Grow Cabinets For Orchids - Orchid Board

OregonGrowCabinets · #1 03-11-2017, 03:29 AM

Hi Orchid Board,
A friend of mine said I should stop by and say hello to this forum and share my new grow cabinets. He said they would be awesome for the Orchid grower. Please let me know your thoughts.

Oregon Grow Cabinets

Joseia · #2 03-11-2017, 11:59 AM

Your cabinets look very nice and well-built, but I am not sure that many orchid enthusiasts would be very interested in your cabinets without some modifications.

It is legal to grow orchids in all 50 states, so no need to hide them behind a solid cherry front door and solid sides and back. We like to look at our orchids, so a glass front would be much more appealing to orchid growers. Also, no need for an odor control system and probably no need for the internal GFI outlets. Also, many people grow orchids on hanging mounts, so mounting points along the sides or top would be nice. An internal fan for air movement would also be nice.

I like the tray on the bottom which could hold water to help raise humidity and can be easily cleaned by pulling it out.

I think with some of these modifications, your cabinets could be very appealing to orchid growers. We like showing off our babies and growing them in a good-looking, high quality cabinet means they can be shown off in living rooms.

fishmom · #3 03-11-2017, 12:07 PM

I have heard a presentation by someone who grows orchids in an enclosed box similar to yours (but not on the market) using a reflective surface for maximum light. He was very successful. But as Josie said, a fan would be an absolute necessity.

jkofferdahl · #4 03-11-2017, 12:46 PM

Yes, a fan would be quite useful. Also, I don't even understand the concept of a grow box into which the user can't even see. We grow our orchids to see them! Really, without a lot of expensive modifications I can't see this product as being of any interest at all to orchid growers.

estación seca · #5 03-11-2017, 01:44 PM

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Those look like very nice growing spaces, and you've clearly put a lot of thought into them. Congratulations, and thank you for showing them to us!

In good design, form still follows function. Orchids have requirements different from other kinds of herbs that might be grown in a lighted enclosure in Oregon. I'm going to make a wild guess that you designed your enclosure for people who don't want it obvious they are growing cannabis in their home. You made it impossible to see inside, and included an air filter to remove the strong bouquet of a nice oily bud cluster. Orchidists have different needs. We would use your enclosures to provide extra humidity and warmth for our plants.

Most orchids grown in something like this would be small to miniature plants. They would be grown mounted on branches or sticks that would need to hang from something, or in small pots (perhaps 2"-3" / 5-7.5cm) that would need to sit on shelves or the like. Some people would want to create a landscaped scene, perhaps with rocks or branches bearing orchids and moss. Orchid Board has a terrarium forum where you can see how we grow plants in enclosures. If you click on Forums in the left menu, scroll down to Terrariums and see what people have done.

jkofferdahl mentioned a number of very important points. As much glass as possible is necessary. We like to see our plants as often as possible.

Most orchids need air circulation. Many terrarium growers use a computer motherboard fan (DC) connected to a DC adapter for internal air circulation. Due to the wet nature inside orchid enclosures, even a GFI socket would probably not be a good idea. We tend to place as much wiring as possible outside the enclosure. Only the terminal wires enter and only the devices (light, heater, fan) are inside.

An optional way to hang orchids mounted on pieces of wood is very important. People have used plastic suction cups with rings to attach things to glass; also they have set racks vertically against the sides for hanging. Most people have a mixture of mounted and potted plants in terrariums.

Most orchidists would want the light at the top of the box to maximize the illuminated volume. The carbon filter is not needed at all, and takes up space that could hold orchids. Many people would want one or more shelves, or even one or more narrow shelves that could be placed in variable positions on the side walls, leaving the center of the chamber open for taller plants. Keeping high humidity is important for most orchids that would be grown in a chamber such as this, so lots of external air exchange would not be desirable.

There is also the issue of, "Is your solution better than the alternatives?" For a warm, moist enclosure, an aquarium with a lid serves very well. They are a lot easier to find locally and probably much less expensive. The aquarium has more glass surface so we can see our plants better.

HOWEVER, I do see a way to extend your product line to something we need, but isn't really available!

You might want to consider making cool growing chambers. There are a lot of highly desirable cloud forest orchids that almost nobody can grow without a lighted, cooled, humid enclosure. If you page through the Terrariums forum here, you will see how other people have modified wine coolers for orchid use. The work involved to modify a wine cooler is beyond what most orchidists would be willing to do, and it would be nice to be able to buy something like this. I suspect you would sell more of those to us than you would sell your warm enclosure.

The best way to test your device, also, is for you to grow orchids in it, and show us!

OregonGrowCabinets · #6 03-11-2017, 10:24 PM

Thanks everyone for the great feedback! The unit has heat and a fan, so the Orchid grower would be covered here...

Here is what I have gleaned thus far...

1.) Glass Front Option... This would be a great addition and has been mentioned to me before. I will add it as an option in a could of weeks. Some cannabis growers would like this option as well. I can totally visualize a cabinet full of Orchids in my living room on display. That would be awesome. I will learn from this forum when I have some time.

2.) Humidity Control... This can certainly be done and has been in the works. It will be offered soon.

3.) Shelves, Racks and Brackets... This sounds like it would be very important to the Orchid grower. I will research configurations. Feedback would be appreciated here..

4.) No GFI Outlet... The outlet is waterproof, so shouldn't be an issue safety-wise. One of the plugs is activated via the light timer. Might it be useful for the Orchid grower to be able to plug in accessories of some kind?

How about an air filter on the intake? Would better air quality be beneficial to Orchids?

Thanks again everyone!

jkofferdahl · #7 03-11-2017, 11:32 PM

Hmm. I'm impressed by your reply.

A glass front would be essential to pretty much any grower not growing cannabis, yes. I can't speak for others, but I spend an amazingly large amount of my free time just looking at them.

Humidity control is essential. Too high or too low is an issue, depending upon the type of plant so it would have to be fairly controllable.

In my brief look through the site I didn't find internal measurements, though they might be there. Both the medium-sized and wide units look really adaptable, meaning that there could be several ways to configure shelving and brackets. It would be good to be able to locate light-lovers high and shade lovers low.

I can't think of a need for an internal outlet.

ANother thought I had is drainage. Is the unit, or can the unit be, configured so that internal watering can drain off? Orchids take a lot of watering.

Optimist · #8 03-11-2017, 11:40 PM

It would be interesting, if the front were glass or some transparent material. It is a high price tag though. Just wanted you to know that. Orchid growers would be able to fill that cabinet up in a year or less. A lot of the plants are rather large. for 2000 dollars you could knock a hole in a wall and put in a large south facing window, or buy a green house (though a small one).

OregonGrowCabinets · #9 03-12-2017, 12:32 AM

Drainage would certainly be possible. The drawer would have to be removed, but with the rack system it would not be of that much use anyhow.

As far as pricing goes, yes, my cabinets are a bit spendy when you look at other products in this category. The difference is, my cabinets won't be in the landfill in five years. I have never thought it worthwhile to build anything unless is was built "right" and cutting corners to save a buck never made any sense to me either. I build to a quality standard, not a price. I hope this doesn't came across as pretentious. Thank you.

Ray · #10 03-12-2017, 10:19 AM

You have a competitor that has a built-in RO system for misting and humidification, plus an air conditioner condensate pump to remove the excess water.