How to survive Winter season

[thakshila smith]

Winter season is about to come .We do not have that period here in tropics.
I read many topics regarding this time .You all take away shade cloths and provide lights anall.
Its hard for me to believe that you do not get sun rays for weeks .
I like to share your experience in this regard . sun shine ,snow and cloudy, and rain.
We do get cloudy days three or four at a strech and some times non stop rain for a week . Twice a year . then only orchid DEn ,Crem: blooms. we get rains for three months at a strech.
But rain forests they get heavy rain fall and dark shade and lots of ground cover and creepers . Most of the time of the year they get rain.

[Phantasm]

We still get sunlight during the winter but the days are shorter and the temperatures are of course colder. In a greenhouse, it means that you need heat as the temperatures drop. Orchids are pretty adaptable and seem to handle the changes well as long as it doesn't get too cold. The farther north you live (northern hemisphere), the shorter the winter days are but the summer days are longer also.

[quiltergal]

In latitudes close to the north pole the sun never rises in the winter. It's dark all the time. Conversely in the summer the sun never sets. It's light out all the time. Hence the nickname "land of the midnight sun".

My hours of daylight will be a little bit longer than Phantasm's as I live in a latitude a little further south than he does. Someone in California will have even more daylight hours.

[kmcalpin]

This is my first winter living in southern Colorado. I have been growing windowsill orchids for 7 years, and this past January, moved into a house that has an attached greenhouse, which has been both a joy and a challenge. The greenhouse is made of wood with standard sliding glass windows, and an exhaust fan that goes into the house, provding some passive solar to the downstairs rooms. My husband has installed a misting system for me, which is on a timer 3x/day, and built me lovely redwood stages to house my 80+ int-warm growing orchids. I also have a small aquarium in which I am attempting to try my hand at masdies and dracs (that's a whole other thread!).

HOWEVER, The problem is here is that the sun shines too much!!, which means that even in winter, my greenhouse gets cooked! I have shadecloths over the outer area, but the other day no one was home and the windows didnt' get opened in the AM, which is what we usually do to let some of the heat out. That will get difficult when the frosts come, because then the outside air will be too cold to let in. Anyway, The temp inside got to 120 degrees and cooked three of my almost-budding spikes, which has driven me to tears.

Since this is my first winter with a greenhouse, I would appreciate any info about how to moisturize, cool down, vent normal windows (not the kind that lever open -- I wish!!). I'm wondering if it would be best to hook the misting system up to a humidistat, or just get a timer that allows the mister to go off about 8 times day, or what. I don't want to do a lot of structural stuff, like install a swamp cooler in the ceiling, so any insight anyone has would be great!! Is there any such thing as a portable swamp cooler?? How about one of those Halloween fogger things?

Thanks a lot!!!

Kristin from Cortez CO

[Phantasm]

You need a way to vent the heat automatically unless you want to be watching this minute by minute. Without shade in the winter, my exhaust fan will kick on with sunny days (even in Seattle) at 80F. That brings in cool air that cools things down quickly.
I wouldn't trust an automatic watering device or mister in the winter. You could easily end up with a disaster.

[kmcalpin]

is an exhaust fan something I would need to install in the greenhouse window or through the wall to outside? Would it bring cool air in or remove hot air? We have a fan whose vent is in the greenhouse, that is supposed to remove the hot air from the greenhouse into other areas of the house, but it doesn't seem to change the temp all that much. Any quick fixes?

[DebsC]

I live in N Arkansas so sometimes we have really cold winters and sometimes the weather stays mild with highs in the 50-60's. My greenhouse has the tendency to get really hot on sunny days even in January/February.

The weather here is so variable, there's no way I can control greenhouse temps with out automation.

I have a louvered greenhouse exhaust fan wired into a thermostat that I can set to come on at various temps. This is a lifesaver!!! I keep mine set close to 90F to help curb operating expenses.

When the exhaust fan isn't operating, it closes the louvers keeping out cold air. You can get then almost anywhere hardware is sold. I've seen them at home Depot.

The fans come in various sizes and I would think they could be installed in a window.

What is the average humidity in your greenhouse? I run the misting kit I got at Wal*Mart for porches ect. I think it was around 10 bucks. It's hooked to a water hose and an aqua timer.

Even though I have a regular misting system installed in the greenhouse, I like this little cheapy the best. When the temps are going to drop low enough to freeze, I do have to roll up the water hose, though.

It takes time and different circumstances to regulate a greenhouse or at least that's my experience so far.

Good luck with yours and enjoy it!

[kmcalpin]

My humidity varies throughout the day, I do have a misting system (the mist and cool) that is over all of the growing stages. That goes on, currently, 3 times a day for 5 minutes at a time. I can adjust it to max 4 times a day. Usually in the summer I put it up to 10 minutes at a time. Most of my plants are in humidity trays, and everyone has seemed very happy until the 120 degree mishap. DO you have any idea if they will bounce back okay?

I think I'm going to need an exhaust fan.

I know, getting the conditions perfect has been a challenge, but how fun would orchids be to grow if they weren't challenging?

Kristin

[kmcalpin]

ok, so I think I've figured out the exhaust fan thing. Thank you Phantasm and DebsC for your input. I"ve been trying to control things in the greenhouse on the cheap, and the time has come, to think of other things.

If anyone else DOES have super cheap ideas for the interim, let me know! It's going to take a while to get used to the idea of having to deconstruct the greenhouse.

Kristin

[Ross]

I used something like this Universal Solar Powered Vent Opener from the Greenhouse Catalog - The Greenhouse Catalog : when I was in Southern Oregon. It worked flawlessly. In fact I kept it for years and just went to look for it - I was gonna send it to you for free. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it - think I sold it in a garage sale.