Why do you feel you need some kind of house for them outside? I have mine in a cage to protect them from squirrels, but other than that they're open and exposed to the elements. If for some reason you still want to go that route, think about the wind and the problems it could cause. We had some whopper storms last summer. I think you guys did too. One of those mini greenhouse things would probably be in the next county in nothing flat.

Kevin

hello alison,

I stayed in Kenosha for a summer, I know how brutal those summers can be up there. Theres nothing orchid-unfriendly about those racks, they'd work just fine. Though over the summer theres really no point in using the plastic covering. The point of it is to hold heat and humidity, both of which you have in abundance up there ;) It'd just cook your plants out there.

As for shading, it depends really. Where are you going to grow them outside? Is there anything already there where you plan to put them (tree, porch, etc...) that will provide them shade, and for what part of the day?...questions along those lines. You may not need shading at all, unless you don't have any form of protection at all. So to advise you there, we gotta know.

A couple cheat answers without knowing your growing conditions:

1. shade cloth like is used on greenhouses. I'm sure a number of people here grow on shelving of some form or other that has shade cloth covering it. Do a google search for shade houses. Those specifically might be a little big for you but it can give you some ideas for exterior shelving.

2. Get orchids that are appropriate to the protected areas (or lack thereof, if thats the case) so you dont' have to worry about shading. All day sun and heat? Forget phals, get Vandas (slight exaggeration, even vandas need a LITTLE bit of protection). Got an area that only gets an hour of sun a day, dump the catt and den and get yourself some ludisia and phals. Etc....whatever you get you can most likely overwinter with supplemental lighting on your new greenhouse cart ;)

Good luck!

Awesome, thanks!! Maybe I'll just get myself an outdoor friendly shelf then, and build a screen house for protection. We have a family of 8 squirrels in the backyard now, and I'm SURE there are more to come. We also get chipmunks, opossums, skunks, etc. So I'd be protecting my plants from chipmunks the most.

Our house faces east and west, so our patio faces the lake (East). I was thinking of putting them on there so they get the morning sun and get some shade in the afternoon. There are pretty much no trees in my yard close enough to our patio that I can shade them with, so I'm thinking some shading on the top of the screen house should be perfect.

In the afternoon, the house will shade them. I'll play around with placement on the patio before I put them out there, of course. In the morning, they'll get filtered light through our oaks and hickorys, but midday provides NOTHING for shade.

Thanks so much for the help so far! I'll keep you updated on how my plan goes... and any extra help with the shading and if you think my plan will work would be greatly appreciated!