indoor greenhouse in my office
 

Hey!
I need some advise, I'm basically starting from scratch.
I currently have Cattleyas, Paphiopedilums, Phalaenopsis, and my Neofinetia / Mini Dend collection in my home. The grown Catts and Vandas are at Chadwicks boarding.
During summer I kept my orchids in the sunroom at the 3rd floor. A bit of a shame since i'm never up there.
I'm not planning on living in my current place forever so I went to IKEA and bought wireshelvings.
Now one thing let into another, I stole the humidifier (Dyson) from the bedroom, bought some lights and try to set up the space.
Before I continue wasting money I push the brake and ask here.

Currently I own:
2 x SANSI 15W LED Grow Light
1 x Root Farm All-Purpose LED Grow Light, 45W - Broad Spectrum Grow Lamp

I have a couple of Humidity trays which i find visually very nice. Not sure about their effect.

Now, room temp is 75-63 and humidity is 43-57%.

I measure, with my cell phone and lux app, 2500 ftct under the root farm led and 300-500ftct below the 2 Sansi lights. I understand this is absolutely not sufficient.

Again, going forward I may move to a place with a proper greenhouse but for the next few years i need to run a combo of boarding at places plus optimizing some space in my office.

i was planning to purchase something like this
Amazon.com
or whatever you guys can recommend me. Maybe something that allows me to use my existing wire shelves? I dont know
Biggest issue is light and keeping the humidity trapped.

I read good things about
Amazon.com

Again, I'm trying to set something up indoor. for now, I have 3ft*3ft or 2*6 or something similar for setting something up. Also, i would be very interest in a stand alone system for my Neofinetias. Not a must but if someone knows a cool looking kit, like an aqua terrarium or something, that would be awesome.

Thanks!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...cf67d0db_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a6d3e522_b.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b6dd44f2_b.jpg

I have no experience about grow tents, but I run one of these SANSI 15W.

That's a great lil piece of equipment, and is very bright. For the amount of plants you have, I think 2 of those + the Root Farm might be enough. There's plenty of lost space between the pots.

I purchased my tent because it has two large front windows, which i usually keep uncovered. The brand is Growlab, and model is 80L (its 5'x2.5'x6.5'.

I can't speak to the lights you mentioned, but my HLG Saber pulls a true 100w, and has ample power to grow high light Catts and a small Vanda.

If you go the tent route, you will want to get some small fans to circulate air and boost growth.

Prepare to constantly change the layout over a few months until you finally get things settled how you want them. I have phased out most pots, because in a smaller space they restrict airflow, and constantly moving pots around to water or check plants inevitably results in something getting bumped or knocked over.

remember that the phone light meters are a guide and completely inaccurate to determine if you are in fact using enough light or not. Some of mine show a reading of 500 and I can get 240000 out of others. I know the one is twice as bright as the other - if I were to rely on my phone I would think it is 500 times stronger.
I think you are using just enough light growing by a window. I calculate that a window provides half the light already so I think you have enough light except for the neofinatia shelf which is getting too little light.

If you do go for the tent, the light you have posted is okish. I have seen worse but the specs are suspect if you ask me. Too many suspect lamps on Amazon - I have removed the one I posted I thought looked ok.. but if you read the reviews you get a better picture whether it is good or not.

The only one I can currently recommend is this one Amazon.com

I have used this light but I don't like it anymore for 2 main reasons:
1) it should only ever be used on half power as it can end up drawing 3 times as much as it should on full power, at half power it works as it should but full power end up using 6 times the electricity than half power so that is a design flaw - I am suspecting the cheap transformer which is only rated at 2amp yet this uses 2.5 amp at full power
2)If the timer ever gets reset the only way to set it again is to set it at the time you want it to come on, ie it has to be that time exactly, you cannot set it any other time which becomes annoying!
Amazon.com

You can also ignore the plant lights completely and go the route of coral reef growers who also need very good quality light so you could try something like this which I think is a safer bet. Gnerally for the stronger lights I would avoid amazon and buy from a shop that offers a good warranty. For smaller lights like these it might be worth exerimenting. I've found good and bad ones so buyer beware.
Amazon.com

OT is right about most cell phone app light meters and LEDs being bad matches.

I have a hard time accepting that the six, 4’ lamps for $89 are worth having, but I could be wrong. I have found the lamps sold by theorchidhobbyist.com to be spectacular. They were scientifically designed specifically for orchids, taking into account the spectrum as well as the intensity.

Rather than a grow tent that doesn’t permit you to see anything unless you open it, have you considered a clear humidity tent, instead?

https://growerssupplycompany.com/wp-...ages/TENTG.jpg

I recently bought these to replace some older lights:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm really happy with them, and especially that they all link together and have different length cord choices to string them together.

i really like the setup and would just point out that i would get ZERO work done with that right next to me.

you have some saint-like focus LOL

Thanks for the info so far, great stuff!
Especially the humidity tent is something I havent had looked at yet but will.
fyi, I have many zoom calls and webinars that i listen to for work so nothing wrong with some plant massage here and there will working :)

I'm currently considering this:

https://www.petsmart.com/reptile/hab...m-5300589.html

with the root farm light on the top for my Neofinetias and either a grow tent or whatever for the rest. I need to find a way to supply these both areas with humidity.

In an enclosed space, humidity will be less of a problem than you think. Any standing water source, and even the potting media after watering, will provide plenty.

Before moving, I had all my plants on Home Depot bakers rack shelving, with the pots sitting in nursery trays and the whole thing covered with a tent. The humidity inside was fantastic, even though it was in a basement with a constantly running dehumidifier.

The exoterra, with a gap in the front and a screen top will be more of a problem, so you might consider replacing the top with a piece of glass.

Thats what I have in mind. I will use clear tape on the top and put 2 lights in from the orchidhobbiest and my Humiditray, which should fit almost flush inside the terrarium. I have a Solar USB fan and will see how far i come with the humidity inside. That hopefully covers my chapter with the Neofinetias.

The other stuff I most likely will pull the trigger on a grow tent. I need one anyway for vegetables and stuff and 100 bucks sounds like its worth a try.

Update. The terrarium is awesome. My humidity stays in the upper 70percent without doing to much at all. Absolutely awesome. Couldn't be happier. I'll update proper lighting soon and ventilation. So far the status.

did you get that terrarium already?
It's a good size for phals and smaller orchids but you might have to place the light ontop if you can, otherwise you might have some serious height problems with the pot and the orchid and a safe distance from the light.
Sounds good so far.

A little late to this discussion, but I have a terrarium very similar to the one you linked. I cobbled together a lid out of a scrap of plexiglass and two small lids from translucent plastic IKEA storage bins and can generally maintain between 80 and 90% with daily watering.

I have two small AC Infinity muffin fans circulating air constantly with one positioned low to the eggcrate false bottom, which sits on LECA that is partially submerged in watering runoff. The position of that fan is critical to maintaining humidity, in my experience.

I bought the 15W Jungle Dawn LED bar to put on top of the terrarium and it was complete overkill, especially for my lower-light miniatures. I've since suspended it a few inches above the top and it provides enough light for plants around the terrarium as well as inside. So yes, keep in mind that distance from the light source makes a big difference and, like Orchidtinkerer said, there isn't much height to work with if you're putting the light directly on top of the terrarium.

Hey,

Thanks for the messages.
A little update:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...eb0d640b_b.jpg

All I can say is, it is AWESOME!
I' maintain 70-90percent Humidity in there all the time now and my plants look great after the one week. I have an USB Fan now sitting inside powered by an Solar panel (that sits under the one of the grow lights).
Again, absolutely what I was hoping for. I may get another one down the road but for now I couldnt be happier.

I'm going to move the Cats and seedlings into the grow tent once this thing shows up here. My plan is to keep an area outside on my shelf with light for whatever is in bloom (I have many other plants outside for boarding) and this is it for now until I move somewhere else in one year.

A little update:

in the terrariums (i have two meanwhile!) things are going very well.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0f12d313_b.jpg

I followed the advise here and bought the awesome lights from orchid hobbiest and can strongly recommend him as well. Superb quality and customer service. :bowing
I maintain 70F and 90-100% HM. My question is now, is this too much? Can this create issues with mold or something? I do have mostly Japanese style mounted Neos in there and mono. Dends. They look fine but I really don't water them anymore, other than maybe twice a week. Before, I had to spray them at least once a day. I'm a bit worried this may can cause some issues. There are USB fans in and I open the cage at least once a week. However, with the humidity trays and spray every now and than humidity almost never drops below 90.

Next thing,
I bought a grow tent from amazon and put my shelf in.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b290cec0_b.jpg

same here, its basically 75F and 80%hm. I don't really have done anything for airflow yet. Its basically a closed system. Should I install vents? My plants are exploding but I'm also worried this may causes problems on the long run. I can always open up the tent during the day if i want but currently I'm super happy about the roots that are literally exploding.

My Phal. tetraspis was basically not moving at all for weeks and is now freaking out.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f315ed83_b.jpg


Thanks a lot for your help already,
Best!

You need to put fans in there.

Look at various fans marketed for marijuana growing in tents. Many attach via clamp, and/or have rotating features, depending on the tent size etc.

Lights are out in the orchid tent, but this gives you an idea.

Quarantine.jpg - Google Drive

I don't have experience with those types of mounts, but tents greatly expand your pot/mount capability to that of a greenhouse.

The Dens and Neos don't need such high humidity, and it greatly increases the risk of fungal diseases. Aim for 60%-70% maximum. As you've discovered Phals really like high humidity, but fungal and bacterial rots are a big risk. You need fans in your tanks. Aim for 70%-80% maximum with the Phals. They won't grow as fast as at 90%-100% but you won't walk in one day to a bacterial rot attack. If your tanks are ever cooler than you would like drop the humidity to the ambient in the room by removing the covers. This will prevent water condensing on cold plants, which can become a fungal disaster.