Shade House - to Purchase, or DIY Plans & Ideas
 

I'm wondering if anyone uses a shade house for their Orchids. I'm thinking of something along the lines of the small inexpensive greenhouses, either just larger enough to walk in, so you can array your plants on three sides, or possibly even the small portable ones you can just attach to a table. I'm thinking basically the same idea, only with shade cloth instead of clear plastic.

I'm a bit surprised I have not been able to find such an item pre-made, for sale. Does anyone know where to buy one? Otherwise, does anyone have good DIY design ideas to use, maybe one which you've built for yourself, or else seen a good set of plans online?

I'm not super handy lol, so I'd rather find one prefabricated! :). But I'd appreciate any DIY advice as well, for a very effective design.

:thanx:

I have a 10'x20' I purchased from Grower's Supply Co. (aka Farmtek). It works great and is reasonably priced.

For shade, I built structures out of 3/4 inch conduit ("Tinkertoy" fittings from the local swap meet, conduit from Home Depot). Really easy to build (done by this ol' lady by herself with no construction skills, just a sabre saw for the conduit), and easy to expand. Because if it starts small, it WILL need to expand soon (such is the nature of the "addiction")

I have built lightweight garden structures with 1/2 and 3/4 inch PVC pipes. There are lots of different fittings available to connect the pipes, so you can create whatever shape structure you want and then cover it with shade cloth.

Disclosure: I didn't watch the videos to the end, just wanted to share a couple quick examples of what can be built with PVC.

Search online for PVC cold frame or mini PVC greenhouse to find more ideas.

Once you find or design plans, all you'd need to get is the PVC pipe, fittings, a PVC cutter, and glue. No power tools required. A coat of spray paint will protect the pipes from photodegradation/getting brittle, but they'll last a few years without it.

Tabletop-style example

Larger step in style example.

I started out building with PVC, but found it too flimsy once the length gets beyond about 3 feet or so. My conduit structures have been in place for 10 years or more. (9 feet is typical height... gives room to hang things and I can still reach them. A taller person could be quite happy with 10 foot height and then have to do much less cutting. I include a vertical support for the horizontals, about every 5 feet, convenient since it comes in 10 foot lengths) When constructing I would tie one corner to house or fence, with a couple of zip ties. Once it's all put together, that's plenty of anchor - even in high winds. And you do need to take those winds into account, or you'll find it in a neighbor's yard or in the middle of the street. Hanging plants have the additional benefit of supplying weight to further stabilize the frame against wind (along with benefit to the plants)

I'd really recommend you go with a pipe kit. I'd also recommend some extra pipe cross pieces (purlins) on the top sections and then hang hardware cloth (1"x2" to 2"x4" squares) over the whole thing inside your shade cloth. You can attach it to the frame with pieces of aluminum fencing wire twisted around it (ends down so you don't shed your shade cloth).
Now sit back and think about how many hanging plants you could have (plus on the benches below).
You're not doing that on PVC!

If a pvc frame is what you go with, you can zip tie hardware cloth to the inside wherever you want hanging space.

That 3/4 inch galvanized conduit is quite strong and rigid (and easy to cut). Important to not be stingy with the supports, though. I would not want to even guess how much weight I have in hanging plants (some big plants, some clay pots) The main area with my Catts, likely a few hundred pounds. Keeping the unsupported segments fairly short and plenty of verticals is the secret. I found 3/4 inch to be the sweet spot... 1/2 inch is too weak, and 1 inch or larger too heavy for me to handle (along with being a lot harder to cut)

Do you ever get Santa Ana winds? If so be sure it's very sturdy, like what Roberta described. Another reason to join a local orchid society. There will be people there who can help you.

One more thought with regard to that shade structure... if you want to provide overhead protection from rain, clear polycarbonate patio roofing sheets (I think they're usually about 6 feet by 3 feet) work great. That can be helpful for plants that might be a little bit marginal for winter cold (such as it is in southern California) - a dry orchid can tolerate much more cold than a wet one. If you decide to do that, plan ahead... put the polycarbonate down BEFORE your shadecloth. The shadecloth (which is quite easy to secure to the frame) does a great job of holding the polycarbonate in place. Otherwise it's very difficult to wind-proof. (in southern California you don't have to worry about snow loading, but 30- or 40-mile-per-hour wind is fairly common)