Hi Everyone. It has been an "eventful" year since I last posted. I *was* doing quite well up till the point I made the mistake of re-potting the orchids. I picked the correct time to do it etc., etc., etc., -- indeed it was "by the book", and even had my homemade "book" opened throughout the procedure. Long story short: every last one of them DIED, including the one I got to bloom. I swore off orchids for good... that was until I met someone with the Tucson Orchid Society, who connected me with someone else at the TOS, etc., suddenly I found myself a member of the Tucson Orchid Society. I am rebuilding my small collection with the exact same plants that died, and a few new ones including a seedling. One advantage of joining the TOS is they have a "Cat"(tleya) person who is willing to help me next year when it comes time to re-pot my one and only (so-far) orchid ( Blc Chia Lin 'Shinsu #1' AM /JOGA ), and it is in dire need of re-potting!! (I also have a seedling but it is being raised in a joint and protected environment until next year, so it has not been counted... YET!!) This time I will have expert advice as I go through the procedure. Me?!? I suspect it was not so much my technique -- though it very well might have been -- so much as it was the combined shock of the re-potting plus the extreme environment it which it was asked to re-establish itself in. The next time after the re-potting I hope the gentleman will temporarily house the orchid in his greenhouse just long enough until it can re-establish itself. I have one question for Sarah: I am very impressed by her "indoor" greenhouse -- the one with the shelving, and what *appears* to be some type of heavy duty transparent plastic on 3 sides. Is that what I am looking at?!? If so was this some type of do-it-yourself project?!? How much did it cost you to put together?? If commercial, where did you get it from and how much did it cost?? It really is quite impressive. In many ways is similar to a poor man's Wardian Case, which would solve the problem of supplying adequate humidity. I do have one question: Given that I live in a rental unit and the walls are made of Dry Wall, management would frown on mold on their walls -- they frowned on my hanging up sheer curtains on the porch to cut down the the HOT western afternoon sun, so mold on their interior walls is probably a non starter. Still the idea of having a small interior greenhouse shows great promise. I like your design. Has anyone else built an interior Wardian Case aka an interior greenhouse?? What types of problems did you encounter?? For those of us who are renters, have restricted space, or for whatever reason where building an external greenhouse is not possible, the building of an INTERIOR greenhouse / Wardian Case by a window might just be the just the ticket. I have attached to this post the picture of Blc Robert Ferguson 'Florida Sunset' that I got to bloom last year. This was the orchid that you may recall rode the wild Wind Called Mariah... that went flying, then crashed to the floor while in bud, the damage which can be seen in this photo. This will be my third purchase (I almost forgot the seedling, plus I have a raffle winner ). DesertLynx

I do much the same as Ladylotus mentions and I find that starting them in the spring is more effective. When I have started in the fall/winter months I used to put under a grow light to keep them growing throughout the winter. The seedlings need to be kept growing and not go dormant. I found that the ones started in Feb/Mar where at the same size by summer as those started in the fall. Did not seem worth the cost of extra heat and lighting. The big thing with these plants especially once transplanted in your climate and mine is to have them in a gritty mix. With this gritty mix, it will make the probability of cold/wet conditions around root zone less. When watering, do not water in evening or when you know there is going to be a temperature drop. I hope some of this is helpful. It is what has worked for me to date. Always, a learning curve. Rick

If I understand correctly , you are saying that 8 HO T5 is better for growing plants then MH ? I certainly didn't say that. 8 54W T5 tubes are very similar in total light output, total energy use, lifetime, cost, and lumen maintenance to a single 400W metal halide bulb, assuming both are new designs and driven on modern electronic gear. My guess is that 1 430 watts MH is much better at growing plants then 8 HO T5. The main reason is penetration for MH is much higher then for the T5 even is both system is using approx the same number of watts. Correct ? You've been reading too many pot grower forums :) Those guys are so stoned they don't even know what penetration is, it just sounds good and there is this theory that metal halide is king because it has better penetration. Penetration is a measure of how slowly the light decreases with distance, and this is usually best for a high power light source mounted a long way from the plants (the sun is pretty good, try it some time!) and that describes a 400W HID pretty well. But a 400W total fluorescent system is just as good, provided with proper reflectors or baffles. So no, not correct. Also, don't read too much into what the aquarium guys say about penetration, they are dealing with very different issues trying to get light through water to the bottom of a tank. Let's say the MH needs to be replace 3 times more often then the T5, A decent metal halide run on modern switchgear can be run to failure, or say 20,000 hours of you don't like the idea of an exploding metal halide bulb. A T5 should also be run to failure, so I would compare them both on the same replacement schedule. Growers with crap old equipment may still need to replace their bulbs or tubes every 6 months but they really need to move into the 21st century. the cost would be similar but you would get better results with the MH. So my little brain is telling me that the MH solution is better then the T5 in dollars and efficiency (growing plants). Sounds to me like you already made up your mind which is best and you're trying to justify it? T5 bulbs are expensive, maybe you can buy a 400W metal halide bulb for the price of 8 T5s, maybe even for about the same cost as 3 T5s (replacing 3 times as often), but probably not a very good one. If cost is your main driver then use T8 tubes, just as efficient, need a lot of tubes but they only cost $2 each :) Metal halides are convenient and efficient in high power situations but there are not huge cost benefits over fluorescents, by all means use them if you don't mind running 100' of wire betwen all your ballasts and tubes! the light was not as intense, using the two T12's Well duuuhhh!!! Always compare like with like. 2x40W fluorescents is never going to be comparable to a 400W HID. If you compare to an 80W HID you may well find the fluorescents to be better since low power HID bulbs are not very efficient. Besides, the majority of T12 setups are far from modern technology, very inefficient and so not good light output. Even trying to compare maximum light intensity close to the bulb is not very relevant, sure the metal halide has a higher intensity two inches from the bulb but you can't grow plants two inches from it so what does it matter? 4 daylight T8's and mylar I use 4x36W T8s for an eight square foot growing area in winter, in my opinion it is the best solution for moderate growing spaces. I would use HID if I needed to light a much larger area and I use compact fluorescents in my small propagator.

Hi Petuniafish, I really don't know what to tell you as I am always experimenting myself with light and temperature and watering during winter in a northern climate. I find it hard even in a greenhouse. Each year I think I finally have everything right but it is very hard to keep them all healthy until I can put them outside again in the spring. The last few weeks seem to be the hardest, even with the trees in full bloom and setting fruit. This was a very cloudy winter so light levels were quite low. I keep the greenhouse temperature set to a minimum night temperature of 63°F. The roots should be warm enough to avoid WLD, but I still have it happen with many of my trees, some worse than others. Your cellar temperatures seem quite high and I would think might encourage insect pest problems which I get in the greenhouse at much lower temperatures and higher humidity. Even in the greenhouse I suddenly had leaf drop in late January this year. I thought maybe it was the low light levels. I never had an aphid problem in my greenhouse until this past winter and I have an invasion of them that no matter how often I keep after them I have not been able to get rid of them. I don't find ants either. I have finally resorted to a Bayer Citrus Insect soil drench about 2 weeks ago after removing all fruit and I am still cleaning off living aphids covering the leaves today. Hopefully it will eventually take care of the aphid problem that HO, Neem, soap, alcohol, hand cleanng by leaf, etc could not. They just cover the leaves and really weaken the trees. I can't figure out how they seem resistant to even HO. No scale this year thank goodness, but was plagued by them last year. It seems to always be something affecting our trees. But it is so nice to enjoy the blossom fragrance and pick the fruit. It can be discouraging at times though. I am always searching the net for information but it is very hard to find articles that apply to indoor northern growers. I hope you will continue to have success growing your trees. Cory