The common cooling question

[Thyroyalgeek]

I erm........ Don't really HAVE a house. That's why I'm using my closet .

---------- Post added at 12:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 AM ----------

Let me rephrase. I don't have a house. I don't have a car. I have a house to LIVE in, but it's not mine. Can anyone guess why I don't have either of these things? Look at my profile description, lol.

[rbarata]

Originally Posted by Thyroyalgeek

I don't have a house. I don't have a car. I have a house to LIVE in, but it's not mine. Can anyone guess why I don't have either of these things? Look at my profile description, lol.

Ok, now I see...
I also like hortofloriculture, also play multiple instruments, I almost made marine boilogy my profession...but I have my house, two cars and I'm 52.

Ok...what I meant is if you could find a place in the house where you live (), unheated and with light (don't need to be much...cloud forests are "dark" places) that would be good during the winter (I'm assuming, if a room is unheated, it won't get the same temps as outside.

[Thyroyalgeek]

We don't have a basement, or a sunroom, neither do we have an upstairs, im lucky to have enough room to breathe, also, I'm the only one in the house to have my own room, so I'm not going to ask for anything else. My closet is pretty much the only thing I've got to work with, so I'm sort of stuck with that.........

[dounoharm]

when I was in transit once, I just couldn't let some of my orchids go, so I bought a light stand from hausermanns, ready to go, and I still have it....it works great, and allowed me to keep my favs.....It is 1 1/2' by 4'...it came with a deep plastic drain tray which I filled with gravel. that's all the humidity I could muster. just plopped it in the living room with a timer, and I was good to go. the drainage tray had a hole and tube at one corner which drained into a big pot that the kitties loved to drink out of.....
the point is, orchids are an addition to your life, make them a part of it, but you cant make them all of your life....enjoy them!

[estación seca]

Back to rbarata's point: Seasonal temperature variance and night length variance is probably more important to blooming for most orchids than day to night temperature variance.

Stuff you read in books and society Web pages is not the final word. You read one person's experience in their growing situation. Don't take information on the AOS site as definitive. There is no definitive growing method. Everybody's conditions are different.

When beginning, I can't recommend strongly enough that people start with orchids easy for them to grow in their temperatures without special equipment. Then branch out. Cold to cool growers tend to be expensive orchids that can die quickly with just one electrical problem, or one mistake by you. Who is going to operate your setup if you're gone for a week?

Also, if your parents think your schoolwork is suffering because you're fussing with orchids, what is likely to happen?

There are plenty of beautiful orchids of all sizes you can probably grow right now that will do fine in your room. High-elevation Nepenthes are large plants that won't fit well into a closet.

There are very good reasons why very few people grow orchids preferring cooler temperatures than they can provide. Heat is much easier to provide artificially on a small scale than cold.

Start with just a few orchids suited to your environment. When you can grow them well, you can expand your collection.

[Thyroyalgeek]

I will answer each paragraph one at a time.

Okay got it, thanks, that would be easier to provide.

Also good to know, maybe I should just ask someone who already owns it so I can get firsthand experience instead.

I’m actually homeschooled, will be starting liberty online soon, and get done earlier than public schools, while doing more work than the average public school teen.

For the last three I will just stick to the easier varieties that I’m growing, and not try to branch out. Besides, I guess I could try hybrids of lowland and highland nepenthes and maybe set up a large terrarium for touchy orchids like masdevallia, Lepanthes, and such.

[dounoharm]

gosh golly gee! get your parents to move over to bethania, north west of Winston salem, and buy my old family homeplace! my mom is selling out, and there is almost 2 acres, a gorgeous old log house, AND MY GREENHOUSE! 12 x 24 and oodles of fun!! lol

[Thyroyalgeek]

Thats funny, My mom HATES where we live and wants to move terribly...... she’d really like more land too. I know your joking though.

[dounoharm]

Originally Posted by Thyroyalgeek

Thats funny, My mom HATES where we live and wants to move terribly...... she’d really like more land too. I know your joking though.

not kidding, its on Zillow.....look at houses for sale in bethania….very historic, and not much for sale there, jump on it! marvelous place!

[Thyroyalgeek]

Just one problem....... I have two brothers.