Greenhouse shade advice needed.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by isurus79

You know, no one (including myself) asked about the current status of your plants! What makes you want to make such a large shift in light reaching the plants? Are they doing poorly?

These are great questions!

What called my attention to light levels was noticing that the leaves of some of some of my Cattleyas were a little smaller and narrower than in previous years. The optimal light level for the average Cattleya is around 3500fc, but I have more walkeriana luddemanniana, and warscewiczii than others in the alliance. All three all known for requiring higher light levels than the average Cattleya. They will flower with less, but require strong light to grow and flower at their best. This is especially true for the lueddemannianas, which people who live in areas with a lot of overcast often have difficulty flowering.

The brightest part of my greenhouse is around 2750fc at mid-day, and much less beginning mid-afternoon due to shading from the house roof. Hence, I'd like to increase the light levels. I can't go much higher than, say 3000-3500fc mid summer, but we are well past the Sun's mid-June apogee and the weather is notably cooler.

I don't necessarily want to make a huge increase, so I've been debating whether I should buy a 20% shade cloth or use nothing at all for the fall/winter/spring.


Edit: I added a picture of my incremental solution - roll the shade cloth back half way, use fans to produce gale-force winds, then roll it back further in a month or so.



-Keith

[estación seca]

Walkeriana grows on deciduous trees. It likes lower light in summer and higher in winter.

Read this famous post:
C walkeriana - Tips for Growing & Blooming
Then look up other threads written by catwalker808 here.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Walkeriana grows on deciduous trees. It likes lower light in summer and higher in winter.

Read this famous post:
C walkeriana - Tips for Growing & Blooming
Then look up other threads written by catwalker808 here.

Thanks for your post.

I've read most of Harry's posts, and the one you point out several time, but I will probably read it again now that you've mentioned it. I use most of his advice from the post you linked. All my mature walkers have nice fat psuedubulbs year round. I'm hoping at least one of my walkers will grow two consecutive growths this year then flower twice in succession as he describes. A couple of them are on track to do this. I'm currently growing up about 75 walkers from compots I bought from Harry.

-Keith

[estación seca]

Alan Koch of Gold Country Orchids says he got 2 walkeriana flowerings per year when he lived in Los Angeles, about 34 degrees North, but only 1 per year near Sacramento, about 38 degrees North. The difference in winter daylength seems to matter. I dropped a pin in the middle of a map of Mississippi and got 32 degrees. If you don't have too much cloudy weather it might work.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Alan Koch of Gold Country Orchids says he got 2 walkeriana flowerings per year when he lived in Los Angeles, about 34 degrees North, but only 1 per year near Sacramento, about 38 degrees North. The difference in winter daylength seems to matter. I dropped a pin in the middle of a map of Mississippi and got 32 degrees. If you don't have too much cloudy weather it might work.

I learned about Alan Koch in a visit to E. Granier's greenhouse in around 2002. Granier called Koch a big loud Yankee, which piqued my curiosity and I found Gold Country Orchids. It appears that Gold Country Orchids web site is now defunct. Alan has a Facebook page, but it seemed pretty useless when I last checked it out. Do you know what became of him?
-Keith

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by K-Sci

I learned about Alan Kotch in a visit to E. Granier's greenhouse in around 2002. Granier called Kotch a big loud Yankee, which piqued my curiosity and I found Gold Country Orchids. It appears that Gold Country Orchids web site is now defunct. Alan has a Facebook page, but it seemed pretty useless when I last checked it out. Do you know what became of him?
-Keith

Odd! He posts plants on Instagram regularly as a means for sales and he just gave a lecture (August I believe) for the New Orleans OS. I'm curious about what he's up to now.

---------- Post added at 07:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:19 AM ----------

FYI - Cattleya warscewiczii does not grow as bright as you think! I am learning this the hard way. I also read they grow very bright and kept losing them. Andrea Niessen (Orquivalle owner) mentioned in the 2020 Orchids Digest speakers day that the species grows somewhat shady in nature. I've reduced the amount of sunlight on my plants and they're doing much better. I know Chadwick's article says they grow bright, but lets face it, bright in New England is still dark compared to to the tropics or even the southern USA!

[DirtyCoconuts]

Steve - you hit it on the head, I, and i assume others, always read and forget to take the context in on my initial read and sometimes , often, get the ultimate conclusions wrong as a result.


very important lesson although one not so easily learned

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by isurus79

FYI - Cattleya warscewiczii does not grow as bright as you think! ... I know Chadwick's article says they grow bright, but lets face it, bright in New England is still dark compared to to the tropics or even the southern USA!

For about 5 years I lived in what may be the overcast capital of the world - University Place, Washington (an hour south of Seattle). We'd go 4-6 months without seeing the sun at times.

-Keith

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by isurus79

FYI - Cattleya warscewiczii does not grow as bright as you think! I am learning this the hard way. I also read they grow very bright and kept losing them.

Losing them? How did you lose them?
-Keith

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by K-Sci

Losing them? How did you lose them?
-Keith

They would go yellow (too much sun) and slowly wither away and die. Moving them to shadier conditions helped with the bleaching and changing media to slightly more water retentive wood (i.e. orchiata was switched to cypress mulch) has made them perk up quite a bit. Seems like the online information about this species is not very good!