Bush house ideas

[Weebl]

I'm looking for ideas and suggestions to protect orchids from wind. Thats the primary focus at least, a increase in daytime temps couldn't hurt either as winter average max temps are 60 with a average low of 43, respectively in summer temps are 69 as a high and 52 as a low. So a little extra warmth would do nicely year round.

I was thinking white shadecloth on north/west wall and black shadecloth on the south/east wall with corrugated fiberglass roofing to help with the prevailing winds and get the temps up a bit. Any suggestions or criticism is welcomed.

Pictures of setups at home would be appreciated!

[susiep]

How big is your bush house going to be? I can imagine your conditions, but have no suggestions. Your situation is exactly opposite of mine. I am trying to keep mine cool and well ventilated. That fiberglass roof should help you a lot. I had one here in Florida years ago and it was like a magnifing glass! It got too hot on that porch! Post some pictures of what you have so far.

[Weebl]

The structure I have now is a pile of 4x4s
I currently have shelves under a eucalyptus tree, but they like to drop branches sometimes so this isn't ideal. The mounted orchids are on a East facing wall partially under the eucalyptus.

To build what I'm thinking of I'd need to set anchors in concrete so I wanted to really think this out not wanting holes all over my patio after a change in mind

[epiphyte78]

I have trellises as the "walls" of my shade shelter and they do very little to block the wind or sun but they are really useful for hanging and mounting orchids on. What I'm thinking about doing is hanging some shade cloth on the outside of the trellises for additional protection from the wind and sun.

My shade shelter is covered with 50% white shade cloth which lets in a lot, almost too much light. Personally, I wouldn't want a fiberglass or any other type of impermeable roof because all of my orchids are mounted and they respond very well to the rain on those rare occasions it does rain. But, your area is somewhat cooler than mine so they would probably appreciate the bump in temperature. Although, I'm not too sure how large that bump would be.

[Andrew]

Both of my bush houses have solid roofs. As Epiphyte78 said water permeable roofs have the benefit of letting rain in to water your orchids. They also have the disadvantage of letting rain in to water your orchids. If your orchids don't mind winter rainfall choose an shade cloth roof. If they resent staying cold and wet or wet for prolonged periods choose a solid roof. As for the roof itself, ditch the fibreglass and go for UV protected polycarbonate. Sunlight will degrade fibreglass within a few years, leading to loss of light and large holes the moment anything falls on it. Polycarb is more expensive but worth it in the long run.

[Weebl]

Maybe Ill cover half of the roof... to help with warmth a little bit, and somewhere to put the orchids that appreciate a winter rest and orchids which like quick drying... in a few weeks when I have more time, I would like to try to get the ball rolling on construction.

epiphyte78:
how strong do the prevailing winds get in your area?

[Bolero]

You really wouldn't need anymore warmth but it depends on what orchids you plan to grow in there.

What plants do you plan to grow? You could grow small cattleya's, cymbidiums, Odonts, Oncids, Masdevallia and Dracula just to name a few.

If you are planning to grow Phalaenopsis then you will need more warmth. Do you get much of a wind chill?

[Weebl]

The wind can be cold, but very rarely and only in winter. The main thing is that prevailing winds almost always reach 15mph in the afternoon drying out everything even though humidity is good at around 50-70%. The main reason I dont want pure shadecloth overhead is that it will lower daytime highs more than the ocean does, and although I grow masdevallias, cattleyas, cymbidiums and oncidiums I also grow dendrobiums, and a few other species like phal. taenialis and sarcochilous hartmanii.

Thats why I think the partly covered roof will help, the hotter it gets the more use the vent taking up half the roofspace will get.

[epiphyte78]

Down here we have the annual Santa Ana winds that..."may blow at sustained speeds of 40 mph (65 km/h) with gusts of 70 mph (112 km/h) and at times reaching 115 mph (185 km/h)."

We moved into this house last August and I had to put up a super quick shade shelter as there was no shade in the yard. When the Santa Ana winds came through they ripped the shade cloth off my shade shelter. Admittedly, the shade cloth wasn't that securely fastened but it still took quite a bit of force to remove it. Any of my potted plants that were even slightly top heavy were blown over as well.

From the other outdoor growing areas I've visited I've noticed that orchids do best when they are grown in a somewhat covered, relatively narrow walkway between the house and a side wall.

"Walls" can also be created with tall hedges and wind barrier plantings. The single most spectacular private residence growing area that I visited was in Eagle Rock. The grower had amassed a dense collection of tropical plants under shade cloth. His primary interest was in bromeliads and the water that evaporated from the cups of his bromeliads combined with the transpiration and wind blocking properties of the dense foliage, created a protected and humid microclimate. The several dozen or so orchids that he did have looked like they were growing in a greenhouse with exposed, long and white roots with green growing tips.

I've been on the lookout for good deals on large cup bromeliads to experiment with their evapotranspiration properties to try and find out how many it takes to significantly raise the relative humidity of my growing area.

[orchidexpress]

Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide to do!

Happy Building!