Windowsill Section in "STYLES, SETUPS & ENCLOSURES"?

[Rivka]

i find water trays to little to nothing for open spaces, you would have to enclose the area and then have a fan blowing over the gravel to probably get enough evaporation to change anything. i have had a humidifier going pretty high and it only working within a few feet, since the air circulation of the room and the house is really effective at dispersing it!
i have been thinking about hanging high quality clear shower curtains right inside the room from my window shelves, not air tight or anything, but to slow down the air exchange between the area i am working on keeping warmer and wetter and the rest of the house.
i found that some really cheep ones at beth bath and beyond happen to be super clear and downright luxurious! i saved the wrapper, and wil try to find it in the chaos as i unpack in the coming weeks.

oh and for the shelves, now that im at a computer and not a phone, here they are : The Container Store > InterMetro® Special Offer Unit i found it helpful to line the shelves to stop smaller things from tipping, but if you plan humidity trays that will kill two birds with one stone anyway.

[Rivka]

i am working on a plan that lets me flood water in my S/H pots while they are inside and have hte shelves drain out. i bought soem trays for the bottom of dog kennels, that are the perfect width for these shelves i have(link above) i just need to cut down the depth and then screw in drain pipes. i plan on hanging them from the bottom of each shelf so that i had slant them to a corner for draining maybe, but more importantly so that i can keep them cleen without having to pick up all the orchid pots each time. i would rather just be able to pour a bleach solution on them and let drain or a physan solution. if i have each level atached to a drain tube, i can have it collect at a bucket right below the bottom shelf or maybe just maybe pip to outside.

[gardengirl13]

Well our most awesome humidifier died on us 2 years ago. I cannot stand the mist ones, they get horrible white dust on everything. I finally found one similar to the old ones, but not as nice sadly, and they cost 2x's as much! But we plan on buying them next week from amazon. With the two old ones going full time on low we kept the humidity around 50%. I assume the new ones will be the same. I'm still debating the trays. I worry about the fungus gnats. We've had issues locally (every where you go they have tons of them!) and we're just somewhat getting them under control at the house. you can see in some of my photos the little glass bowls, they're traps, that don't really work! ha ha!

I ordered a wonderful orchid from First Rays and got it on friday! I also ordered 4 others that I'm hoping I don't kill as I bought them based on looks! I'm not sure when I'll get them, I hope this week. But with 5 new orchids I needed the shelves! I went to BB&B and found something just like our old ones, but shorter. Coming here rivka they look just like yours. We set them up and my husband is happy as it controls all the plants to one area. For the winter it's in our southern dining room window, I plan on putting up sheers for summer and if it's too much I have the little bookcase in the eastern window to put some on.

Here's what it looks like!

[acendana114]

Wow, you have a good collection. Here is mine!

[KathyT]

Just a little information on what I use for orchids inside....Lowes carries a ( Garden Plus 27'L x 19'W x 64'H Greenhouse) for about $40.. I have 2. The shelves are separated with 4 individual rods . I happened to misplace one rod. Hubby and I found that you can buy wooden dowels the same size diameter. You can make 2 separate shelving units and purchase longer dowels to adjust your selves to suit your window, plus it has a nice clear cover if you want to keep humidity in. They are green but you could paint them whatever color you would like.

[gardengirl13]

Originally Posted by acendana114

Wow, you have a good collection. Here is mine!

Oh I would LOVE that window!!!


Well the humidifiers are on back-order, we ordered them a day or two too late. darnit! Oh well! They'll come at some point.

I did go buy some thicker cookie sheets and some fish tank gravel. They are holding about 24oz of water and I'm filling them every 4 days. So it's no where near as good as the 1.5 gal humidifiers do each day! But it's something.

the 4 new plants from Orchids Limited are doing well. As soon as I got them in and watered and in the window they all perked up nicely. The one I got from Ray is awesome! The second bud opened and it looks so happy! The one den I got locally and came here for questions (it's unnamed so i wasn't sure how to care for it) it's flowers started looking bad and turning brown! I got worried and did my normal thing that you're not supposed to do. I re-potted, cut off the flowers that didn't look nice and watered heavily and put him in the window. Well now he looks great!! I'm so excited!! His leaves look nicer, the blooms left look perky and pretty.


I was so inspired by Ray's orchid I even drew it! I just started doing botanical drawings, so it's not great, but I still like it enough to frame it!

[gardengirl13]

OK here are some more photos...

They yellow hue is from the lights, the leaves don't really look this yellow!

the humidity trays



the shelves set up with all the orchids (aside from the 4 on the kitchen window sill)


the transdoll's second flower opened!



The now very happy den!!



And here is Norman. He still looks somewhat sad and "dry" His leaves don't have much "plump" I'm not sure how to say it? His medium and roots are fine. But his leaves just seem blah. OL said he would perk up in a week and he has but only VERY slightly. And you can see the small holes in this shot too. Which don't really bother me too much.

Does anyone know how to make his leaves better? Or do they naturally look this way, which I can really see.

[The Mutant]

A windowsill section would be nice, I totally approve of this idea.

I grow my orchids on and near my windowsills. I only have two genera (okay, three...sort of) Phals, Paphs, and a single Phrag, but have managed to collect a hundred of these guys. Quite naturally, I can't keep them all on my windowsills, despite having two rather large east-facing windows, there's really no room for a hundred plants. To solve this temporarily, I have four pedestals. On three of these, the major part of my Paph collection is located, and on the fourth I have a bunch of Phals. The down side of these pedestals is that they are lower than the windowsills, the up side is that they are perfect for making humidity trays:



I also have some extra light (five daylight bulbs and a T5) and a humidifier that works so-so. I'm planning to get another humidifier as well when I've got the money for it.

[gardengirl13]

Wasn't planning on going to my local store but we wound up there and I came home with another phal. Again NoID. I really am not sure what's going on there, they used to have the best IDs and now nothing is labeled??!!!

BUUUUT they have this awesome cymbidium that I really want! It's in bloom with two more spikes with buds. He's a creamy yellow white color, but his petals had some spotting. I'm not sure if it's just old petals that will fall off or not. I may go back this week and look again. If he seems healthy I may buy him. It's quiet expensive though. But it was sitting by their pond and he was about 3' tall! So pretty!! They had two others, one a pinkish and the other not quite sure as it's flowers were really dying.

They also had this really awesome bromeliad that I may get. It had really pretty purple flowers. I guess we'll see if I come home with either.

I'll take photos of the new phal tonight!

[Im Just Saying]

There's some good information in here already, thanks to you you guys I will be purchasing one of those nice racks with the plastic covers once I move for my 'chids

gardengirl you may want to consider the plant with the dying flowers if it looks healthy enough. I've been able to bargain for a cheaper price with the employees at the big box stores for plants either in bad shape or with dying flowers since the majority of the public want the orchids with the pretty blooms.