After waiting for the glass repairman to come and replace several clouded window panes, I finally moved everything but the cymbidiums indoors yesterday. My indoor growing space is about 12 x 15 feet (approx. 4 x 5 meters).
When we bought this house, it was a screened porch that we extended and glassed in, which also means that the garage now has a direct entry to the house via this room, which is highly desirable on re-sale. The decorated beam is loading-bearing, so it could not be altered. So I had a friend pain the flowers, butterflies, birds, etc.
The room is entered from the dining room and we leave the doors open year round. I usually arrange whatever is in bloom so that it is visible from the house. You have a perfect view as you do the dishes in the kitchen .
The floor is industrial tile with a drain under the center bench which drains into a dry well in the yard. The benches were built by my husband and are 18” x 36” (inside dimension). Each drains into PVC pipe which empties into the drain – no splashing. The benches have sheet metal undersides that hold about ¼” of water to help with the humidity. The humidity trays on the shelf are the regular commercial variety, but with drainage into the benches below so that they are self-emptying when the water depth exceeds about ½”. There is a sink in the corner with hot & cold water and a watering wand which hangs on the wall.
I have a small self-circulating fountain mounted on the wall which I fill with distilled water to eliminate the hard water in the pump mechanism. There are also 2 wall mounted oscillating fans on low that provide gentle air movement.
I use the mini-greenhouses to make microclimates and I have some heat mats arriving next week. The room is heated on the regular house heating system with forced hot air and the temp at nigh is in the high 50s to low 60s and during that day get up to 68. For really cold weather there is auxiliary electric heating under the windows. It comes on automatically if the room temp gets to about 55 F.
Right now the room is naturally shaded by the big trees in our yard. Once the leaves fall, there is more light, but of course the sun is weaker by then. I place the orchids to shade each other or use the bigger non-orchid plants as shade if needed.
As you can see, I have lots of orchids and some other plants as well. I’ve had the gardenia tree for about 30 years. The big clivia is so heavy it gets moved with a hand truck. The others are just things that people have given me or that I just like.
With all the advice from this Board, I will be growing better than ever!
The first picture shows the GH empty.
Here is the sink and hose set up
After move-in
Move inside to my attached greenhouse
Threaded Mode
