Wardian Case

[ronaldhanko]

Originally Posted by CALLY

HI Ronald,

Wow really cool.....

2 question:
Your cooler growing orchids I saw on your list on your blog....

I have an odontoglossum. Can I grow this in a growing case with warmer orchids eg Vanda or will it do it no good....

I was thinking of a 1.2m high x 1m x 600 growing case, you mentioned that you wished you had built yours a little higher. Do you think 1.2m is too high for the light to get all the way down to the bottom?

Thanks in advance...

Hi Cally,

I don't think 1.2 meters is too deep. That's about as deep as I would have gone. As to the Odont., if it's a species, probably not, if it's a warmer growing multi-generic hybrid, it might go. They're more tolerant.

Ron

[Willie]

Ron,

I like your idea of the aluminum angle, I think I'm going to steal it for my project.
Do you have some sort of drain at the bottom for excess water or do the fans evaporate that for the most part?

[ronaldhanko]

Hi Willie,

In the original case I put a drain in, but never used it. In this one I have no drain - the fans evaporate enough of the water that it isn't needed.

[Orchidflowerchild]

i built something similar to grow pleuros in in houston, when i lived there, too lol. Great minds, eh?

-Cj

[ronaldhanko]

Originally Posted by Orchidflowerchild

i built something similar to grow pleuros in in houston, when i lived there, too lol. Great minds, eh?

-Cj

My original case was built when we lived in Houston - I had moved there with a collection of Pleuros and that was the only way I could come up with to grow them. Still miss Houston and the Orchid Society there.

[Orchidflowerchild]

Originally Posted by ronaldhanko

My original case was built when we lived in Houston - I had moved there with a collection of Pleuros and that was the only way I could come up with to grow them. Still miss Houston and the Orchid Society there.

I was just too hard headed to believe people when they told me i couldn't grow Masd. veitchiana in houston. ANd i also miss the society, there.

-Cj

[ronaldhanko]

I hear you - had exactly the same thing happen.

[kenr62]

Thats a well thought out growing case! Years ago, in a former life, I was the NE regional distributor for the now defunct Greentech environmental growing chambers (they were also originally out of Texas) I had one of the chambers for seven years or so & miss it dearly. I eventually sold mine to the Omaha Zoo.

[ronaldhanko]

I remember Greentech. Wanted one of their growing cases, but couldn't afford it.

[DManley]

Really nice looking case, Ron! I am thinking about something similar for my plants that want more humidity. Does the evaporating water and air movement keep the temp down pretty well, or do I have to cool off the house all the way down to the desired temp? I know from my mudskipper tanks and my riverine biotope that the water temps would always stay a few degrees lower than room temp because of evaporative cooling. It wouldn't be hard to heat one of these cabinets up for gesneriads or warm orchids, but adding cooling would be beyond my limited skills.

Is there a fairly wide temp range within the case, or do the fans tend to keep the air moving enough to even it out pretty well? You mention cold spots and warm spots. Were these a couple of degrees apart, or was there a five or ten degree difference? This really has me thinking! I could put a baffle or partial wall within the case to make one end a little warmer than the other to keep different plants happy. Mine may be two levels high, and not quite as wide, to fit my existing space, but the basic idea of yours looks pretty good. (Plus you have already worked most of the bugs out!)

Thanks again for posting this great setup!

Dave