The Orchid House Project

I have started to set goals for 2008 and an orchid house is right up there at the top of the list. At the moment, my orchids are all over the garden and I have to keep moving them depending on the amount of rainfall , the angle of the sun and other random factors.I visited the beautiful home of the Craig family. This spectacular home overlooks the St Ann's valley and like everything else I saw on this property, the orchid house was a masterpiece of ingenuity. The orchids are watered three times a day for 4 minutes via a timer that has been placed on the water line. The large fan is also turned on to keep the heat down in the shed which is protected from the weather by shade cloth, over which lies a layer of plastic. This makes the environment far easier to control and means that all orchids can be fertilized, sprayed, re-potted and generally cared for in a far more consistent manner than can ever be achieved out in the open weather.


Vandas are attached to the Eastern end and so get the rising sun. The oncidiums, cattleyas, dendrobiums and phaleonopsis are all arranged so that they receive ideal lighting conditions.
Of course, the romantic in me still clings to the idea of the orchids growing splendidly up in the canopies of my trees and attached to side of my mango trees but realistically, I am hiding my head in the sand with this approach as everyone, bar none, agrees that orchids thrive once put into a more controlled environment.
I have never done well with phaleonopsis and when I see them doing so well and looking so happy, I am tempted to try again.