# Orchid Window nearly finished!



## Shiva (May 10, 2011)

Well, I'm nearly finished with the building part of this project. The windows up front (first picture on the kitchen side) are on order and I should fix them this week.

The solarium side is complete (second photo). 

I'm happy to say I did it all with no blood letting, no finger cut or thumb hammered blue. Hard to believe! :rollhappy:











I intend to purchase one more white LED spot to restore natural colours to the plants and a fogger to mist the plants inside.

Also, I'll put in some spanish moss to drape the pots and branches and, eventually, live sphagnum moss at the bottom along with a few carnivorous plants.

What do you think?


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## Paphman910 (May 10, 2011)

Looks really nice! Hopefully the LED lights will make them grow faster!

Paphman910


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## NYEric (May 10, 2011)

Oh no, my friend, no good! You have to put moss and leaf litter down and grow the plants au-natural!  Keep us posted and please provide some close-up photos, thanx!


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## Rick (May 10, 2011)

That looks really cool Shiva!


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## Shiva (May 10, 2011)

NYEric said:


> Oh no, my friend, no good! You have to put moss and leaf litter down and grow the plants au-natural!  Keep us posted and please provide some close-up photos, thanx!



Hmmmmm!
That leaf litter is not such a bad idea. If someone knows of a process to stop leaf decay, let me know!


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## Hera (May 10, 2011)

That came out really nice. I like to have my plants close so that I can "visit" them, but since I moved them to the basement I miss them. It would be nice to have such an attractive place to view and enjoy.


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## W. Beetus (May 10, 2011)

Very nice window. I think it will be even nicer with more white LED's.


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## SlipperFan (May 10, 2011)

What a great thing to look at from either side!


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## Yoyo_Jo (May 10, 2011)

That looks really great! And I agree; it's nice to have the babies close at hand to admire!


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## Orchidnut57 (May 10, 2011)

Very impressive! Great use of space
:clap:


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## Kevin (May 10, 2011)

Cool idea!


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## Jorch (May 11, 2011)

Looks great!! I like that idea a lot


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## JeanLux (May 11, 2011)

Great!!!! Which selection of your plants did you put inside? Jean


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## Shiva (May 11, 2011)

This will be my warmest orchid set-up. Essentially paphs and phals. I've got four Paphs. sanderianum in there and a bunch of phal species.


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## Marc (May 11, 2011)

Looking very good


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## paphreek (May 11, 2011)

Nice set up!


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## goldenrose (May 11, 2011)

:clap::clap: Good job!!! 
I have 3 thoughts - how do you get in there? hinges? you've hid them well!
Will there be enough of a day/night temp differential for blooming?
Are the LEDs gonna produce enough light?


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## Shiva (May 11, 2011)

goldenrose said:


> :clap::clap: Good job!!!
> I have 3 thoughts - how do you get in there? hinges? you've hid them well!
> Will there be enough of a day/night temp differential for blooming?
> Are the LEDs gonna produce enough light?



The two windows in front are not installed yet. I'm waiting to hear from the glass shop to go and pick them up; that's why you see no hinges.
There will be enough of a temperature difference in winter for most. The more demanding ones will go back to the greenhouse where it's very easy to keep cold...
These older LEDs would be insufficient on their own, but there's natural light coming from both sides, and more in the winter when the sun is lower on the horizon. The blue and red LEDs give the plants exactly the kind of light they need, so they are very efficient. However this is not the kind of light our eyes were designed for, which is why I will add a couple of small white chip lights on the kitchen ceiling to show the plants in all the colours we like.

One thing I failed to mention is that I broke the first large window, the one we see on the solarium side, during transport. So I had to go back and buy another one. Since I bought both with my VISA card, I'll see if its really true that they refund anything broken or stolen for 90 days when it's bought with a Visa card.


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## bigleaf (May 11, 2011)

Great job.


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## Shiva (May 11, 2011)

And while I was working on my Orchid Window, this is what was happening outside in front of my house. Happily, the water is going down now and I suffered no damage. 






I say better do something than worry!


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## Paphman910 (May 11, 2011)

I am glad the water is receding!

Paphman910


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