Hello,
I am new here. My husband built me a greenhouse that is 8 x 12. Can someone
give me a link on how to correctly set it up inside for orchids?
I have a vent fan on top with a thermostat and have natural gas heat in the
winter with access to water. I was thinking of setting up misters to help
with humidity.
I have about 10 plants of various types and sizes.

Thank you for any information you are willing to give.

Paulette

On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 13:28:14 -0500, "Mermaid" wrote:

Hello,
I am new here. My husband built me a greenhouse that is 8 x 12. Can someone
give me a link on how to correctly set it up inside for orchids?
I have a vent fan on top with a thermostat and have natural gas heat in the
winter with access to water. I was thinking of setting up misters to help
with humidity.
I have about 10 plants of various types and sizes.

Thank you for any information you are willing to give.

Paulette


My first suggestion is find others in your area that are growing in a
gh to give you ideas. Do you belong to an Orchid Society? Where are
you in the country? I am assuming US although we have people from
Europe to Japan, Canada to SA that join in here.

Do you have any books on growing orchids? Have you been growing them
under lights or on a windowsill?

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/orchids

Hello Susan,

Thank you for responding to my post. I live in Chattanooga, TN. I do not
know of any Societies here but that may not be true.
I have some of my plants in the greenhouse and some in front of my bay
window in the kitchen.
I have read several books but a lot of them are over my head and not written
in layman terms.

I would really like to get my greenhouse set up correctly and self
sustaining if possible.
Last summer I really had a problem keeping the greenhouse from getting too
hot. I even put a shade cloth on one side hoping that would help.
I have a electric exhaust fan in the gable with a thermostat and another fan
sending air in. Also I open the storm door glass. Maybe I am doing it wrong.
I was thinking if I set up a misting system that would help on the temp
problem. I don't have a clue how to set it up.

I think I just visited your website but I could not see some of your
gallery.

Thanks for your help,
Paulette


"Susan Erickson" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 13:28:14 -0500, "Mermaid" wrote:

Hello,
I am new here. My husband built me a greenhouse that is 8 x 12. Can
someone
give me a link on how to correctly set it up inside for orchids?
I have a vent fan on top with a thermostat and have natural gas heat in
the
winter with access to water. I was thinking of setting up misters to help
with humidity.
I have about 10 plants of various types and sizes.

Thank you for any information you are willing to give.

Paulette


My first suggestion is find others in your area that are growing in a
gh to give you ideas. Do you belong to an Orchid Society? Where are
you in the country? I am assuming US although we have people from
Europe to Japan, Canada to SA that join in here.

Do you have any books on growing orchids? Have you been growing them
under lights or on a windowsill?

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/orchids

Mermaid wrote:
Hello Susan,

Thank you for responding to my post. I live in Chattanooga, TN. I do not
know of any Societies here but that may not be true.
I have some of my plants in the greenhouse and some in front of my bay
window in the kitchen.
I have read several books but a lot of them are over my head and not written
in layman terms.

Books are well and good, but nothing is a substitute for experience.
This is why your local orchid society is a good thing. This should link
you to a list of orchid societies in Tennessee:
http://orchidweb.org/aos/affiliate/page21.aspx

I would really like to get my greenhouse set up correctly and self
sustaining if possible.
Last summer I really had a problem keeping the greenhouse from getting too
hot. I even put a shade cloth on one side hoping that would help.
I have a electric exhaust fan in the gable with a thermostat and another fan
sending air in. Also I open the storm door glass. Maybe I am doing it wrong.
I was thinking if I set up a misting system that would help on the temp
problem. I don't have a clue how to set it up.


Even up here in the great white north, I have to cover the whole
greenhouse with shade cloth. Actually I use two layers in the summer.
Sounds like you might need more ventilation, maybe a roof vent or two?
Misting systems are great, you can get a fancy fogger (Jaybird makes
good foggers) and hook it to a thermostat. But, on all those things it
is really helpful to interact with people who know your climate, which
is where your local orchid society comes in handy.

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

Here in California I use a swamp cooler to cool my greenhouse. They sell
ones that are window sized. It would probably blow your GH over with the
breeze it makes. I agree with Rob that you need to place shadecloth over
the entire roof and also the south facing wall to cut down on the incoming
sun/heat.

Your Gable fan/vent system sounds good. It will kick on when the temperature
gets too hot, sucking cooler outside air into the GH, keeping the temps
down. The gable thermostat should be set for about 85F. If that doesn't
work a 'wet wall' can be set up, drawing air over a wet material, using
evaporative cooling to cool the interior of the GH. I've seen cellulose and
other sorts of stuff used as wet wall. You could google 'wet wall
evaporation' and see what comes up. You may find some easy plans. Failing
that you can get small windowsized swamp coolers that are operated by a
thermostat. I recall seeing them at Home Depot. Charley's GH Supply alos
has them but they cost BUCKS if ordered from ther. But they Do have them.

K Barrett

"Rob" wrote in message
...
Mermaid wrote:
Hello Susan,

Thank you for responding to my post. I live in Chattanooga, TN. I do not
know of any Societies here but that may not be true.
I have some of my plants in the greenhouse and some in front of my bay
window in the kitchen.
I have read several books but a lot of them are over my head and not
written
in layman terms.

Books are well and good, but nothing is a substitute for experience. This
is why your local orchid society is a good thing. This should link you to
a list of orchid societies in Tennessee:
http://orchidweb.org/aos/affiliate/page21.aspx

I would really like to get my greenhouse set up correctly and self
sustaining if possible.
Last summer I really had a problem keeping the greenhouse from getting
too
hot. I even put a shade cloth on one side hoping that would help.
I have a electric exhaust fan in the gable with a thermostat and another
fan
sending air in. Also I open the storm door glass. Maybe I am doing it
wrong.
I was thinking if I set up a misting system that would help on the temp
problem. I don't have a clue how to set it up.


Even up here in the great white north, I have to cover the whole
greenhouse with shade cloth. Actually I use two layers in the summer.
Sounds like you might need more ventilation, maybe a roof vent or two?
Misting systems are great, you can get a fancy fogger (Jaybird makes good
foggers) and hook it to a thermostat. But, on all those things it is
really helpful to interact with people who know your climate, which is
where your local orchid society comes in handy.

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

If you can find a shade cloth that is white or a light color and not the
typical black plastic, you will find that you can also reduce heat.

If you can take digital pictures of your greenhouse, from several angles,
particularly of the inlet and exhaust areas then post them to
alt.binaries.pictures.orchids. Many of us can access that group and get a
better idea of the size/type of opening and vents/fans etc that you have and
may be able to give you much better/more specific advice. For instance, i
could not tell how large the exhaust opening in the gables are or if the
total exhaust area was using a fan to draw out the hot air. If you have,
say, a 2x2 foot exhaust fan in the gables but you have a larger area of
passive exhaust openings up there too, you are probably not doing much more
than trapping air in your greenhouse and pulling outside air though the
passive gable opening and expelling it again with the exhaust fan.

You probably don't get what I am saying any more easily than I could picture
your set up from your description.

The size of the openings, both inlet and exhaust and the size of the fans
and the amount of air they can exchange in a given period of time versus the
volume of air to be exchanged needs to be addressed if you want to get a
hold of your cooling problem in the summer. You have to figure out the
logic behind the air exchange system currently installed in your greenhouse
to understand why it is not working. Inlet and exhaust vent size and
placement plus fan sizes and CFM must work to move air through the
greenhouse before the sun can heat it up inside. If you are using both
active and passive exhaust systems, you may be working against your purpose
and trapping hot air inside.

If you use a wet wall type set up to cool with passive inlet vents, you can
not have passive exhaust vents or open doors to help cool at the same time
or the open doors and windows reduce the efficiency of the cool cell (wet
wall). Air will be drawn in more easily from any opening that is not
blocked by a thick wet cool pad. All exhaust openings must be powered with
fans pulling hot air out in order to force air through the wet wall inlet
vent. If you have to open a door to help cool the inside of the greenhouse
something is wrong with the exhaust fan CFM exchange rate and/or the
inlet/exhaust opening sizes. The same is true if you have inlet openings
along the bottom to allow cool air in, then all exhaust areas at the top of
the greenhouse should probably have exhaust fans or none of them should

Most small greenhouses do not have anywhere near the cooling/air exchange
capacity they need if they are setting in full sun in the summer, even with
an adequate shade cloth.


"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
Here in California I use a swamp cooler to cool my greenhouse. They sell
ones that are window sized. It would probably blow your GH over with the
breeze it makes. I agree with Rob that you need to place shadecloth over
the entire roof and also the south facing wall to cut down on the incoming
sun/heat.

Your Gable fan/vent system sounds good. It will kick on when the
temperature gets too hot, sucking cooler outside air into the GH, keeping
the temps down. The gable thermostat should be set for about 85F. If
that doesn't work a 'wet wall' can be set up, drawing air over a wet
material, using evaporative cooling to cool the interior of the GH. I've
seen cellulose and other sorts of stuff used as wet wall. You could
google 'wet wall evaporation' and see what comes up. You may find some
easy plans. Failing that you can get small windowsized swamp coolers that
are operated by a thermostat. I recall seeing them at Home Depot.
Charley's GH Supply alos has them but they cost BUCKS if ordered from
ther. But they Do have them.

K Barrett

"Rob" wrote in message
...
Mermaid wrote:
Hello Susan,

Thank you for responding to my post. I live in Chattanooga, TN. I do not
know of any Societies here but that may not be true.
I have some of my plants in the greenhouse and some in front of my bay
window in the kitchen.
I have read several books but a lot of them are over my head and not
written
in layman terms.

Books are well and good, but nothing is a substitute for experience. This
is why your local orchid society is a good thing. This should link you
to a list of orchid societies in Tennessee:
http://orchidweb.org/aos/affiliate/page21.aspx

I would really like to get my greenhouse set up correctly and self
sustaining if possible.
Last summer I really had a problem keeping the greenhouse from getting
too
hot. I even put a shade cloth on one side hoping that would help.
I have a electric exhaust fan in the gable with a thermostat and another
fan
sending air in. Also I open the storm door glass. Maybe I am doing it
wrong.
I was thinking if I set up a misting system that would help on the temp
problem. I don't have a clue how to set it up.


Even up here in the great white north, I have to cover the whole
greenhouse with shade cloth. Actually I use two layers in the summer.
Sounds like you might need more ventilation, maybe a roof vent or two?
Misting systems are great, you can get a fancy fogger (Jaybird makes good
foggers) and hook it to a thermostat. But, on all those things it is
really helpful to interact with people who know your climate, which is
where your local orchid society comes in handy.

Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

Mermaid, GOOGLE

Greenhouse Ventilation

for the technical information on air flow requirements. As to fans I
have tried MANY for my business of carwashing to cool myself in the
pump rooms. By far the best was a carpet dryer. It was plastic housed
and designed for damp enviroments. Look here

www.bettymills.com/.../ product/ZEAG9707.JPG

for an example. These are sold on Ebay all the time at a reasonable
price. They are just so easy to use compared to other fans and really
move a lot of air.
Best Regards
Joe T
Baytown, TX

Hello all,
Thank you for your suggestions. Will post my greenhouse as soon as I clean
it up. We had a rough winter. LOL I tried to contact the Tennessee Valley
Orchid Society but with not much luck. Makes me think they either are a
closed group or don't want to bother with beginners.

There is a lady on Signal Mtn. that raises beautiful ones commercially and
for her own enjoyment. I visited it once and felt pretty stupid and she
wasn't very friendly.

Guess that is why its called a society instead of a club.

Thanks,
Paulette

In article , says...
~
~Guess that is why its called a society instead of a club.

LOL!! I can relate to that thought!
--
Reka

This is LIFE! It's not a rehearsal. Don't miss it!
http://www.rolbox.it/hukari/index.html

Mermaid wrote:
Hello Susan,

Thank you for responding to my post. I live in Chattanooga, TN. I do not
know of any Societies here but that may not be true.

That was such a neat area, I attended Heart of Dixie Orchid Society
(H.O.D.O.S.) in Huntsville AL, and we had a display in Chattanooga in
2000 before I moved to Missouri. I don't remember what the Chattanooga
Society is called, but there were at least two other societies in
Tennessee that had exhibits at that show. One was in Nashville, and
the other called itself Central or Mid Tennessee or something similar.
The Chattanooga show was in February or March, and the HODOS in
Huntsville is coming up the last of March or the first part of April.
They also have a web site.

Last summer I really had a problem keeping the greenhouse from getting too
hot. I even put a shade cloth on one side hoping that would help.

One site recommended putting the shad cloth above and outside the walls
of the greenhouse and allow at least 6 inches to prevent heat build up
between the two surfaces. The black shade cloth absorbs enough heat to
negate cooling efforts if it is inside the greenhouse. I have started
using white shade cloth for that reason.

Good luck and happy growing.

Nancy