I'm out of space. Well, crap. - Orchid Board

RandomGemini · #1 12-14-2013, 12:27 PM

So, today I am moving all of the orchids that have remained in isolation, up to my office, except for two that are in bloom, because I want to look at them on my kitchen table. My window sill, yeah, it's full and I still have two more plants that have to come upstairs... and a couple of mounted plants that I have decided to pot, because I can't keep them moist enough indoors, not even with a humidifier going in the room with them 24/7.

The problem is... I moved my newer Oncidium Sharry Baby. I had two of these at one point, but the other one had fusarium, so I pitched it and now I have this one remaining and this plant... dear God, it's huge. At least, compared to my other plants anyway. I did have it in the dining room, but the blooms have been gone for a while and I've been concerned that it's not getting enough light and my only grow light is in my office with the other 'chids. I have it sitting on a bookshelf below the window sill and I would say the pot's about a foot away from the window and the leaves are still almost touching the glass.

I can see that I am going to have to come up with some other sort of rig for this growing spot. I like having my collection of plants sitting on top of the bookshelf next to my desk, but clearly they need more space and so do I.

I'm tempted to order a light cart and just paint the whole thing black, you know, to make it blend in with the decor in my house, and stick it in the family room. No one will notice that, when we're watching TV, right?

If I have room in my orchid collection right now, it is for miniatures. I want several things that are obviously too large for the space I have, including a terrarium that I just found space for, but I'm not sure if I want to move my DVD shelf in order to install it just yet.

Wow... this hobby is so addicting...

I think I can make it work if I purchase a couple more of those suction cup shower shelves to stick onto the window. I have two already and they hold two mini phals each, so that takes another four plants off of my window sill.

It could totally work.

Right?

NYCorchidman · #2 12-14-2013, 12:53 PM

I feel your pain.
For us indoor growers, it is always about the space.
That's why I toss so many plant every now and then. lol

For example, your Sharry Baby, if you don't have enough space but love all other smaller plants, probably you can find a friend who might take it for you.
I had Sharry Baby in the past. I love how great a grower it is, and god, the fragrance is something, right? but it was way to big for me.
Now I am enjoying four paphs in the spot where Sharry Monster used to sit. lol
I do have oncidium redolence heaven scent, which basically is the same thing, except the overall size is smaller.
It is getting too big too fast now. I either have to divide it or you know the other option. hahahaha

but seriously, if you like Sharry Baby sort of smell, but want something smaller, try Twinkle or oncidium tsiku marguerite, Rosy Sunset. To me, these all smell very much the same. They are all much much smaller, but still great grower and bloomer.

I did some rearrangement the other day myself.
As many of my bullbog paphs are coming into bloom, I wanted to look at them all closely sitting together.
So I tossed all the little holiday cacti and some phals, and then moved the pots of dormant amaryllis.
Now many of the green complex paphs are sitting nicely together near the window.
It looks much better this way and I feel great!

Light cart sounds like a great idea for smaller plants.
I thought about getting that many times, but my partner says no.

Ferns Daddy · #3 12-14-2013, 12:58 PM

I know the feeling, my orchid room is 8x10 and I keep moving plants around just to make room as they grow or I buy a new orchid. I'm sure you will find room for all your orchids.

MattWoelfsen · #4 12-14-2013, 01:00 PM

Really? Orchids are addicting?

RandomGemini, before I went overboard on orchids, my entire collection fit on one baker's rack, in one room. Now I have orchids in my home office, and a rack in my bedroom. My master bath has a jacuzzi and there's a tall rack in the jacuzzi. I am not putting up a Christmas tree or any holiday decorations because all of my spare time is spent watering orchids, misting orchids, adjusting light sources, watching temperature and humidity, yada yada yada. And if I'm not doing that I'm on this board looking at all the lovely plants and flowers people show off and entice me to want to own. You will find space, you'll make room.

Addicting?

My life is amazingly exhausting. I'm at the beck and call of employees and customers at work. It is incredibly relaxing to come home to these green beings with their cheerful blossoms. I am blessed.

cbuchman · #5 12-14-2013, 01:15 PM

I too have trouble keeping mounted guys moist enough indoors. I learned a trick which is to re-purpose a CLEAR plastic container and put the mount hanging from the top. Let some water accumulate in the bottom so that the moisture is retained around the roots. This is working very well for me this winter even resulting in some mounts blooming that I never managed to bloom before. You can put more than one mount in a container if there is room. I also heard about this being done using a clay pot sitting a saucer of water. The clay pot wicks up the water and provides a small continuous amount of moisture to the mount. You can hang the mounts inside or outside of the pot depending in light needs.

After that - there may be room for one (or 2) more

Good Luck!

quiltergal · #6 12-14-2013, 01:22 PM

I'm not sure what your setup is like, but when I ran out of windowsill space I went up. Bought a wire storage rack at Lowes and installed lights on it at the same time. Here is my setup. It has 3 adjustable shelves. I removed one to accommodate the tall plants. They are approx. 5' wide so you could have several in a single room.

TOMMYMIAMI · #7 12-14-2013, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattWoelfsen

Really? Orchids are addicting?

RandomGemini, before I went overboard on orchids, my entire collection fit on one baker's rack, in one room. Now I have orchids in my home office, and a rack in my bedroom. My master bath has a jacuzzi and there's a tall rack in the jacuzzi. I am not putting up a Christmas tree or any holiday decorations because all of my spare time is spent watering orchids, misting orchids, adjusting light sources, watching temperature and humidity, yada yada yada. And if I'm not doing that I'm on this board looking at all the lovely plants and flowers people show off and entice me to want to own. You will find space, you'll make room.

Addicting?

My life is amazingly exhausting. I'm at the beck and call of employees and customers at work. It is incredibly relaxing to come home to these green beings with their cheerful blossoms. I am blessed.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA Matt, that makes exactly 2 of us:-))) the same here:-))))))

---------- Post added at 01:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:05 PM ----------

RandomGemini, I hear you, it is a constant bottle for the space for me as well, my balcony is getting really full. I realized, that it is sometimes enough to walk in home improvement store or even Bed, Bath and Beyond or such, and open your eyes. Than very common objects, that are suppose to serve different purpose start to appear to you as a possibilities! I am using dish washing rags from Target as a shells, black coat hanger to hang my chids on, grill that we can not use anymore due to having orchids at the balcony as stand, many different chains and hooks. There is so many things you can use and cost you just a little bit!

Leafmite · #8 12-14-2013, 03:21 PM

When I filled the space in front of my glass double patio doors and kitchen window, I set a table by the dining room table and began adding plants. Then some went into a north window. Then I began buying mini orchids and hanging some orchids. Now, however, there is no more room except for a that schoenorchis I really want. As the trees, vines, and orchids grow larger, it will only get worse.
I had a Sharry Baby but I found a Twinkle with the same scent.

RandomGemini · #9 12-14-2013, 07:24 PM

Wow! What a response! I love OB.

quilter gal: I love your setup and that would be just about perfect for what I want to do it also looks pretty easy to construct. I could set that up in my office where I have my grow space now and it would give me a lot more room! Clear plastic containers? Do you mean open topped? I could easily repurpose a starbucks cup for that. It might work out really great for my bulbo actually.

Ideally, what I'd like to be able to do with my collection, is have the plants concentrated in one spot for growing, and then when they bloom, be able to spread them around the house.

I love my sharry baby, I don't want to downsize and donate it to someone else, but it's in a five inch pot now, and only has 3 pbulbs! I have oncidium rosy sunset, and I do love it, but the scent is very different to me than sharry baby, so the twinkle definitely interests me! Which twinkle is it? I'll add it to my list. If I find one, then I'll trade my sharry baby out for it and sell it at one of the OS auctions or something.

I'm also wanting to try neofinetia and its hybrids. I love the plant because it's so compact, but it's also fragrant... that'll be next year, after I've spent some time doing more research.

catherinecarney · #10 12-14-2013, 07:36 PM

Oh, dear....I'm so glad I'm not alone in my addiction....And you people are such bad influences for giving me ideas to squeeze in just one more plant (lol).

I have an Onc. Tsiku Marguerite 'NN 1' that smells very much like cocoa puffs. I bought it crammed into a 2" pot and repotted it into a 4" round. Total height is about 8", spike is less than a foot long, and the scent of the flowers fills my office during the day....My Sharry Baby hasn't bloomed yet so I can't tell you how the scents compare.

I agree with the idea of going up. I added a couple of narrow trellises to my jasmine and pelargonium pots and have pots and mounts of orchids hanging off of them. The jasmine/pelargonium provides dappled shade and humidity to the orchids in my south window, and the water runoff from the orchids keeps the potted plants moist. Win-win for all it seems, and things are growing (or at least I haven't killed anything yet).

I've been eyeing my daughter's bedroom for next year when she's off to college--after all, she won't be home much and won't mind the plants, right??

Catherine