Running out of room... what do you do?

[Raihana]

I have exactly two good east by southeast windows, both are located in my bedroom, There are no west windows in the house, a few northeast that are good an the southwest are not really that useful. My east windows is my orchid central.

I have recently rescued several plants and find I am running out of room.

I am sure that there are some here with FAR more plants than I have. I am looking for creative use of space and setups that will give me more room.

Any ideas?

[Judi]

The amount of light you may need for your chids depends on the type of orchid you have. For example, Phals don't need as much light as say a Dendrobium. Depending on which chids you have, you may be able to place a chid that requires more light closer to the window with one that requires less light in a second row behind the ones requiring more light. I also have some of my chids under artificial lights--they are too far from the sliding door to get sufficient natural light. Of course there is no such thing as just one or two chids, so we all have to be creative at one time or other; I know I certainly did

[kavanaru]

easy... Go Vertical!

this was my solution: Shelves on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[Zoi2]

Yes, vertical is good
Joann

[Raihana]

Oh my! Yes, vertical is good! I will do a search when I am not heading to work but would you happen to have made a how to post on your setup?

[Raihana]

Originally Posted by Judi

The amount of light you may need for your chids depends on the type of orchid you have. For example, Phals don't need as much light as say a Dendrobium. Depending on which chids you have, you may be able to place a chid that requires more light closer to the window with one that requires less light in a second row behind the ones requiring more light. I also have some of my chids under artificial lights--they are too far from the sliding door to get sufficient natural light. Of course there is no such thing as just one or two chids, so we all have to be creative at one time or other; I know I certainly did

Judi if my Phals really LOVE the light I have in my East windows does that mean it is necessarily not enough light for the others? My Phals are really growing like weeds there

[Judi]

Verical is a great idea as long as you don't need to get to your window. If your Phals love the amount of light you have, I wouldn't move them; Miltonia and Paphs would probably do well with the same amount of light. Oncidium, Dendrobium, Cattleya and Brassia usually like moderate light in an E, cool W or filtered south window. I have my Oncidium, Dendrobium, Mtdm. and Brassia in the first row by my S/W facing sliding door, with my Phals and Paphs, behind them. Then my Cymbidium and Zygo are in a different room with a southern exposure with filtered PM sun. That seems to work well for me. I'm not sure what other kind of other chids you have, but I hope this helps. Keep in mind that these are general guidelines and there are exceptions to every rule--then there are hybrids such as my Mtdm. which is a Miltonia X Oncidium. Bottom line is if it works for you and your chids then all is well. You can always experiment until you have the right balance for your chids. Additional artificial light is also an option.

[orchidbingo]

Originally Posted by Raihana

Oh my! Yes, vertical is good! I will do a search when I am not heading to work but would you happen to have made a how to post on your setup?

I put together an inexpensive metal shelf system using 2 sets of 5 tier wire shelfing similar to Ramon's shelves. The shelves are adjustable in 1 inch increments and assemble without tools
I assembled the 2 tiers of shelves but I linked them together by using some of the wire shelves as a bridge between the 2 tiers. It now looks like 3 tiers of shelves but using only 8 poles instead of 12. Putting it together in this manner means the shelves are staggered at different levels and I can easily grow different heights of plants.

I'm still having trouble uploading jpegs from home but I will try to upload a photo of my setup tomorrow.
The shelves sold for $37/ set on sale at K-Mart last week-- might still be on sale in the "dorm" section.
I hung banks of T5 shoplights from the top shelves and put the plants on different shelves depending on light requirements-- I measure light exposure on each shelf.

Goodluck

bingo

[orchidbingo]

Originally Posted by orchidbingo

I'm still having trouble uploading jpegs from home but I will try to upload a photo of my setup tomorrow.
The shelves sold for $37/ set on sale at K-Mart last week-- might still be on sale in the "dorm" section.
I hung banks of T5 shoplights from the top shelves and put the plants on different shelves depending on light requirements-- I measure light exposure on each shelf.

Goodluck

bingo

Here are pics of my set-up. You can see a bank of east facing windows in the background of pic 1

Hope this upload works


bingo

[Grandma M]

That sounds like a fantastic idea, placing the extra unused shelved between the units. I have quite a number of the extra shelves taking up room in my garage.

Marilyn