| Orchid Shelfs | Humidity | Lighting | Pots | Bark/Soil | Fertilizer |
| Suppliers | Culture Sheets | Fans | Blooming | Flasks | Books |
| Water | Reverse Osmosis | TDS | pH | How To Water | Links |
METAL SHELF (Price Club/Costco). This shelf measures 72" H x 48" W x 18" D and has four shelves, including the top shelf which is used for storing spare parts, i.e. pots, etc.; $75.99. Click here to see the box it came in, if you want to get the same one we used. This shelf is a knock-off of the name brand "Metro" shelving units used in the food service industries and in hospitals. If you don't have a Costco near you, consider buying the "Metro" brand. It is more expensive but also comes in more sizes and colors (white, chrome and black). It is available at the "Hold Everything" division of Williams-Sonoma and also at Bed, Bath and Beyond. LIGHT FIXTURES (Home Depot). You need two per shelf and so buy six . They are made by Lights of America and cost about $9 each. They hang by chains from the shelf above and thus you can adjust the distance between the lights and the plants below. Click here to see the box the light fixture was packaged in and the boxes the 3 plant bulbs were packaged in, again if you want to use what we have been using. LIGHTS (Home Depot). You need two 48" fluorescent bulbs (rated 40 watts) per light fixture so buy 12 bulbs (they cost about $5 per bulb). Be sure to replace them annually EVEN if they still seem to work as they do dim over time. The bulbs themselves are made by General Electric and are labelled as Wide Spectrum Plant and Aquarium bulbs. See the box they came in under Light Fixtures (above). TIMER (Home Depot). This is a 24 hour timer and it must accept a grounded plug, i.e. a heavy duty plug as the light fixtures use grounded plugs. The timer will cost approximately $8. Click here to see the timer we used. POWER STRIP (Home Depot) You will need 2-3 power strips. These plug into the wall and then accept up to 6 plugs. They cost $5-8 each. Click here to see it with the timer plugged in and here to see it in use on the shelf, with lights plugged into it. Notice how we fastened the power strip to the shelf with plastic wire ties. WIRE TIES (Home Depot) These are useful for tying the wires together so they do not just dangle freely. Click here and here to see them used. Click here to see these wire ties loose and in a package. Home Depot sells them in all sizes. You should get them 7.5-9.5" long. HUMIDITY is important so we measure it with a Radio Shack gauge; it is their part # 63-1013 and costs $24.99 and measures the temperature, humidity and the high and low of each (until you reset it). Click here to see a close-up of it. We were shocked to see our home had a humidity level of 25% in the winter! Orchids need at least 40% so we purchased a humidifier. (Charley's also sells one for $19.95, part # 6620). HUMIDIFIER-You can increase the humidity a number of ways. Start with a standard humidifier and place that near the shelf. The QVC TV Channel humidifier we use costs $35 and holds 2.5 gallons of water. Click here to see ours which is the Holmes 1855 model. HUMIDITY TRAYS-You can also build humidity trays. One can buy some (18" L x 6" W x 1" D) metal trays from Smith and Hawkens. They sell 6 for $50, including shipping. A local garden supply store may have clear plastic ones that work equally well (we bought a few for $1.79 each). Click here to see a clear plastic tray in the foreground and a metal tray on the background, with egg crate in both and here to see two plastic trays with the egg crate on the right and a brown humdity tray on the left in it. (The brown tray is made by CMI plastics of Cranbury NJ and available from Venamy Orchids). PLASTIC EGG CRATE-The plain plastic egg crate is normally used in fluorescent light fixtures. Home Depot sells it for $6 for a 2' L x 4' W sheet. This you can readily cut into the size you need and the plants sit on the egg crate and you then pour water into the egg crates. As it evaporates, it releases humidity. LIGHT-plants need light and more than the typical home has to offer yet most orchids generally do not like direct sunlight. Different types of orchids have different light needs. When moving an orchid to brighter light, do it gradually; this gives the plant time to adjust. Brightness itself is measured in foot-candles, the light a single candle will display on a white piece of paper held one foot away. The intensity of the full sun on a clear day is about 10,000 foot-candles while a 60 watt incandescent light bulb measured 3 feet away will provide about 80 foot candles. That said, here is what is said to be optimal for each orchid type, as originally found on http://www.odoms.com/cattleya12.htm:
| ORCHID TYPE | FOOTCANDLES | Brassavola | 2,000 to 4,000 | Brassia | 2,000 to 3,500 | Cattleya | 2,000 to 3,500 | Cymbidium | (standard type) 2,000 to 4,000 | Cymbidium | (miniature type) 1,000 to 3,500 | Dendrobium | 1,500 to 4,000 | Epidendrum | 1,500 to 3,500 | Laelia | 2,000 to 3,500 | Ludisia | 1,000 to 2,000 | Masdevallia | 1,000 to 2,500 | Miltonia | 1,000 to 3,000 | Odontoglossum | 1,000 to 2,500 | Oncidium | 2,000 to 4,000 | Paphiopedilum | (green leaf and mottled leaf type) 2,000 to 3,000 | Phalaenopsis | 1,000 to 1,500 | Phragmipedium | 2,500 to 3,500 | Sophronitis | 1,500 to 3,000 | Vandas | 2,500 to 4,000 | |
POTS-Orchids should grow in plastic pots and with holes in the bottom so water can exit and does not stagnate in the bottom. Click here to see the ones we use, which we usually buy from Chula Orchids. We will often put a layer of styrofoam on the bottom (to promote drainage) and the bark mix abobe that. BARK/SOIL - Most Orchid plants have roots that need air to grow properly. One can grow them on pieces of cork, in loose bark and some will grow in the air (attached to grillwork or tree bark), but not in soil. Anyway, we tend to use bark chips. The bark pictured was purchased at Venamy Orchids. Others swear by crushed coconut husk, fine bark and/or perlite. In all cases, watch the plant media and change it if it starts to break down. (FYI: there are some orchids that only grow in soil and they are known as Terrestial orchids and grow in a flower pot like any other plant). WATER-this is important. Tap water has many dissolved chemicals in it and as you use it on a plant, the chemicals build up in the plant and stunt its growth, or worse, kill it. Your local supermarket likely sells better water. We generally buy "purified" water ($0.89/gallon) and when you read the label, it is Reverse-Osmosis (RO) water which is usually 98% pure. Brita Water should also work (but Culligan will not - too much sodium). If you have a water softener in your home, the tap water is dangerous for your orchids as it contains sodium. Using 'purified water' will require you 'feed' the plant with fertilizer to replace the minerals.REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER- We had been spending $10 per week at the local supermarket for that "purified" water. We decided to buy our own RO system for about $160 and thus after some 20 weeks, it pays for itself. You can find one like ours at That Fish Place and they call it the KM0196 model for $154.99. Go to their web page and type that model number (just left of their SEARCH button) and you will see it. Be sure to ask them for the faucet adapter if you wish to connect it to your sink and also the pressure gauge; they can get it but it is not showing on their web page. If they seem unclear on what it is, indicate Kent Marine carries it and ask That Fish Place to contact them to get it.
Kent Marine does not sell to the public yet you can see their products at these links, along with what we paid for them, in case you wish to replicate what works for us: TDS (Total Dissolved Solids)- Ordinary water has numerous things dissolved in it, i.e. salt, nitrates, phosphates, carbonates, dissolved gases etc. Plants can be quite sensitive to this as they have no means to prevent it from accumulating within the plant and thus the concentrations build up and thus stunt the plant and worse. We ordered a TDS meter from Pure Royalty as they currently wanted about $19.95 for it (a bargain!) and the $19.95 covers the handling/shipping (the meter itself is said to be worth $49!). The TDS meter is about 6" long and you insert it in the water you wish to measure and it displays the TDS level of your water. We measured Tap Water and found a level of 171 parts-per-million (ppm). We also measured Brita Water and found a level of 129 (Brita cleans your water to some degree). We then measured the output of the Reverse Osmosis system and it had a level of only 1(!). I also measured the waste water from the ROS system and it had a level of 187. The ROS system is removing the TDS and thus the ROS system is turning slowly yellow as a result (compare it to this before we installed it - this is in just 15 days of using it!). At least it is not going into the plants or us (we drink the ROS water also)! I do strongly recommend you order your own TDS meter to see what your water is like and it only costs $19.95. Do it soon as they may soon change their minds again and charge the normal $49 + $8 (s/h) or $57. [It is worth noting that the TDS meter actually measures conductivity of the water (pure water does not conduct electricity well) and this is an indicator of how many ions are in the water - more ions, higher ppm. The goal is to have fewer ions.
PH-We are sorry if this gets too technical but it is rather important and we will try to keep it simple. Orchids, like most plants, need the water/fertilizer mix to be slightly acidic - as an example, vinegar and lemons are somewhat acidic and have that tart taste for that reason. Industrial acids are very acidic and downright dangerous. Likewise, Drano (a household cleaner) is the opposite - it is very alkaline and also dangerous to handle.
HOW TO WATER. We mix the ROS water with fertilizer and then one of us immerses the plant in the resulting water mix such that the water level comes up to the level of the bark. We leave it in there a few minutes and then do the next one. We also will mist the top of the bark between waterings, as needed. BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERWATER. Wait until the bark is dry, which usually means once per week. FERTILIZER- we use DYNA GROW and SUPERTHRIVE. Just follow directions on the label. Click here to see pictures of these products. One thing worth mentioning is make sure your fertilizer supplies nitrogen in the form of nitrates and not in the form of urea. Nitrates are directly available to plants while urea is not and must be broken down in the soil. Since most orchids do not grow in soil, they do not have access to the nitrogen in urea-based products. Thus, do not use urea based fertilizers. Here is how we do it:
BLOOMING- Orchids generally like a change in temperature each day, i.e. to mimic what happens in the real world between daytime and nighttime. An orchid grower gave us the tip that to make many orchids bloom, they need a wide swing in temperature for a few weeks. He suggested that we have our orchids experience a 30 degree swing between day and night and do this for 30 days or more. We live just outside of New York City so September and October is when we start getting cooler nights. We leave many of our orchids out on a covered porch around then and the plants usually bloom shortly thereafter. It may work for you. RESULTS-Does it all work? Click below on a flower name to see results, names in parenthesis indicate where orchid plants were originally purchased:ORCHID TYPES:ORCHID CULTURE SHEETS:| Cattleya | Cymbidium | Dendrobium | Odontoglossum | Oncidium | Paphiopedilum | Phalaenopsis |
| Cattleya | Cymbidium | Dendrobium | Lycaste |
| Masdevallia | Miltonia | Paphiopedilum | Vandas |
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS:FLASKS: You will sometimes see companies sell small flasks of orchids. These are very young orchids stored in a sterile container, generally under a year old. We have two (front, back) such flasks and were wondering what to do, when to do it and what to watch for. We asked friends, browsed web pages and so on and here is what it looks like you do: SPACE FOR YOUNGER ORCHIDS:FANS:SUPPLIERS:TIPS:BOOKS:
LINKS:INSPIRATION:CONTACT US:COMING SOON...
