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I've been keeping a few orchids for about five years. Recently, as my interest has shifted toward the smaller, humidity loving varieties, windowsill culture has become less suitable. In my climate (northern MN) it gets cold (it's -20 today) and extremely dry. In these growing conditions, a haven for my plants became necessary, so I built one. It has been working wonderfully, buffering temperature and humidity, as well as providing necessary light. The cost was also nice, less than 60 dollars all told (including a used aquarium). I"ll show you all what I did, hopefully to inspire some of you "on the edge" to dive into this method of culture.
Materials:
20 gal. aquarium w/ undergravel filter (what I had)
8 ft. 1x4 cedar
1 24x48 luan (thin plywood)
12 ft. 16g. stranded wire
1 wall plug
2 brushless fans, 4 in.
1 12 vdc. wall wart
3 temporary light sockets
2 6500k, 1 3500k 23w cfl's
1 pkg. bamboo stakes
silicone
weatherstrip
aluminum foil
fabric scrap (about 13x4)
1&2 in wood screws, and a bunch of finish washers
Construction.
This thing is simple: a 4 in. box with fans and lights in it. Basically, for my 20 gallon tank, the interior of the box had to be 12x24. This meant with 1 in. lumber (really 5/8), that the front and rear panels had to be 24 PLUS 1.25 in., in order to accommodate the side panels. The joints are face-screwed with 2 in wood screws and finish washers. The luan top is cut to the outside dimensions of the lumber, and attached with 1 in wood screws, with thin weatherstrip between for sound dampening. The box sits on the top of the aquarium on two inner cedar baffles cut to the same dimension as the side panels and inserted a few inches in, at a 45 degree angle. The “interior” area between the baffles is lined with aluminum foil, attached with spray mount. In the bottom of the tank is an old under-gravel aquarium filter, overlain by agates (pretty!) Next thing to do here is to drill a drainage hole, as siphoning tank-water is a task. I keep a couple old copper pennies in the bottom to discourage algae/other bactreria.
The electrical aspect is also straightforward. Three lamp sockets ( I used the cheap type, but had to saw them to dimension) are wired in parallell, and mounted with 1 in. wood screws The cord runs out a small hole in the back. One fan is mounted outside the righthand baffle, blowing out. The other fan is hanging from the top, about an inch down. These are simply wired onto a standard class-2 12v. DC tranformer ( the “wall-wart” kind, look for them at your local thrift shop, they’re usually about fifty cents) Air intake is through a bank of 1 in. holes drilled on the opposite end of the output fan. A scrap of tea-towel is glued over these holes, to restrict dust intake.
I have the lights on a timer, and the fans on a switch. The light is bright enough to cause darkening of tolumnias, but not so bright as to yellow even delicate plants. Airflow is controlled by restricting the output (I’m just using a flat rock at the moment) With this system, I can warm the tank with heat from the bulbs, and cool it off at night by allowing a lot of output. (It’s 68 in my house, I can get the tank down to 55 at night by evapoative cooling, and up to 75 in the day with the internal fan on, and the output fan blocked. In the future, I will put the fans on separate switches, eliminating the need to obstruct the output.)
Really, controlling the atmosphere is total trial and error, but generally with this setup failures should be at a minimum. I keep a wet/dry bulb thermometer, which helps greatly in monitoring temp/humudity. Generally, the fans run in the morning, with the output blocked, to warm the tank in this cool weather. I’ll click them on for a while in the middle of the day with output open, to flush the air. In the evening, I’ll run them open again for an hour or so to cool and flush the air. But keep in mind, this is winter protocol, it will change greatly as the temps. rise, and the sun actually does something!
I’ve got a few pictures, they should be relatively seld-explanatory. This has been a fun ongoing project, and with a small cost, one that I think applies to lots of orchid-folks out there. Thanks for reading, and please, tell me what you think!
-tyler
P.S. Images are under the first comment, sorry!
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