What is wrong with this?

[Roberta]

You won't know until you try. (I am a "What can I get away with?" orchid grower, I have found that I can get away with a LOT but I have certainly had failures too)

[Kittyfrex]

I am in the same club. I've been slowly killing 6 vanilla plants, but the seventh has grown about a meter in lenght this year, and going strong. Now i am a tad bit smarter, or at least that's how i approach things.

Thanks for all the advice tho, you are like an orchid messiah

[NatalieS]

Originally Posted by Kittyfrex

And what about light? Do not recall if i mentioned, but the 'cool room' only has one decent-ish north window, with a house to the west of it (so it does reduce ambient light come evening). Would that be too little? I can always move it to my greenhouse to spend the chilly months (think 10-15 mean night time temps all winter long, takes extreme chills and winds to drop even a degree under that)

Let's just say that my apartment wasn't suited to growing anything needing high light. I had only small, high north facing windows, or a glass sliding door onto the balcony off the kitchen that was east facing. They'd grow and bloom even under the northern-facing windows in Ireland, where truly bright, sunny days are few and far between. The complex hybrids don't seem very picky about light, at least.

[Kittyfrex]

Originally Posted by NatalieS

Let's just say that my apartment wasn't suited to growing anything needing high light. I had only small, high north facing windows, or a glass sliding door onto the balcony off the kitchen that was east facing. They'd grow and bloom even under the northern-facing windows in Ireland, where truly bright, sunny days are few and far between. The complex hybrids don't seem very picky about light, at least.

Quite the same actually, my phals, oncs and vanilla get a mixture of southern diffused light and arificial from all directions. Maybe 18C winter nights are just to warm for it. Don't know if i mentioned, but it was producing of shoots en mass, but only one pseudobulb 'matured', and it seems to be dud, not gonna flower.

Edit: by southern diffused, i mean like really diffused. The window is about 30 cm wide and twice or a bit more high, nestled in a passage way bewteen two walls. It's bright for where and what it is, but not exactley a representation of south facing windows. My only eastern one has a huge overhang in front of it, and traps heat (high ceiling), so unless something likes it low light (30-60 min of direct light first thing in the morning, the rest is...think north facing), high temps and drying out, it's a no go. I keep sensivaria there, about the only thing that likes it to any extent (so does M. deliciousa, but there's not enough space for it).