Hey all, it's been quite a while since I've been active here, so I figured I'd do a re-introduction of sorts.
My name is Cody, and I've been growing orchids indoors under lights off and (mostly) on for over 10 years here in the cold Canadian prairies. I've always had a fascination with science and plants, and when I was 12 or so I saw a white Phalaenopsis at a local greenhouse and began the slow decent into learning everything I could about orchids.
My first major set-up was something akin to a coffee table inside the closet of my bedroom, with lights above and below so I could make the most out of the space I had. I slowly expanded my collection and growing space, but after fighting a spider might infestation, I eventually lost the entirety of my collection.
After moving with my parents I shortly restarted my collection in the same manner as before. Eventually I moved out and life kinda got in the way, and I had a small collection that I treated more so as a chore than a hobby. Skipping over a lot of moves and life changes, we find myself living where I currently am, a three bedroom basement suit close to my local university. At the time of moving in August of 2018, I had just a handful of orchids that I kept in three small plastic domes under lights.
I've always had issues with depression, and in early 2019, I began reminiscing about how my orchid closet was a place of solace to me. After talking a bit about it, my boyfriend bought me a subscription to the AOS Orchids magazine. From there I began rebuilding my collection into what it is today! I began with a metal shelving unit, and from there started to grow my collection under lights.
Just recently I bought a second metal stand, effectively doubling my growing space, but I have a few things to do before I can fully use it. But here's how it looks today!
Each metal stand will house two levels of lights, each lit by two Sunblaster LED ballasts. The one on the left is the one I started with back last year. The black netting is designed to keep my cats out when I'm not home, as I found the room too small to properly regulate temperatures with the door closed.
It's a little sparse right now, as I've moved some of what was crammed in there onto the new stand to test things out.
This upper level is where I started. It originally had two 3' ballasts and one 4' one, but when I replaced the T5HO bulbs with the LED tubes that Sunblaster sells, plants quickly turned purple, so I moved the 4' ballast to the new stand.
I quickly ran out of room so I began growing underneath. In a manic burst at near 10 pm one night I rushed over to Home Depot to buy twine and this netting to keep my cats out so I could leave the door open. There's more height to this level, so I've placed my taller plants here. It also had three 4' ballasts with T5HOs, but those were replaced with the LED tubes and one ballast was also taken to the new stand. (that's one of the troublemakers behind, Troye)
This is the top of the new stand I just recently purchased with more of my orchids and some houseplants on it.
An SVO hybrid that came with some dried sheaths started to fill out a new sheath on its newest growth, so I'm excited to see what it looks like, as this will be its first flowering.
I'm over the moon to see buds filling this sheath out. This is also from SVO, and it is (C. Love Knot var. coerulea x C.
mossiae var. coerulea). It arrived with one empty sheath and a new growth that ended up growing an empty sheath as well. Both sat there not doing much for months. After seeing people posting pictures of their C.
mossiae all over the internet, I got kinda frustrated with it. I ended up increasing the time the lights were on by half an hour, and within a week or so I noticed both sheaths begging to fill out. I guess that sucker C.
mossiae really is a spring blooming plant dependent on photoperiod changes.
Finally is a little unnamed Phalaenopsis hybrid. This and its siblings are special to me, as they are the result of a pod I set waaay back in 2012. A local member of my orchid society flasked the seeds for me, and I received one flask in return. That thing moved around with me for years, staying sealed up and outliving a few other collection losses. Eventually I freed them, and they've all grown up. This is the third one now that has initiated an inflorescence, with two others having flowered prior. Eventually I'll get around to registering it
.
And so that brings us to today! I realised I've been a member here for nearly ten years, so I figured I could start contributing again, especially now that I have some stuff that's going to bloom. Also, don't worry about the empty space, as I have an order from Cloud's on the way and I'm also waiting for confirmation from Paramount for an order I placed there as well.
A re-introduction!
Hybrid Mode
