New kit greenhouse built in Apr. 08 - Orchid Board

Orchidbyte · #1 (**permalink**) 12-15-2008, 09:40 PM

Hello all,

We built a kit Greenhouse in Apr. of this year to house our growing collection of more temperature sensitive orchids, as we live in So. Cal. we have several orchids that grow outdoors year round(Catts., Schms., Onc.,Lealias,and a couple of others).

We have a small backyard so we had to get a 8*6 footer, but I needed the height since I am 6'7" tall, so we built a 2 1/2' brick wall and sealed it with water proofing and paint, built a lower door under greenhouse door to act as a vent and a way to get in without having to step over a wall.

So far the greehouse is great, many more orchids that we can grow. Some Catts. that were outdoors growing good are doing way better in there. Now we have over 300 orchids and still looking for some other small ones.

The greenhouse came with tables built in and is double polycarbonate (holds heat in cold weather very well), also a roof vent with an auto vent opener adjustable to different degrees. Greenhouse took 2 days to build, 1 to assemble and one to seal and chaulk and set in place and secure.

We are very pleased with this kit and would highly recommend it, the plants are happy and so are we.

Pictures are under Orchidbyte in the gallery area
Thank you. Gary

billc · #2 (**permalink**) 12-19-2008, 05:49 PM

It looks like a jungle both inside and outside. Very nice.
What kit did you buy?

Bill

Orchidbyte · #3 (**permalink**) 12-19-2008, 06:51 PM

Hi,

she is an Easy Build model they have others at Littlegreenhouse.com, A great place, good service, I had to have exact outside dimensions in order to build foundation prior to shipping and they had no problem with that and they were spot on.

The greenhouse came with a 2' wide shelf on each side and a way that you can add a shelf at the end of the walkway. I took that one step further, I installed a shelf at the end, used the supplied bar and made an area that I put a plastic container with just a couple of drip holes on the side, filled with charcoal and spagnum, then planted ferns, antheriums and a couple of insect eaters.

It has all worked out great, the greenhouse was in the right price range, was easy to build and the best that I found in that size and price.

dounoharm · #4 (**permalink**) 12-20-2008, 11:40 AM

your greenhouse area is the nicest i have seen....will you come and landscape around my greenhouse????! lol....i love it!

Ranchnanny · #5 (**permalink**) 12-20-2008, 02:36 PM

Orchidbyte, your greenhouse is an 8x6? WOW! where did you have all those orchids before? How do you water them? Its beautiful inside and I bet it smells great to.
I just bought an 8x7.5 greenhouse and its sitting in the backyard covered with snow. I haven't been able to get out there and get it setup. I love yours and can hardly wait for the weather to get better. Are you getting any of the cold weather down in S. Cal?

Great growing BTW

Sheridan

Orchidbyte · #6 (**permalink**) 12-20-2008, 06:51 PM

Thank you for the great comments:-)

Most of the orchids prior to the greenhouse were outside all year long or inside in winter time.

I had a smaller very cheap covering for things when weather got cold or rainy, cold in so. Cal. in night maybe 33f once in awile and most days in the 60's.

At of dec. 1st I removed shade cloth and quickly noticed some new growth on things, at this time of the year I water potted orchids maybe every two weeks, other potted plants when they need it.
Mounted orchids and seedlings get water more often and again it is on a need to have watering, I have a 5 gallon bottle that I fill up and set in the sun for awhile so that I can give them warm water and also I use a filter system called the Gar'n Gro and that filters out chlorine and other nasty's. Since using the filter all of the plants have gotten greener and orchid roots have done way way better. The filter was inexpensive and easy to hook up to a standard spiget, look it up at filterwater.com.

I am a certified plant nut have been for over 35 years and have a great deal of knowledge and love for em, I do landscaping and that shows up I guess in the greenhouse, I believe in bio diversity and in the greenhouse that works out pretty good, you just have to be carefull of spraying insecticides as some plants don't take to kindly to them.

Gary