Hot Tub in Greenhouse?

[Louis_W]

Hey all, this is perhaps a dumb question and I think I know what the answer is but here goes:

Can you have a hot tub in a orchid greenhouse?

There. I asked it. Don't hit me!

Here's the deal: I really want to get serious about a long term orchid collection and so I am designing a largish greenhouse for my back yard. My wife has always wanted to get a hot tub, and putting the tub inside a sheltered beautiful space really excites her. So guess what? SHE really wants to make the greenhouse happen too! How about that?? she doesn't care about orchids and she wants to build a greenhouse. Lucky me! I think it would be awesome as well, and some positives and negatives stand out right away.

Positive: the tub could help heat the greenhouse, and in turn the enclosed tub would struggle less to stay warm than it would if it was outside.

Negative is clearly the risk of chemicals in the air harming the plants.

Does anyone have this setup or experience in the matter? Is there a way to keep the tub clean without poisoning the plants? They are my priority so I will rethink the plan if it doesnt work.



Extra details: I am in zone 7 so the tub would be on in in the winter when Temps can go down to 10°f. I grow primarily Catasetum, Cattleya and Laelia.

[estación seca]

A friend put a hot tub in the greenhouse. He and his wife think it's a great idea.

[Ray]

I always wanted to do that.....

Just make sure to build a big-enough greenhouse!

[Roberta]

That sounds deliciously decadent. Only objection I can think of would be the amount of real estate it would take. (But then my GH is small, and absolutely crammed) If you have room for a big enough GH to satisfy everyone, ENJOY!

[Louis_W]

So no one thinks the chlorine or bro.ine or whatever will hurt the plants?

It does sound pretty nice doesn't it....

[Roberta]

I don't think the fumes will do any harm. And it will boost the humidity. It sounds MARVELOUS. Can you design it so that you can reach it from the house so that you don't have to go out into the cold to get there? My imagination is running wild...

[Louis_W]

My back yard is quite large and totally undeveloped. I am a landscape designer so real estate is very precious to me but a large greenhouse sounds like a great use of space! I'll share the sketchup design when I have it fleshed out a bit


That's amazing to hear Roberta, and yes I'm trying to find the best way to connect it into the house

I'm shooting for about 14' x25'

[Fairorchids]

For inspiration, go see the movie 'Cocoon'

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Louis_W

I'm shooting for about 14' x25'

Once you get really hooked on orchids, you'll want to go larger... The hot tub will render a lot of the space unusable for orchids - you would not want them hanging over the water, because they will drop stuff... and you would not want to get fertilizer water into the hot tub. (You don't want to encourage growing algae and such in your body-soaking water) General advice on sizing a greenhouse... figure what you "need" and double it.

[DirtyCoconuts]

I would love that. Soaking in a hot tub in an orchid house!!!

Nothing should be over the tub unless you are going to keep it covered and that would kind of defeat the bonus purpose.

If you are handy I would build it into a deck that allows you to make like steps and a place to put plants all around it and such.

Fun fun idea