Monday Afternoon in the GH - Page 3 - Orchid Board

BikerDoc5968 · #21 02-21-2010, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mojomick

Doc, What kind of light are you providing your phals? We have the same gh I think, and I am in Washington state so close to the same lighting. My phals just don't seem to thrive. I get great growth and give them about the same temps in the fall but alas, few spikes. Too much light? I can't believe that they don't get enough as I keep them on the bottom shelf below the catts. Any advice? I grow great catts but just no luck with phals.

Hey, Mo... I have a SunGlo greenhouse. Maybe the 2 of us should trade what we grow... I can't get my catts to flower worth a darn!!! I know for me it's the LIGHT! I put them out on the driveway during the spring/summer/fall along with my cymbidiums and give them as much sun as possible without burning them. Then in late fall they come back into the GH. This is where I have a problem. My GH location is behind my garage... there was no other "reasonable" location. Therefor, I don't get much "good" light til noon or later in the winter and then only on sunny days which, as you can imagine, are few and far between here in Michigan. All the phals are on the middle bench and I am forced to put my cymbidiums on the floor. During the spring, about mid to late March I will put up my 60% shade cloth and by late May, I change over to 73% til mid September and then use the 60% til late October and nothing til the following spring. The catts are on the left at the back where the sun/light lasts the longest but still the flowers are just not happening!

Paul · #22 02-21-2010, 02:46 PM

Howard, if you have any smaller catts, you might try them on a windowsill. Many of mine have bloomed that way

trdyl · #23 02-21-2010, 02:51 PM

Howard, What kind of peak light levels are you getting without the shade cloth and with the 60% shade cloth?

BikerDoc5968 · #24 02-21-2010, 09:20 PM

Good question, Ted. Can't give you a good answer because I don't have a light meter other than comes mid March without my shade cloth, my phals begin to get purple leaves and by mid April we have major sunburn on appropriate sunny days.

mojomick · #25 02-23-2010, 09:11 AM

Howard, You could be describing my greenhouse to a tee. I have mine on the north side of the garage as well and it is a SunGlo. It doesn't get much light in winter but lots in the summer. I put on the 70 % cloth the end of Feb. early March. I keep my winter temps at low of 58 and summer at 88. I do keep a clear solar pool cover on mine all winter. I bundle up the house with it except for the door. We have had a very mild winte this year so I will probably take it off by the middle of March if it stays warm. I keep at least 60% humidity and have misters under the benches, on a humidistat.
My catts love it, my phals hate it. I think it's just me as the paphs, phrags love it too.

BikerDoc5968 · #26 02-23-2010, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mojomick

Howard, You could be describing my greenhouse to a tee. I have mine on the north side of the garage as well and it is a SunGlo. It doesn't get much light in winter but lots in the summer. I put on the 70 % cloth the end of Feb. early March. I keep my winter temps at low of 58 and summer at 88. I do keep a clear solar pool cover on mine all winter. I bundle up the house with it except for the door. We have had a very mild winte this year so I will probably take it off by the middle of March if it stays warm. I keep at least 60% humidity and have misters under the benches, on a humidistat.
My catts love it, my phals hate it. I think it's just me as the paphs, phrags love it too.

Mo, I have a question for you... do you get water condensation between the inner and outer panels? I mean LOTS of condensation!!!!

mojomick · #27 02-23-2010, 09:55 AM

A little but not much. If the water starts to accumulate, I turn up the daytime heat during the winter to the mid 70's for one or two days. That seems to dry it up. The humidity gets pretty high when the house is only 60 degrees at night in the winter. Lots of times it doesn't get above that in the daytime in the cold winter months. If the wter starts to accumulate, thats when I turn up the daytime heat. Right now, that is not a problem. I had to turn on the exhaust fan as the sun has been getting pretty bright and the temp went up to 101 last Tues.! So I have it set to come on if the temp gets above 88. I think I'll put the shade cloth on this weekend. We have gained over 2 hours of sunlight so the house is getting lots of light in the daytime. I have lots of catts in sheath and some spikes of Oncidium, Wilsonara, etc. Come on Spring!

mojomick · #28 02-23-2010, 10:09 AM

Howard, I have anothr question.. Do you put your shade cloth directly over the top of the gh or do you have it suspended above the house? I have been told that suspending it is better and cools the house better. I am trying to figure out how to build a metal pole frame over the top of the gh. How did you suspend your hanging plants? Did you put up a wire or pole inside and if so what did you connect it to?

BikerDoc5968 · #29 02-23-2010, 10:14 AM

WOW, first I didn't appreciate you got that much light/sun this early in the year. I know I won't be putting on the shade cloth for at least another 2 weeks unless something unusual happens with the weather!!!!! And I have sooooo much condensation between the panels that uping the heat won't change a thing... I have to wait til late May for it to "burn" out! In fact, the first year I had my greenhouse, I was wiping the condensation from between the ripples on the inner panel so it wouldn't drip all over the phals. Then I got some 4 x 8 0.06 acrylic, that is the same thickness as the outer panels, from a local vendor for "cheap", cut them to fit inside between the roof joists and got some more horizontal "T" bars from Mike (SunGlo) and now the water drips behind everything! To answer your question, pictures are worth lots of words... And about the shade cloth... no I just pull it over the top and tie it to anchors I placed in the wood frame. I sounds logical that if you elevate the cloth above the house that the "shadow" might keep things cooler.

mojomick · #30 02-27-2010, 12:39 PM

Doc, hate to be a pest, but another question. What are your daytime temps during the winter? Do you heat the house warmer than what you keep it at night? I think I may have discovered part of my problem. I have the heat set about 59 or 60 in the dead of winter and we don't get that much daytime warming inside so the temp has been staying at about 60 night and day. That may be part of my problem of why my blooms are so late on my phals. Betty