Leave it under the tree, may need to paint it white, MAJOR MAJOR air flow, humidifier, swamp cooler, and a few bucks.

I'll bang on Orchid dudes door and see if I can get him to help you...

weebus thanks for the response. I'm not understanding the painting white though. I know you're joking but I just don't get it.

Barbie

Not joking. It will help reflect and difuse the light.

You might want to post in the Orchid forum on this site, too. Your problem may be more of an Orchid thing and less of a Greenhouse thing.

Have you done all the tests for conditions, humidity, light, etc. and looked for all the pests? Are there any common factors about how the plants are being affected?

I've responded twice but my message is not going through so this one is just a test

What kind of paint and I told you I was new. Sorry Weebus, now I really feel GREEN.
Cottagefarmer I just got the GH on Monday and finally finished putting the whole thing together aat about 2 a.m. this morning. I have run no test but orchids are avid humidity needers and they moved from FL to AZ. The water here has a lot of salt in it so I kiiled a bunch by just misting them twice a day to keep them from drying out. I was not bliss in my ignorance. By the time I found out it was too late for some. All of the ones that have died are the exact same species. Phillies. My cattaleyas, vandas, oncidium, and brassias have hung in there.

Barbie

I just ordered my greenhouse and I plan on putting orchids in mine. I live in North Texas where it is almost as hot and a little more humid. I have tried to anticipate my cooling needs for the greenhouse. I am DEFINITELY putting a shade cloth on during summer, and even with the afternoon shade for your greenhouse location I would consider doing the same. The next thing you might consider is a misting system. An expert at our local orchid society said orchids can stand just about any heat as long as the humidity goes up as well. If you can't do a full misting system now a cheap/easy idea is putting a misting nozel on your water hose and letting it run. A swamp cooler should achieve the same thing. Any way you do it extra humidity will cool your greenhouse. Something else you can do is install an exhaust fan with inlet shutter(s) on the opposite side. (I know that may be overkill for your size greenhouse, but I'm just trying to throw out ideas here.) Growing orchids you know the importance of air circulation, this can help cool your greenhouse as well. I would suggest getting a fan that is designed to "move" air not just a $10 box fan from Walmart. You can find a good one on many of the greenhouse supply sites for around $100. I'm sorry for your losses. I hope you are able to nurse the rest of your collection to health. I know you may not have as many rebloom this year, but being an orchid grower myself I know that that first infloresence will raise your spirits even if its your only one. Keep us posted.

Thank you miss elegant. I am going to have to install a reverse osmosis system for the mister. One of my biggest problems was using this salty Phoenix water from the hose and sprinkler system. I called a local nursery and told me I could only use RO water or distilled. My fingers get cramped after a few minutes. OH, the wonders of orchids. I love them. Do you know how high the temp reading on the thermometer can be before I start to cook them? And how do I measure the humidity levels for the GH? In Florida I didn't have to wonder.

Barbie

A thermohygrometer will give you both temperature and humidity readings. I have a very basic Oregon Scientific wireless unit, with the base unit inside the house, that was, I think, not over $30-$40. The base unit can accept readings from up to two more sensors (available separately). There are much fancier models available. An alarm is a good feature, to alert you to inordinately high or low temps or humidity levels.

I have only a few few orchids and am no expert, but I have a 7" diameter soft-wing fan from Charley's Greenhouse that moves the air very well in my 6x8 GH, even on the low setting. It was about $35 and easy to put up/move, since it has a large clothes-pin type clamp.

How sad to have lost so many plants; I wish you the best with those that have survived.

Diane

Is a thermohygrometer something I can just pick up at Home Depot? Thanks for your response. I'm learning soooo much on this web site, I love it. Thanx for your concern too.

Barbie

I found mine in Target, but you can try HD, Lowe's ... a lot of folks mention having gotten theirs at Radio Shack.

Thanx again Diane. I am so greatful for all the help I can get.

Barbie

You're welcome, Barbie. There's a wealth of information here on GW - don't overlook the FAQ sections and the 'search' feature, but you also might want to check your local library for 'Greenhouse Gardener's Companion' by Shane Smith. It has some good basic information and you can just sit and sift through it. As much as I love my 'puter and the 'net, I'm still more comfortable curled up with a book.

Di

Barbie,
your orchids are probably in shock from going from extremely humid Florida to extremely DRY Arizona. You are going to have to do something in your greenhouse to simulate the humidity that almost all orchids need, which is about 50-75%. In a small greenhouse like yours, a small misting system would be extremely beneficial to your plants, especially in the summer. I don't think you need an expensive humidifier at this point. A misting system set up to span the length of your greenhouse, put on a timer to mist for 5-10 minutes every 3-4 hours, will help greatly. Misting also helps to lower the temperature in summer. There is even one called the Arizona Mist System which I believe was designed for folks in dry climates like AZ and NM to have outdoors poolside to moisten the air when sitting out on the deck. These are commonly used in small greenhouses by hobbyists. Of course you will need excellent ventilation in the summer, so fans are also a must, in a 6 x 10 house a couple of hanging oscillating fans or a couple of box fans installed up in the "attic" to draw in fresh air and push out hot stagnant air is key.

I know your dilemma, I am also a Floridian with an orchid collection of close to 400 plants, and am used to having all my Vandas, Catts, Dends, Phals, Gongorias etc just hanging out under the breezeway and in the trees where a lot of the time the rain water them for me in Spring, Summer and Fall but in winter I have to move them all into the greenhouse and give them more than benign neglect. My greenhouse is much larger than yours (over 1700 sq ft) but it is also in full sun, and in Florida you know what that means. I have measured temperatures in the upper reaches of the "attic" in Spring and Summer at 110-125F before, so I had to add more fans to combat that (It already had two 36" slant box exhaust fans and 4 oscillating fans...I had to add 4 box fans!).

Instead of a mist system I use an overhead sprinkler system, and it creates an actual rainforest environment.

There are also fans that mist at the same time. They may be helpful.

Where do they sell them, and kinda how much do they run?

Barbie

Barbie, you can try online sources , such as Farmtek, under greenhouse accessories/cooling and ventilation. You may also be able to bodge something together using the micro-irrigation systems sold at Lowes/home depot. I prefer the MisterLandscaper setups sold at Lowes, myself. The sprayheads are capable of a pretty decent mist at higher pressures a or a very plesant spray at lower pressures.

I suppose that an overhead system using 1/2 inch polyetylene tubing and the micro spray heads woud make for a very nice "rain" for your orchids.

Shade cloth would be a very good thing to have if you do not want your greenhouse to turn into a solar oven in the summer. Being in the shade of some trees will be a big help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Farmtek.com g-house cooling fans

We get the same rock hard salty colorado river water here that you get in AZ. Misting with RO water is going to get expensive. A swamp cooler can use our hard tap water, you just have to replace the pads more often than most people. Pads are cheap so it's much cheaper in the long run.

My HF 6x8 is coming on the truck tomorrow and that's my plan. The smallest cheapest side vent swamp cooler I can find. It's getting to the season where the big box stores start carrying them. even the smallest one is overkill but the smaller portable coolers are actually more expensive... so...

There's a fancy greenhouse whitewash that you can paint the walls with. Me, I just go to the craft store and get tempra/poster paint, dilute it down some and spray it on. Stays dry here all summer and when it washes off by rain later it's time that I want more light anyway. I've been doing this with the clear skylights in my house for years.

Sorry I am late, but this teacher thing has got me busy. I will be a teacher at the end of the year and I will be so glad to be out of school for a little while.

How are the orchids doing? My advice would be to keep them watered really well, place them in a darker location until the adapt to the new place and try to raise the humidity level. This might be hard without some place enclosed. It might take a year or more to recover some of the plants. Damage can happen over night, but recovery can take years sometime.

I love orchids, here is a pretty picture of one of mine.
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