Jane - thank you! I do have several Catts tied up and established, but my palms got occupied by my Arantheras thanks to Hamlyn Orchids at a recent show in Miami (I tied in 3 Arantheras in January and have since seen about 6" of new growth. One is just growing, the second finished its blooms and has sent out a new spike, and the third finished blooming and has one fully-bloomed spike and one about a week from opening). As for my new bench - I've since wired my pots - using florist wire - to the bench. We're about an hour from some nasty storms tonight, so I'll be able to test my ties. I'm one of those who got one orchid as a house-warming gift 7 years ago when I moved to FL, and bc of time and proximity to Krome Ave (an evil, but wonderful, place), has been able to affordably grow my collection to 137 between what's mounted to what I have on my lanai (my second, matching bench will be completed this weekend). I wish I knew how to pack orchids - down here you can get a Phal in spike for $3, a vanda in bud/bloom for $20, and Arantheras for $10.

Welcome to the forum. The light FAQ needs a sore re-write in the light department. Consider the FAQ bare minimum light to limp a plant along in for winter or nurse a sick plant back to health. Your plants will not thrive in it. This board tends to grow in high indoor light. You can go to the gallery to see the results. The current posts on cfl's may be a real head scratcher for ya right now. Not needed with sick phals. An East facing obstructed window is not enough light in MN. I see that your plants are underlight and begining to flop. Flop = root loss. Root loss comes from over/under watering. With the new folks usually over. Cut back on the water for now. Water will make it worse. Read up. Taylor's Guide to Orchids can be had for a few bucks on amazon. Orchids are the opposite of dirt plants. Water will do further harm. When they are finished blooming, you can learn how to recover them. We'll still be here. They need it. Sorry but true. Don't disturb the now if you are new to this by repotting . They need it, not right now. Get the light on 'em and dry them up Don't know which light set you bought. Some supplimental light will help. Won't be the complete solution. Consider at minimum a 28wcfl or 2 to add to the light truck. Home Depot (HD). Phals need heat. cfl's will help. You don't state temps, light duration any other conditions. These are tropical plants. Good that you care enough to invest. Leave them for 2-3 weeks, maybe a month in the new light truck. They need to adjust to the light increase. Your new light will help the dry out a little. Then make a run to HD. Mike

That's got to be an interesting challenge Fruitnut. Between the plants you decide to grow and their individual requirements for supplemental irradiation there are lots of variables. I say supplemental irradiation because that allows me to point out photoperiod, quality and intensity. When I was in school we measured PAR (photosynthetically active radiation) when doing crop research as opposed to light levels. PAR is what matters to a plant. As I'm sure you know, different lamps can put out much different qualities (wavelengths) of light and radiation, that quality can and does illicit specific plant responses. Generally speaking, wavelengths towards the red illicit a flowering response, those towards the blue end of the visual spectrum a vegetative growth response. Man I hope I didn't just get that backwards (been a long time;) Lots of variables to say the least, I wish you the best with your endeavor and suggest you keep records of exactly what you did in every respect, if something works you'll no doubt want to be able to repeat it.

Hi guys! I'm only using the greenhouse from right now until I have no worries of spring frost's...so up till Mother's Day. I too was a bit concerned about the turning over of air but in all reality, I'm only using this fan on the thermostat device so it will be running at times and at other times not. You know, it's basically just to help a little. I also have shade cloth, my new screen door which I can attach in seconds, a new wireless thermostat I ordered with an alarm feature, and also another clip-on fan. I'll admit I'm here for help and am no expert which I certainly believe Weebus is, Stressbaby, and others which I just haven't had much conversation with as of yet. I do agree now that Chris has a good point about bringing air in but unfortunately at the time I dreamed all this up I didn't have the expertise or knowlege at my disposal. I'll try what I've already done and if it doesn't work well, I'll turn the inductor fan around and bring air in instead. Currently, I bought some real nice stuff besides the fan which is a tapered unit that keeps outside rain, snow, etc from entering to the fan. It's actually really nice...I'll go take a photo and show you right now. You guys have to realize also that in my mind when you spoke about exhaust I of course thought of air leaving the greenhouse. Here's the photos: This is the outside piece that I just silicone-caulked this afternoon. There are two identical pieces of painted wood on both sides of the panel that were silicone-caulked yesterday. Today we used a hole saw to create our hole to do the work. Then a photo of how this piece has a 'flap' that opens and closes depending of if the fan is running...it's feather-light. Then lastly the inside of greenhouse where the outside piece comes in and where tomorrow after the silicone dries, I'll place the fan into which will be screwed to this 'duct piece' and then plugged into the same thermostat device that I have programmed to turn my other fan on at 46.5 degrees F. Now even though Chris may be correct, which I don't deny, I would have had to put the inline-duct fan in the middle of the hole between the two painted boards, caulked it, and put (2) of the above photo pieces (Photo 1) on both sides of it...which now leads me to think I may still do that now...ahh, better slow down here a little before I get in over my head again. Anyways, as you guys see, The hole will always be there and I can always turn the inline fan around if I need to, but I still think I may be ok. Well, start telling me what you guys think again. As you see, I made it this far with your help, and I can always change some things around as well. I'm always open to suggestions and good advice. I think I mentioned this but...the fan will be installed tomorrow after the silicone has dried. And I just remembered something else that I'd like to mention (if I still have your attention); Even though I'm sure the humididty will naturally always be there from having flats of other stuff like seedlings and cuttings in the greenhouse as well as the grafted material, the grafting material itself (the conifers) will be buried in sand to compensate me having to spray the walls down all the time to increase the humidity. What else can I say...I'm trying, I'm learning, and I'm as I mentioned willing to change anything else and to continue learning. ...Dax