There is a big difference between Miltonia and Miltoniopsis. Miltonia is described as warmth tolerant which is confusing because it is also cool tolerant so it will happily grow in my Shadehouse only protected from the weather here by some shadecloth . The other day the max was 30C and the humidity was 11%. Goodbye Miltoniopsis conditions.

Mlltoniopsis do not like it below about 12C and above 30C and need even humidity and perhaps more shading than Miltonia.

I have the impression that most Miltassia have Miltonia in the breeding background so i have some success with those and NIL success with Miltoniopsis.

Helga perhaps these comments will not apply to your conditions and Miltonia and Miltoniopsis will grow and bloom for you.

Arthur, I too am having trouble with the beautiful pansy-type Miltoniopsis, and now I know why. I had them growing way too warm! Will put them into my heated garage. (Min. 58, max.78, humidity 50-70%.)

Here in the Northwest temps fluctuate greatly in the GH. Summers reach up to 100 deg., nights 55-65 deg. In the fall and winter the shade cloth is off, as we have many cold and cloudy days, as well as much rain.
I had given the Miltassia lots of bright light and water this summer, still, the buds on the spikes dried off. Perhaps they too grow better under shadier conditions?

I read yesterday, that Colmonara like it cooler as well. I'll try growing these types in morning sun only outside as soon as temps allow, and grow them on a bright window in the house during the winter. Does that sound like a good idea?

Not sure if Degarmoara and Bllra. would be good for the outside as well?

Thank you again, Arthur. Do you have pix posted somewhere of your growing set-up?

Helga.

{{gwi:198869}}Colmanara vary widely in parentage and have been hit hard by the naming wars. They are basically Oncidiums and can generally treated that way. Bright light and fairly even watering.

Degarmoara and Beallara add Brassia to the mix, so again, light, light, light. The number one reason orchids don't rebloom is light.

Apart from the light aspect, the defining feature in many of these Intergenerics that you should look at is the amount of Odontoglossum in the breeding.

Odontoglossum and Miltoniopsis are narrow temperature range orchids and that is why they are hard to grow here.

Helga, do you have a misting system or an evaporative cooler in your glasshouse?

I do not know why your Miltonia buds blast?????

Here is a picture of my small, heated slightly in winter glasshouse. No setup! Just a timer to run a fan heater for 1.5 hours on early mornings in winter.

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Note what is in bloom on the wall. Arid growing , must dry our between watering. Tolumnia Hybrids.

Down on the bench this grows like a weed and flowers every year.
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Miltassia Sadie Loo x Miltonidium Christmas Eve

The Pacific North West should be heaven for Odontoglossum and Miltoniopsis so apart from the misting and evaporative cooler suggestions perhaps a little bit of extra shading in the hottest months of the year might do the trick.

Thank you Richard. I have so much to learn about the various types of Orchids I am growing. Digging deeper, I agree with Arthur, that my Colmonara needs less light than has been given. Read somewhere that some Colmonara need to have a winter rest. True?

Arthur, your GH looks wonderfully inviting. What do you have growing on the back (darker) wall?
I am especially interested in the way you hang the orchids from a "wire wall". It seems to give you maximum usage. Could you please show it in greater detail?

As for the colmonara, I could not find what the Wildcatt 'Hung Sheng'# 7 is comprised of, however, another Wildcatt has Miltonia, Ondontonia and Ondontoglossum in it, which tells me less light, cooler, drying out before night fall. Am I right on this? If so, it'll go lower to the ground hence forth.
The Miltassia 'Dark Star' has been troubling me for years. My hunch is I don't keep it evenly moist at the roots, while it gets lots of sunshine and heat over the summer.

Yes, I do have a misting system. I can only set it to come on 4x per day. During the summer I had it running at 11:30 A.M., Noon, 1:30 and 3:00 P.M. for 15 min. each time. Orchids got wet yes, but, the temps climbed from 90 to 102 many days. All plants were dry by night fall.
Next spring DH is installing a new, better system, which clogs up less and produces a thick fog, rather than fine mist. Last spring we installed a small swamp cooler. I don't like it because when the GH heats up, the cooler is not effective. Besides the cooler, I have had 3 stationary fans running plus an overhead exhaust fan that can be programmed. So I got by over the summer.
During the winter a small milkhouse heater keeps the temperature above 50 deg. If I knew how to post a photo here I'd let you see my set-up.

I see both of you (plus a few others) diligently responding to us newbe's. I agree wholeheartedly with the writer who posted a public "Thank You". I consider this site equal to a University class. The information available by you is invaluable.

Helga.

Colmanara has Miltonia, Odontoglossum and Oncidium as Ancestors. Colmanara Wildcat is now Odontocidium Wildcat after one ancestor was moved from Miltonia to Oncidium.

Odontocidium Wildcat is made by crossing Odontocidium Rustic Bridge with Odontocidium Crowborough.
"'Hung Sheng'# 7" is just one clone of Wildcat. There are many named clones.
Clear as mud? Read the FAQ "what does all this name stuff mean".

Those Tolumnia are growing in tiny pots with wire hooks mounted on square wire mesh.

What are the other plants? all sorts that are not cloud forest types.
Den bigibbum (many)
Den canaliculatum
Sarcochilus ceciliae (many)
Some cool tolerant vandaceous (on trial)
Mini cats
Cattleya maxima
B. nodosa
B. cucullata
Enc. tampense
and so on. Orchids that do not need to be kept damp and indeed may need to dry between watering.

Fine tuning a glasshouse with misters? Hopefully someone will be able give some more hints.

Artur, I see you have concerns about misters/foggers in the GH. Why?
I thought all orchids like humidity.
I am growing Dendrobiums, such as
1 Maiden Charlotte
1 (atroviolaceum ÂPygmy x eximum), 1 Alexandrae x Den.Convolutum "Green Elf" and many hybrid dens. I am not sure what kind, since most tags had been lost before buying them. I took for granted they like high light, lots of water while growing. Not sure how to proceed once they are spiking (as they are now), and over the winter.
In my collection are also many Cattlaya-type hybrids, plus
Phrags, var. Oncid hybrids, Brassia, and one Mokara.
Cyms are still outside (A.M. sun under the eaves), but will return to the GH when temps fall near 40.
The phals are under light in the house.
With this mixture of orchids, what must I know about using misters/foggers?
So far I mean to group them by their need for light. When and how often to water has to be studied more. So far, my method, though faulty, has been by careful observation.

Again, a most sincere Thank You.

Helga.

I use misters for temperature control. The problem with having them overhead as I do, is that it only works well for even-watering plants. I have to be sure that my Catts and any other plants that want to dry out are outside the wet zone, and that has in general, been a problem.

If I was doing it again, I would go with mostly under-bench misters and only a small over head wet area for the Masd and other wetness lovers.

Helga, Richard uses the term even-watering plants, that i like!.

Have no idea how to run a glass-house with misters/foggers and no idea what would happen to a Miltonia if it was misted four times a day, every day.

The orchid growing hobby is not easy, you have to do all this sorting out of conditions required and place your plants accordingly.

The other term for the conditions you have set up in your glass-house is Tropical Montane.
Orchids come from many other Climates such as Tropical Lowland, Tropical Monsoon and other climates where i would not use the term tropical.

Those Tolumnia Hybrids pictured in my post above are never misted and in winter might only be watered once a week and then only in the morning of a day that promises to be sunny. They are MUST dry out between watering orchids.