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  • Cool Growing Orchid Room

    Created by MJ on March 17, 2017 at 7:37 pm

    I live in Sarasota, Florida and recently purchased several masdevallia and dracula orchids along with two terrariums to keep them in. During the day, they are living in the terrariums where I can keep the humidity at 80 to 90%. If the temperature does not drop to the 50’s at night, I move them to my husband’s wine room where the temperature is at 58 degrees. It is difficult, however, to keep the humidity up in the wine room even though I do sit them in a pan with clay pebbles and water.

    Also, as I continue to increase the number of draculas, it becomes difficult to move them back and forth when the outside temperatures do not cooperate. I am sure that the changes of environment may make it diffcult for them to bloom as well.

    So, I am planning to convert the pool storage room that is off of the lanai to a cool orchidarium. It is a room about 8 feet long x 3 feet wide x 10 feet high. The challenge will be to keep the humidity at the correct temperature, add air conditioning (it can be 95 outside with high humidity here during the summer) and fans and be sure that the CO2 levels are correct. We also need to insulate the room so we do not get mold seeping through the walls into the house and to keep the room a controlled environment.

    I understand that you may have products that might help me with my project. I see a greenhouse and an environmental controller on your product list. Would one of these work for me and do you have other prodcuts that might help with my endeavor?

    I would appreciate any thoughts you may have on how I should proceed with my project?

    Thanks so much,

    MJ Zaksas

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  • March 30, 2017 at 3:50 pm #231779

    Eric Vinje
    Keymaster

    Hi MJ –

    This sounds like an exciting project! I would recommend using the Autopilot Greenhouse Master controller for environmental control: https://www.planetnatural.com/product/greenhouse-controller/. As far as cooling goes, you could plug either your portable air conditioning unit or your fan into the controller. From there, you can set your desired temperature for the thermostat to maintain in the room. For CO2, it would be best if you were to buy CO2 tanks from a local source. You would apply this regulator to the tank: https://www.planetnatural.com/product/co2-regulator-reg-1/, and regulate the levels with the environmental controller. The controller also allows you to program separate temperatures for day and night, which it sounds like you require!

    Hope this helps!

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