Setting up small growing area with lights

[June Bud]

It’s time to bring the orchids indoors, and I’ve outgrown my window growing area in my small “garden” room. I’m establishing a small growing area under CFLs in my exercise room, and would like very much to hear thoughts/advise on my plans.

I bought a 48” x 18” x 72” wired shelving unit from Sam’s Club. I’m only using 5 of the 6 shelves. The bottom shelf will hold a 2” deep drip pan, custom made to fit the shelf. The next shelf is right above that and will hold plants. The next two shelves are placed relatively center, with the bottom one for another drip pan and the one right above for plants. I ordered two 4ft, 4 lamp, High Output Fluorescent fixtures. One will hang from the top shelf and the other will hang from the center drip-pan shelf. I ordered two 6” clip-on fans to blow across each of the two plant shelves. I’m wondering if I need to get something to provide additional humidity, like a humidifier/fogger? If so, any recommendations for this type of setup? For ease of watering, I'm thinking of getting a portable, pressure sprayer with a wand. Anything I'm doing wrong or forgetting? Thanks in advance for feedback and suggestions!

[billc]

Hi June Bug, Sounds like your shelving unit is well thought out. If you're going to water the plants with the sprayer wand on the shelf the water that goes into the drip pan should provide extra humidity. I'm thinking that depending on how many plants you are watering on each shelf, you may fill up your drip pan. That's what happened to me.
You can set up a drain into a 5 gallon bucket(not aesthetically pleasing) or do what I do and bring the plants to the sink for watering.
I wound up keeping the plants on 13 x 9 cookie sheets with gravel and take the cookie sheet and plants to the sink for watering.
Good luck!!

Bill

[boytjie]

Hi! I have two of those shelves, and what sounds like a similar setup. I wound up getting the black powder-coated shelves, as I found the chrome shelves started to rust after a while. To catch the water, I use four of those commercially-made humidity trays with the grids, measuring about 22" X 12". I put two in the middle of the shelf the long way, and one on each end with the short side facing the front. They fit the shelves perfectly, almost like they were custom-made. They're fairly deep, 2", so I find that with decent air flow/evaporation from the fans I usually have to refill them, rather than empty excess water. I also add a few drops of plain bleach to the water to keep it from getting rancid and discourage algae growth. To water, I also use a pressure hand sprayer, and find it works just fine for my collection of about 100 plant. I can water everything in less than 15 minutes.

Incidentally, I wound up attaching green plastic-covered metal fencing mesh (1/4" openings), from the Home Depot fencing department, to three sides of the shelves to hang mounted plants. I attached a pic for reference.

Good luck!

[June Bud]

Thanks for the great suggestions, guys.
BillC - I hope I never have to bring any of the plants on these shelves to the sink. I'm already doing that for all of the ones in my garden room and it gets tiring.
Stephen -Thanks for the great pic! I see you also have a humidifier. Do you have any recommendations for one? Where do you get those humidity trays? I want to compare cost with what my cousin is going to charge me to make the custom trays.

BTW, my name is Brenda, and I'm happy to be participating in this forum.

[boytjie]

Originally Posted by June Bud

Thanks for the great suggestions, guys.
BillC - I hope I never have to bring any of the plants on these shelves to the sink. I'm already doing that for all of the ones in my garden room and it gets tiring.
Stephen -Thanks for the great pic! I see you also have a humidifier. Do you have any recommendations for one? Where do you get those humidity trays? I want to compare cost with what my cousin is going to charge me to make the custom trays.

BTW, my name is Brenda, and I'm happy to be participating in this forum.

Welcome, Brenda! I got the trays from Kelly's Korner: Orchid Watering Cans, Humidity Trays, and Watering Aids from Kelley's Korner Orchid Supplies Scroll down the page till you find them. I got the 22" x 12" size, in black. Four will cover a shelf perfectly, as you can see from the photo of my setup.

For the humidifier, I got mine on Amazon.com based on a few recommendations. The model is Honeywell HWM450 QuickSteam. http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-HWM4.../dp/B000AO16AY It has to run 24/7 in a big room, and the downside is that I have to refill the tank sometimes twice a day -- but it actually does help; my relative humidity went up from 40% in the winter to an average of 60%, and the plants really responded.

[LVA]

What a wonderful job you have done. I'm enlarging my indoor greenhouse and your greenhouse is gorgeous and well put together, thanks so much for sharing this.

[June Bud]

Originally Posted by boytjie

... I also add a few drops of plain bleach to the water to keep it from getting rancid and discourage algae growth.

Stephen, I was guessing that you put a "few drops" in each humidity trays. I have large, 2" deep custom-made trays that hold quite a bit of water. I put water in them and drizzled what I thought was a small amount of bleach into it. The whole room was smelling of bleach for over a week. I'm wondering if there is a correct ration of bleach to water to get the desired result.

Anyway, I'm attaching pics of my completed setup. The plants seem to be very happy. You can see the drip trays sit on the shelf that's below the shelf holding the plants. I hung some plastic from the fencing and cut it so that it hangs slightly into the tray to catch the runn-off when I spray the hanging plants.

At the rate I'm going, I'll outgrow this setup very quickly!

Brenda

[boytjie]

That looks great! And yes, I have to agree, you will outgrow it shockingly fast.

[moblaxy]

Hello,

I am a complete new comer to Orchid growing and am planning a little set up similar to the ones you two have going now. My question is can you tell me what kinds of lights you are both (Stephen and June) using? Thank you

[boytjie]

Originally Posted by moblaxy

Hello,

I am a complete new comer to Orchid growing and am planning a little set up similar to the ones you two have going now. My question is can you tell me what kinds of lights you are both (Stephen and June) using? Thank you

Hi, and welcome! I'm using T5 fluorescent fixtures. I have four four-bulb, 48" fixtures, one over each shelf. T5 bulbs are thinner than standard bulbs, and give off higher light output while using less juice. I got mine from High Tech Garden Supply: High Tech Garden Supply