This was the original idea. A natural looking scene with orchids growing in high humidity. Didn't work!
Built in spring 2011, I had nailed the parts together and as the heating season began in the fall, part of the wood structure got loose when some of the nails pulled out on their own. Of course, that let the hot dried air from electric heaters, below the window, dry the air inside, along with the plants. Meanwhile, the wooden branches, standing in water, rotted in record time, and I had to pull all the plants out in spring to save them from complete dehydration. After cleaning, I screwed the wood parts toghether. Then I had to figure out what to do with this Orchid Window!
That's when I decided to move all my big, heat loving paphios, inside the window. The result over the summer has been convincing. Whereas my phrags are doing very well in my cooler plant room upstairs, these paphs are thriving in temps averaging 22°C at night and 27-30°C during the day. With the wood panels now screwed in, the loss of humidity in winter should be kept at a minimum. I also had a chance to test my old blue and red led panels on top which the plant seem to absolutely love. I can just imagine what more powerful modern panels could do to them. I've put several white spots to give more pleasant white light for human eyes. Now, I'm looking for a bigger set up to expand my hot paph growing space.
