On Wed, 07 Apr 2004 11:22:52 -0400, Rob Halgren
wrote:

If a cluttered greenhouse is a sign of a cluttered mind, what is an
empty greenhouse a sign of?

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) Littlefrogs eat littlebugs

Someone who has not put Rob's Rules into effect. Or just got the
thing put together. G You know they are worse than Jig-saw
puzzles to construct - let alone re-construct.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

wendy7 wrote:

Ok Rob, say I have a whole bench full of paphs & I want to find
Paph. gratrixianum?


Look at the leaves... Gratrixianum has narrow leaves, held fairly
upright, and usually has spots of color near the base of the leaf.
About -so high- and just about -that color-...

It is easy! *grin* Of course there are at least three other
species that kind of look like it, so you had better not buy any of those...

Besides, if you have a whole benchful of paphs, you probably have
developed that intense prickly sensation in your skull which forces you
to know what they all are, and look at them on a daily basis. Or is
that just me? Or maybe just me and Al?


On a more serious note, I wouldn't arrange my paphs by species. At
least not by alphabetical order or anything. I might group the same
species together if it was in the same size pot (I use square pots and
flats with the right size holes in them, so that helps organize things
right there).


Rob

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
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 purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit

Rob, the only tingling feeling I have, is in my feet & it's called
Peripheral Neuropathy!
Ok, so that's it then, a tray or two for species of different sized pots.
Another
two trays for the others in 2" & 4" pots. I also have some larger round pots
& some of
those square ones with the cones in the centre. (Another tray)
Another tray for the hard plain green leafed paphs that require a cool
spell
to bloom. (Anyone have a list of these?)
Oh, by the way, do you have your pots touching & if so what about the leaves
over lapping into the next pot? Also do paphs get crown rot like phals?
I shall try this today.........maybe?
--
Cheers Wendy

Remove PETERPAN for email reply

Rob Halgren wrote:
wendy7 wrote:

Ok Rob, say I have a whole bench full of paphs & I want to find
Paph. gratrixianum?


Look at the leaves... Gratrixianum has narrow leaves, held fairly
upright, and usually has spots of color near the base of the leaf.
About -so high- and just about -that color-...

It is easy! *grin* Of course there are at least three other
species that kind of look like it, so you had better not buy any of
those...

Besides, if you have a whole benchful of paphs, you probably have
developed that intense prickly sensation in your skull which forces
you
to know what they all are, and look at them on a daily basis. Or is
that just me? Or maybe just me and Al?


On a more serious note, I wouldn't arrange my paphs by species.
At least not by alphabetical order or anything. I might group the
same species together if it was in the same size pot (I use square
pots and flats with the right size holes in them, so that helps
organize things right there).


Rob

wendy7 wrote:

Rob, the only tingling feeling I have, is in my feet & it's called
Peripheral Neuropathy!
Ok, so that's it then, a tray or two for species of different sized pots.
Another
two trays for the others in 2" & 4" pots. I also have some larger round pots
& some of
those square ones with the cones in the centre. (Another tray)
Another tray for the hard plain green leafed paphs that require a cool
spell
to bloom. (Anyone have a list of these?)
Oh, by the way, do you have your pots touching & if so what about the leaves
over lapping into the next pot? Also do paphs get crown rot like phals?
I shall try this today.........maybe?



Yeah, I get that in my fingers from being on this damn computer all
day (supposedly it is my real job too). I need a new job, if anybody is
looking for a biology (or computational biology) instructor, let me
know. Heck, I'd teach freshman biology if I didn't have to program all day.

I don't quite know how to explain the way my trays work without
pictures. I first inherited this system from EFG, back when they were
housing some of my plants. Imagine if you will a standard plant flat.
If you have 2.25" SVD (square very deep)pots, there is room for 32 in a
flat, with all pots touching eachother. The flats I use have little
dividers in them, so that the pots stay upright regardless of how many
neighbors they have (barring a sharp blast from the hose). There are
similar flat/pot combinations for other size pots (I think 15 4" pots in
a flat). I don't like flat bottomed flats (ha!) because they don't keep
things from tipping over.

Now, for the really small things, I just jam 32 2.25" pots into a
flat. Little paph seedlings, minicompots, that kind of thing. When the
plants are bigger than the pot (4" leaf spans in 2" pots is not at all
uncommon, sometimes 8" ls), then I switch to a different arrangement. I
alternate every other position in the 32 cell flat. So now I have 16
plants in a flat. I also try to plant things diagonally in the pot, and
arrange everything that way (that is even harder to explain without a
picture, imagine a lattice fence,with all the plants arranged on one
direction of the lattice).

Now this is all well and good for one flat... But when you have two
or more flats jammed together, what happens? Well, you just have to
make sure that the spacing is alternate, and you end up with one big sea
of little seedlings, all spaced out every other cell. It looks like
this (if the ascii works).

_________________
|x x |x x |x x |x x |
| x x| x x| x x| x x|
|x x |x x |x x |x x |
| x x| x x| x x| x x|
|x x |x x |x x |x x |
| x x| x x| x x| x x|
|x x |x x |x x |x x |
| x x| x x| x x| x x|
-----------------------

Where that would be four (not to scale) flats, with sixteen plants
represented by an 'X' in each of them. Of course you can do very
similar things with the other sized pots/flats, and repeat this
arrangement for as many flats as you have room for (and can reach with
the hose). This arrangement allows for maximal air space between plants
(best I can do!), keeps things from falling over (mostly), keeps things
organized, and allows me to quickly water plants. Sometimes the tops of
the plants obscure the pots, even in this arrangment, so you have still
be a little careful, or move these to bigger pots.

The only real problem with this system is that it requires square
pots. Round pots really don't work well.


Rob (paphs can get crown rot... but they don't, usually).

--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) Time to take over the world, Pinky. "Narf!!"

If you look at your plants every day and they seem to move by themselves, it
is a sigh of gremlin activity for sure. Unfortunately, gremlins must be
accommodated, they can not be dealt with like other 'pests' (and I hesitate
use that word least they learn of it and find a way to get even...) Usually
I just laugh at their jokes and make some remark into the thin air that they
are very clever.... This works most of the time to keep everything
copacetic. "You guys are so fast. I didn't even feel you taking my car
keys out of my pocket or putting them back after I searched everywhere for
them. Jolly good fun. Why don't you stay here and re-arrange my
greenhouse. I have to get out for while..."


"Rob Halgren" wrote in message
...
wendy7 wrote:
Besides, if you have a whole benchful of paphs, you probably have
developed that intense prickly sensation in your skull which forces you
to know what they all are, and look at them on a daily basis. Or is
that just me? Or maybe just me and Al?

"wendy7" wrote in news:z6Ucc.47$es.38@fed1read02:

organize

Those with greenhouses the size of their back yards organize.
The rest of us just stuff everything in and then stack them 3 high.

It really depends on what you want to accomplish and what's easiest for you.
Are you a hobbyist or professional, do you have a handful of Orchids or
hundreds/thousands. How big is your greenhouse and do you keep mainly/only
Orchids in it or is it used for many different types of plants? You can keep
them together by type/specie, size, color or however you like. I personally
group mine by growing requirements (shade lovers with shade lovers, cool
loving plants with ... etc). As a side note, many of my orchids wind up
being grouped by specie since they usually require similar conditions, Paphs
with Paphs , Catts with Catts, and so forth.

Bob C.

"wendy7" wrote in message
news:z6Ucc.47$es.38@fed1read02...
I am curious as to how everyone organizes their plants in the g/h?
Apart from the obvious hi/light, lo/light & cool to warm, do you keep them
together by genus?
--
Cheers Wendy

Remove PETERPAN for email reply

You've got to be kidding!! Organizaion in my greenhouse means I can
walk down the isle and can close the door when the weather gets cold.
They go where they will fit within their supposed preferred growing
area.
On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 07:20:16 -0700, "wendy7"
wrote:

I am curious as to how everyone organizes their plants in the g/h?
Apart from the obvious hi/light, lo/light & cool to warm, do you keep them
together by genus?

You've got to be kidding!! Organizaion in my greenhouse means I can
walk down the isle and can close the door when the weather gets cold.
They go where they will fit within their supposed preferred growing
area.
On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 07:20:16 -0700, "wendy7"
wrote:

I am curious as to how everyone organizes their plants in the g/h?
Apart from the obvious hi/light, lo/light & cool to warm, do you keep them
together by genus?

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 00:18:39 GMT, DaveA wrote:

You've got to be kidding!! Organizaion in my greenhouse means I can
walk down the isle and can close the door when the weather gets cold.
They go where they will fit within their supposed preferred growing
area.
On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 07:20:16 -0700, "wendy7"
wrote:

I am curious as to how everyone organizes their plants in the g/h?
Apart from the obvious hi/light, lo/light & cool to warm, do you keep them
together by genus?

Good heavens Dave???? I posted this 4 months ago, where have you been? *g*
I know what you mean, I even have a hard time closing the door!!!
It would be nice to have them in alphabetical order! *g*
Cheers Wendy

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 00:18:39 GMT, DaveA wrote:

You've got to be kidding!! Organizaion in my greenhouse means I can
walk down the isle and can close the door when the weather gets cold.
They go where they will fit within their supposed preferred growing
area.
On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 07:20:16 -0700, "wendy7"
wrote:

I am curious as to how everyone organizes their plants in the g/h?
Apart from the obvious hi/light, lo/light & cool to warm, do you keep them
together by genus?

Good heavens Dave???? I posted this 4 months ago, where have you been? *g*
I know what you mean, I even have a hard time closing the door!!!
It would be nice to have them in alphabetical order! *g*
Cheers Wendy

I tried the "alpha" deal -- doesn't work, the orchids resent it or something
G. [More seriously, even a small hobbyhouse has microclimates -- the
differences may be too small for us mere humans to detect, but the orchids
can tell.].
--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids
http://www.jborchids.com

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 00:18:39 GMT, DaveA wrote:

You've got to be kidding!! Organizaion in my greenhouse means I can
walk down the isle and can close the door when the weather gets cold.
They go where they will fit within their supposed preferred growing
area.
On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 07:20:16 -0700, "wendy7"
wrote:

I am curious as to how everyone organizes their plants in the g/h?
Apart from the obvious hi/light, lo/light & cool to warm, do you keep
them
together by genus?

Good heavens Dave???? I posted this 4 months ago, where have you been? *g*
I know what you mean, I even have a hard time closing the door!!!
It would be nice to have them in alphabetical order! *g*
Cheers Wendy

I tried the "alpha" deal -- doesn't work, the orchids resent it or something
G. [More seriously, even a small hobbyhouse has microclimates -- the
differences may be too small for us mere humans to detect, but the orchids
can tell.].
--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids
http://www.jborchids.com

"Wendy" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 00:18:39 GMT, DaveA wrote:

You've got to be kidding!! Organizaion in my greenhouse means I can
walk down the isle and can close the door when the weather gets cold.
They go where they will fit within their supposed preferred growing
area.
On Wed, 7 Apr 2004 07:20:16 -0700, "wendy7"
wrote:

I am curious as to how everyone organizes their plants in the g/h?
Apart from the obvious hi/light, lo/light & cool to warm, do you keep
them
together by genus?

Good heavens Dave???? I posted this 4 months ago, where have you been? *g*
I know what you mean, I even have a hard time closing the door!!!
It would be nice to have them in alphabetical order! *g*
Cheers Wendy

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 16:03:27 -0400, Kenni Judd wrote:

I tried the "alpha" deal -- doesn't work, the orchids resent it or something
G. [More seriously, even a small hobbyhouse has microclimates -- the
differences may be too small for us mere humans to detect, but the orchids
can tell.].

So very true Kenni, I find time after time a struggling plant just
moved to a different area all of a sudden takes off like gang busters.
Cheers Wendy

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 16:03:27 -0400, Kenni Judd wrote:

I tried the "alpha" deal -- doesn't work, the orchids resent it or something
G. [More seriously, even a small hobbyhouse has microclimates -- the
differences may be too small for us mere humans to detect, but the orchids
can tell.].

So very true Kenni, I find time after time a struggling plant just
moved to a different area all of a sudden takes off like gang busters.
Cheers Wendy