Pat,
I am a SouthWest FL native and would like to know WHERE and WHO the old man was. email me please. I knew a lot of the old one In Collier County and if you are from there or for that matter ALL of South FL below "the lake". I probably am familiar. Do an old man, not quite 90, a favor and clue me in to the olden times.

1eyedJack and The Dawg

Hi
I arrived here in Palm Beach county in 79 and I'm still trying to figure out what a greenhouse looks like in this climate lol. After Wilma I've returned to wide open again
just lattice and a roof sprinkler .Got rid of the shade cloth altogether and rely on heavy growth for shade. So guess I'm using the system you describe lol.
All the old greenhouses are gone now but I relly enjoyed the expertise of the old timers lol. Alberts and Merkle was opened around 1938 on US 1 but it's all high rise now.
he was a delight to talk to!!! gary

I love talking to the old timers also. Its amazing what you can learn from them. Sounds like you had a great trip.

That sounds like an amazing day! I love talking to the older folks who have been using the practical methods for years. And to get cuttings of all those orchids! I'm green with envy.

Isn't that method of cooling called swamp cooling? It's not something you see Up Here but if global warming doesn't slow down we'll all be using it. LOL

I have seen a really charming water feature designed by circulating water up onto the roof of a garden shed, letting it rain down thru a preforated eavestrough into a gravel bed before before circulated up again. Gives you the peaceful sound of rain falling even on a sunny day.

P-canZ9,
On looking at my post it might be thought that I wanted to hit the old man up for material. This is not the case believe me. I just wanted to see if I knew him or of him. I have no need for orchids up here and don't have the patience to work with them anyway. I only grow what I can eat.

Thanks,

1eyedJack and the Dawg

Hi Jack, this man is in the north part of central Florida (or the south of north Florida)near Deland/Daytona. And I didn't think you were trying to "hit him up" at all ....no way. It's nice to hear of old friends or people you knew or might have known. I understand that. It's part of the "small world" theory ;0) It adds wonderment to life - it's OK. LOL....I would have ask him a lot more about his past - but I didn't get to talk that much. It was kinda one of those things were - I talk - you listen. I can't say I wasn't forewarned of this...LOL.

Gary I hear ya on the shade cloth thing, I just hate the stuff. I spent all summer, putting it up, taking it down, inside, outside, moving it here, no over there ....I wound up suspending it over the GH to let all the morning sun in and the noon sun out........I still hate the stuff........
Are you growing vines over your houses?? What kinds??
You know what else? I left there thinking I had made a very big deal (cooling the GH March - Nov.) out of something that this dude thought was very very simple. When I tried to tell him about all my cooling "stuff" - he just said - "More do-dads to break - more you have - more they break" ........LOL........
Last night I looked up roof cooling on the net. (BTW - the net is a bunch of monkey business) I was surprised to find a fair amount of info about it. I even found old patens on design from the early 30's 40's. They use to do things such as "roof ponds". A pool of water on the roof ....good grief. I'm really beginning to wonder if some of this stuff can fit into GH (not the ponds) cooling and how I can make it work for me. Hmmmm..........

OrchidDude ......!!....this guy had catts that had long crawled out of their pots onto the wooden benches and had so many pbulbs it was impossible to count. He gave me some of these back bulbs......when I ask what kind they were, what cross, what hybrid, what, what .....he just said " I forgot - the purple kind" - he told me to "string them up - they'll grow roots when they take a notion".......................His watering method is to go in and blast everything with a water hose every "now and again" .............Good Lord my watering system looks like the Medusa compared to his........

WA!! Hey that water feature sounds interesting .....peaceful ......At noon around here with the fans running full blast.....it sounds like a small airplane taking off........ I'm getting a "Nice Camera" for my birthday (my stepson clued me in - shame, it's a secret) and I'm gonna see if I can visit again with camera in hand......I'd love to get some pictures of the area, his garden, greenhouse, his ORCHIDS!!! BTW - I love the old school house, that is just to cool..................

Pcan-z9 - I met a person like this once. I got a few plants from him and they flowers were wonderful, no names just like you said, "purple something". I still have that plant. I learn a valuable lesson about names that day, names are good, but dont forget that some of the best old world plants without names are some of the best to grow and bloom. You have a treasure chest just waiting to be opened and you have only crashed the surface. Take another visit and let him talk. I wish I could go.

What a great experience. Let us know how your "purple" one does strung up! He probably has some very famous orchids there and no longer can identify them but they can always be enjoyed without the fancy names.

Brooke

The old guys without a doubt are fast disapearing. I grew on an island just 4 miles south of US41 or better known As The Tamiami Trail. It was Collier County, The state of FL gave Mr. Collier just about the whole county to build the road. My families friends included the man that ran the Dredge and kept the crew in MEAT that he hunted in the swamps and praries of the Everglades. My Father worked for Mr. Collier.

1eyedJack and the Dawg

Hi
I just decided to make up my own GH theory lol In the past most of the money I spent was a waste lol. Removed all the covering including the shadecloth and shadescreen. Junked the irrigation system.removed the fans. Am now going for "layering"
In the past I used Passion vines allowing them to grow over the top in summmer ,pruned to the ground in winter. In the dark corner I use Philos.pruning as necessary.. The main problem with vines is that most get too dense. Have now switched to Thunbergia mysorensis. has already made it to the top but leaves are 6 inches apart .We'll see lol.
I switched to an open heating system using the lily pond
and large aquarium as a heat source . Had no problem keeping the water warm all winter but the low was only 38 and then only for two hours.. Even with the open roof it did effect the air temp. But it really wasn't cold. lol
As to cooling I just switched over to all heat tolerant tropicals sprinkle around noon and drench every 3 days.
I decided to turn the grow area into a "rainforest" sort of an overgrown terrarium. Most of my plants are "noids "anyway. i want to get rid of all the hanging pots so am using different grow methods. Started a "seep" wall a year ago in March. using expanding foam. looks promising at moderating temps ,not sure about the semi -hydroponic aspect.. So far the worst problem has been a leak and since the reservoir is only 150 gallons... but integrating the 1000 gallon pond has lowered the bad aspects. If the drought ever ends I'll be able to use all rainwater.
I'm kind of hoping for a frost this winter to see how effective the heating works
gary

Gary...are you trying to tell us "your old" lol

Brooke, there was an old coffee can with what looked like even older plant stakes and tags in it. How bad did I want to pick thru it?? LOL ? I didn't of course, I just didn't feel it was the thing to do. And you and OD are right, what's in a name anyway.

Sounds like you've been around the block a few times with this greenhouse stuff Gary!! Thanks for sharing all the info, gives me things to think
about. And "rainforest" - "overgrown terrarium" - Exactly!! That's what I'm after!!

Yeah ....small world Jack. When I was a kid we use to camp on the Tamiami Trail. That's when it was a dinky little road with canals on both sides - catch more fish than we knew what to do with...........it's changed so much now................

I'm going back OD. Or at least I hope it works out that way - I hope to come back with pictures!! Oh, and Gary's not "old" just very wise!

Pat...............................

Pat, a very interesting post. There is a website that touts a greenhouse design that i have been following for years and which i have finally gotten around to start building. The concept is called "Solaroof" and one facet of the design incorporates running a fine sheet of water over the greenhouse. They never had much in the way of numbers to support the claim and i pretty much eliminated it from my initial plans, but your post has me thinking i need to reconsider that decision.

Thanks for sharing!
Poppa

Thanks Poppa!! It's got me thinking too. It's really cooled off here now .....86-88 daytime, 60ish night....BUT when the sun comes back around I'm gonna rig a way to do this on a temp basis .....just to get some real numbers, using real water and REAL heat. I've already been looking over my vast collection of mister heads and such. I'm gonna try it!!!
Pat..............

The problem Poppa, as I see it, is getting the water to "Sheet" evenly. I have also thought of using that as a means to cool 'er down, but have been stumped SO FAR, as to how to release the water so it runs down in a sheet and not little rivers. It should be possible and what I am thinking about now would be to use the "Misting" heads on the outside. IF, and there are several, you are pumping water out of the ground it should be cooler and that in itself should help wether or not you get good evaporation.
HMMMMMMMM, still in the thought stage.

1eyedJack and the Dawg

Yo Dawg.... I hear you. That's one of the reasons that i dismissed it as part of my first design. Part of the answer may be that they reuse the liquid from the liquid insulation - soapy water! Soapy water should be less likely to form rivulets due to the properties of soapy water. Since i am including the liquid insulation (soap bubbles) as part of my greenhouse, it shouldn't be that difficult to reuse it (famous last words...).

Poppa

Pat
I think if I were to build a GH in zone 9 I'd make the covering in removable panels. heat is so much more of a problem than cold. When you think about it it's ususally not too hot unless you interfere with air circulation. I've tried this in 10 but it requires you be neat lol. Nothing growing through the roof and all sides accessible Actually for about 80 percent of the year a GH is downright harmful
Without a lot of artificial aids .Fans , misters,and such.
. I find I really only need to "supplement not alter the climate and even then only for short periods. As to cold i find most tropicals not only tolerate they thrive in seasonal variation. Anything above frost that is lol.
Obviously a commercial GH would be very different than a hobby type. I'm still struggling with the basic question in 10." Does a GH create more problems than it solves??" I'm an orchid and epiphyte freak so I concentrate on these types
So go ahead and experiment but would suggest keeping careful notes so you actually make progress. Don't do like me and make the same mistakes over and over lol.
Several things I've learned already lol It may not be possible to stuff a "rainforst into a 12x25 foot area lol Much more like a "jungle" lol How about 25x25 ?? lol
Brooke The troble with that is that when you go to trade "purple one" Is never enough and particularly with hybrids once you lose an I D ther's no getting it back.
Note that some of them have 6 and 7 names!!!???
Keep those tags in a safe place and keep notes!!!
Orchiddude. I guess I am old .lol just recently a doctor told me I was "Looking good" lol Doesn't sound too bad unless you see his patients lol gary

gary if someone doesn't want a piece of "purple" one, it would be their loss, not mine! I don't sell but I agree with you, I wouldn't buy "purple" one without a name. If you as my friend tell me "purple" one is a great one, then I would gladly accept it. I have a few NOID's I wouldn't trade for the world.

Brooke

Hi Gary,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas. And you are absolutely correct. Tropicals are way tougher than they are sometimes given credit for. I have many tropicals planted in the ground here (even peace plants) that not only survive our winter's here, but as you say, thrive. I live on a high knoll above the river swamp in what is called a Hickory - Oak Hammock. The canopy is massive. The heat collected by the river and swamp during the day is held in by the canopy of trees and keeps me a few degrees warmer in winter than the surrounding flat lands. In summer, there is a constant breeze, and I stay a few degrees cooler. We do get a few nights of frost, and sometimes even a freeze, but that few degrees has saved me from that many times over the years. Cold is not the problem......

Heat IS........lol..........
Where my GH is located the heat is only bad 11:30 - 1:30.........then I'm shaded by tall trees.
I tried a lot of stuff ...and added to the shade cloth, and exhaust fan......I finally landed on misters to get me thru this time period. It works, believe me. But........it does wet the plants (orchids) OK, then I have to run more fans to get them dried off. I already water overhead early in the morning, so when the misters come on at noonish.......it's just more water the orchids don't really need, and the humidity just goes wild.....

The old gentlemen's theory was something like - don't let the heat into the GH to begin with - so will misting the roof outside keep the heat out?? LOL .....I don't know, but I'm going to try it when it warms up here again. I have about a million questions about how he makes this work - but it doesn't seem he's really into two way conversations ......LOL......bless his heart.

I'll keep records Gary, you bet, and if all else fails I can always go with "the open method"................Hmmmm....................
Thanks Gary ........see ya...........

Hi
Find this an interesting topic so thought I'd throw in a couple more thoughts.
I got into orchid growing through the back door lol. Was given 10 plants by a neighbor who was moving away. Way too many to keep in the house or hang in trees so put them in the attached screenroom. Too sunny, too dry so began turning the screenroom in to a Gh lol About all I've learned over the last 25 years is what not to do lol. So I guess you'd say I got into GH by the back door also. i found the more I tried to alter the climate the more harm I did lol. A great problem when I first started was I went to work before dawn and came home after dark. Not good gardening hours. Other hobbies took my money and interest though I always have found orchids very satisfying. Still have 6 of the original plants!! So guess I did something right?? Was not until 2000 that I really tried to make the "GH" work lol. The past efforts were done half heartedly and without careful thought. Gee I wonder why they didn"t work ?? lol
gary