood and stained them. You could get two or three more shelves above those plants in the same square footage.

 

[Justin]

Thanks, Cheyenne we grow the same kinds of plants too so I’d love to see some pics of your setup!

One more stand will accommodate the seedlings when they are all in 4" pots, but most of my roths don't bloom until they get to 5" pots, so that is when space becomes an issue!

Another aspect of the system i need to improve is is watering. Seedlings are in slotted trays nested into closed-bottom trays, so I can slide out the trays, remove the slotted tray, water, and put back.

But i need to reinforce the trays under the big plants so i can water into them then maybe pump out the water with a shopvac. For now i have to move the big plants to the sink or outside to water and it takes forever. Any tips on how other indoor growers solve for watering would be appreciated.

In the summer temps around the plants are 74F and humidity is about 55-60%. I'm sure my plants would grow much better in the heat and humidity of a greenhouse, but that is probably 10 years away so they will have to hang in there for now.

 

[Trithor]

Whew! You have my sympathies. This is hardcore! I just slip on a pair of swim trunks and and wage aqua-war with a garden hose as my trusty sidearm

 

[Cheyenne]

Thanks, Cheyenne we grow the same kinds of plants too so I’d love to see some pics of your setup!

One more stand will accommodate the seedlings when they are all in 4" pots, but most of my roths don't bloom until they get to 5" pots, so that is when space becomes an issue!

Another aspect of the system i need to improve is is watering. Seedlings are in slotted trays nested into closed-bottom trays, so I can slide out the trays, remove the slotted tray, water, and put back.

But i need to reinforce the trays under the big plants so i can water into them then maybe pump out the water with a shopvac. For now i have to move the big plants to the sink or outside to water and it takes forever. Any tips on how other indoor growers solve for watering would be appreciated.

In the summer temps around the plants are 74F and humidity is about 55-60%. I'm sure my plants would grow much better in the heat and humidity of a greenhouse, but that is probably 10 years away so they will have to hang in there for now.

I had the same problem with watering. So what I did was bought plastic trays that had edges high enough that I could drill a hole and install a pvc fitting with rubber grommets to make it water tight. Then I ran pvc off the pans together and flow into a five gallon bucket. Then when it is full I just dump it outside. For some shelves I could not find plastic trays the right size. So i just bought sheet metal and bent the accordingly then followed the same drain process. Now I don't have to move the plants.

 

[Justin]

Ah, good idea...i will have to work out a plan for that.

 

[NYEric]

I just water! :crazy: