Hello

[spujr]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this site however not new to orchids and Paphs. A little about me: I am an amateur grower, in the sense I don't grow and sell paphs for a living. However, I was a student under the late Dr. Yoneo Sagawa at the University of Hawaii studying paph meristem culture for my MS. I now work for a seed company as a vegetable plant breeder and recently set up my own little greenhouse for my orchids.

The greenhouse has been quite the learning experience for me and I thought I would share. I bought one of the small 6'x8'x10' Palram greenhouses. With no cooling system the temperatures were unfit for the orchids. Thus I cut out and installed a fan and air vents connected to a temperature sensor:

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I travel a lot so I wanted the irrigation and temperature to be controlled automatically or remotely. Therefore, I decided to install a mist system that would act as a cooler and an irrigation method in the morning.

This worked fine by connecting it to an irrigation timer on the outdoor hose sprocket. However, I soon discovered how bad our water quality is here (very hard) and noticed the plants were suffering and the misting heads were getting clogged with calcium carbonate. This prompt me to install a RO/rainwater system. The challenge was to feed the misting system with enough volume and pressure of the RO water. After numerous trials and errors, I found the Aquatech 8000 booster pump. I connected this pump to the rain barrel and covered it with a small bucket to avoid water and electricity mixing:

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The fun part is with the help of a wifi-smart plug, I can turn on the pump (irrigate the greenhouse) with my phone from anywhere in the world (or at least anywhere with wifi or cellular service):

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I am not very handy with tools or creative, so perhaps there is someone reading this,thinking, "why did he do it that way?" or "why not do this?" but in any case it works and I think the plants are happier. However, I would be happy for suggestions.

As for the plants, my collection is pretty small. I used to have many back in Hawaii but left them there when I moved. However, I am currently growing a few rothchildianums, armeniacum, and micanthrum. Here's a picture of the armeniacum and micanthrum in a sphagnum moss basket:

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I know it's a big "no no" to put two different species in the same pot, but I don't care, and wanted to see what will happen.

Anyways, that's it for now. The next challenge is winter and keeping the greenhouse warm!

Zeb

 

[Marco]

Nice set up Zeb. Welcome to the forum!

 

[NYEric]

Welcome from NYC.

 

[troy]

Awesome set up!!!!, I'd put ventilation leuvers near the ridge of the greenhouse to let out hot air, besides that welcome to this forum, and keep us posted on your 2 paph species shared pot, I personally think they will do great

 

[JeanLux]

Hi and welcome from Luxembourg!!!! Jean

 

[phraggy]

Hello and a big welcome from the UK.
Bit technical for me your set up but if it works for you......

Ed

 

[MaryPientka]

Hello from Saratoga Springs, New York!

 

[Trithor]

Welcome from South Africa.
I also spend a lot of time traveling, so your control systems are of interest to me, well done. I need to install a remote control to manage my environment, unfortunately I struggle to find the time to get into my greenhouse, never mind find the time to install control systems.

 

[17andgrowing]

Welcome from New Jersey!

 

[spujr]

Thanks for the welcome and for the advice on the ridge ventilation.

Trithor, if you have wifi in range of your greenhouse/growing area and have cooling or heating controlled by a power source nearby it relatively easy to install a smart plug that you can set schedules and control remotely through your phone/tablet/computer.

The smart plug I have is pretty basic so I usually control the misting/irrigation through my phone manually. I wish there was a smart plug that could be scheduled like a propagation misting bench: ie turn on for 5 -10 seconds every 5 minutes between two timepoints. It wouldn't be difficult to make, it's more of a matter of software development.

I also put two wifi temperature sensors in the greenhouse using the accu-rite system (http://www.acurite.com/). The sensors can withstand the wet/hot/humid conditions of the greenhouse and can send a warning message if my temperatures get too hot or cold. I've found them to be very useful for keeping an eye on conditions of my greenhouse while traveling.

 

[Justin]

great job setting that up. lots of room for more plants!

 

[SlipperFan]

Welcome to Slippertalk, Zeb! I'd say you are pretty clever and creative, to make that set-up. Where do you live now, if not Hawaii?

 

[spujr]

Hi

I am just south of San Jose, CA, close to the Orchid Zone if you've heard of that place.

The weather gets down in the 20's (F) at night during the winter but not very often. And generally it doesn't get too hot, though this year and last were an exception. All in all it is a pretty good place to grow orchids but maybe not quite like Hawaii.

 

[Marco]

I think John from OZ pokes around here every now and then?

 

[abax]

Welcome to ST from KY. Clever set-up, but be prepared
to expand operations once you get addicted to slippers.

 

[SlipperFan]

Hi

I am just south of San Jose, CA, close to the Orchid Zone if you've heard of that place.

The weather gets down in the 20's (F) at night during the winter but not very often. And generally it doesn't get too hot, though this year and last were an exception. All in all it is a pretty good place to grow orchids but maybe not quite like Hawaii.

Yes, you had better plan for some kind of additional heat!

 

[gego]

Welcome.

I'm also a newbie here. These guys here are great and they share a lot of knowledge and experience.

We are basically neighbors and I also built my small greenhouse. But control over the phone is something very interesting and smart. Will you elaborate some more info on the hardware and the app you're using and where to get them?
Thanks

 

[spujr]

Hi, sorry for the delay. Sure no problem. I have a fan and shutter fan controlled be the traditional form of temperature control. I got everything here:

Exhaust fan and shutter controller:
http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/vent.shtml
Climate controller
http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/controls.shtml

This is all hard-wired the traditional way. In other words I had an electrician come out connect the wires from the outside of the house to the greenhouse, and made sure it was all sealed away from water. There is probably something you could get that has a wireless temperature sensor placed in the greenhouse that communicates (wireless) to to a power supply that you could specify the outside temperature ranges in which to turn on the power. However, you would still need to run the power cable to the fan in the greenhouse some way.

The misting system is pretty simple. All I needed to do was plug in the pump to a smart plug which is plugged into a standard outlet. Here's the link of the smart plug I have but you can find other brands:
http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F7C027/

You will want to make sure you have a decent wifi coverage wherever the plug will go. There smart phone apps that allow you to test wifi signal strength.

Lastly there is the temperature sensors. I think I posted the link earlier but here it is again: http://www.acurite.com/environment-systems/weather-environment-systems.html

You will need two components: 1. AcuLink Internet Bridge which connects to your wifi router (ethernet cable). 2. Wireless Temperature and Humidity Sensor which goes into your greenhouse/growing area and connects wirelessly to the bridge. You can connect up to 3 sensor per bridge.

Of course you will need a phone/tablet/computer if you want to see your temperature readings remotely.

Hope this helps,

Z

 

[spujr]

Forgot to add, I am using an Android phone and app that comes free with the smart plug (WeMo) and AcuLite sensors (Acu-Link). I believe they have the same apps for iPhones, not sure about Windows phone.

 

[trdyl]

Welcome Zeb!