OK guys I need your help, we may be moving!!

[gardengirl13]

I just don't know what to do with the chids! Where we are now I have most of the phals in my kitchen window which faces east and gets nice morning sun. The other higher light kinds, like the one den, the ency, and the catts are in the dining room south facing window on that wire shelving unit my husband bought for me. But if we do move into this other house we lose tons of window space. Where we are now the south facing is fine with the plants and a sheer curtain, the other house has no south facing windows, and the big slider faces the street with neighbors so I don't want it open in the evenings. It's too hard to close curtains around these plants, plus it's north facing and won't get barely any light. The west facing kitchen window has large trees by it so no light gets in. The east facing bedroom window again wanting more privacy in that room I really don't think anything will fit there either. We're downsizing the house and I'm seriously struggling to figure out where to put stuff as is so I can just keep the shelving unit and put grow lights on it. I could maybe do this with one smaller shelf and some lights, but that's it. If I had a tons of money I'd just keep them all under lights for now and buy a little greenhouse to attach to the side of the house. But that's not happening any time even in the distant future.

I do have a few that I will be keeping no matter what. But what do I do with the rest? I don't know if I trust mailing them, as I have no clue where to get boxes and how to pack them correctly. Should I maybe sell them bare root and ship them that way? But this time of year will they be ok, I won't have heat packs for them. I would bring them to a local orchid society meeting, but the two closest are over an hour away (and I don't travel well at all with my health)

I don't have a whole lot of them, I'd be selling the 2 catts since they need a lot more light then I can give them (well there is a bit of a third from tranplanting it was basically broken off in the pot when I finally untangled his poor roots!) sadly the ency will need to go too since they need more light too. Same with the alcra. When I tried the paphs in lower light they didn't grow, so those may have to go as well. I'll keep the one, but the bigger transdoll will need a new home.

Oh this is depressing me so much. I only have 18 of them, and I'm going to try to keep 10-11 of them, but I don't think I can. It may be more like 8-10. sigh.

While this move could be good, I think the downsizing of most of my stuff really sucks. It's not just the orchids but the art and sewing stuff too. It takes up so much space. We're trying to figure out better storage solutions like maximizing closets, but even in this house we renting right now, it's tight. I wish we could afford a 3 bedroom then I could just have my own room to store this stuff and have this shelving unit with lights. But going up more will cost us 3-500 more a month minimum! We just can't do that at all.

[vjo]

Gardengirl, I am having the same problem you are. I am going to try to move to NC. but how do I move 300 orchid plants! Oh well I think we will both figure it out....Jean

[Leafmite]

I actually looked at homes until I found one that had the best lighting. But, here are some ways to have plants and your privacy, too.
We covered our double sliding glass door with a heavy, translucent, plastic dropcloth. One can now just see indistict forms a few inches into the room but the light is fantastic.
You could fill the window with shelves of plants and hang a dropcloth over the back for humidity (and extra privacy). Or just use a cheap tablecloth over the back of the shelf.
Buy used lights. Often you can get a good deal.
I hope others have some good ideas for you. Moving is difficult enough without having to sacrifice the orchids.

I hope you find a solution.

[gardengirl13]

well I might only need to temporarily find something! I was talking this over with my husband last night and he suggested changing the bedroom or living room window to a bay window and put the plants there and have room to safely pull a curtain closed! He doesn't want me to have to give up any! He's so sweet!!!

We have looked at a few houses, but in our price range there is literally nothing but this house. This area is super expensive for us poor folk! ha ha! Other houses are worse then this for light, or just really scarey looking places! ha ha! The good thing is with my health I've been doing less veggies and more shade gardens, and the yard is quite shady so I can do wonders with the shade plants! There is a little fenced in area for veggies, we plan on moving the raised beds over and doing a few veggie gardens like here. The lady who lives there now has lots of beds, but nothing in them. Not sure if she's already moving her plants, or just couldn't keep up and kept them empty, they're covered with mulch so they're weed free right now.

I just hope everything comes together ok.

[cbuchman]

Good Luck! I'm sure you'll make it work.

[vjo]

I knew you would figure something out! Very nice hubby....Jean

[GardenTheater]

Good luck. The bay window sounds like a wonderful solution.

[Island Girl]

Yes, the bay window sounds great! You do have a wonderful hubby! I am so sorry that you have to downsize... I know that's hard, and I wish you the best of luck!!

[DeafOrchidLover]

I know moving sucks and no window facing south. I am in same boat as yours. I only have north, west and east windows. I'm so sorry to hear that you have to downsize. Pssst! Something caught my attention. You do sewing? Like what? I do quilting but it been a while. I wish you the best luck! One at a time.


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