The day has finally arrived - Page 2 - Orchid Board

Leafmite · #11 04-22-2013, 03:09 PM

I do give mine high light. All the angs except for the distichum get direct light in the morning when they are outside for the summer. I think more light helps them grow faster.

GardenTheater · #12 05-10-2013, 12:52 PM

Congratulations! The blooms and plant are beautiful and scent sounds wonderful.

Discus · #13 05-10-2013, 12:59 PM

Silje - if you're in South Africa at some stage, Plantae in Brits often has some nice angraecoids. Plantae
It's worth being on their newsletter list for when they do imports too.
Of course, the WOC next year in Sandton will be bonanza time for imports from EVERYWHERE.

RebeccaBC · #14 05-10-2013, 02:02 PM

I recently got one of these. Love the flowers, mine is nowhere near blooming size though, I don't think. And it's pretty slow growing so far. I'll just have to enjoy your blooms for now. Great growing!

ezil · #15 05-10-2013, 02:35 PM

Beautiful plant and flowers! Mine is grown in a terrarium, because it tends to be very dry in my apartment. It blooms reliably, but is a slow grower (I think that goes for most angs). Silje, buy as many angs. as you can, you can never have too many!

Discus · #16 05-13-2013, 06:17 AM

Silje - I tried commenting on your blog, but it kept refusing. re: your lime/mineral accumulation problem, I can't imagine harvesting rainwater would be all that productive in Namibia, however, you could consider reverse osmosis. If you want a no-nonsense system build to your specifications, you should try these guys. Not cheap, but they're good.

For a greenhouse, I'd suggest using a float valve with a really large reservoir for the RO water. The "waste" water from the RO unit can be used around the rest of your garden for those plants that aren't too sensitive to salts. If you hook up your misters to this reservoir, limescale problems will go away, and you'll have good water for general watering and fertigation. You may well want to hook up an on-demand pressure pump to the tank so your hoses etc. are easier to use

Oh, and re: cooling, next time you get lots of money, look at wet wall systems. They're awesome.

Silje · #17 05-14-2013, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Discus

Silje - if you're in South Africa at some stage, Plantae in Brits often has some nice angraecoids. Plantae
It's worth being on their newsletter list for when they do imports too.
Of course, the WOC next year in Sandton will be bonanza time for imports from EVERYWHERE.

Wow! Thanks for all the info lately, Discus. Had a look at some of the links and after I've robbed a bank, I will get myself the greenhouse (or growhouse) of my dreams with wet walls, amazing misting and sturdy benches (mine are a bit flimsy at the momet) and some hundred more plants.

I've already outgrown my greenhouse and need to make a plan. Getting another one of the same size has been suggested, but is only going to solve the problem for a short period of time. At the same time it's a bit limited what you can fork out for a hobby.

Discus · #18 05-14-2013, 10:23 AM

You're welcome, sorry some of it has been thread necromancy.

What you need is an extensible greenhouse. muhahaha.

Also, I'm not sure quite how dry and windy it is where you are, but you can make a shadehouse out of just poles and shadecloth (walls and roof); with misting the conditions could stay quite tolerable; aluminet should really help with keeping the worst of the heat off, and like with old land rovers, you can consider a "double roof" to help keep things cooler.

Silje · #19 05-15-2013, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Discus

You're welcome, sorry some of it has been thread necromancy.

What you need is an extensible greenhouse. muhahaha.

Also, I'm not sure quite how dry and windy it is where you are, but you can make a shadehouse out of just poles and shadecloth (walls and roof); with misting the conditions could stay quite tolerable; aluminet should really help with keeping the worst of the heat off, and like with old land rovers, you can consider a "double roof" to help keep things cooler.

I've got the largest of the Mythos greenhouses. It's not extensible though. It's fine as a beginner greenhouse, but if you keep buying plants and as the survival rate of those plants increase, you quickly start to grind your teeth over space limitations. And it's just a bit crammed. When I look at the prices for the larger units, I've been considering building my own instead, but every time I mention that, my hubby just go quiet and look at me with this...weird...expression on his face. For the life of me I can't figure out why ...

Shade house can be a nice option for the summertime, but I foresee huge problems during the winter when these plants need to be temporarily stored somewhere else. Knowing myself, I will have happily expanded my collection during the summertime and when the frost sets in, I'll struggle to find room for them in the house. That's where the greenhouses are convenient. With a bit of heating, they can stay there yearround.

Discus · #20 05-15-2013, 07:35 AM

I always forget how cold deserts get at night - all the shadehouses I know of are in and around Port Elizabeth, which is pretty mild for so far south...

It looked to me like some of those greenhouses *should* have centre panels that can be extended ad infinitum.

Poly tunnels are much cheaper, but they're not exactly pretty... Still, if you live on a farm it fits with the aesthetic

Some orchids are somewhat frost hardy (I suspect many cymbidiums will take a light frost).

---------- Post added at 12:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:04 AM ----------

See also Orchid Societies Council of Victoria Inc
and Cold Hardy Cattleyas