Apartment windowsill growers: show your set ups
 

This corner of the forum doesn't seem very active, but let's see if we can revive it!

I live in a second story apartment and I am not allowed any plants on my balcony, so all my plants hug the windows.
How have you made it work with similar circumstances? Post your photos!

It is too cold, stiil, here in NM to move my plants to a very large window with sills and room to put a table or two in there. It is a plant room, but everything else is in the ground, and no room for orchids there. I will post photos as soon as i move my 20 plus and get some more curtain rods and sheer curtains.

Your set up looks good. Do they get enough light there.? Will you have any stems or blooms before winter.

i like this setup and i have a few questions for you or any windowsill growers.

How do you deal with your plants, and eventually flowers, trying to grow into the window glass or the screen?

I have just made a windowsill spot for my paphs and i can sense it will be weird when all the flowers are facing away from me :)

DC you let the spikes mature facing the window and when the flowers open you can move them for display.

Growing Paphs on a windowsill can be very rewarding. I just turn the pot every time I water. Once I see a big fat bud starting I keep the plant in 1 position until the bloom is done. That way you don't get the bloom twisted. You especially want to keep the same orientation on multi florals. You can turn them inward when company is coming ;). A few hours won't hurt them.

Bill

cool, and just use your hands to guide them away from the screen or the corner if they grow into it? I have a pretty narrow sill I guess

This started out as a west windowsill growing area but the spruce tree outside had other intentions, and the window is now heavily shaded. The collection has grown and now, as you see, it is pretty much a fluorescent/led light garden.:)

That really sucks! Your orchids look happy by that window though.


My plants just weren't getting enough sun so I've put up my blinds for them... I have enough plants that it blocks the view from the outside anyway.

here us my little toe dipped in these waters...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6fd9d85_4k.jpgBulbos and vandas and seidenfadenia...oh my by J Solo, on Flickr

middle hoya about to pop


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b4f3c3b_4k.jpgBulbos and vandas and seidenfadenia...oh my by J Solo, on Flickr

East facing window phals and paphs (North AL, USA )Attachment 143910

Well played beach bum

Growing orchids in front of a window is always a challenge. I can't depend on natural light coming thru the window, so I am forced to use supplemental lighting. What I use are clip-on grow lights. I have 6 of these clipped on to TV trays which hold my orchids, and they are on a timer for 12-hours. I would never be able to grow my orchids without them. I have 2 windows in my living room - 1 large window 7-ft. wide facing Southeast, and 1 side window facing East. Now I have realized that I have run out of space and dont have any more room for any additional orchids. I was hoping the Cattleya could go outdoors now, but we are having a long streth of cold, rainy, cloudy weather right now.

Denman can you post a pic of the setup? How tall are these lamps?

I suppose this is cheating. It faces north.

No such thing Dolly.
Ya do whatcha gotta do! :D

I will say, you notice the plastic wine bottle on the top shelf... It was the worst wine I ever tasted. However, it's a plastic bottle, which is the best watering "can" I've ever owned. Well worth the Whole Foods price to flush the wine and keep the bottle. My take on high tech.

i, of course, went right to the bottle and assumed it was a special vintage OR the label was funny.

I like the truth even better

If you can see the label, it's called "Pool Boy." I added it because one of our member's high tech soliloquies makes my eyes glaze over. Simple is better and this is as close as I'll ever get to a pool boy.

DC question. I love the look of the tall glass vases. How do you care for them? are there holes an inch or so drilled in, or do you flush and pour out excess? I am just curious. :biggrin: what ever way, they are beautiful.

early- they are dollar store vases and dollar store votive lamps (two different heights)

My dear wife said the soup containers were not going to fly LOL


i use a diamond coated hole saw bit (7/16") to drill out a single hole...I place the hole using a scientific method of holding the vase in my left hand and extending my thumb out and them using the side of the first knuckle of my thumb to steady the bit.

I use my fert sprayer on drip to keep the vase wet while i drill...i have drilled literally a thousand holes in glass for all my various hobbies so i have a good sense of the amount of speed and pressure. If you do not, start slow and no pressure...let the drill do the work.


everything else is Ray's S/H instructions...I'll try to get a pic of the thumb thing lol and the hole is easy to photograph

oh, Dollar Tree, to be specific

Wine-Plastic Bottle-“Pool Boy”; What could go wrong?:rofl:

That’s and awesome bump out window grow with some phantastic phals and phriends! :dance:

DC I don't have a dear wife or darling husband to worry about, so I will probably keep using Betty Crocker measuring cups from Dollar Tree. But like every thing else I have learned here...moving from Phals to three Oncs and now one fast growing zygo..honolula baby, and two Vandas that are growing slow, I move from one thing to another at a snails place. This time next year I will probably have 50 orchids..yikes, and start using my drill with a diamond bit. lol The tall glasses are beautiful. very appealing. I may buy some and store in my dark room that now is storage for tools Just in case the memory of your beautiful plants takes over. :bowing
:evil:

Windowsill growing near Boston, MA
 

Here's my little setup. It faces east and gets a few hours of direct sun in the early morning and stays bright the rest of the time. The phals are the oldest, I've got some mini-catts on the second level that aren't really doing much (neither thriving nor dying), and then the top level has a few catts from my dad's greenhouse (not loving the lower light levels here) and a new Miltoniopsis Lennart Karl Gottling 'Red Rim' which I hope will be happy here.

Time to come inside and find a spot on the windowsill
 

This is the first night in the Northeast that the temp will dip to 55 degrees, it is only going to get colder. Time to bring in the plants from outside. I have been eyeing all available spots for the orchids to hang out inside the house all summer. I just brought in these plants tonight.

Here are two of my windowsills. Both are east facing windows, one in the basement, the other on the first floor. I have a third setup in my sunporch that I will upload a pic later off. All windows have supplemental lighting. The basement window has been turned into a mini-green space complete with mini-humidifiers, fans and enclosed with a heavy sheet of plastic. Upstairs I have placed the rest of the plants that are still blooming so I could to enjoy the blooms as long as possible.

Attachment 150337

Attachment 150338

THAT! is a well used windowsill

nice

Fantastic windowsill Dorra! You've made very good use of the space and I love the jungl look in the first photo!


I'm a bit late to the party, but here is my set up. The photo is from November, but it looks mostly the same now (just has lots of visible spikes now).

The window is south facing, but there is so little sun in the fall and winter (always overcast and usually raining) that I installed some lights. In march or april I'll turn them off and let nature do the lighting.

It's been a while but I thought I'd share my space here too. The window is south facing so I get quite a lot of sun.

Finally participating here. This windowsill has about 75 orchids on it, potted and on mounts. There are also another 5 or so "normal" plants. (Well, I'm not sure how normal Tillandsia usneoides is as a houseplant.)

It faces south-west-ish, and the windows haven't been cleaned in years. The dirt seems to make the perfect shade cloth. Catts, Paphs, Phals and others all bloom here.

Lovly... It's probably easier for you to maintain the right humidity. I have not any space for the vivarium, so is harder.