DEN. AGGREGATUM 'GREEN ELF' X AGGREGATUM 'YELLOE VELVET'

[Dub3]

Nice faint aroma.

[WhiteRabbit]

Lovely!

[Greenthumb.5]

How did you care for yours?

[Dub3]

Originally Posted by Greenthumb.5

How did you care for yours?

This was grown under high light (8 hours full/partial sun) temp min 55, max 90, .5-.75 inch Orchida mix and on the dry side. This is the growing regime for all my Cats. And Den.

[RosieC]

Lovely!

[Anastasia Beverhausen]

Howdy Dub3!
I'm also growing in Texas, San Antonio to be more specific. I was wondering what "winter care" you give your aggregatum or how you got yours to flower so nicely? Do you take yours outdoors for a temperature change or are you able to give it 55 degrees indoors somehow? Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you!

[Dub3]

Sorry for not responding on how I achieve temperature variation. I have all my orchids in a 8X12 greenhouse with cooling pads to keep temps down in the summer and heaters to keep temps up in the winter. I also keep a circulating fan running 24/7. In the summer my cooling pads are set to come on at 85 and I open vents to allow hot air out but temps do rise to 95 on really hot days and the winter temps are set to turn the heater son at 60 and the second stage heater comes on at 55. So far the coldest it has gotten is 50.

[Anastasia Beverhausen]

Thank you for replying I have never heard of cooling pads before, are they common in greenhouse set ups?

[Dub3]

The unit I use is called Port-A-Cool. They come In various sizes. The cooling pads and fan is in the unit which requires you to install it through a wall in your greenhouse then open a vent on the far side up high to allow hot air to be expelled. Outside air is drawn in through a wet pad which cools the air by evaporation and hot air is exhausted through the vent. One error that is common is to place the unit inside the greenhouse without drawing in freash air and exhausting hot air. This will only raise the humidity and decrease the effectiveness of it's cooling.

A more effective method is to mount the wet (cooling) pads on one side of the greenhouse and exhaust fans on the opposite side of the house.

You could make your own cooling system. One thing that will help is to use RO water to eliminate the build up of salts on your cooling pads. Before I used RO water my pads became a solid cake of salt in just a couple of years and air could not be drawn through them.

You might notice sporting events with fans that blow air through a fine mist. That is using the same method of cooling.

Dub

[Anastasia Beverhausen]

Ohhhh, I get it! Thank you for your reply, I've seen those at sporting events, it suddenly clicked for me lol