Orchids good for apartment

[Tindomul]

Hi everyone,

With the new influx of members and ofcourse the wisdom of the old members, I would like to ask this question. Which orchids are good for me to grow in my apartment. Its got an easter exposure, has bright light the whole day, and plenty of lights all night.
The humidity get pretty low in the winter, but I heard this can be fixed by wiping the leaves with a wet cloth, and a tray of water underneat, and misting, which I do anyway.
The temps stay around 70-80 all winter, with the occasional 60 degrees when the building forgets that 40 degrees outside is cold. And in the summer, the three AC's come on when the temps reach 80. I guess that bring the temp down to 70. Im not sure.
I was considering a Phalaenopsis for sure. I also would like to hear your opinion on Vandas, and Catts. I'm going to the NYC orchid show this Sunday, so if you have any other suggestions, please let me know. This will be my first orchid show, and after all this is the first year I've been seriously interested in orchids. I used to think they were way too hard to keep alive.

Thanks,

Cesar

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[Paphman910]

Hello Cesar:
You have alot of choices to grow orchids in your place. I would stay away from Vanda due to low humidity. Cattleya would be great in your conditions. I would pickup a minature Cattleya hybrids.

Paphman910

[Tindomul]

Catts, really! Fantastic! I'll give those a try .

[Paphman910]

You should try to find a real cute miniature Cattleya hybrid:

SLC Dream Catcher
Sc. Beaufort
LC Mini Purple
Cattleya aurantiaca
Cattleytonia Why Not "Round About" AM/AOS

Paphman910

[Phantasm]

Phals and paphs should do great in your conditions. Cattleyas usually need a bit cooler temperatures than you indicate, although Broughtonia hybrids might work well such as the CTNA. Why Not mentioned above.

[Oscarman]

Do you have much of a temperature drop at night in your place?

When I was living in an apartment, I had built a windowsill shelf and grew some Catts (specifically remember Slc. Jewel Box and Blc. Donna Kimura growing there), Den. secundum, Den, unicum, some Paphs and Phals. The window had an eastern exposure (maybe slightly south also) and they seemed to do well with a humidity tray underneath them. Most of the Catts were not blooming size except Blc. Donna Kimura which bloomed regularily along with the two Dendrobiums.

[Tindomul]

I have a 7" deep indoor windowsill. If i open the window a little then there might be a drop in temps. But in the summer its probably gonna get wild temp swings all day. The AC goes on and off according to the comfort and crazy ideas of my family. I guess it would get pretty cool in the night with the AC compared to during the day with the AC. In the winter leaving the window ajar will do the trick.

So I hope I can get a blooming Cattleya. I need to get blooming plants to justify the lose of money to my family , but soon they will move out and I will have it all to myself !!

I'm not really into Paphs. and their kind. They just dont rock my boat. Will definitly pounce on the first Phal I see.

Also, has anyone ever tried mounting a small orchid on a tree type house plant?

Here is what I got in my apartment:

I was have a fantasy about mounting little Plueros or Haraella odoratas on this plant.

[Sandra Billeter]

Before we built our GH, we grew everything indoors on humidity trays and under lights. All grew but we had a hard time re-blooming most of the Catts. After we got the GH, they responded like gangbusters so we started looking for explanations. We found a source that pointed out that most orchids are sensitive to "photoperiod" and daylength is a significant blooming trigger. Some are triggered by shorteneing days and some by longer days. The mistake we had apparently made was to put our grow lights on a timer and have them go off at 10 PM so we could make sure they went out before we went to bed. By establishing a constant photoperiod, we wiped out many of the daylength blooming triggers. If you're using lights, I would suggest you have them on only as long as the outside daylight and then keep your orchid area relatively dark after sunset. I really agree with Beaufort and Mini-purple. I also agree that Phals, Catts, and Dens should do well in your conditions. Good luck.

Sandra in South Carolina

[Oscarman]

What an excellent point Sandra. Good to always think about what the plants are experiencing in nature and then try to duplicate it.

When growing under lights, it is important to adjust the timer to try to mirror seasonal differences.

Another important point is that the photoperiod triggers are sensitive to interuptions in the period of darkness - so any lights in the areas adjacent to the growing space can also have a negative effect on flowering.

[Tindomul]

Thanks guys. I have some pretty strong lighting on the ceiling of my apartment. I guess the orchids may not like this.
I'm sure I can work around this though.