Re: [OGD] Orchid Keeper's Rant Part 2

[Thomas Hillson]

Thanks for the entertainment, Orchid Keeper!

Regards,
Rick Barry


Rick thanks for your commentary on rants, very good entertainment and  
very true.


Tom

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] after deflasking - how long before- fert. repotting...

[Thomas Hillson]

Jim,

Did you do an internet search for seedling care? I have found lots of  
information out there on caring for seedlings. The best I know of is  
at, http://ladyslipper.com/compot2.html, Bob & Lynn Wellenstein put  
together a great reference on caring for seedlings. I handle all of my  
flasks this way and I have lost very few plants. In terms of  
fertilization, you will find lots of opinions, I start my plants out  
with two weeks of very high humidity in a humidity tent and no direct  
watering, then I start watering with a very dilute fertilizer and  
water continuously after that with it. In my conditions I usually use  
a fungicide solution on the plants when I first deflask them and then  
I only use it if I see a problem. I leave my seedlings in flats or  
community pots for over a year to let them get well established, then  
I move them on to pots. The small seedlings seem to grow better under  
my conditions if they are in a community pot, I used to follow some  
advice I got years ago potting the seedlings into community pots for a  
few months and then moving them into pots. I lost a lot more seedlings  
then than I do now keeping them into community pots until they are  
ready move on into a two inch or larger pot.


Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"


On Sep 24, 2008, at 6:14 AM, JIM MATEOSKY wrote:


Hi all,

I have several different Oncidiums Hybrids, miltasias, ontoglosom  
hybrids from Tiawan. They have been out of the flask in trays for 30  
or so days now, the roots are growing nicely, they are 4 inches  
tall, but real skinney not much else.


When do you move them up? into small pots? start fertilizing?   
fungicide..   so many questions. Is it by the roots and how they  
are doing or by the size or 


Once I get them in pots and out of the trays I breathe easier. For  
me it is real difficult in the trays wehn the just come out of the  
flasks. it is difficult controlling the water humidity


Any advice at all would be helpful.

Jim Mateosky




___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com






___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Bubble plastic

[Thomas Hillson]

Jerry,

I have used double stick tape to mount bubble pack in my greenhouse.  
The only problem is that some years it was hard to remove, but most of  
the time it comes off well if I remove it immediately in March. It  
would depend on if you have Glass or Lexan as your covering. Glass is  
easier to clean, and the tape could be cleaned off fairly easily.  
Lexan can be difficult and you may have some problems with the  
adhesive binding to the Lexan. I stopped using bubble pack in my  
greenhouse when I changed to Lexan, and floating benches, it was too  
difficult to put up and in my tests the double sticky tape was  
difficult to remove after two months. The tape I used was 3M double  
stick tape I purchased online. I have not found any other system that  
would keep it up  for me. I would be interested if you can come up  
with an other method of mounting it that works well for you.

Tom Hillson



On Sep 3, 2008, at 9:57 AM, Jill & Jerry Suffolk wrote:

> Hi all, is there any one out there who has experience of putting up  
> Bubble plastic on the Inside of the greenhouse? I know in Europe  
> they are putting it on the outside. Not an option for me [to much  
> wind] It would be nice to find some cheap glue to hold it in place  
> while one staples the edges as I have to put up 18ft strips on the  
> underside of my roof.
>
>  Jerry on Vancouver Island were it is Sunny but Cold.
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Flasking Success & Questions

[Thomas Hillson]

Barbara,

I have been flasking for years as an amateur, but I have seen lots of  
the problems you are describing. Typically, I try to replate all my  
protocorms with in three months after they have started swelling. They  
are growing well at this point in time and continue to do so in the  
replate flask. The protocorms you described on shrinking and nearly  
dry media may or may not recover. The problem is that they have  
dehydrated as well as the media, and if they are under stress, they  
will slowly start to die, they may be green and appear to be alive,  
but they are dying. As plant tissue dehydrates the plant, it can start  
to produce abscisic acid, as a result of the stress and it will start  
shutting down the cells and they will slowly die. The best way I found  
to determine if protocorms or seeds were alive or any plant tissue is  
alive is to use Tetrazolium. It is a dye that is metabolized by living  
tissue and turns it pink staining the tissue with a bright pink color.  
Seed biologists have used it for years to test for seed viability.  
Biology and Botany classes have used it as a way to demonstrate  
cellular metabolism.

I have used a 100 mg/l solution in a pH 7.4 phosphate buffer to test  
for seed viability. I place what ever I am testing in a container with  
the Tetrazolium solution and leave it in the dark for 24 hours. I then  
examine it under a microscope and see it the seeds or protocorms or  
roots are pink. I started using it years ago to test for seed  
viability as I was finding lots of seeds that I was germinating were  
giving me poor to no germination. I found a direct relationship  
between the number of seeds that stained pink and the number that  
germinated, if I had 5% of the seed stained I got about 5%  
germinations, etc. If I had no seed stained pink, I got a random  
sporadic germination, and I might get two or three plants out of a  
seed pod. It helped me realize it was not my media or methods, but the  
seeds quality that were the cause of the poor germination.

You could use Tetrazolium to test if the protocorms in flasks like the  
one you described were worth your time to the replate. It will save  
you time and your clients money, unless they are really desparate to  
see the progeny of the cross and want what ever they can get out of  
the flask.

Tom
/--
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing In
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]Paphs, Pleurothallids, & Epi's
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu
---
|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"





On Aug 29, 2008, at 8:02 AM, Barbara wrote:

> Dear OGD Readers,
>
> I have recently (in the last 7 months) begun to live my dream of  
> being a
> full time orchid flasker. Having dallied in the past with home-brew
> equipment, I have built my own lab and with professional grade  
> equipment
> and am pleased with my success thus far. My best success story is  
> saving
> a batch of besseae flavum from sure death in flasks I received from
> another lab in the hopes of bringing them back for my customer who has
> been waiting for flasks of this species to offer his customers for
> nearly a decade. I took a chance and transferred them to some media  
> from
> the UK. Within just 3 weeks, I could see a difference. Instead of the
> yellowing and browning they were in the process of doing, they greened
> up and even started to grow. Some began proliferating (a good thing in
> my book) and others  started producing beautiful white-tipped, fuzzy
> roots.  They have since been replated onto more of this magic formula
> and are on their way towards becoming beautiful, healthy, individual  
> plants.
>
> I have also received mother flasks needing work that are (were) full  
> of
> loose protocorms. The media underneath (which only the bottom layer  
> had
> any contact with) was shrinking and nearly dry. The protocorms were
> still green but have not "jumped to life" after replating as other
> protocorms have done. Conversely, I have replated freshly germinated
> protocorms that literally did just that, "jump to life." I later
> replated protocorms from the same mother flask and have not seen the
> same vigor. They are still growing, but just not as fast. I am  
> beginning
> to wonder if there isn't a magic sweet spot in the life cycle of a
> protocorm when it is perfect for replating for total optimum growth  
> and
> that to let them go beyond that means slower growth later on.
>
> An analogy I suppose would be similar to the timing of orchid  
> repotting.
> You would refrain from general repotting in the winter,  opting  
> instead
> for the accelerated growth in the spring to jumpstart the plants into
> establishing themselves in new media all summer before decelerated
> growth in the fall and winter.
>
> I know some of you who are more enlightened t

Re: [OGD] Keikis

[Thomas Hillson]

In addition to the keikiroot, you can treat it as you would air  
layering some plants. I place a handfull of moist moss around the  
keiki site and use plastic wrap with a couple of twist ties to keep it  
in place. The moss provides a media in which the roots can start to  
develop. In some cases I can use the moss along to get roots started  
like with an Phalaenopsis keiki that will not form roots.

Tom
/--
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing In
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]Paphs, Pleurothallids, & Epi's
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu
---
|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"





On Aug 25, 2008, at 8:10 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> In a message dated 8/25/08 6:02:14 AM, Jean writes:
>> I have a polystachia sp. which now develops two keikis at the site  
>> of old
>> flower spikes. There is no sign of root development. How do I get  
>> those
>> plantlets to stand on their own?
>>
> You need Jim Brasch's KeikiRoot, http://www.orchidmall.com/hormones/
> Iris
>
>
> **
> It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your
> travel deal here.
>
> (http://information.travel.aol.com/deals?ncid=aoltrv000547)
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] snails and sllugs

[Thomas Hillson]

Jim,

You may have to go back to the old standard metaldehyde, to kill  
them.. I gave up on the organic version several years ago, when my  
plant summering outside got a major infestation and I had slugs eating  
leaves and flowers all over my greenhouse in the Fall. The only thing  
that stopped them was going to standard snail and slug bait with  
metaldehyde. I have no children or pets in my greenhouse, so I gave in  
and killed them off. I have not had to use it since my two doses of  
the original bait. I am now putting all my plants that spend summer  
outside up suspended off the ground or even ground bases supports.

Tom
/--
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing In
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]Paphs, Pleurothallids, & Epi's
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu
---
|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"





On Aug 3, 2008, at 9:42 AM, James Brasch wrote:

> Hi friends,
>
> This summer's weird weather, so far, has left me with a plague of  
> snails in
> my hobby greenhouse.I lose the new growth of phals about one or two  
> a night.
> I have sprinkled every pot aand the gravel floor with the standard   
> (Safers,
> etc) snail baits and installed the guaranteed beer snail trap. A few  
> slide
> in there, but the proportion of beer to snails is not favorable.
>
> I collect any visible snails about two hours after nightfall.
>
> Any further suggestions would be appreciated. Any advice on or off  
> line
> would help me protect what remains of my sanity.
>
> All bests,
>
> Jim
>
>
>
> Plant Hormones Canada
>
> James D. Brasch, Director
>
> P.O.Box 40583
>
> Burlington, Ontario
>
> Canada  L7P 4W1
>
> phone: 1-905-335-1713
>
> fax (24/7-secure) 1-905-335-3071
>
> e-mail: (24/7-secure) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> http://www.orchidmall.com/hormones
>
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Oakhill & Hoosiers

[Thomas Hillson]

I agree it would be nice if OakHill Gardens would take up much of the  
Hoosiers species and unusual hybrids collection. I would imagine they  
are going to try to sell off much of their collection at retail  
prices, but it would be nice to see their unique breeding stock go to  
another grower, who will continue their work.

I will miss Hoosiers, as they did a lot of species seed germination  
that very few other growers have taken on. Loosing a grower that did a  
lot for good work to expand the variety of species available to  
collectors and other growers is sad. I hope more growers look at the  
success they had, as well as the success of OakHill Gardens, J&L, and  
others have had expanding the number and variety of species available  
in the commercial market.

Tom Hillson


On Aug 1, 2008, at 6:51 AM, Gareth Wills wrote:

> Charles M. Ufford wrote "... Oak Hill has grown species and often  
> has very
> small plants, but the price reflected the size. A note that Oak Hill  
> also
> has much larger plants also available, and they often flower very  
> quickly
> for me. I ended up buying more from Oak Hill than Hoosiers because  
> of this,
> and others may have done so as well. I hope true species lovers can  
> take
> over Hoosiers collections of very interesting species and keep them  
> alive."
>
> I agree. And it would be to Oakhill's advantage to take over Hoosier's
> stock. If you compare the 2 or them, while there are some overlaps  
> there are
> some glaring differences. Oakhill has few Pleurothallids while  
> Hoosier has
> an abundance. Oakhill could easily absorb Hoosiers without  
> duplicating too
> much. I know there are a lot of people who "specialize" in  
> Pleurothallids
> but I don't know the market. It could be something Oakhill has  
> avoided for
> good reason. Many Pleurothallids are quite small but their prices  
> are not. I
> know success or failure can depend on a number of things or just 1  
> or 2. I
> don't know J&L's recipe for success (or whether they're clinging to a
> thread) but price doesn't seem to be it. They do mix in a lot of other
> miniatures besides Pleurothallids. So does Oakhill. Hmm...
>
>
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



Tom
/--
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing In
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]Paphs, Pleurothallids, & Epi's
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu
---
|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"






___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Closed loop passive hot water heating

[Thomas Hillson]

Jerry,

My only problem is that the months I really need the solar heat input,  
I have almost not sunlight. Starting in November and continuing  
through January and part of February, we have over 50% of the days  
extremely overcast and the rest cloudy. The Sun is at such a poor  
quality December and January, it will not even raise the greenhouse  
temperature enough to keep the furnace from running with the  
thermostat set at 55 F on the few sunny days we do get. I have tried  
several passive solar systems in the past and they have never given me  
enough heat to justify their cost.

Tom
/--
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing In
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]Paphs, Pleurothallids, & Epi's
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu
---
|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"





On Jul 30, 2008, at 6:57 AM, Gerald Fisher wrote:

> Re: 4. "There are many active solar options that can be retrofitted  
> to an
> existing greenhouse.  Another option with this would be to plumb  
> the
> black plastic water barrels together and make a closed system with  
> the black
> plastic flexible piping in the peak and combine passive and active  
> solar
> together to supplement the greenhouse heating. It would require a
> circulating pump that is run only during the day. I plan on  
> enquiring into
> photoelectric cells to run the circulating pump."
>
> It has been about 30 years since I was doing reading on closed loop  
> passive
> solar collectors but I seem to remember that a circulating pump  
> would not be
> needed. The heated water would gradually rise and then return as it  
> cooled.
> At night the system would 'stop' when the system reached temperature
> equilibrium.
>
> Jerry in IN
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Nakamotoara

[Thomas Hillson]

Iris,

Try potting them in a netpot or small basket, I have mine in netpots  
with medium coconut husk, the roots grow great and the plants have  
done very well for me.

Tom

/--
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|Iowa State University
---
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"



On Jul 29, 2008, at 7:31 AM, iriscohen wrote:

> On Jul 28, 2008, at 10:31:14 PM, Tom wrote:
> Mine have
> bloomed repeatedly usually twice a year with no problems in flowers
> being deformed.
>
> Thanks. I will repot it soon, which should help.
> Iris
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Heating over the winter

[Thomas Hillson]

Right now, I am planning for the future, I am looking at reducing the  
volume in my greenhouse by double lining it with plastic to reduce the  
volume I need to heat. I also am looking at moving the plants closer  
together. I am also looking at solar heating methods I can implement  
to reduce my overall heating costs. In Iowa I normally, have only  
three months that are bad December, January and February. However in a  
year like last year I was heating from November through March. The big  
problem I have going to solar heating is that December and January can  
be very cloudy and the heat from solar input would be very low.

I use Natural Gas for my greenhouse the cost is going up, but not as  
bad as Propane. People who use Propane had better be contracting now  
to get enough at a more reasonable price. I have a friend who shut his  
greenhouse down as the Propane cost made him reduced his hobby. He has  
a few orchids under lights during the winter and moves them out to his  
unheated greenhouse in the warmer months.

Tom
/--
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing In
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]Paphs, Pleurothallids, & Epi's
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu
---
|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"





On Jul 27, 2008, at 5:24 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED]  
wrote:

> With the jump in the price of energy, supposedly there will be high
> heating bills this winter, I was wondering what effect this maybe  
> having
> on people who grow orchids especially in colder climates? Have energy
> prices jumped up dramatically this year in  Australia, Europe, and the
> rest of the world? Changing how you will heat the greenhouse? Dropping
> growing warm to intermediate orchids to grow more cool growers? Not
> growing orchids? How have growers in the southern hemisphere done this
> winter?
> With oil prices looking like they will be going up for years to come,
> growing warm growing orchids looks expensive in cold winter climates.
>
> Mark
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Nak. Edwin Hausermann

[Thomas Hillson]

I have two of them I purchased, as my wife liked them. Mine have  
bloomed repeatedly usually twice a year with no problems in flowers  
being deformed. It could be you have a problem plant or more likely  
some environmental factor cause the aberration this flowering. I have  
seen several plants over the years where one or more flowers vary from  
normal due to some environmental factor or physical damage. I usually  
ignore it and the next year the plant blooms normally.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs, Pluerothallids, and  
Epi's
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Jul 27, 2008, at 9:40 AM, iriscohen wrote:

> I have a small plant of Nak. Edwin Hausermann 'Nancy', HCC/AOS (Ascf.
> Peaches x V. cristata). Last year it produced one normal flower. It is
> in bloom again with several flowers & buds, but one flower has only
> one petal, & two flowers have no petals. It is outside all summer in
> pretty much full sun, bark mix in a slotted pot. I have an old
> Darwinara that has never given me any trouble.
> Is there a cultural factor I'm missing? Is there a genetic problem
> caused by over-meristemming? Should I ask for a refund?
> Iris
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Cycd

[Thomas Hillson]

Cycnodes Wine Delight is a fascinating plant, I find it easy to grow,  
since it is a Cycnoches lehmannii by Mormodes sinuata, you treat it  
the same way as both species. Give it good light light, lots of water  
and fertilizer while it is developing its growth, reduce both once the  
growth is mature. Watch and wait for the flowers to develop. The only  
problem, I have with them is slugs and snails love the inflorescence  
and I treat the pot a couple of times a year with slug bait. Once the  
flowers have dropped and the leaves start to die, I stop watering and  
only mist it occasionally. I resume watering and fertilizing when I  
see the new roots have started to develop in the spring. I fertilize  
continually in the summer with a very low level I adjust my system to  
give me about 10ppm Nitrate Nitrogen to the plants using a balanced  
fertilizer. I use a commercial test kit to monitor the Nitrate  
Nitrogen when I change fertilizers. I rotate between three different  
fertilizers, just because I want to make sure I am giving the plants  
everything they need.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Apr 6, 2008, at 1:22 PM, Baldomero Presser wrote:
> It seems to correspond to Cycnodes ?.
> I bought Cycd 'Wine Delight' FCC/AOS. Could somebody tell me which
> especies are involved, and which are the culture requirements for this
> especific plant.
> Thanks
> B. Presser M.D.
>
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Miniature orchids

[Thomas Hillson]

Jim,

I agree with these two and here are some other good choices I like

Andy's Orchids, H&R Nurseries, OakHill Gardens, Petite Plaisance  
Orchids, and Tropical Orchid Farm, they all have a variety of  
miniature plants. You can find the links to their web sites on  
OrchidMall.com. If you look on Carson's list of firms on OrchidMall,  
you will probably find even more that list miniature orchids.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Apr 7, 2008, at 8:50 AM, Gerald Fisher wrote:
>
> Jim,
>
> A couple of very high quality orchid houses come to mind for miniature
> orchids.
>
> J & L Orchids in Easton, CT  jlorchids.com
>
> To me possibly the best source for miniatures in the US.
>
> And
>
> Hoosier Orchid Company, Indianapolis, INhoosierorchids.com
>
> Hoosier specializes in species of all types but have a nice  
> selection of
> well grown miniatures.
>
> Jerry in IN
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Posts in other languages

[Thomas Hillson]

I have to agree, I have tried to respond to people who post a question  
in Spanish which is the only language I have any aptitude in besides  
English. I have enough knowledge of Spanish to be able to read some of  
the South American Orchid Growers web sites and ask them questions in  
their native language. I have always posted my answers back to the  
person posting the questions. In the future I will post them back to  
the list to show International orchid growers that this list welcomes  
all questions.  Working at a University I may I have a more open mind  
than some about people from other countries, as I have made friends  
with people from around the world and I enjoy continuing to  
communicate with them when they go back home.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Mar 6, 2008, at 10:14 AM, Eric Hunt wrote:

> Perhaps I incorrectly assumed an international community of orchid
> enthusiasts would have no problem when the occasional resources are
> posted in other languages. I have to question anyone's ulterior
> motives regarding xenophobia and racism when they object so
> strenuously to simply seeing another language beside their own.
> Viateur's postings are highly relevant, targeted, and educational, and
> we all are lucky to have his services.
>
> If you are unhappy with what you find here, you are free to start your
> own orchid mailing list, it's that simple.
> 
> Stubbornhard-headed. are two words that  describe continued
> use of
> Portuguese, French and Spanish on a  distribution list which has been
> designated
> to serve the readership in  English.
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Postings

[Thomas Hillson]

If you are interested in translating an foreign language web site, or  
email,
go to BabbleFish.COM
http://www.babblefish.com/babblefish/freetranslation.php
It is a free translator program on the web. I use it to help me  
translate some
International Orchid sites so I can see if they have anything of  
interest to me.
It is also helpful if you are trying to learn a foreign language.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"

On Mar 5, 2008, at 9:00 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> Roy,
>
> I emailed viateur.boutot in the past asking for translations  into  
> English of
> his "foreign language" posts.  I never received  a reply.
>
> _http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com_
> (http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com)   
> is  the introductory
> page to this mailing list.
>
> The second line is very simple:  About Orchids English  (USA).
>
> Stubbornhard-headed. are two words that  describe continued  
> use of
> Portuguese, French and Spanish on a  distribution list which has  
> been designated
> to serve the readership in  English.
>
> Stitz
>
>
>
> **It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL  
> Money &
> Finance.  (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf000301)
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] deflasking question

[Thomas Hillson]

Roger,

The advice I follow with great results is from Bob & Lynn Wellenstein  
at AnTec Laboratory, the URL for their information page on deflasking  
orchids is below. This information is specifically related to  
Paphiopedilum orchids, but I use it for all Orchids I de-flask and it  
works great. I loose very few seedlings by following their advice. All  
of my loss is due to my own stupidity, not their excellent advice.

  http://ladyslipper.com/compot2.html

Remember when in doubt of how to get the seedlings out of the flask,  
break the flask, it is not as valuable as the seedlings inside.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Jan 21, 2008, at 11:56 PM, Roger, in Bangkok wrote:

> I received a flask of Blc. Suynyae (Taiwan) some time back and it is  
> really
> getting crowded inside of there.  My track record with Cattleya is
> absolutely terrible, so I am very open to suggestions ... media ...
> hardening ... successful voodoo incantations ... anything and  
> everything:-))
>
>
> Regards/Roger, in Bangkok
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] LABEL MAKERS

[Thomas Hillson]

Giles,

I use two different Label Makers from Brother both are what they call  
their P-Touch label printers, the other label printers they have are  
not what you want.

The two models I have are the PT-1500PC, which is designed to work  
with a Mac or PC and will take up to 1 inch tape and can easily be  
seen. I also have a PT-1950,a which takes up to 3/4 inch tape and has  
a built in key pad so you can type directly on it or hook it up to a  
PC. The TZ tapes that are recommended for use with them are laminated  
and can be bought in several formats. Look at the following URL and  
you will see all the P-Touch printers and information on the tapes.

http://www.brother-usa.com/ptouch/

You can purchase them at a variety of places, I find Amazon.com is  
one of the best places to buy the printers and tapes. I use the TZ  
1/2"W (BRTTZFX231) for labeling my plants, they are the ones I have  
found are not fading in my greenhouse or even in a when the plants  
are put outside over the summer.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Oct 16, 2007, at 12:58 PM, Giles Smith wrote:

> Your posting on the OGD about orchid labels caught my eye,  
> especially your use of the word "laminated."  I make labels for our  
> orchid society displays at orchid shows and need something that is  
> big enough to read at a distance of several feet and that is  
> relatively water proof to withstand misting and occasional  
> splashing.  I scanned the Brother web page and they said nothing  
> about water resistance.  But your application must have solved that  
> problem.  Any advice or suggestions about specific models would be  
> most appreciated.
>
> Giles Smith
>

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orchid Labels

[Thomas Hillson]

One method I have used is to use a scanner and scan the labels, by  
enlarging them in a photo enhancement program and boosting the  
contrast, I can read the label and get the name off it. This does not  
work on everything, but it works on most, it has been speculated the  
UV light of the scanner bulb caused the residual ink to be visible  
bringing the writing out on many labels. You want to try this as soon  
as you notice the ink is fading, the longer you wait, the less chance  
you have of getting any image off the label.

I started several years ago, using a Brother label maker to make  
laminated labels I can stick on my plastic labels, I have been using  
them for about 5 years and none of them are showing any sign of  
fading. Also, a good old number 2 pencil is much better than any type  
of ink label pen I have tried and I have tried several that claim to  
never fade.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Oct 14, 2007, at 5:19 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> Unfortunately orchid vendors continue to label orchids with magic  
> markers
> and other indelible markers.  More unfortunately is that they are not
> indelible, and fade with time.  Seems like #1 pencils are far  
> superior for  labeling.
>
> Does anyone have a method or formula for recovering the data on faded
> labels?
>
> Rico
>
>
>
> ** See what's new at http:// 
> www.aol.com
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] changes in the OGD ?

[Thomas Hillson]

Kenneth,

I work at an educational institution, and I manage about a hundred  
lists using the same Mailman software you use for the ODG. I or one  
of the other ODG members who work at an educational institution could  
provide you with a place to house the ODG, and you could continue to  
manage it like you do now. Most educational institutions have several  
ultra high speed connections to the internet, to provide access for  
the many educational functions. Helping to maintain lists like the  
ODG is considered an educational function.

I am willing to volunteer to provide a site for ODG, or to provide  
technical expertise if  you need it to continue ODG at an other site.  
I have enjoyed ODG over the years. I have made friends on ODG and I  
want it to continue.

Let me know how I can help.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"




___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] direct vent gas heaters

[Thomas Hillson]

I will agree with Paul, look at Modine Furnaces, I have a 10 year old  
model with a glow plug ignition and it works great. Like any furnace,  
you want to have it inspected every couple of years. I bought  
overkill on my furnace, to cover the extreme cold we can get. I have  
seen -50 degrees F with a wind chill of -90. I was loosing 10 degrees  
and hour once the sun went down. With my new insulation, glazing, and  
this furnace; I should be able to stay above freezing even in weather  
like that. My only worry then is loosing electricity and I am looking  
at an emergency generator to cover that.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Aug 19, 2007, at 1:31 PM, Paul LeBlanc wrote:

> Look at a Modine Hot Dawg heater. Modine makes greenhouse heaters  
> but this
> one is designed for use in a garage where there is a concern for  
> noxious
> gases. Just after I bought mine they came out with a version for humid
> environments (sigh). They use glow plug ignition with failover  
> safety and
> power venting. It worked like a charm all last winter.
>
> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Nicholas Plummer
> Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2007 1:30 PM
> To: orchids@orchidguide.com
> Subject: [OGD] direct vent gas heaters
>
> For the past five years, I've been using a Southern
> Burner vented heater in my greenhouse, but while I
> have a new greenhouse under construction, I'm thinking
> about upgrading to something a bit more efficient.
> I'm considering a direct vent heater, either Empire
> DV35 or Sterling SF30 with ~24,500 BTU output, as that
> would allow me to seal up the greenhouse better.  The
> Empire has a standing pilot light, passive exhaust,
> and sits on the ground.  The Sterling has electric
> ignition, hangs from the ceiling, and has power
> exhaust.  Does anyone have experience with either of
> these brands in a wet greenhouse?
>
> I'd prefer to have the heater at ground level and am
> wondering if the Sterling can sit on concrete blocks
> instead of hanging.  I'm a little concerned about the
> pilot light on the Empire, as the pilot on my Southern
> Burner went out a few times.  Does the Empire remain
> lit reliably?  Electronic ignition and power exhaust
> of the Sterling isn't a worry, as I plan to have a
> backup generator installed for power cuts, but I don't
> know if it would have a significant effect on
> efficiency.
>
> Any comments or other recommendations?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Nick
> -- 
> Nicholas Plummer
> Durham, NC, USA
>
>
>
>
> __ 
> __
> 
> Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with  
> Yahoo!
> FareChase.
> http://farechase.yahoo.com/
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
>
>
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Cultivating cool-growing orchids exclusively under lights

[Thomas Hillson]

Michael,

I envy the cave you have for growing your Masdevallia's. The  
temperatures should be great for Growing most Masdevallia's and  
Dracula's. The plants should love the cool conditions year round and  
with proper lighting should reward you with lots of flowers.  
Masdevallia's do not need a lot of light two four foot shop lights  
with cool white bulbs will provide sufficient illumination for a 2 x  
4 foot growing area. I keep my lights about 12 to 18 inches above the  
bench surface. This provides enough light to get all my plants to  
bloom regularly. I use cool white bulbs as they are inexpensive and  
provide a broad spectrum of light that the plants thrive under. I  
keep my lights on for 18 hours year round, my plants all bloom under  
these conditions, so I see no need to vary the day length. I  
fertilize my plants continually, with a very low fertilizer, about a  
quarter teaspoon per gallon, I use a variety of fertilizers because I  
have them and I find the plants like it, I do not use extreme  
fertilizers that have high nitrogen or high phosphorus, but I use a  
variety of balanced fertilizers, with micro elements. I use a very  
pure water to water the plants either rain water, dehumidifier  
condensate, or RO water.

Have fun setting up the cave and growing your Masdevallia's there, I  
would imagine you may find a lot of other cool growing plants that  
like low light will also thrive there.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Jul 30, 2007, at 7:13 PM, Michael Benedito wrote:

> Hi everyone
>
>   I want to start growing cool orchids (specially Masdevallia), but  
> my climate is too mild (even during winter) to grow them in a  
> greenhouse or outside. Instead of buying a lot of expensive  
> equipment to cool down the greenhouse, i was thinking of growing  
> them exclusively under lights inside a cave that was used when i  
> was a kid to raise chickens (hehe). The humidity and air flow in  
> there seems fine to me, because there is a very wet wall with water  
> constantly dripping (that can provide additional moisture) and 2  
> entrances on opposite sides of the cave, so air is continuously  
> flowing and aerating it.
>
>   Now i wanted to know if the temperatures in there were suitable  
> to grow those orchids, specially now on summer. This week was  
> probably the hottest of the year (temperatures outside of 33ºC  
> (91ºF) and inside that cave the temperature was around 20ºC (68ºF).  
> As far as i know, the temperature seems fine, but the problem is  
> that i dont have any experience at all on how to grow plants under  
> lights. And the information over the internet is very limited. Can  
> i use normal fluorescent lamps to grow them? And can the plants be  
> grown healthy and flower without ever needing to see the sunlight?  
> (I will try to immitate the natural lenght of the photoperiod of my  
> area not to confuse the plants)
>
>   Other question is about the temperature drop. The cave seems to  
> act like a temperature deposit, so the temperature flutuations will  
> not be that big. Is this a problem?
>
>   Lastly i would like to mention Masdevallia caesia and M. ignea as  
> being my favourites of that genus. Any particular problems with  
> these, by growing them the way i said?
>
>   Many thanks
>
>   Michael Benedito
>
>
> -
>  Yahoo! Mail is the world's favourite email. Don't settle for less,  
> sign up for your freeaccount today.
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] FW: Jewel orchids

[Thomas Hillson]

Julai,

I would try to collect rain water, dehumidifier condensate water,  
even melted snow to get a low conductivity water to use on your  
plants. You do not need to water them 100% of the time with the pure  
water, but the less well water you can use the better off the plants  
will be.

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Jun 14, 2007, at 9:08 AM, Redman, Julia C. wrote:

> Folks:
>
>
>
> I've always done a rather half-way job of growing my assorted jewel
> orchids (Macodes, Anoectochilus; but the Ludisia is  
> indestructible).  I
> especially have trouble with the macodes, and I just purchased a  
> new one
> that I'd like to keep looking fancy.  I keep these plants in my  
> basement
> which is an intermediate temperatures space (50-60 in winter, ~70 in
> summer) with decent humidity.  Some of the plants are in sphagnum and
> some are in peat products.  I generally water with the well water  
> which
> is on the hard side.  Should I make an effort to water with deionized
> water or similar?  Should these species be kept constantly moist?   
> I do
> let them dry out slightly.  I was thinking that combined with my lazy
> use of well water might be the reason my macodes look so sad.
>
>
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Julai
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orchid stalks drying up?

[Thomas Hillson]

Rahiv,

You do not say what the plants are where the flowers are drying out.  
There can be many causes to this, one of the most common is that the  
plant has poor roots and needs repotting. The first step I would take  
is to take one or two of the plants out of their pots and see what  
the roots look like. Spring is almost always the best time to repot  
orchids, it may be your plants just need repotting and a the problem  
will go away. The other cause is are you watering the plants  
frequently enough, as we move from winter to sprint to summer my  
watering go from once a week to twice a week with daily misting to  
keep up the humidity. If the roots look good you may just need to  
increase your watering as you move into summer. Are you growing the  
plants in a window, under lights, where? This makes a difference in  
how often you need to water.

There is an excellent orchid society in Minnesota here is a link to  
their web site. Contact them and there may be someone in your area  
you can communicate with about your orchids.

  http://www.orchidsocietyofminnesota.com/

Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Jun 7, 2007, at 8:17 AM, rajiv kapadia wrote:

> Hi     I am new at trying to grow and enjoy Orchids.  
> I have several plants and they all seem to be doing OK as the  
> flowers linger for long times. Now that Spring is here all my  
> plants have started shooting out new leaves and stalks and air  
> roots. That is the good part. I do however have a problem. The  
> flower stalks grow about three inches or so and then start to dry  
> out. Would anyone know the cause of that and more importantly the  
> remedy to correct this so I have new flowers on my plants.
>
>
> Rajiv J Kapadia
>
> 120 Mapleridge Drive
> Mankato Mn 56001
> 507-389-5744
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] paphio parvisepalum and brachipetalum

[Thomas Hillson]

Horacio,

These are among the smallest Paph species and they will not get very 
large. I have some that I imported in the 1970's and they are larger 
plants with multiple growth, but each growth is 4 to 6 inches across. 
They grow and bloom easily for me. I would recommend you get a copy 
of Lance Birks Paphiopedilum Grower's Manual,  the 2nd Edition is the 
best Paph book I have. I fertilize my Paphs with a variety of 
fertilizers at very low level continuously from February through 
October, when they are growing the most. I use a variety of 
fertilizers as I find that my plants do better if I use a variety of 
fertilizers. Over the years I experimented with lots of way to 
fertilize my plants and I found that very low levels continuously 
gives me the best results. I am giving my plants fertilzer at a level 
that they are getting about 10 ppm nitrogen.

Have patience with your Paphs and enjoy them.

Tom
-
Tom Hillson  Grower of Paphs and Pleurothallids
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-
'There is always room for one more Orchid"



>I have a collection that includes: paph. niveum, p.
>micranthum, p. armeniacum   and paph. emersonii, they
>grow slowly, i would like to know how to fertilize
>them and i would like to know how to get a bigger
>size.
>
>thanks for your help
>



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] How to take out and care the orchid's flask

[Thomas Hillson]

Roby,

Here is a link to the instructions on AnTec Labs web site, they are  
the best instructions I know of for deflasking Orchid seedlings.

http://ladyslipper.com/compot2.pdf

I leave seedlings in the flask until they start to out grow the  
flask.  You say there are some roots, but you want to make sure the  
all the seedlings have good roots. The only reason to rush them out  
of the flask is if the flask is contaminated.

--Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On May 11, 2007, at 7:25 PM, Roby - wrote:

> Hello, everyone! My name is Roby, I come from Indonesia, and I'm a  
> new member in here. I have some questions to ask, so please help me:
>
> 1. I have orchid flasks in a bottle (this is my first experience)  
> at home which I bought a few days ago. I want to take it out, but  
> I'm a little bit nervous cause the flasks are so tiny (looks like  
> grasses I think, but there are some roots). Can anyone explain the  
> safest step-by-step to take it out?
>
> 2. If question number one is accomplished, how to take care those  
> seeds? I mean, should I use some plant foods (like Growmore) or  
> vitamin B every week? If yes, how's the composition?
>
> 3. Is there any free reference or resource in internet which is  
> related to the "how to" or the manual of planting orchid?
>
> Sorry for my poor English and thanks for your help.
>
> Sincerely yours,
> Roby.
>
>
> -
>  Get your own web address.
>  Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business.
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Foot Candles & Weston Master Light Meter

[Thomas Hillson]

If you do a google search you will find several references on the  
procedure. I can comment it is not very accurate, but if you are just  
looking for approximate readings you can use for comparisons of light  
conditions, it is a simple tool you can use.

Good online tool at Firstrays.
http://www.firstrays.com/measurelight.htm

Here is what I have a on record as the general procedure and it works  
OK for comparative readings. If you understand exposure compensation  
you can extend the range.

Set the film speed at ASA 25 and the shutter speed at 1/60 second.  
Aim the camera at a white sheet of paper in the greenhouse. Get close  
enough so the meter records only the light reflected from the paper.  
Focus on the paper and adjust the f-stop until a correct exposure  
shows in the light meter of the camera. F-stops will equal  
approximate footcandles as follows:

F-stop  Foot-candles

2   100

2.8 200

4.0 400

5.6 800

8.0 1600

11  3200

16  6400

I have found lots of cheap light meters around that give more  
accurate readings than using your camera or a hand held light meter.  
This is similar to one of the inexpensive meters I have, you can find  
them for about $20 to $30 online.
http://www.growerssupply.com/farm/supplies/ 
prod1;gs1_monitoring_meters;pg103400.html

--Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On May 11, 2007, at 9:21 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> Many years ago, there was a simple method to determine light   
> intensity in
> foot-candles for plants in different greenhouse locations,  using a  
> Weston
> Master III light meter.  Oldsters (like me) remember when  these  
> light meters were
> a mainstay in camera bags before cameras with built  in light  
> meters.  Does
> anyone remember the simple formula for converting  the numeric  
> reading of the
> Weston meter to obtain an estimate of the  foot-candles of light  
> reaching the
> plants?
>
> As I remember, the method for greenhouses involved holding a sheet  
> of white
> paper over the plants, taking a reflected light reading off the  
> paper, then
> multiplying the numeric reading from the meter by a factor of ?? to  
> give a
> good estimate of the foot-candles of light the plants were  
> receiving.  The
> method had the advantage of using a reflected light reading meter  
> rather  than
> requiring a direct light reading meter that was pointed toward the   
> light source.
> The numeric scale on the Master III meter avoided having  to use  
> the ASA film
> speed, shutter speed, and f-stop to make a complicated  conversion to
> foot-candles required when using most of the other brands of   
> camera light meters.
>
> I used the method long ago when I built my first glass  
> greenhouse.   With
> time and experience, I knew which plants would receive the  
> appropriate  amount of
> light in various locations.  Now, with a newly constructed   
> greenhouse using
> a twin-wall polycarbonate cover, I have no idea what the  light  
> levels are. My
> old light meter still functions perfectly but I do not  remember  
> the formula.
>
>
> If anyone can refresh my memory on the procedure, it will be very much
> appreciated.  Thank you in advance.
>
>
>
>
>
> ** See what's free at http:// 
> www.aol.com.
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Dendrobium assistance

[Thomas Hillson]

Kath,

Depending on which Dendrobium you have it is probably normal part of  
its growth cycle. Many Dendrobiums loose their leaves as they head  
into winter and you need to cut back on the watering of these plants.  
What is the name of the plant, that is the key to saying if it is  
dying or just going dormant. I cut back drastically on my Dendrobiums  
when they loose their leaves and the start again when they show signs  
of growth or new flowers. My Dend aggregatum gets no water at all for  
four months, and it grows and blooms great.

--Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On May 8, 2007, at 6:00 PM, Katherine Nelson wrote:

> Hello All,
> Here's hoping you can advise me on why my orchids are dying!  I have
> only just begun keeping epiphytic orchids.  One Dendrobium looks
> sunbleached and leaves are starting to fall off.  It is kept in the
> bathroom out of direct sunlight.  The other has had yellowing of it's
> leaves and is going to lose another leaf any day now. It's kept in the
> kitchen and gets indirect sunlight.  Both are watered weekly and  
> are not
> sitting in water. My balcony is quite windy so probably not  
> suitable.  I
> live near Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne.  Thanks for any advice you
> could provide to save them.
> Cheers,
> Kath
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Greenhouse heaters

[Thomas Hillson]

Ron,

 From what I could find out the company still exists, but it appears  
they have moved on into different areas of business. I think most  
emergency heaters are going to propane or natural gas due to the  
safety concerns with the kerosene heaters. I can remember a  
discussion on kerosene heater safety as part of a farm safety  
program, they had here at Iowa State University. One of the safety  
people involved with the discussion, told me they were definitely  
against the use of kerosene heaters except where there were there was  
little chance of fire or no people involved. The kerosene heaters had  
a bad reputation for causing fires and they produced a lot of carbon  
monoxide.

If you are looking for an emergency heater for a greenhouse. I would  
look at other sources. If you have a reason for really wanting to  
talk to them, maybe someone from the Nashville area can get you more  
information.

--Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Apr 25, 2007, at 5:02 PM, Ron Boyd wrote:

> Hi all.
> Back in the 1980's and early 1990's I use a Aladdin Greenhouse  
> Kerosene
> heater (series 22) very successfully in a glasshouse were outside  
> temp.
> in winter would often get around Minus 6-8 at night.
> Question.
> Does anyone know if this type of heater is still being made.
> It was, I believe made by Aladdin Industries Inc of Nashville Tenn.
> 37210 USA
> Google and USA yellow pages failed to show any information.
> any help would be appreciated as it was extremely good and easy to  
> heat
> with.
> Thank.
> Ron Boyd in a lovely wet part of Australia
>
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Flask import

[Thomas Hillson]

AJ,

Sounds like you had a very bad experience, and that is what I am  
hoping to avoid. I was reading the AHPIS site with all its forms, and  
I could not understand why, if Flasks are exempt there is no general  
form for importing flasks. From your experience that you have to  
apply for the PPQ 587 - Application for Permit to Import Plants or  
Plant Products, and list exactly what orchid flasks you are importing.

--Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Apr 18, 2007, at 10:42 PM, Aaron J. Hicks wrote:
>
>  Import through port of entry, with phytosanitary permit-
> same as plants. Or, at least, that's what happened when I brought in
> sterile tissue cultures from Australia about a year and a half ago.
> When the permit read "Orchids/Orchidaceae," that wasn't good enough-
> each individual species had to be listed on the permit. Nevermind the
> fact that CITES specifically exempts all orchids in sterile tissue
> culture, regardless of what genus or species they may be- although
> the Office of Management Authority seems to interpret some of the
> stuff about paphs a little differently than other countries (none of
> the species in this shipment from .au were paphs or phrags). The
> Australian embassy had to get involved (very efficient folks there),
> as USDA APHIS/PPQ refused to manually transfer the names from the
> individual species onto the permit themselves.
>
>  As there was a substantial delay in processing, they were
> good enough to refrigerate the shipment. Popped the entire box of
> tropical orchids into refrigeration for over two weeks.
>
>  Part of my astonishment lies in how a (presumably)
> college-educated inspection agent of the US government can take live,
> tropical orchids and deposit them in refrigeration with absolutely no
> suggestion on the part of the label, the shipper, or the recipient
> that they need, in fact, to be refrigerated. A+ for taking the
> initiative, but foul, vulgar language for the actions taken. (The
> agent got extremely defensive when I asked why he would refrigerate a
> box of tropical orchids, particularly when there was no labeling or
> request to do so.)
>
>  More remarkable was how three of the species actually  
> survived.
>
>  Cheers,
>
>  -AJHicks
>  Chandler, AZ
>
>
> At 02:47 PM 4/18/2007, you wrote:
>> Can someone give me simple easy to follow instructions with what a US
>> hobby grower needs to do to import orchid flasks? The AOS site has a
>> PDF file on importing orchids, but almost no information on importing
>> flasks. I am looking at importing a few flasks of species that are
>> difficult or rare to find here in the US. I would love to find a
>> simple series of steps I need to go through to import the flasks I am
>> interested in.
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orchid Automation

[Thomas Hillson]

Paul,

This looks like a fascinating web site. I am going to have to spend  
part of my weekend studying it and figuring out what I want to ask  
them for help in getting automated in my greenhouse.

thanks,

--Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Apr 18, 2007, at 5:42 PM, Paul Simon wrote:

> Tom,
>
> I would strongly suggest you not use X-10 technology.  It's not very
> reliable as you can tell from the usenet and I would be very wary of
> trusting my orchids to this kind of system.  If you can program a  
> little bit
> in Basic and solder a few wires, I would suggest using rs-485 and an
> industrial weight A/D.  See the website www.bb-elec.com/ for a lot of
> information.  Among other things, it keeps the computer out of the
> greennhouse.  My controller is 100 feet from the controlling computer
> (networked) in the garage.  The cost of hardware is about $150.
>
> Paul
> -


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

[OGD] Importing Orchid Flasks as a hobby grower

[Thomas Hillson]

Can someone give me simple easy to follow instructions with what a US  
hobby grower needs to do to import orchid flasks? The AOS site has a  
PDF file on importing orchids, but almost no information on importing  
flasks. I am looking at importing a few flasks of species that are  
difficult or rare to find here in the US. I would love to find a  
simple series of steps I need to go through to import the flasks I am  
interested in.

Please do not let this descend into a discussion of how bad the AOS  
is, they are bad, but I am looking for information, not a trashing of  
the AOS. I would much rather have good discussion of what permits we  
need to get and what other things we need to look at when importing  
flasks. Do we need a phytosanitary certificate for flasks, it sounds  
stupid to me to require it, but I can imagine the USADA making a  
requirement like that.

If people what to discuss the similar steps for a hobby grower in  
Canada, EU Countries, Australia, etc, please do so at times some of  
us act like this is a US discussion list, I have gotten great advice  
from growers around the world.

--Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"




___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orchid Automation

[Thomas Hillson]

Roger,

Thanks, since I started the discussion about automation I have done a  
lot of searching for new ideas for automating my greenhouse. I have  
been looking for help sites on X-10 to see if I can find a cure for  
what is blocking them from working on my electrical system.


thanks,

--Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"




___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] cymbidium growing method

[Thomas Hillson]

You can find information on growing Cymbidiums at many sites on the  
internet


Here are two of many that came up when I did a Google search on  
Cymbidium culture. You will find similar information if you do a  
Yahoo search.


http://www.cymbidium.org/cymbidium5.html
http://www.sequoiaorchids.com/faq_cym.html

--Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Apr 16, 2007, at 10:41 PM, R K Rai wrote:


kindly email orchid cultivation method for symbidium orchid.
thanks.

R K Rai

[EMAIL PROTECTED]


Check out what you're missing if you're not on Yahoo! Messenger
___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orchid Automation

[Thomas Hillson]

Roger,

I know they work for other people, but they do not work for me and  
the X-10 support did not help me figure out more than I had a  
problem. How about giving the other readers of OGD some specific  
examples of how you are monitoring and controlling things using your  
X-10 setup. If anyone else has any examples of how they are using  
X-10 to control things in their greenhouse, chime in.


Tom Hillson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]



On Mar 30, 2007, at 7:30 AM, Roger, in Bangkok wrote:


Hi Thomas--

X10 is an ancient protocol, even predating the internet!!

By far the best way to monitor and control things is through is a  
simple LAN system.  Your existing sensors are perfectly usable and  
you have the benefit of internet interface and control if you want  
it ... eg a temperature sensor (or whatever) is out of the range  
you preset, so the system sends you an email, maybe turns on a  
video server camera, or automatically starts a ventilator ...  
basically whatever you tell it to do.


This is the way industrial control systems are put together ...  
never with X10 :-)


This link oi-cellennium-thailand.telemetryview.com/thcell4 is to a  
page that provides monitoring of a solar power system that I'm  
currently in the commissioning process for.  A much more basic  
example.


Regards/Roger, in Bangkok

regards/Roger, in Bangkok


On 3/30/07, Thomas Hillson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Stuart,


The last area of greenhouse automation I am going to cover with  
this discussion in one where I have no positive comments. When I  
started working with this stuff I thought it would be a great way  
to control various misting and watering systems in my greenhouse.



I hate to say this, but under my conditions X-10 hardware is junk.  
I have some interference in my home electrical system that  
interfere with the communication between X-10 hardware, so it can  
not communicate with each other. If you are not familiar with it  
X-10 hardware uses your home electrical wiring to communicate to  
turn devices on and off. Unfortunately, X-10's support is pretty  
worthless. They told me my problem was interference in my  
electrical wiring, they were not willing to offer any help in  
figuring out what was causing the interference or how I could  
figure out how to eliminate it or filter it out. I could  not  
figure out what was causing the problem, so I sold the X-10 stuff I  
had.



They have lots of stuff for home security and monitoring, it you  
are interested, get their basic test kit with the controller you  
hook into your PC and the controller you can use to turn on and off  
a device.  http://www.x10.com/automation/ck18a_s_ps32.html is the  
web address where you can buy the basic starter kit for home  
control from your PC. I cannot say anything good about the company,  
but I have friends that love them.


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orchid Automation

[Thomas Hillson]

Stuart,

The last area of greenhouse automation I am going to cover with this  
discussion in one where I have no positive comments. When I started  
working with this stuff I thought it would be a great way to control  
various misting and watering systems in my greenhouse.


	I hate to say this, but under my conditions X-10 hardware is junk. I  
have some interference in my home electrical system that interfere  
with the communication between X-10 hardware, so it can not  
communicate with each other. If you are not familiar with it X-10  
hardware uses your home electrical wiring to communicate to turn  
devices on and off. Unfortunately, X-10's support is pretty  
worthless. They told me my problem was interference in my electrical  
wiring, they were not willing to offer any help in figuring out what  
was causing the interference or how I could figure out how to  
eliminate it or filter it out. I could  not figure out what was  
causing the problem, so I sold the X-10 stuff I had.


	They have lots of stuff for home security and monitoring, it you are  
interested, get their basic test kit with the controller you hook  
into your PC and the controller you can use to turn on and off a  
device. http://www.x10.com/automation/ck18a_s_ps32.html is the web  
address where you can buy the basic starter kit for home control from  
your PC. I cannot say anything good about the company, but I have  
friends that love them.


	I know there are probably lots of other things that people are using  
to monitor or control their greenhouses. If you have any comments on  
what I have posted or on other equipment, get into the discussion on  
ODG.


I hope this has given you some ideas on how to automate your greenhouse.

Tom Hillson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]




___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orchid Automation-3

[Thomas Hillson]

Stuart,

The third area I want to cover is software to remotely access to a  
computer at home. I have several different systems set up for  
remotely accessing computers at home. I use them for different  
functions depending on what I want to do.


	Windows Remote Access - this is built into Windows XP and can be  
configured to allow authenticated users to login to computers  
remotely. You take over the computer just like you were setting in  
front of it. It uses encrypted passwords. There is a Remote access  
client you can use on Mac OS to access any windows computer you have.


	VNC - this is free program that does the same thing as Remote  
Access, but it works with anything, Linux, Mac OS, or Windows. You  
take over the computer just like you were in front of it. If you go  
with VNC be sure you select a client and server that use encrypted  
communications like ssh. If you want to explore VNC go to http:// 
www.versiontracker.com select MacOS or Windows and search for for  
VNC. Version tracker has lots of free, shareware and demos of  
commercial  software.


	Apple Remote Access - expensive program if you are not a system  
administrator like me, you will not want to buy it. It provides lots  
of utility to talk to and manage remote Mac OS computers. It works to  
manage VNC enabled computers. It used encrypted passwords and can be  
used to move files between computers.


	CoRD - Open Source Port of rdesktop from Unix that allows Windows  
Remote Desktop access to the Mac OS computer. This is Beta software  
so it can have problems, but it allows you to another way to connect  
to a remote Mac from Windows.


	These programs are great if you have multiple devices you want to  
montitor on your home network or you do not want to broadcast the  
information out on the internet. To use the software you will need to  
create a hole through any firewall/router you are running on your  
home network. If you are not running a firewall/router, you just have  
your computers hooked into a hub that goes to the internet. STOP and  
get a firewall/router. Having any computer directly connected to the  
internet using DSL or Cable Modem is leaving it open to attack from  
hackers, trojan programs, a firewall/router is an inexpensive way to  
greatly upgrade your security.



Tom Hillson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orchid Automation-2

[Thomas Hillson]

Stuart

	The Second area of greenhouse monitoring I want to cover is a web  
camera in your greenhouse, you can use it to monitor for intruders or  
just set it up to monitor several things. I have an network camera  
online in my greenhouse, so I can see what is going on. It has a pan  
and zoom features I can see my thermostat, exhaust fan and most of my  
greenhouse by just panning around, and I can zoom in on anything I  
want to in my greenhouse. I do not have my camera on the internet as  
I do not want to broadcast what I have in bloom.


	You could have multiple cameras and switch between them to see what  
is happening in various parts of the greenhouse. Some of them are  
very inexpensive and easy to use. One way to monitor several cameras  
is to use remote access software to log into a computer on your home  
network and use it to look at the various cameras.


	I am looking at several new web enabled video cameras which are not  
cheap, a good one will run $135 or more, do count on the inexpensive  
ones working very well or for very long. I am also looking at the  
inexpensive USB cameras I can place through out my greenhouse the  
problem with these is you have to have a computer close enough to  
hook them into.  Read the reviews on anything before buying to find  
out what others had for experience with the equipment.


Tom Hillson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]




___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orchid Automation

[Thomas Hillson]

Stuart,

I am breaking my discussion into several messages, as I found that  
Ken as put a limit on how large a message we can send to the list and  
original messages were too large.

I am trying to do lots of things to computer control my hobby  
greenhouse. I can tell you what I have done that works and what I  
tried that did not. One thing you need is a broadband connection to  
your home. Here it would be Cable Modem or DSL, other options are  
available around the world. With this connection you have lot of  
options to monitor your greenhouse. I pulled a network connection  
into my potting shed and put an 8 port switch on it so I can connect  
up to 8 network devices to it.

1. Temperature monitoring
I use a sensatronics, temptrax, 8 probe unit. These are from  
Senatronics (http://www.sensatronics.com/), they now offer a 4 and 16  
probe units, and they are not cheap, but they work great. I have had  
mine for 3 years and it works great. I have a custom built software  
that monitors my unit and puts up a web page where I can see what the  
temperature is in my greenhouse. I can monitor my greenhouse  
temperature from anywhere I have a web browser, my next project on  
this is to set up a computer controlled system to increase or turn on  
my ventilation system and something to turn on my misting system to  
cool down my plants.
I also use a simple little unit from Onset (http:// 
www.onsetcomp.com/) it is called a HOBO data logger. It is not an  
online data logger. It is designed for offline downloading and  
examination of the data. They are continually adding new features, so  
they may have an online monitoring system one of these days. If you  
do not need immediate access to the data, it is a very cost effective  
way of monitoring the temperature, humidity, etc in your greenhouse  
or growing area. I keep this in my seedling growing area so I can  
monitor the temperature and humidity there. I am not as worried about  
this as it is in my basement.
There is also the one-wire temperature monitors that are used by a  
lot of people, I found out about them after I got my temptrax unit,  
so I have not done much other than read the stuff on the web about  
them. If you do a google search for 1-wire or one-wire you will find  
lots of information. If you are into computers and electronics this  
is the way to go. If you are not a techie, go with the sensatronics  
temptrax or the OnSet HOBO.

Thomas Hillson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]




___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] ventilation...

[Thomas Hillson]

Peter,

Thanks, I am interested in seeing the pictures. I tried to Google  
them to see if they had a web site, and I found several papers on  
other topics, nothing on solar research.

Thomas Hillson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]



On Mar 27, 2007, at 5:43 AM, Peter and Clemence wrote:

> hi,
>
> many years ago on a visit to Canada Research at Sannich on Victoria
> Island I saw several experimental houses with novel heating and  
> cooling
> systems...
> I will see if I can find pictures I took while there...
>
> Peter Spear
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] greenhouse ventilation

[Thomas Hillson]

Charles,

Vent tubes are a great way to provide outside air and I know a lot of  
commercial greenhouses in this area that use them in the summer. I  
have talked to the greenhouse owners and managers about them, and  
with our winter wind. They get too much extremely cold air pushing  
into the greenhouse when it is not wanted. The result is they seal  
them up the outside louver during the winter and use them just to  
recirculate the air inside the greenhouse during the winter.

The idea of a tube to pull the air down from above and mixing it with  
cooler air from outside, that offers me the option of getting the hot  
air high in the greenhouse mixed with cold outside air, to provide  
way to help reduce the heat load in my greenhouse. I am looking at  
some ideas like this combined with some solar storage. I figure if I  
combine several ideas together they will do what I want to cut the  
winter heat load when the sun is shining.

When I get some things figured out I will post all the ideas I have  
gotten on my web site and what I am going to do in my greenhouse.  
Next winter I will post how well the various ideas worked. Right now  
with the warm weather we are having I have started to open up my  
greenhouse and turned on my ventilation fans. Problems for this year  
are gone, and we will see how the system I install takes care of them  
next year.

thanks,

Tom Hillson


On Mar 23, 2007, at 5:36 PM, Charles M. Ufford wrote:

> Hello Tom et al,
>One way of bring in a little cooler air might be to use some Jet
> Fan tubes and a fan from the outside. Typically the fan is overhead
> in the middle of one far wall. When cooling is needed, a solenoid
> pulls open the metal louvers, the fan just inside kicks on and blows
> outside air into a plastic tube usually about 1 1/2 feet in diameter
> with two rows of holes near each other to direct where you would like
> the air to go. You could also have a low power motor open a solid
> louver outwards as another option. The latter version would seal
> better where there are cold, strong winds.
>
>One negative of setting this up as we have them at work, is that
> there would be a large open area in the wall where cold wind could
> blast in as the fan is mounted a few feet away from the louver (for
> air mixing) and really cold air does drop down when the vent is open
> (you can see the fog dropping right down and can see the crispy
> plants right where this air hits). Our setup with fans/large tube
> might be too large, but there may be smaller systems that can be had
> for smaller houses. If the fan were mounted and sealed directly on
> the wall in front of the louver, then only the air coming out of the
> vent tube would get in.
>
>If you wanted to pull down heat from above but didn't want to cook
> things below, it might still be good to have a tube pulling air down
> from above and be directed underneath, but have a small vent from
> outside be pulled through another tube and mix with the above air. A
> thermstat of sorts could be placed in the air stream coming from
> above (after the mixing zone) that could open or close the spot that
> allows the cold air in, keeping it from getting too hot. Otherwise
> maybe putting some cold water through pressurized mist right in with
> the hot air might help in keeping it from getting too hot. If a vent
> tube were put on the floor just inside the wall, then water could be
> misted or cold air mixed right inside this tube, and the adjusted air
> could be sent down the length of your house, moving up from the floor.
> hope this helps,
> charles
> -- 
> charles ufford
> oriskany, ny usa
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] a solution for toms overheating problem

[Thomas Hillson]

George,

I had not thought about storing the heat, only venting it, which I  
think is the first thought for most of us with our greenhouses. I do  
have some solar storage, in the form of 15 - 55 gallon barrels filled  
with water that are under my benches and get sunlight on them during  
the day. I will have to look into some solar storage options for  
collecting the heat and see how that works for reducing my heat load,  
if I can store the heat and use it to cool the greenhouse during the  
day and provide supplemental heat at night, it would be very  
beneficial. I have a perfect area under a couple of benches on my  
north wall that would work for a building a heat storage area. I just  
need to mount a blower at the peak to force the air down into the  
storage area and though the rock. I will have to look at the links  
you gave me for ideas on storage areas.

Like I said in a previous message, this what the OGD is for a sharing  
of good ideas and this one was very helpful. I now have a variety of  
projects to work on this summer to upgrade my greenhouse. Keep the  
ideas and comment coming the more ideas the better this discussion gets.

thanks,

Tom Hillson

On Mar 23, 2007, at 8:12 AM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>  
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Hillson has noticed that temperature stratifies in the top of his  
> greenhouse during the winter and wishes to use this heat rather  
> than eject it from the structure. There are several ways of  
> capturing and storing this heat. These systems consist of a  
> collector, a transport medium and a method of heat storage. As i  
> recall, back in the oil boycott days of the carter administration,  
> there were two papers in the American Orchid Society Bulletin: one  
> was kuhn's greenhouse at JL orchids which was based on work of  
> David Mears at Cook College, Rutgers (see:http://aesop.rutgers.edu/ 
> ~horteng/ppt/papers/SolarHeatingGreenhouses.pdf ) which used water  
> as a transport medium. The other was a greenhouse in Canada which  
> used air transport and rock bed storage (for a detail explanation  
> see chapter 12 "Air-Based Solar Systems for Space Heating" by  
> George Lof pages 12-1 to 12-34 in "Solar Energy Handbook" by  
> Krieder and Kreith). Using this approach, tom could suck the hot  
> air from the top of his!
>   greenhouse and capture the heat in a rock storage bed. When the  
> sun goes down, the direction of the air flow is reversed releasing  
> the heat to the greenhouse. Usually, the rock bed is built into the  
> floor of the greenhouse but it could be made as a box under a  
> bench. The overall effect of this system is to lessen the  
> temperature highs and lows. Another, more theoretical approach  
> developed by Richard Nelson, uses soap bubbles as a transfer medium  
> and offers a unique method of greenhouse thermal control (see:  
> http://solarbubblebuild.com/overview/overview.php).
>
> A good website for solar projects is http://builditsolar.com/ 
> Projects/Sunspace/sunspaces.htm . A site which might be more useful  
> as our president continues to destroy the relationship between the  
> us and all other oil producing countries.
>
> _
> Netscape.  Just the Net You Need.
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Greenhouse ventilation

[Thomas Hillson]

Jerry,

How are you using wind turbines in your greenhouse? Do you use them  
for ventilation? I am intrigued by anything new that would be useful  
in my greenhouse.

thanks,

Tom Hillson

On Mar 23, 2007, at 7:49 AM, Gerald Fisher wrote:

> I haven't been following this theme as closely as I should so I  
> don't know
> if anyone has commented on wind turbines.  They will leak during  
> the winter
> but you can combine them with some kind of trap door that could  
> seal off the
> opening when not in use. If I am not clear of you wish to follow-up  
> please
> contact me.
>
> Jerry in IN
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] 'Greenhouse ventilation and humidity for exotic plants'

[Thomas Hillson]

Seigrid,

This sounds like a great system for you, but I grow 99% orchids and I  
do not think they would like the extreme changes of temperature the  
very cold air we have in January and February. From your website it  
looks like you are in southeast Michigan which is cold, but I am not  
sure you get the wind we do here in Iowa. We can have an outside air  
temperature of 30 one day and be at -30 the next with winds of 30 to  
40 mph. This does not gently move cold air into the greenhouse it  
pushes large volumes of very cold air into the greenhouse if you have  
a vent open.


Otherwise I do very similar things to what you are doing. I have a  
under bench misting system that keeps my humidity between 60 and 70  
in the winter. I have an overhead misting system I start up in April  
or May that keeps the humidity up and helps cool the plants in the  
summer. I have lots of fans circulating the air in the greenhouse. My  
Vanda's and all my mounted orchids love the misting I give them most  
mornings. I have been putting in automated systems where I can to  
control my greenhouse as I work all day, so I can not go out during  
the day to mist, water, or enjoy my orchids.


thanks,

Tom Hillson

On Mar 23, 2007, at 1:32 AM, Bromeliad Queen wrote:


Hi,
whenever it gets too hot during the afternoon, I just open up a few  
sliding windows a little bit and let the cold air blow in. This  
practice does not hurt any orchids or other exotics. They can  
handle this cold blast very well. I don't have any flowering plants  
sitting in the cold air path though.
The hot air just mixes with the cold air and the overhead fans  
circulate the air throughout the greenhouse.
My humidity is always over 60 %. If it is extremely cold outside  
and the furnace runs continuously I simple take the hose, set it on  
mist and mist the whole greenhouse a few times a day. The humidity  
goes up immediately. I also provide humidity by having a 100 gall.  
pond with stream and a 100 gallon fish tank in the greenhouse. The  
air pump is set at max. and sprays water continuously into the air.  
The roots of the Vanda's love the stream. I have several orchids  
sitting in there as well (no soil). They seem to like 'wet roots'.
Of course, when I open up, I loose the humidity and have to mist  
again.
I use two overhead fans all the time, 24 hours a day set on low to  
provide a gentle but constant movement of air.
During the hot summer months I open up everything. I use a large  
humidifier at the maximum setting (from Sears, refill with hose) to  
supply humidity and I mist as well. This works very well for me.
I use 2 large portable exhaust fans sitting at opposite ends to  
exhaust the hot air. The greenhouse temperature is about 5 degrees  
higher than the outside temperature. If necessary I can use a  
ceiling exhaust fan as well.
My greenhouse is 30 ft by 18 ft. I grow orchids, bromeliads, jungle  
cacti, tillandsias and other exotics. I grow regular cacti as well  
and they thrive in my greenhouse.
I just ordered new glass for my roof and will experiment with 3  
different shadings of glass:
clear glass with shade cloth, 44 % shade glass and 84 % shade  
glass. Hopefully this will eliminate all this ugly shade cloth over  
the top. I will describe the results.


Siegrid Stern
http://orchids.gardenwebs.net
http://rainforest.gardenwebs.net/



Get your own web address.
Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business.
___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] thoughts and questions on greenhouse ventilation (Thomas Hillson)

[Thomas Hillson]

Ross and Susan,

How are the vents locked? Being a computer guy I am always looking at  
ways I can use my computers to monitor and control things in my  
greenhouse. Is it a mechanical lock controlled by a solenoid or a  
magnetic lock? This idea has me intrigued, the idea of putting on  
heavier roof vents (suggested by Denise) that I could lock and use my  
computer to control when they are locked and the opening and closing  
of the vents would be in interesting project. If I combine this with  
a way of getting cool air into the greenhouse that does not give too  
much of a cold shock to my plants. This may require some work, but it  
sounds like a great summer project for me, as if I did not already  
have enough of them.

This is what I like about discussion groups like this, we can get  
lots of ideas from all over that can help fix a problem. This is what  
most of us want from the OGD. If Ross and Susan would not have  
brought it up I may not have thought of locking down my vents.

thanks,

Tom Hillson


On Mar 22, 2007, at 10:57 PM, Tuckers Orchid Nursery wrote:

> On Mar 22, 2007, at 17:27 PM, Thomas Hillson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>  
> wrote:
>
> Mark,
>
> Unfortunately, I tried moving the air to the floor, but the times I  
> tried
> it, my entire greenhouse went over 90 degrees, way to hot for my cool
> growing species that I like to keep no more than 60 to 70 this time  
> of year.
> If I did not have a varied collection of orchids this would be  
> easier, but I
> have over 250 genera and lots of hybrids in my collection. Most of  
> them are
> Paph species and Paph hybrids, I also have a lot of Pluerothallids,  
> and a
> heterogeneous collection of other things. I love the unusual, that  
> is part
> of why I like orchids.
>
> I like the idea of more roof vents, but I want to work on a way to  
> shield
> them from the north and west winds we get here as I found them to  
> drive the
> cold air under roof vents in the winter. I had some roof vents on  
> my old
> greenhouse, but I did not replace them when I put new lexan the  
> greenhouse
> two years ago as I was looking to save heat and keep the greenhouse  
> warmer.
> The problems I have found with my greenhouse is you want to keep  
> the heat in
> at times and you want to get rid of it other and it is really hard  
> to do
> both well. Any one have any roof vents with a baffle or other  
> protection
> around it or any ideas on how to seal a vent better than the normal  
> ones
> that just lay on top of the greenhouse.
>
> I am enjoying this discussion, I hope we can come up with some good  
> ideas
> that will help more people.
>
> thanks,
>
> Tom
>
> Tom et al,
> We have had installed as a part of our computer automation controls  
> that,
> depending upon wind direction and speed, lock one side or both roof  
> vents on
> each of our three houses down. It is probably cost prohibitive for the
> backyard collector, but may be a solution. Being commercial we  
> couldn't
> manage without the whole computer automation set up - we just need  
> to keep a
> close eye on things making sure they're doing what they are  
> supposed to.
>
> Ross & Susan Tucker
> Tuckers Orchid Nursery Ltd
> Auckland, New Zealand
> 
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] thoughts and questions on greenhouse ventilation

[Thomas Hillson]

Denise,

Before I glazed my greenhouse with lexan, I had much heavier vents  
and I had to cover them in the winter as the strong winds on the  
plains would push the cold under them. It does not take much  
extremely cold air to cool a greenhouse down fast. That is one of the  
reasons most people I know around here try to completely seal their  
greenhouses in the winter. Infiltration of very cold air is a  
disaster. I can tell you that 15 years ago, I did not seal my  
greenhouse like I do now and someone opened one of the lower vent  
doors I had to close my vents, as a result I lost over half my plant  
collection. Since then I have been completely redoing my greenhouse  
and completely sealing it in the winter.

Unless I had some mechanism to lock the vents to create a baffle to  
protect the vent, just putting vents on the roof is not a good  
solution for me. I think in areas with less wind or less extreme cold  
weather your solution would work well.

Tom

On Mar 22, 2007, at 9:36 PM, Denise Nash wrote:

> Hi Tom -
>
> My roof vents don't leak, I think because they are too darn heavy to
> have the wind blow them open.  Have you thought of using a different
> material (other than Lexan) for glazing on your roof vents?   Mine are
> double paned glass with an air space.
>
> ~Denise
>
> Thomas Hillson wrote:
>
>> Mark,
>>
>> Unfortunately, I tried moving the air to the floor, but the times I
>> tried it, my entire greenhouse went over 90 degrees, way to hot for
>> my cool growing species that I like to keep no more than 60 to 70
>> this time of year. If I did not have a varied collection of orchids
>> this would be easier, but I have over 250 genera and lots of hybrids
>> in my collection. Most of them are Paph species and Paph hybrids, I
>> also have a lot of Pluerothallids, and a heterogeneous collection of
>> other things. I love the unusual, that is part of why I like orchids.
>>
>> I like the idea of more roof vents, but I want to work on a way to
>> shield them from the north and west winds we get here as I found them
>> to drive the cold air under roof vents in the winter. I had some roof
>> vents on my old greenhouse, but I did not replace them when I put new
>> lexan the greenhouse two years ago as I was looking to save heat and
>> keep the greenhouse warmer. The problems I have found with my
>> greenhouse is you want to keep the heat in at times and you want to
>> get rid of it other and it is really hard to do both well. Any one
>> have any roof vents with a baffle or other protection around it or
>> any ideas on how to seal a vent better than the normal ones that just
>> lay on top of the greenhouse.
>>
>> I am enjoying this discussion, I hope we can come up with some good
>> ideas that will help more people.
>>
>> thanks,
>>
>> Tom
>>
>>
>> On Mar 22, 2007, at 12:58 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> Thomas,
>>>
>>> Another tactic for "I am both trying to keep the cold out and the  
>>> very
>>> expensive heat generated by my furnace in the greenhouse" on cold  
>>> days
>>> ("A week ago it was still over 100 in my greenhouse but the outside
>>> temperature was 10 degrees.") is to have several fans at the top of
>>> your
>>> green house that blow down. This blows the hot air  down to mix with
>>> colder  sitting near the floor. Warming up the cooler air or
>>> cooling the
>>> hot air depending on how you want to look at it. The effect is a
>>> closer
>>> temperature more homogeneous from top to bottom in the greenhouse.
>>> This
>>> tactic also decreases the amount of time your heater runs if the
>>> thermostat is located closer to the floor then the top of your
>>> greenhouse. I do this in my own greenhouse.
>>> I can't add anything to the ventilating to the outside  
>>> suggestions you
>>> have gotten expect it sounds like you either need more vent fans, a
>>> larger vent fan, some passive roof vents, or a combination to tackle
>>> your problem of " They barely keep my greenhouse temperature from
>>> going
>>> over 110 at 8 feet." If it is possible to install in your  
>>> greenhouse I
>>> would go with adding roof vents that open and close with changes in
>>> temperature that Denise Nash talked about, more energy efficient.
>>>
>>> "If you have anything you are using or any ideas let me know, and  
>>> lets
>>> keep this discussion online, I would like to see if we can generate
>>> something 

Re: [OGD] thoughts and questions on greenhouse ventilation

[Thomas Hillson]

Mark,

Unfortunately, I tried moving the air to the floor, but the times I  
tried it, my entire greenhouse went over 90 degrees, way to hot for  
my cool growing species that I like to keep no more than 60 to 70  
this time of year. If I did not have a varied collection of orchids  
this would be easier, but I have over 250 genera and lots of hybrids  
in my collection. Most of them are Paph species and Paph hybrids, I  
also have a lot of Pluerothallids, and a heterogeneous collection of  
other things. I love the unusual, that is part of why I like orchids.

I like the idea of more roof vents, but I want to work on a way to  
shield them from the north and west winds we get here as I found them  
to drive the cold air under roof vents in the winter. I had some roof  
vents on my old greenhouse, but I did not replace them when I put new  
lexan the greenhouse two years ago as I was looking to save heat and  
keep the greenhouse warmer. The problems I have found with my  
greenhouse is you want to keep the heat in at times and you want to  
get rid of it other and it is really hard to do both well. Any one  
have any roof vents with a baffle or other protection around it or  
any ideas on how to seal a vent better than the normal ones that just  
lay on top of the greenhouse.

I am enjoying this discussion, I hope we can come up with some good  
ideas that will help more people.

thanks,

Tom


On Mar 22, 2007, at 12:58 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> Thomas,
>
> Another tactic for "I am both trying to keep the cold out and the very
> expensive heat generated by my furnace in the greenhouse" on cold days
> ("A week ago it was still over 100 in my greenhouse but the outside
> temperature was 10 degrees.") is to have several fans at the top of  
> your
> green house that blow down. This blows the hot air  down to mix with
> colder  sitting near the floor. Warming up the cooler air or  
> cooling the
> hot air depending on how you want to look at it. The effect is a  
> closer
> temperature more homogeneous from top to bottom in the greenhouse.  
> This
> tactic also decreases the amount of time your heater runs if the
> thermostat is located closer to the floor then the top of your
> greenhouse. I do this in my own greenhouse.
> I can't add anything to the ventilating to the outside suggestions you
> have gotten expect it sounds like you either need more vent fans, a
> larger vent fan, some passive roof vents, or a combination to tackle
> your problem of " They barely keep my greenhouse temperature from  
> going
> over 110 at 8 feet." If it is possible to install in your greenhouse I
> would go with adding roof vents that open and close with changes in
> temperature that Denise Nash talked about, more energy efficient.
>
> "If you have anything you are using or any ideas let me know, and lets
> keep this discussion online, I would like to see if we can generate
> something useful for the archives." I applaud you for saying this.
> It allows everyone to learn at the time of discussion, and into the
> future. Discussions can lead to new ideas. If  Ed Merkle and Denise  
> Nash
> had only sent you private e-mails of their excellent posts, we  
> would all
> be the poorer and the OGD would be relegated to news posts and
> squabbles. Nothing wrong with the news posts mind you, but discussion
> is where the OGD gets interesting.
>
> Mark Sullivan
>
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] thoughts and questions on greenhouse ventilation

[Thomas Hillson]

Denise,

Shading is a very important component to reducing heat in the  
greenhouse.
However, this time of year I am trying to maximize light into the
greenhouse, so I look at shading as a last resort. I am more interested
in ways to move cooler air into the greenhouse and heat out without
compromising the amount of sunlight the plants are getting. I agree it
is great in the summer if you can open up your greenhouse so it gets
as much ventilation as possible and the temperature inside is the  
same as
outside.

I am trying to collect as many winter ventilation ideas as I can. If you
have an unlimited budget you can just open roof vents and other vents,
but I find that I have to seal all of my vents for November, December  
and
January to keep the cold out and heat in. I get almost no sunlight
those months so I get little heat input except from my furnace. I  
will put
up a page on my web site when I get everything I have received on
winter ventilation.

thanks,

Tom

On Mar 21, 2007, at 10:34 PM, Denise Nash wrote:

> Ed and Thomas -
>
> I can see that ventilation is a science. You two seem to have very  
> large
> greenhouses. I own a 18 x 11 greenhouse, and I vent with ridge  
> vents. I
> have two ridge vents, one on either side of the peak of the roof of  
> the
> greenhouse. They are set to open at 80 and 82 degrees. At the end of
> February, I begin to notice that the sun has regained some of it's  
> power
> here in the north country. At this time, on a sunny day, at least one
> ridge vent will open. That tells me it's time to unroll my light  
> colored
> 70% shade cloth.
>
> I love my set up. I have 6 awning type windows and a screen door,  
> and in
> summer, it is never any warmer in the greenhouse than it is outside. I
> have two ceiling mounted fans, going almost full blast, also.
>
> In the fall, about mid November, I will notice that on a sunny day,  
> the
> vents don't open. So it's time to roll up the shade cloth once again.
> Simple! Works like a charm.
>
> ~Denise, in SE Lower Michigan
>
>
> Ed Merkle wrote:
>
>> Thomas,
>>
>> All greenhouses should have a way to ventilate excessive heat out.  
>> The
>> best way to do this is with automated exhaust fans and power intake
>> vents of the proper size. It is usually recommended that the exhaust
>> fan(s) should be able to make a complete change in the greenhouse air
>> every 60 to 120 seconds. Your 14 ft x 32 ft greenhouse, if it has  
>> a 10
>> foot roof, probably holds close to 4,000 cubic feet of space.
>> Therefore your exhaust fan(s) should have a total exhaust capacity of
>> about 3,000 to 4,000 cubic feet per minute. Your intake vents should
>> equal roughly twice the area of your exhaust fan(s). (One 24 inch fan
>> = 48 inch vent(s).) Most orchid greenhouses should also have an
>> evaporative cooler or wet pad system to cool and humidify the  
>> greenhouse.
>>
>> During the winter and transitional seasons when the sun warms the
>> greenhouse too much on cold days, an exhaust fan and vents are still
>> necessary. Due to the cold outdoor temperatures, plants should not be
>> exposed to cold breezes coming in through the intake vents. You can
>> either move the plants, or provide a second set of vents that does  
>> not
>> open directly onto the plants. Some growers have been known to  
>> place a
>> blower fan (100 to 900 cfm) at roof height, opposite of the intake
>> vents, and a tube system that pumps the heat down and out, gradually
>> making a change of air over a longer period of time on those cold
>> sunny days.
>>
>> In addition, an orchid greenhouse should have constant air movement
>> throughout by using several fans running 24 hours a day. These fans
>> should constantly mix the air so that temperatures at the roof are  
>> not
>> too different than those near the floor. Even in this kind of
>> situation you should still be able to find micro-climates for the  
>> cool
>> and warm growing orchids.
>>
>> For my own 20 x 50 foot greenhouse here in Nashville, Tennessee, I
>> have a 10,000 cubic feet per minute exhaust fan set on a thermostat
>> that turns it on at 78°F. I have a bank of vents that measures 2 x 16
>> ft, and two 36 inch vents, that open when the fan comes on. I have a
>> wet pad (Stuppy) measuring 4 x 16 ft. that runs during warm  
>> weather. I
>> also have four 1500 cfm fans inside the greenhouse that run 24  
>> hours a
>> day...probably could use a couple more. My object is to provide  
>> enough
>> air movement that the leaves and flowers are constantly moving in a
>> breeze nearly everywhere in the greenhouse.
>>
>> I hope this helps, and I'm sure others may have additional ideas.
>>
>> Ed Merkle
>> Merkle's Orchids
>> 1008 Maplewood Place
>> Nashville, Tennessee 37216
>>
>> _
>> It’s tax season, make sure to follow these few simple tips
>> http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/PreparationTips/ 
>> PreparationTips.aspx?icid=HMMartaglin

Re: [OGD] thoughts and questions on greenhouse ventilation

[Thomas Hillson]

Ed,

Thanks, this is what I am looking for any ideas on alternative ways  
to get cooler air into the greenhouse and the heat out, without  
stressing the plants. I am not sure how many people even look at  
their greenhouse closely this time of year and realize how hot it can  
get with the sun shining on it. I did not until I put my temperature  
monitoring system in.

thanks,

Tom Hillson

On Mar 20, 2007, at 9:40 AM, Ed Merkle wrote:

> Some growers have been known to place a blower fan (100 to 900 cfm)  
> at roof height, opposite of the intake vents, and a tube system  
> that pumps the heat down and out, gradually making a change of air  
> over a longer period of time on those cold sunny days.


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

[OGD] Haploid Orchid

[Thomas Hillson]

I remember producing some haploid plants from Tobacco anthers 30  
years ago when I worked in a research lab. Tobacco is one of the  
wonder plants for plant tissue culture you can do almost anything  
with it and lots of the original tissue culture techniques were  
developed using Nicotiana tabacum var Wisconsin 38. Why this variety  
of tobacco, who knows how it was picked, but it was the variety used  
in Folke Skoog's Lab at the University of Wisconsin, where we got  
Murashige and Skoog medium, the first really successful tissue  
culture medium for plants. Techniques were later developed to create  
haploid plants for almost all major crop plants.

It would be interesting to have some haploid orchids would be, in  
plant breeding haploids are used as a rapid way to produce homozygous  
hybrid plant lines with selected characteristics. Researchers have  
produced haploid plants in all most all major crop plants they are  
then converted to diploid plants before they are used in breeding.  
Companies dealing in breeding most cereal crops. maintain thousands  
of homozygous lines and create new ones all the time. These  
homozygous lines are then crossed to produce the many hybrids raised  
by farmers around the world. If you want more information, do a  
google search for haploid or haploid in plant breeding.

If we could produce haploid orchids easily, it would be interesting  
with species to be able to produce haploid orchids with specific  
unique characteristics that are rare in a species. Imagine selecting  
an albino Paphiopedilum sanderianum, or any orchid that had some  
unique recessive characteristic. If you could produce haploids it  
would be a matter of creating thousands of them, changing them to  
diploid using colchicine and then raising them up and selecting the  
ones you wanted. Like many other breeding projects most of them would  
be mediocre, but the few could be exceptional an homozygous for what  
every characteristics we were selecting for.  It would be interesting  
to see how these plants could be incorporated in to various breeding  
programs and the interesting new hybrids that could be produced.

This is fun to speculate about but I don't know if it will ever happen.

Tom Hillson


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

[OGD] thoughts and questions on greenhouse ventilation

[Thomas Hillson]

I was looking at my temperature monitor for the last few days where
all the wonderful sun shine we are getting is pushing the temperature
at 8 feet in my greenhouse over 100 degrees F, I measure at 8 feet as
that is just above my hanging plants.  I have a temperature
monitoring system with 8 temperature probes scattered through out my
14 x 32 foot greenhouse.  I can move the probes around and see what
micro climates I have the greenhouse year around. I  also use it to
watch for hot and cold spots in the greenhouse where extremes will
give me problems.

I was thinking about new ways to implement ventilation on my sealed
greenhouse. This time of year is harder for me to manage the
temperature in the greenhouse than during the summer. I am both
trying to keep the cold out and the very expensive heat generated by
my furnace in the greenhouse, and still trying to vent my excess heat
from sunshine during the day. Today I could have completely opened my
greenhouse and brought in outside air with the 60 degree temperature
outside. A week ago it was still over 100 in my greenhouse but the
outside temperature was 10 degrees.

What I am getting at does any one have a really nice way to ventilate
your greenhouse during the winter to get rid of excess heat generated
when the sun starts to shine brightly in February and March. I
currently have two winter vent ins my greenhouse one manually
activated and the other has a thermostatically run fan to vent the
excess  heat. They barely keep my greenhouse temperature from going
over 110 at 8 feet. Nicholas Plummer's question got me thinking about
my system and I am trying to work out some additional ways I can
automate the venting of excess heat from the greenhouse during the
winter. if you have anything you are using or any ideas let me know,
and lets keep this discussion online, I would like to see if we can
generate something useful for the archives.

thanks,

Thomas Hillson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Looking for suggestions

[Thomas Hillson]

Martin,

It depends on your interest in orchids, from what you described you  
could grow many different varieties of orchids. Paphiopedilums,  
Phalaenopsis, and Pluerothallids would naturally grow very well under  
these conditions. You could also grow many of the plants from the  
Oncidium family or even from the Cattleya family. I would start out  
with a small collection with a variety of plants a dozen favorites  
and see how they grow for you. You could then go from there selecting  
plants that do well under your conditions.

Talk to some of the growers in your area, but I would imagine in that  
area you could put plants outside in April and leave them out until  
late October. If that is the case you could grow a larger variety of  
plants than I have suggested.

Tom Hillson

On Feb 19, 2007, at 7:50 AM, Rice Martin wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've been away from orchids for quite some time now. Presently I'm
> living in Knoxville, TN and want to begin growing a few orchids
> again. (Far cry from the 250 orchids I was raising a year ago while
> living in Costa Rica.)
>
> The place in my house where I would grow them has windows on the south
> and west sides. During the winter the room is cool but not cold.
>
> I would put the plants outside during late spring and summer and keep
> them inside for the rest of the year. It can get very hot here during
> the summer and I do, of course, have the option of keeping them inside
> all year.
>
> I have two questions:
>
> 1. what might be good orchids to grow under the
> conditions I described above, and
>
> 2. what are a few good sources for
> buying orchids by mail, places with good quality and reasonable  
> prices?
>
> Thanks so much for any help.
>
> Martin Rice
>
>
> Martin
> Website & Blog: 
>
>
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orchid Digest

[Thomas Hillson]

If anyone is interested in getting the Orchid Digest go to their web  
site.

http://www.orchiddigest.com/

They have a nice online form to subscribe.

I have been a member since the early 70's. Through all its changes it  
has remained a great Orchid Magazine. If only the AOS would look at  
them as an example of what people want in an orchid magazine.

Tom Hillson


On Feb 6, 2007, at 6:51 AM, Jay Pfahl wrote:

> Dear OGD's
 hand them the subscription info for Orchid Digest.>>>
> Do you have it? I would like to get it.
> Jay Pfahl
>
> -- 
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Kool-Cel maintenance?

[Thomas Hillson]

Lisa,

Here is what I am doing, I got this from another user years ago.

1. Empty your water storage tank every Fall.
2. First thing in the spring mix up a 20% chlorine bleach in a 5  
gallon bucket. I actually use 3 gallons.
3. Pour this into your storage tank and turn on your system and let  
it run for several hours.
4. Hopefully you have a discharge bypass on your system, and pump the  
chlorine solution back into the 5 gallon bucket.
5. Let the system sit over night and the chlorine should volatilize  
out of the pads over a few days.
6. If the chlorine odor bothers you put a 20% vinegar solution into  
the tank and it should help clear up the chlorine odor.

I put a plastic sheet over plants close to my pads to keep the  
chlorine off of them. I have never burnt anything with the chlorine  
or had any problems with my Pluerothalids that live on the bench  
close to the pads.

--Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Jan 16, 2007, at 2:37 PM, Lisa Thoerle wrote:

> This past summer was the second season I've had a Kool-Cel wall in the
> greenhouse, and I clearly wasn't very successful at keeping the pads
> clean.  Kool-Cel is the stuff that looks like a Brobdingnabian's
> implementation of corrugated cardboard;  you pump water over it, allow
> it to trickle down, and pull air through the wet pads to cool
> evaporatively (if that can be an adjective).
>
> How do folks keep their Kool-Cel pads clean and free of algae?   
> What do
> you use, how often, and how much?  How long do your pads last?  Are
> there better pads available than the ones from Kool-Cel?  Where do you
> buy your replacement pads?
>
> Many thanks,
> Lisa, pleurothallidiot with gummy pads
>
> -- 
> Lisa Thoerle, Little Compton, RI
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] pebbles in trays for humidity

[Thomas Hillson]

Sjean,

One way to increase humidity in the home is to set a small humidifier  
near the plants to increase the humidity for them. Do not have the  
air from the humidifier blowing directly on the plants, but in their  
general direction. This works best if you have the plants in a room  
you can close off from the rest of the house. Be careful you do not  
increase the humidity to much it can cause mold on the walls.


Another option is to build a plastic tent around the plants with a  
small fan blowing air on the pebble tray. This provides a reduced  
volume around the plants and elevates the humidity. I used a small  
fan as it kept the air moving around the plants and kept them from  
living in stagnant air. I also kept the tent slightly open to keep  
some fresh air in around the plants. For a fan go to Radio Shack or  
an electronic supply place and get a small 5 volt fan and power  
supply, this will move the air around the plants and the low voltage  
makes it safer around water. You can move the plants out of the  
growing area if they are in bloom and set them where you can  
appreciate them.


--Tom
/---
| Tom Hillson Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED]In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu

|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"



On Jan 11, 2007, at 3:07 PM, Sjean wrote:


Hello all,

I hear and read over and over again that orchids in the home should  
be grown sitting over trays of water with pebbles to keep the pots  
out of the water, yet I seem to recall reading somewhere that this  
doesn't help raise the humidity at all.


What do you experts have to say about this?  Has anything been  
published?


Thank you,
Sjean in California

Any questions? Get answers on any topic at Yahoo! Answers. Try it now.
___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

[OGD] Why bitch about the AOS

[Thomas Hillson]

Why are you bitching about the AOS on this list, do you think most  
people in the AOS pay attention to this list? Some do but are they  
the right people to make changes? If you really want to see changes  
in the AOS, pay your dues and get involved. Change can only happen if  
people care enough to get involved and tell the people in charge that  
you are not happy with the organization. They are spending money in  
the wrong places and here is what you would like to see for your  
dues. If they do not make changes after you have made the effort to  
get them to change, then you can quit and complain. If you are just  
sitting in the weeds expecting someone else to step up and make the  
changes for you, it will not happen, or the changes that happen will  
be exactly what you are opposed to!

I have been a member of the AOS for over thirty years, due to the  
efforts of a friend I am getting involved trying to do some things  
and get involved with the AOS. I am not that active as I do not have  
that much time. I hope I can become more involved as time goes on. I  
hope that my efforts are appreciated and I can earn a voice that will  
be recognized and listened to. If you are sitting on the outside  
throwing stones you will not create any change, except they will  
classify you as a trouble maker and ignore you.

If you do not think you can make a change, you will not make any  
change. A favorite saying of mine is from my grandfather, who always  
said "you only get change if you put in your two cents".

--Tom
/--- 
-
| Tom Hillson  Orchid Grower Specializing
| [EMAIL PROTECTED] In Paphs and Pleurothallids
| http://www.orchids.iastate.edu
 
-
|"There is always room for one more Orchid!!"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Selfing

[Thomas Hillson]

Ken,

Most people I have talked to do a self pollination for two reasons.

1. it is extremely rare, or it is the only example they have or have  
seen of the species, so they self pollinate it to propagate the  
species. In most cases growers will try to swap pollen with a  
cooperating grower who has another plant of the same species.

2. it is an exceptional example of a species, that is above all other  
plants of the species they have or have seen. As a result they would  
be mixing inferior genes with an exceptional plant to do a sibling  
cross. The grower self pollinates the plant with hope to get some  
great progeny they can then sib cross to create an exceptional line  
of the species.

Many individuals will self pollinate their plants because they want  
to propagate a species they have and do not know anyone to swap with  
the same species they can swap pollen with.

Personally, I have only self pollinated a plant for the second  
reason, because it is an exceptional species and I have not seen  
anything that approaches it, and I want to propagate the plant.  
Unfortunately, I have found that many times self pollination gives  
very poor seed production and very poor germination of what you get  
for seed, this varies a lot by genera.

Tom Hillson

On Nov 22, 2006, at 2:11 PM, Dr Ken Williams wrote:

> I often see that an orchid plant is a 'selfing'.  What do hybridisers
> seek to gain by 'selfing'?  On what basis do they select an orchid to
> self.
>
> Ken Williams (Newcasle, Australia)
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Addition of CO2

[Thomas Hillson]

This is fascinating, as it would make Orchids completely different  
from every other plant grown commercially.


All studies I have ever read show that CO2 is rate limiting for  
Photosynthesis and if you increase the CO2 you can increase the rate  
or photosynthesis and the growth of the plants. Even aquarium  
enthusiasts use supplemental CO2 to stimulate their plant growth.


I will admit I have not read much in this area in the last 20 years,  
and I really don't care, if CO2 increases the growth of my plants,  
then I am happy. It will not cost me much money and just a little  
time to see what happens.


Tom Hillson


On Nov 16, 2006, at 6:24 PM, Andrew Easton wrote:

I'm afraid this discussion has not really addressed any substantive  
issues. To get benefit from adding CO2, you would have to be  
measuring the concentration in the growing area at the critical  
time of day (or night) and be able to show that either it dropped  
to a level which was rate limiting for photosynthesis or that  
increased levels produced some measurable improvement in some  
useful physiological process.


The Dutch researchers, always searching for a competive edge, have  
looked at CO2 addition and found no benefits and indeed never were  
greenhouse levels low enough to limit photosynthesis. Published?  
Probably not but widely circulated in grower newsletters.


We used to believe that adding CO2 to the air conditioned houses  
used to initiate Phalaenopsis flowers in Florida was useful. Some  
scientists even explained that the higher CO2 levels were reducing  
respiration in the heat of the afternoon and thereby assisting  
growth indirectly by this reduction. I was sceptical and we ceased  
use of CO2, saving many thousands of dollars over a summer-fall  
period and there was absolutely no change in the speed of  
initiation or the number of spikes initiated per plant.


Andy Easton
___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Cost of dry ice

[Thomas Hillson]

This has generated some interesting discussion on using CO2 to  
stimulate orchid growth.


I am like by the idea of using CO2 to stimulate the growth of my  
orchids, but I wonder which is more economical to use Dry Ice or  
Fermentation. Dry Ice costs about about $3.00 per week to do it the  
way Charles Baker is doing it, but by my calculations it should cost  
only about $.50 to $1.00 a week to use fermentation to do the same  
thing.


What needs to be determined is what level of CO2 you can get with the  
Dry Ice and what level of CO2 you can get with fermentation per cubic  
foot of growing space and how much it costs. I have the feeling that  
using dry ice you can get a higher CO2 level for a large growing area  
like Charles. But for a smaller enclosed area where you might be  
growing seedlings, that fermentation would work better, as it is hard  
to control the "melting" of a small quantity of dry ice.


Does anyone know of an inexpensive way to monitor your CO2 level. I  
found some expensive methods and one less expensive, but also less  
accurate method.


I am going to set up a simple three way experiment using CO2 from dry  
ice, CO2 from fermentation and no supplemental CO2 to see what effect  
it has on my seedling growth. The thing I need is a simple,  
inexpensive way to measure CO2 levels in the enclosed areas.


thanks,

Tom Hillson

On Nov 15, 2006, at 8:26 PM, Charles E. Bracker wrote:



On November 15, [EMAIL PROTECTED] asked about the cost of dry ice  
in “most areas of the US” (OGD Vol. 8, Issue 386).  Our most recent  
purchase yesterday (Nov. 14) cost us 86 cents per pound plus sales  
tax.


Readers may recall that our 3 pound blocks weighed more than 3  
pounds each when I actually weighed them here at home (OGD Vol 8,  
Issue 386).  But the dealer charged us for the actual amount we  
ordered.  So even though we actually took home 10 pounds, 10 oz. of  
dry ice, we paid for 9 pounds of product as the dealer weighed it.


I hope that provides an answer for one location in the US.  We live  
in northwest central Indiana.  Best regards.


Dr. Charles E. Bracker
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

[OGD] Using Elevated CO2 to promote growth of orchids

[Thomas Hillson]

Is  anyone using supplemental CO2 to promote the growth of their  
orchids. I have a friend who is into aquatic plants and creating  
various natural environments for native plants, and he started asking  
me about using CO2 from fermentation to supplement the CO2 in his  
aquaria to stimulate the growth of his plants. This got me interested  
so I started reading about what was being done on the various web  
discussion sites about using CO2 from fermentation to stimulate the  
growth of plants in the aquariums. It looks like a very simple  
process to get into much easier than when I was into making wine and  
beer in my younger days.

  I started to look at my seedling area and decided I am going to try  
to use CO2 to stimulate their growth.

I was wondering if anyone had already done anything with this for  
their orchids seedlings or mature plants?

thanks,

Tom Hillson

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Paph Advice and Peruflora

[Thomas Hillson]

Graham,I grow my Paphiopedilums of the section Corypetalum all  in clay pots with coconut husk potting media. I follow the instructions posted by AnTec Labs for use of coconut husks for my potting media. The only difference I make is I cap my pots with a 1/2 inch layer of New Zealand or Chilean Sphagnum to reduce the drying out of the base of the plants. It helps promote the growth of new roots. I grow my plants of this group in as much light as I can with out burning the plants. I reduce watering of these plants in the winter, in that they are allowed to dry out some, and in the summer I keep them very moist. I repot every year. Most of the plants of this group especially the hybrids like some fertilizer. I fertilize continuously with a very low level of fertilizer  >50 ppm N from March through October and my plants have responded very well to it. I use a variety of fertilizers as I found my plants do better with the variety than with one standard fertilizer. The one thing that is important to blooming this group well is lots of light. I grow mine hanging high in my greenhouse close to the glazing and I move them outside in the summer where I have them in a shade house that has lots of ventilation and they get lots of light. I also allow my plants to get cooled in the fall, I keep these plants out until the first frost warning then they come back in. I read a note years ago by Ray Rands who said they like cool temperatures in the fall and winter, so I use the cool fall to give them a chill. Even with all this I can not get them to bloom yearly, but they do very well for me giving me great flower displays biannually.good luck,Tom HillsonOn Nov 9, 2006, at 8:25 PM, Graham Marriott wrote:Iris, thanks for your kind tips, I was mostly concerned on my “praestans” crosses and my cherished “kolopakingii” which is presently producing scarce flowers on the stems.  I haven’t tried drying out my plants to force flowering (don’t feel like) but certainly will try reducing water.  Never had problems with well-drained mix… rainwater has indeed proved me the best results.___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Water/no water for deciduous catasetinae

[Thomas Hillson]

Nancy,

When my Cynoches, Catasetum, etc start to bloom as the foliage is  
dropping I just keep lightly watering or misting base of the plant  
until it is done flowering. I stop fertilizing at the same time as I  
find that the blooming does not appear to benefit from fertilizing. I  
find if I stop watering completely I can loose the flowers.

When they are done blooming, I stop watering as I normally would this  
time of year.

Tom Hillson

On Oct 26, 2006, at 2:54 PM, nancy wrote:

> Greetings -
> I face the same dilemma every year: when fall and
> winter-blooming cycnoches, catasetum, etc. have lost
> most/all of their foliage, and are beginning to send
> out an inflorescence - I'm always uncertain whether to
> water normally or stop (or something in between). I
> think I've tried both; it seems like sometimes the
> inflorescence grows normally, sometimes it shrivels
> up.
> Some of the growers who bloom these spectacular
> rascals every year - what is your verdict on this?
> Common sense says no leaves=no water...but it also
> says buds+water = flowers.
> And how about fertilizer? I am in the deep south, USA,
> if it makes a difference.
> When they bloom, it *is* always a real thrill.
> Regards - Nancy
>
>
>
> ~~~
> "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful.
> It's the transition that's troublesome."
> Isaac Asimov
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Dealing with Catasetum 'keikis'

[Thomas Hillson]

Nancy,

Treat it as you would your mature Catasetum's, I am no
expert on them, but I have a several and one produces
keiki's on it regularly. I just pot them up when they
break off, or I take them off. They grow like the larger
plants and go dormant when they are ready. They will
start growing the next spring and should flower for you
in a couple of years.

Tom Hillson


On Oct 8, 2006, at 12:08 PM, nancy wrote:

> Greetings -
> Two keikis began growing on the oldest pseudobulb of a
> Catasetum...one came loose in a storm, so I removed
> both and have mounted on a piece of wood.
> Size: the newest p'bulb is about infant forearm sized,
> the keikis baby finger sized.
> My concern - I'm not sure if these are big enough to
> survive winter dormancy if I allow/encourage them to
> lose all foliage. Would it be better to try to keep
> the foliage intact, or let them enter dormancy? I
> would guess that these need the same type of care as
> seedlings - do breeders let seedlings go dormant?
> Thanks for any advice - Nancy
>
>
> 
> "If it's beautifully arranged on the plate, you know
> someone's fingers have been all over it."
> -- Julia Child
>
> ___
> the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
> orchids@orchidguide.com
> http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

[OGD] Power washing greenhouse

[Thomas Hillson]

Hi,

I was out looking at my greenhouse over the weekend and I noticed a  
lot of crud had accumulated from bird droppings to general dirt. Has  
anyone used a power washer on a Lexan covered greenhouse? Did you use  
any cleaner along with the washer, or just water?

Tom Hillson

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] hurricanes + Paph pod production

[Thomas Hillson]

Terry,

I do not make near as many crosses as you do ten a year vs. your  
hundreds, but I know that when I made significant changes to my  
greenhouse environment that I saw many changes in my seed pod  
production including both reductions in pod set at first to increases  
in pod set and seed production as the plants adjusted to the new  
condition. I would guess that your plants are simply reacting to all  
the changes, hurricane, fire and smoke, and upgrade in greenhouse  
covering and ventilation. I know it is not what you want to hear, but  
I would imagine that as the plants readjust to your new conditions  
that your breeding program will go back to normal. I know it is  
frustrating as I lost all my seed pods the year I recovered my  
greenhouse, but as the plants readjusted to the new conditions I am  
getting much better pod set and seed production on the few crosses I  
am making.

good luck,

Tom Hillson



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orchid Viruses

[Thomas Hillson]

In my opinion unless it is a really valuable plant, I just trash it. I find it cheaper to buy a new clone or a new different plant than to waste money on testing. If it was one of my stud plants I would get it tested, otherwise it is gone.Tom HillsonOn Aug 25, 2006, at 11:14 AM, K Barrett wrote:Recently, on a different forum, a person showed pictures of orchids he suspected of harboring virus.  Of course no one can tell from a picture whether a plant is virused or not. It should be tested.  I was about to recommend to the person showing the pictures that he get his plants tested when I realized that I wouldn't know what the test results would mean.  Anyone interested in talking about viruses?   I wondered about how we judge 'by sight' if a plant has a virus.  I know about color break in a bloom.  I know about a trapeziodal mark on a leaf of a cymbidium.  I know about longitudinal streaks in a leaf.Of these 3 the only one I believe to be pathognomonic is the trapezoidal mark on a cymbidium leaf.  Color break can come from a variety of sources, heat, pesticides are two that come to mind.  Streaked leaves from heat or other poor culture. In the back of my mind I recall that old cut-flower houses didn't really care about virused plants as long as the virus didn't affect the bloom, therefore there are several viruses housed in orchids, but since they don't affect the blooms they aren't considered a problem.  Also in the back of my mind I recall that labs only test for a few viruses and you have to know which is virus a problem for your plant; like should you care about odont ring spot or cymbidium virus if you only grow cattleyas? Which brings up another possible myth: not all orchids are 'susceptible' to virus  (Paphs aren't?? something like that.)  Any information would be a help.  Obviously I've got a lot to learn   K Barrett N Calif, USA  Search from any Web page with powerful protection. Get the FREE Windows Live Toolbar Today! Try it now!___the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)orchids@orchidguide.comhttp://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com ___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Merit

[Thomas Hillson]

Title: Re: [OGD] Merit


Sue,

I use two tablespoons per gallon of water with a little Safer's
insecticidal soap as a spreader sticker. I sprayed the plants a second
and third time at two week intervals. If you go through the
calculations for how much to use compared to other formulas with the
imidaclopid in it, it works out to about 1.0 ounces per gallon, which
is about two tablespoons.

I have seen no problems with it on my orchid collection and it
has pretty much eliminated my insect problems, only time will show how
accurate I am with that assessment. I plan on spraying again in the
Fall to eliminate anything that may have come in on new plants.

If you want more information, I believe there was a message in
Earlier this Spring where someone went through all the calculations
for various formulations of imidaclopid.

Tom

/
| Tom
Hillson   
Agriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of
Agriculture
| 
Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little
time"



At 5:15 PM -0400 6/7/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Can anyone tell me what proportion to use of Bayer
Tree and Shrub insect control?  It has 1.47percent Imidaclopid. 
Thanks in advance since I'm leaving town for a few weeks.
  Sue
Golan

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Carson's Rant - Agreement

[Thomas Hillson]

I agree with Carson's Discussion on CITES.

I feel that CITES is nothing more than an impediment in the way of 
Legal International Trade. Is there need for rules regulating the 
International Trade in Orchids, yes? I feel we need an International 
Treaty that not only controls the movement of plants, but how 
Countries treat their endangered species. Most Countries would not 
like other Countries telling them they can not mine where they want 
to or they can not allow clear cutting of trees in certain areas, or 
build roads where ever they want to with out allowing people to go in 
and salvage endangered species. That is what needs to be added to the 
CITES Treaty to make it work. Then with the proper permits people can 
salvage the plants and the plants be replanted into similar areas and 
allowed to continue to provide beauty for all, and some people with 
proper permits can salvage the plants and they can be taken to 
nurseries and grown on and the progeny put into the commercial 
market. All of this could be added to the current treaty with a 
standard set of rules and permits that allow people to do deal with 
plants for preserving them in natural setting or selling them in 
International Trade without being burdened by foolish and cumbersome 
rules. Salvage should be Salvage, no matter what the destiny of the 
plants. If it is not then why bother to preserve them if the Country 
of origin can just bulldoze the plants with out allowing for any 
preservation of the plants.

At the same time their need to be serious criminal penalties for 
people who are collecting plants illegally, or selling them 
illegally. At the same time we need to make sure that those people 
who are selling plants legally are not burdened with too many 
regulations to allow them run their business. Like most legal systems 
we need a set of rules that are simple, easy to follow and not 
burdened by too much red tape.

As an amateur who used to import plants and flask from International 
Growers, I am very frustrated that I have to go through way more 
paper work than I feel is necessary to import plants. I would 
probably only import two to twelve flasks a year, and it is not worth 
my time to do the work to get the plants. I can call one of the US 
growers and get most of what I want from them with out the paper 
work. This is great it is making more money for local growers, but it 
is Restricting Trade!

CITES has probably done a great job of restricting trade on Animals 
and Animal parts and there by preserved Animals in their native 
habitats. I do not see the same benefits for plants. I just see a 
Restriction on Trade.


-- 
--Tom

/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Genetics Question

[Thomas Hillson]

Iris,

I have noticed this with lots of species and hybrids. I have five 
different B. nodosa, one blooms regularly, two bloom on a very 
irregular schedule, and my last two are ones I grew from seed sent to 
me years ago by a friend. The seed grown ones have never bloomed. I 
think there is a great deal of variety in B. nodosa in its 
requirements for blooming and its growth characteristics.

I have seen the same thing with Paph. rothschildianum and its 
hybrids, there are some Paph. rothschildianum's that appear to be 
great parents, the progeny bloom early and easily. Other Paph. 
rothschildianum's and their progeny bloom rarely and with difficulty. 
Paph. rothschildianum 'Borneo' and many of its progeny are easier to 
grow and bloom, while Paph. rothschildianum "Charles E'  and much of 
its progeny are very slow growing and more difficult to bloom. I have 
15 Paph. St. Swithins, those not of 'Charles E' breeding bloom almost 
yearly, while the plants from 'Charles E' bloom have about 3 to 4 
years between blooming. It takes that long for them to mature a 
growth. These plants are next to each other on the bench and growing 
under the same conditions.

The basis for this is probably genetic, I have no proof of this, but 
it would be interesting if someone could take the project on and 
prove one way of the other what is happening. For now, if I have a 
plant I can not bloom, I give it to someone else and get a different 
plant from another source, or I get several plants from several 
sources.

This is especially frustrating for the beginner who has a small 
collection and is just getting stared. They want their plants to 
bloom and do not want to play the games some of us go through because 
we have to have a varied collection. My advice, always buy plants in 
bloom, until you get enough experience you are willing to take the 
chance on something you are not familiar with and is different from 
what you normally grow. Always make sure the plant will grow and 
bloom under your conditions, unless you are willing to make new space 
just for that plant.

I used to grow only Paphiopedilums, and I have since branched out 
into a variety of genera as I love the diversity in my collection. I 
love to try something new.

--Tom

/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"


At 8:14 AM -0400 5/18/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>You recall I complained about a seedling from Carter & Holmes of a 
>cross between two awarded B. nodosa. It grew & grew but refused to 
>bloom. (Wild collected B. nodosa from Andy's bloomed normally.) I 
>had it mounted on tree fern. It was very close coupled; there was 
>hardly any rhizome between the growths. The leaves were pretty 
>normal; perhaps a little less terete than you would expect, but 
>didn't look like a hybrid. I was advised to give it more of a rest 
>period. Last summer, which was dry & hot, I starved & dried it into 
>submission. Finally, toward the end of the summer, it produced one 
>pathetic flower bud. I gave up & put it on the raffle table, hoping 
>it would perform better for someone with different conditions.
>This year I obtained a small division of Bob Wyman's locally famous 
>B. nodosa 'Linda,' HCC/AOS, from Rochester. It is very rangy, so I 
>mounted it on a big (for me) piece of cork bark. It has been rooting 
>like mad & grew a couple of new leaves (a little less rangy under my 
>conditions). Already, the first new growth has a flower bud. Any 
>comments on this?
>Iris
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


-- 

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] r/o units in U.S.

[Thomas Hillson]

Charles,

The least expensive RO systems I have purchased lately have been on 
eBay. There are several vendors there selling very inexpensive units. 
I have purchase two for myself and two for friends to use and I 
helped  them install the units.

If you are only looking for a small quantity of very pure water, why 
don't you collect condensate from your dehumidifier, or rain water. I 
started out doing that and found the benefits of it for all my plants 
that I went to RO water. I can not collect enough rain water some 
years to keep my plants going. I purchased 5 gallon plastic carboys 
from a beer/wine making supply house to stored my water in. I could 
keep almost keep a years supply of water for the 40 plants I watered 
with it to begin. I got ten of the carboys 25 years ago and I still 
have four of them. I think they were high density polyethylene 5 
gallon carboys.

I would not worry about heating the water, just set a container you 
will water from in the plant area the night before you water and it 
will be at room temperature for the plants. Or keep a carboy on a 
shelf that in the plant area so you always have room temperature 
water to use on the plants. I did that and had a series of tubes 
going out of it I could water from. The carboy was higher than the 
plants so simple siphon action moved the water for me.

Tom Hillson


At 4:51 PM -0500 3/15/06, Charles Ufford wrote:
>Hello all,
>
>Question for North American members: I am looking to purchase a
>small reverse-osmosis system to be shipped to Upstate NY and am
>wondering where you have seen and purchased units, best units and
>best prices. It won't have to be a large capacity system as I am not
>a greenhouse grower. I'll probably store in a large garbage can, and
>will also need info about a submersible pump that I can hook a garden
>hose to, or at least has that size fitting. Will most likely use a
>submersible water-heater aquarium type to keep temps up in Winter.
>
>I have had some problems with a few species that probably didn't
>like the chlorine in the municipal water supply, so bought a water
>filter that is supposed to remove 'virtually all chlorine'. Problem
>is that I've seen discoloration and plant death and other negative
>results that lead me to believe that my filter is of the type
>discussed on this forum months ago, and the water has less chlorine
>but now more sodium and such in it. Things looked better before the
>filter This area is supposed to have good water quality but
>the chlorine bothers things. I the water were r/o, then I know that
>would be one problem eliminated.
>
>Along other lines, there are chemicals in the aquarium trade that
>remove chlorine and chloramines from tap water that is going to be
>used for fish/plants in an aquarium setting. Is there anybody out
>there that knows about these chemicals and that if the treated water
>were used on orchids, it wouldn't hurt them? I know that they are
>supposed to be safe for the fish and water plants, but then of course
>my orchids cost alot more than the fish I have bought in the past,
>and I don't feel like making an assumption that could jeopardize my
>collection! (of course reef systems are much more expensive so a
>chemical would have to be safe for them as well)
>
>thanks for your help,
>charles
>--
>Charles Ufford
>Oriskany, NY USA
>IPA, Central NY and Southern Tier Orchid Societies
>www.cnyos.org
>www.geocities.com/charlesufford
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


-- 
--Tom

/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Orthene toxicity...Merit

[Thomas Hillson]

Ed,

Some question about Merit are you using it as a 
liquid or Wetable power, and where are you 
getting it from? It sounds interesting with its 
very low LD50 of about 2000 mg /kg. I like to 
have a variety of insecticides available to me 
and this sounds like one I want to add to my 
collection.

thanks

Tom Hillson


>
>Anyone know if Orthene Systemic (9.4% Acephate) is harmful to Paphs and
>Phrags?
>
>Jerry in IN "
>
>
>Hi Jerry,
>
>I've used 97% Orthene soluable crystals for 
>years without problem.  These are crystals that 
>you dissolve in water and spray and/or irrigate 
>your plants with it.  However, the product you 
>mention is 9.4% Orthene.  Is this a liquid 
>product?  If it is, and its in a petroleum 
>carrier, you could run into trouble.  Its not 
>the Orthene that can cause problems, but the 
>petroleum carrier.  Since you live in Indiana, 
>you can probably find the 97% or 75% Orthene dry 
>crystals at your local farmer's cooperative. 
>Down here in the southern United States its used 
>to kill fire ants.  This stuff does stink very 
>badly in the dry form and it is a poison, so use 
>care.  I've switched over to the insecticide 
>Merit myself.  Its a systemic that seems to work 
>better than Orthene and no stink.  A new product 
>on the market that is highly recommended is 
>Bayer Advanced Garden Insect Killer which 
>contains Merit (imidacloprid).  It is labeled 
>for use on nearly all ornamental and potted 
>plants and the labeling suggests it can be safe 
>to use around the home with care, and protect 
>any aquariums.  It can be found at nearly any 
>retail garden outlet, in a ready to use blue 
>spray bottle or in a concentrate.  It works 
>really great.  Price is about $5.
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>Ed Merkle
>Merkle's Orchids
>1008 Maplewood Place
>Nashville, Tennessee  37216
>
>_
>FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar – 
>get it now! 
>http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/
>
>
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


-- 
--Tom

/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Enstarholics?

[Thomas Hillson]

Title: Re: [OGD] Enstarholics?


John,

You should always worry about the toxicity
of a chemical to people and pets. However Estar II is almost non-toxic
to mammals. If you look at the MSDS for it you will find these
toxicity rates.

ACUTE TOXICITY
Oral: LD50 (rat): 1,649 mg/kg
Dermal: LD50 (rabbit): >2,000 mg/kg (highest dose level
tested)
Inhalation: LC50 (rat): >4.6 mg/I (4
hr.) (highest dose level tested)

Other insecticides Pyrethrin, LD50 200
mg/kg, Malathion, LD50 1375 mg/kg. Orthene, LD50 700
mg/kg.

As you can see you might get sick from
drinking the entire bottle, or doing something else stupid. Enstar II
will cause you very few problems. From my own problems with food
allergies, I know there are probably a few people out there sensitive
to Enstar. Taking normal precautions of gloves, goggles, clothing
covering the body and showering immediately after using will prevent
most problems. I follow these precautions as I have developed several
allergies as I have gotten older, and I used to work with much more
toxic chemicals that required them.

From my own experience I am much more
sensitive to Orthene and Malathion than to S-kinoprene.

FYI I got all the LD50 levels by searching
for insecticide ld50. There is a lot of information on the web if you
just look for it.

Tom Hillson

At 9:46 PM + 2/28/06, John Stanley wrote:
Since I am
approaching my 'sell-by' date I suppose I needn't be too concerned but
some more youthful subscribers may wonder, even
though Enstar may have "minimal effects on other insects"
(Paul Johnson), are there any potential hazards to Homo
sapiens, especially when applying it in the confines of
a small orchid house in recirculating humid air?  Just a
thought!
John
Stanley

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] scale/ENSTAR II

[Thomas Hillson]

Even a small quantity of Enstar II is expensive, but you dilute it a 
lot, my last bottle has lasted over 5 years. You want to be sure you 
store it in a dark cool place.

This is my current source, if anyone knows of a cheaper source sound 
off so we can all benefit.
http://www.growersupply.com/enstarii.html

Tom Hillson

At 6:00 AM -0700 2/27/06, Richard Buchanan wrote:
>Can someone tell me where to purchase a small quantity of ENSTAR II on-line?
>
>mickinmontana
>
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Off Topic Computer Problem

[Thomas Hillson]

Title: Re: [OGD] Off Topic Computer
Problem


Iris,

1. Do other programs in Virtual PC have problems printing to the
Canon printer?

2. Do you have the latest driver with for the printer installed
or did you install what came with it? I have found problems with the
drivers shipped with printers being very out of date, while you can
find the latest updated driver on the company site. Download and
install the newest driver for the printer and see if that helps.

3. I have no problems with my Virtual PC and Orchidwiz printing
to a Xerox or HP printer.

Tom


At 4:06 PM -0500 2/20/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Sorry to bother you. As you know, I am using OrchidWiz
in Virtual PC 7 on the Mac. It works like a breeze, except for one
little thing. My printer is a Canon Pixma iP 1600. When I print a
Report from OrchidWiz, it weaves its way through the Virtual Printer
path and comes out on the Mac printer, but the print is pale (although
readable). This is not due to the ink or the printer. It doesn't
matter if you click color or black & white. There is nothing about
this on the Virtual PC help site. Anyone have any suggestions?
By the way, if you started out with OrchidWiz 1 and upgrade to 2, be
sure to uninstall version 1. I had several problems until I figured
that out.
Iris

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Cheap but effective humidity

[Thomas Hillson]

Title: Re: [OGD] Cheap but effective
humidity



I set up a system in my greenhouse where I ran a water line to
PVC pipe under my east bench, with three low volume mist nozzles
mounted on it pointed down. I have two fans blowing the moist air
under the benches toward the west end of the greenhouse.  I have
an irrigation controller designed for a garden irrigation system in
the line controlling how much water is sprayed under the bench. For my
conditions I find that during the day 15 minutes per hour misting and
at night 10 minutes of misting give me about 80 to 85 % relative
humidity. I have the timer set up in an easily accessible area so I
can adjust it as needed to add or reduce misting time. One thing I
need to add to this is a screen or filter to remove any particulates
that are coming through the water. I have had one nozzle clog up this
winter.

This system is simple, inexpensive and easy to set up and if you
have a greenhouse you can spray water on the floor it is a simple way
to add humidity. I tried a Hermidifier, and other more expensive
humidification methods and none of them worked as simple and easy as
this does.

Tom

/
| Tom
Hillson 
Orchid Grower Specializing
|
[EMAIL PROTECTED]    In Paphs and Pleurothallids
|
http://www.orchids.iastate.edu 
-

At 1:55 PM +0200 1/26/06, Frikkie Marais wrote:
Hi
 
Does anyone know of a
method/instrument that can supply moisture/humidity as cheap as
possible with low preasure water.
 
It must be able
to keep the RH above 75%.
 
Regards
 
Frikkie Marais
South Africa

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Virus on Simanis Orchids site

[Thomas Hillson]

Did you notify them that this had happened. I have found that lots of 
sites in some areas of the world are subject to lots of hacking and 
can have Trojans or other programs installed by them without the 
owners knowledge. I have even seen it happen to severs at various 
institutions in the U.S.



At 11:47 AM + 1/26/06, Oliver Sparrow wrote:
>A warning: I browsed (26 Jan 06) the Simanis Orchids (Indonesia) site - for
>which I am *not* going to give a URL - and it immediately tried to download a
>trojan virus onto my computer. Fortunately I have heavy duty protection and it
>did not get anywhere, but others may be less protected.
>__
>
>Oliver Sparrow
>+44 (0)20 7736 9716
>www.chforum.org
>
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


-- 
--Tom

/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Phragmipedium kovachii

[Thomas Hillson]

FYI... Jerry and everyone else. If you put a complete URL for a site 
on a separate line in your message any email client should be able to 
open the browser and the URL. If you just put a partial URL with out 
the http:// only some email clients will correctly open it or the 
person will have to hold down a key combination to make it recognize 
the URL for what it is and open it correctly.

A URL like this will only be opened by some email clients and 
browsers without a key combination.
www.orchidweb.com

A URL like this should be correctly opened by most email clients and browsers.
http://www.orchidweb.com

Just a quick educational point, for my job I have had to work out how 
to send URL's via email so everyone can open it.

At 7:00 PM -0600 12/30/05, Orchids Limited wrote:
>We have just posted Phrag. kovachii futures on our website
>www.orchidweb.com . The plants are now growing well. Jerry, Orchids Limited
>
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


-- 
--Tom

/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Acetone

[Thomas Hillson]

Peter,

No, it should not be not be toxic at that level, unless you are 
working with plant material that is very sensitive to acetone. I make 
up anything I have that is difficult to dissolve in water in ethanol 
and then dilute it to a stock concentrate with water. I have never 
had any trouble with it. It has been a long time since I dissolved 
anything in acetone.

Tom

At 11:04 AM +1300 12/13/05, Peter and Clemence wrote:
>Hi,
>If i disolve a chemical in acetone to make a stock solution, will the
>acetone have an effect on the media or plants?
>In other words is acetone toxic to plant material at dilution rates of
>1:1000?
>thanks,
>Peter Spear.


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] bigger leaves or bigger roots

[Thomas Hillson]

Alan,

I always worry more about root growth as I figure if you have good 
roots, the shoots and leaves will be happy. It is also easy to see 
how your leaves are looking, roots are harder, people have used clear 
plastic pots and lots of other things. I am especially careful with 
seedlings to make sure they are developing a good root system, I find 
once they have a good root system established the leaves follow along.

Tom Hillson

At 1:02 PM + 12/9/05, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Hi Group,
>
>I have been wondering about a general cultural question.
>Confining my question to orchids growing in pots or flats.
>
>Which would be the quickest way to mature plants?
>I am assessing maturity as the production of flowering size growths or bulbs.
>
>Would it be best to feed plants with a regime that encourages extra 
>root growth, as extra big roots encourage bigger leaves? Or would it 
>be better to increase the leaf size by feeding a regime that 
>encourages leaf expansion and so thereby increases photosynthesis 
>and faster growth leads to maturity quicker.
>
>By restricting the root growth of plants, does one also limit leaf 
>expansion and growth or does the plant simply put more leaf growth 
>out as the roots are not growing so much?
>
>I do know your can grow huge plants of Cymbidiums or Paphs by 
>growing them in beds with extensive root runs,
>
>Obviously the two are interdependent but I have been wondering which 
>is the more important?
>Is it likely that there is a general plant physiology answer that 
>would hold true for orchids and non-orchids.
>
>Thanks for any input.
>With regards
>Alan L Winthrop
>
>http://www.tissuequickplantlabs.com/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Vermiculite as a sphagnum substitute

[Thomas Hillson]

In some testing I did years ago I found vermiculite to be a very bad 
media component for Orchids. It holds too much water and because it 
is expanded mica, it has a tendency to collapse over time. Once 
collapsed it fill the air spaces in the media making it a water 
holding mud. Perlite is a much better supplement as it holds its 
shape over time and helps provide expanded air space in a media.

I find sphagnum to be a very good media for a variety of orchids. You 
do have to repot with it on a yearly basis. I have never grown 
Maxillaria, but it works great for Pluerothallids, Paphiopedilums, 
Phalaenopsis, Cattleya's and Oncidiums.

It is also a great media for seedlings as you are moving them on to 
larger containers most of the moss falls away from the roots and I 
can repot into what ever media I am moving the seedlings into.

What media is not getting expensive and difficult to find quality 
material in quantity.

I never look down at any media as all of them have their place with 
some orchids. It depends on your growing conditions and your cultural 
conditions. One growers tea is another growers poison.

At 1:40 PM +1100 11/18/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>I am trying to avoid the use of sphagnum moss for several reasons:
>1. it deteriorates over time and can then destroy roots of orchids
>2. when used alone, it is difficult to remove, especially from fine 
>roots as in maxillaria
>3. sphagnum  moss is getting expensive, and harder to find a source 
>of good quality moss.
>
>My recent solution to this problem has been the use of seedling 
>grade bark, 5mm, along with 25% 5mm perlite. It has been very 
>satisfactory for most genera requiring a damp substrate.
>Has Vermiculite been useful, either alone or with/as an additive? In 
>what circumstances and purpose please?
>Paul
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


-- 
--Tom
/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] NZ sphagnum moss

[Thomas Hillson]

Title: Re: [OGD] NZ sphagnum moss


Depends on where you are from, I purchased my New Zealand
Sphagnum from these two web addresses in the last two years. I usually
purchase a quantity of supplies at one time so I save on shipping
costs.

http://www.orchidmix.com/

http://www.orchid-supplies.com/

Sometimes I find things locally that are less expensive. I have
found moss at my local Lowes and Home Depot, which when mixed with
other components has made a good orchid mix. It all depends on how
fussy you are and the plants you are growing. Some of my plants do not
like the cheap moss, others grow in almost anything.

--Tom
/
| Tom
Hillson   
Agriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of
Agriculture
| 
Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little
time"


At 12:34 PM -0500 11/17/05, Redman, Julia C. wrote:
Content-class:
urn:content-classes:message
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
 
boundary="_=_NextPart_001_01C5EB9D.19AE8861"

Hi
everyone,
With the
exception of OFE, where does everyone order sphagnum moss? 
I've just about lost my patience with OFE's
slowness.
Thanks,
Julia

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Paph. emersonii

[Thomas Hillson]

Tim,

Go to Google http://www.google.com/ and click on images, I got 188 
images for Paph. emersonii, that they have cataloged on the net. Your 
plant looks like it is within the variation I have seen and shown on 
Google images.

Tom Hillson

At 2:28 PM -0500 11/8/05, R. Timothy Tomaselli wrote:
>Can anyone provide information and/or insight about this Paph. emersonii?
>
>Here are links to two pictures [my thanks to Eric Hunt for hosting 
>them for me]:
>
>  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericinsf/55619150/
>  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericinsf/55619292/
>
>
>My flower doesn't look like the usual emersonii.  I did find an 
>image on the web of a var. hounglance that seemed identical
>to what I have.  Can any of our taxonomy authorities comment?  What 
>does anyone know about this particular variety?
>
>Here is the image of var. hounglance: 
>http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~fk8t-tnk/p-eme.htm
>
>Many thanks for your help.
>
>Tim Tomaselli
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] the effect of water on root growth

[Thomas Hillson]

At 5:38 PM -0700 10/11/05, David Kurtz wrote:
>I just did a water test on water used to irrigate my plants. Two
>aspects of the results concern me. The pH is high (+- 9.0). And the LR
>total hardness is about 200 ppm. I'm trying to determine the reason for
>the poor root growth on my orchids. Most of the new root growth becomes
>necrotic. The plants are grown as epiphytes on bark. The leafy growth
>seems OK but the root growth is not. Do any of you experts out there
>feel that high pH and hardness might cause this? I need to find a way
>to fix this problem. Any advice would be appreciated. Sorry if this
>topic has ben covered before. I have not found a way to search the
>orchidguide archives by topic.

Dave,

Root growth is vital to the growth of any plant and especially to 
orchids. I have found that any group of orchids that is difficult for 
me to grow in the past was due to my inability to grow roots on those 
plants. I have well water like yours, pH of about 9.0 but a hardness 
over to 300. I went to RO water and it has improved my root growth 
tremendously. Some like Oncidiums that would not grow at all for me 
are now growing great.

One thing to try is to collect rainwater, dehumidifier water, 
anything you can to give you a pure water and try it on some plants 
that are putting out new roots. If as you suspect it is your water; 
these plants should show good root growth.

If you decide to get an RO unit go on to eBay. I bought my last one 
there, several companies are selling inexpensive units on eBay. 
Figure about how much water per day you use to water and mist your 
plants and then double it. That should give you a good figure on how 
big a system you need to water your current plants and to allow for 
some growth of your collection in the future. RO units do waste a lot 
of water and if you are paying a high price for your current water, 
you way want to look at other systems for cleaning up your water. Any 
water purification system has its costs and short comings.

Good Luck,

-- 
--Tom
/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] New to the orchid growing

[Thomas Hillson]

Title: Re: [OGD] New to the orchid
growing


I would look for a copy of HOME ORCHID GROWING, 4TH EDITION by Rebecca Tyson
Northen, it is one of the best books for a beginner, I bought
my copy in the 70's and it still has valuable information. It is
probably a little expensive for a first book, but it is worth it. If
nothing else check your library, they may have a copy. I check one out
before I bought mine.

You can find this and lots of other books at Amazon.com and the
AOS has a good online store with a wide selection of books. I like
Amazon because of the user comments that say if a book is worth the
money or not. I buy things from the AOS, but I prefer to get their
catalog and look through it, their online store is not very good. I
was surprise that they did not have Mrs. Northens book listed for
sale.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/067176327X/qid=1126897113/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-3367227-7516830?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

http://www.orchidweb.org/aos/index.aspx

At 12:58 PM -0500 9/16/05, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
I have always been
good at having a bit of a green thumb.
I have just purchase a
home in Pearland, Texas just south of Houston. This home
has a greenhouse that is quite full of a variety of orchids. I
have never attended to orchids and would like to know if anyone has
good books or places to learn how to care for all these orchids. Most
of the plants seem to be ok but are in need of attention. I was
looking for info on watering, temp and fertilizing ..  if anyone
can help .. I would appreciate it .. Thanks Mike Kupferer 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


-- 

--Tom
/
| Tom
Hillson   
Agriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of
Agriculture
| 
Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little
time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Polycarbonate Source?

[Thomas Hillson]

Check on the internet for suppliers, I purchased mine three years ago 
from Sundance Supply, there are 
wholesale distributors around the country that ship for them, mine 
came out of Wisconsin. There is probably a distributor that  will 
ship to your area.

You might also check with building suppliers in your area. I found 
out later that one in the next county kept some on hand and would 
order it for you if you could wait until they placed an order for 
themselves. Their price was less than what I paid for my twin wall 
and shipping, as they were bringing in large quantities of it at one 
time so their shipping charge was less per sheet. They were buying 
from the same supplier Sundance shipped my twin wall from.

--Tom
/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"


At 9:58 AM -0400 9/12/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>Can anyone suggested a quick, reliable source of good quality clear 
>twin-wall polycarbonate, not too far from Virginia?  This is for use 
>in the construction of a new large home greenhouse, and cost is a 
>consideration.
>As it will be delivered by truck freight, we are looking for a 
>reputable source that will ship from the mid-Atlantic or 
>Southeastern states in order to minimize the freight charges.
>
>Thank you!
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Spring

[Thomas Hillson]

I think Steve is talking about when Spring effectively starts not the 
arbitrary day on the Calendar when we say spring starts. This feeling 
of when Spring starts varies a lot through out the World. Here in 
Iowa Spring is said to start on March 21st and a few years it does, 
but we have had Springs where it did not effectively start until 
April 21st. My Brother lives in Oklahoma and their Spring starts well 
before March 21st.


At 8:02 AM -0400 9/1/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>In a message dated 9/1/05 6:04:19 AM, Ron writes:
>
>>Ron Boyd
>>On the 1st day of spring in Australia
>>
>
>I knew they did things differently down under, but how is Sept. 1 
>the first day of spring, not the Equinox, Sept. 21?
>Iris
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


-- 
--Tom
/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Humidifier

[Thomas Hillson]

I humidify my greenhouse in two ways, I have overhead misters I use 
during the summer to keep the humidity up and to water my mounted 
plants. In the winter I go to a set of under the bench misters, they 
wet down my gravel floor and the fans I have in the greenhouse 
circulate the evaporating water and keep the humidity up. My overhead 
misters are feed RO water, but the under the bench system does not 
spray any of my plants directly, so I use my tap water for it.

I have very fine misters for my overhead system, but I bought misters 
that put out more water for my under the bench system as I want lots 
of water to evaporate and keep the humidity up. I run the overhead 
system on a simple timer as I want to mist the plants several times 
during the day and I can adjust it to mist more in the afternoons on 
hot summer days. The under bench system, I run on old humidistat that 
came with my Hermidifer, I have it hooked into a solenoid valve that 
controls the water flow.

I have played with lots of humidifiers over the years and this works 
as well as any I have had, cost less, and has fewer maintenance 
problems. One thing I would recommend is getting an in-line filter 
for your system. It keeps the small particles from clogging your 
misters.

--Tom
/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"


At 1:22 PM + 8/29/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>My Jaybird humidifier died when my husband tried to clean it.  It 
>actually was a bit too intense for my 16'x18' greenhouse.  Can 
>anyone recommend a hummidifier and also give their experience with 
>the life expectency of said item?
>Thanks,
>Gail Sklar
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Novice question: scale

[Thomas Hillson]

Dinesh,

It what insecticide are you using? I have gone to using a combination 
of Neem oil 3 table spoons per gallon and two drops of detergent for 
all my insect control. It is not perfect, but I can spray it with out 
having to get dressed in protective clothing and I do not worry about 
my health from contact with the insecticide. You do need to spray 
frequently with it and spray both the tops and bottoms of the leaves 
and other plant parts.

It is never a good idea to spray at more than the manufacturers 
recommended concentration of any pesticide. You could have toxic 
reactions from your plants or you could poison yourself with the 
pesticide. Each pesticide is tested by the manufacturer to give you 
optimum results with the lowest possible amount of pesticide, as a 
result each pesticide may have different quantities per gallon or 
liter of water.

Good luck controlling your scale infestation.

Tom

/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"

At 9:13 AM +0600 8/22/05, Dinesh Fernando wrote:
>I have a scale infestation that's spread very quickly to half my collection.
>Given the way that I've grown my plants (mounted on concrete strips), it's
>not practical to treat each infected plant individually, so a systemic
>insecticide seems my only option.  I bought such insecticide and made three
>weekly applications, but the scale is still there.  Since the preparation
>was made following the manufacturers recommendation (X ml per Y litres of
>water), I suspect the amount of pesticide that I applied per plant was too
>low.
>
>My question is, how much of insecticide should be applied per plant: i.e.
>10ml, 20ml ... etc? And how do I know when the infestation is controlled -
>i.e. how do I know the pests are dead?
>
>Thank you,
>
>Dinesh.
>
>
>
>___
>the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
>orchids@orchidguide.com
>http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] foliar feeding - hype & another false dichotomy

[Thomas Hillson]

Leo,

What is with the rant, I have seen nothing where I or anyone has said 
you should fertilize the leaves and not the roots. Foliar feeding as 
I said in my comment was a way fertilize my plants everyday. I do not 
water my plants everyday, so a hose and proportioner will not work. 
The way I do foliar feeding allows me to go out to my greenhouse do a 
quick spraying of the plants with my sprayer, give them some 
fertilizer and check for insects or other problems. I find that by 
providing a low dose of fertilizer more or less continuously over 
time I get better results than if I give a periodic higher dose. I 
have no empirical results to prove this, but my plant appear grow 
well with a foliar feeding.


The original question was asking if foliar feeding of an inorganic 
would be beneficial to orchids. I have done it for years and I think 
it is a benefit. Is it better than any other method, who knows. Are 
you still growing orchids the exact same way you did when you 
started, or do you experiment and change your growing conditions?


Tom Hillson


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] conservation efforts

[Thomas Hillson]

I have to side with Carson on this if someone is going to the work of 
finding out where the road work is going to happen, if there are 
orchids to be salvaged and then salvages them, they should be allowed 
to sell the plants under state supervision and make some money to pay 
for the work. I meet Tom Nelson once, years ago, he is a great guy 
and is trying to both save orchids and make a living doing something 
he likes.


If plant societies and botanical gardens want to raise groups of 
volunteers to do the same, great, but both groups are working to save 
the plants that would be destroyed by the bull dozer. They should not 
look down their nose at someone who is out there doing the same work, 
but making money at it. He is not making a fortune selling these 
plants.


I have seen here in Iowa, where the State Department of Natural 
Resources has built parking lots over beds of Cyp. calceolus and not 
bothered to move any of the plants to other sites in the same park. 
Why no one who cared know the project was going to happen and those 
who did were not worried about the plants as there were so many.


--Tom
/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"


At 12:09 PM -0400 7/29/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Thanks Carson [E. Whitlow]

for your comments about Tom Nelson and his conservation efforts in Minnesota.

As mentioned in the article about Tom Nelson, "some ... believe 
collecting plants from the wild is unethical and encourages 
poaching".

[http://www.startribune.com/stories/418/5525283.html]

Carson expresses another point of view : "those who criticize him 
... would prefer the plants be destroyed than have them salvaged."


Personally, I remain skeptical about selling salvaged plants to nurseries.
Of course, if our orchid societies and institutions (botanical 
gardens and government agencies) are passive about the conservation 
of wild orchids, we should not be surprised that others would 
collect and sell them, be them individuals or nurseries.


**
Regards,

Viateur


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



--

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] foliar spray fertilizers

[Thomas Hillson]

Mick,

I have foliar feed my variety of Orchids including lots of 
Pluerothallids with lots of fertilizer for years. I use a very dilute 
solution usually 1/10 to 1/100 of the recommended for normal 
watering. Most of the time I just mix it in a sprayer and mist the 
plants with it every morning. It is a standard ritual of mine in the 
summer to go out to my greenhouse before I go to work and mist my 
orchids with fertilizer.


I have used Peters, 20-20-20, DynaGro 7-8-6, and lots others. As long 
as I keep the concentration low, I have found no problems with them. 
How much are the plants using I have no idea, as I am not doing any 
leaf analysis. I do see an very good growth in my plants when I am 
using the foliar feeding. This may be due to the fact that I foliar 
fertilize in the summer. But I have not seen any problems with my 
plants foliar fertilizing, so I keep doing it.


Try it with some of your plants and see how if influences them, if 
they look better and grow more increase the number you are 
fertilizing.



At 9:31 AM -0600 7/29/05, Richard Buchanan wrote:
Have we visited this topic recently? Sorry but I didn't use foliar 
spray until recently [WONDER GROW]. Believe I've read that plants 
can't utilize organic nitrogen, until it is broken down by bacteria 
& fungi in the soil/compost. Many of my Pleurothallids are mounted. 
The mounts are of course not sterile; but, would it be better to use 
an inorganic fertilizer for mounted plants? (i.e., MSU?).

Are all inorganic fertilizers suitable for use as foliar spray?

mickinmontana


___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



--
--Tom
/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Coconut chips as potting medium

[Thomas Hillson]

Title: Re: [OGD] Coconut chips as potting
medium


I have to agree, I moved to Coconut chips products a while back
and love them. I buy from a source that sells only washed chips and I
usually wash them once myself and check with a conductivity meter. All
of my Paphs and Phal. love the small chips, I use medium and large for
other species as they need the open mix. I use moss, perlite,
charcoal, and aliflor as needed to make a mix that holds more or less
moisture, like I did with bark. If you want a lot more information
look at Antec's web site. They have a great discussion about coconut
chips.

http://www.ladyslipper.com/coco3.htm

Tom Hillson

At 12:40 PM + 7/7/05, Blue Moon Exotics wrote:
Paul,
We have used Coco products now for several years
and have had very good experience. For plants that need a coarse well
drained medium we use 1/2" chips plus medium Aliflor (lava rock
may be a good substitute) Used in a clay pot or teak basket it lasts
for years without breaking down and turning to mush. For plants that
like a moister medium use the same mix in plastic pots. Another mix
that we like is to use the 1/4" chips with some coir for smaller
plants and ones that do not like to dry out ( Phals really seem to
like this one ). When we deflask the plants go right into straight
coir in flats that have eggcrate in the bottom covered with insect
screen.
Everyone seems to agree that the biggest issue with
coco products is the possibility of high salts in the product when
first used. We leach all our new plantings several times right after
planting. We also check the TDS readings whenever we get in a new
batch of material. Coco products have a low cation exchange capacity
so they can take more fertilizer and be readily
leached.
As always
start off small and use trial and error til you find what works for
you. We grow in a warm and wet envoironment and someone cooler and
drier may have different results.
Good luck
and Happy growing,
Paul and
Diane
http://www.bluemoonexotics.com
 
-Original
Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, July 7, 2005 03:05 AM
To: orchids@orchidguide.com
Subject: [OGD] Coconut chips as potting medium

Coconut
Chips:
Here in
Melbourne, Oz, we are about to experiment with coconut chips as a
potting medium. Please provide details of short and long term usage,
its pros and cons, suitable genera, suitable additives (if required)
and any other relevant details.
Paul



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com



___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Re: sterilizing pots

[Thomas Hillson]

In the discussion of sterilizing pots some people were wondering 
about residual chemicals. The Chlorine should dissipate into the air 
by just leaving them outside for a day or two. If you want to use the 
pots right away you can soak them in a dilute vinegar solution. The 
acid should solubilize any residual chlorine and leave a residual 
acetic acid smell. I do this with my pots I want to clean and get 
back into production fast. Other wise I just rinse them and put them 
out on my deck for a day or two and then stack them back in the 
potting shed.

If you are worried about getting bleach on your self, wear old cloths 
designated just for the cleaning process. The disposal of the bleach 
is easy, just neutralize it with a some vinegar, let it sit over 
night and dump it out. I have been doing this for years and I have 
found no problems with my grass where I dump the solution on my lawn.

I also tried the oven once and my wife said never again. It is very 
handy, but I did not like moving the pots into the house and then 
back outside. It is easier for me to stack pots for cleaning in one 
area and to then move them to the outside into my cleaning tubs and 
then move them back into the greenhouse.

Everyone has their own system, take what you can from each and apply 
it to your conditions. That is typically how we grow our plants and 
we can do the same with how we keep our plants clean and virus free.
--
--Tom
/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Virus infectivity

[Thomas Hillson]

Title: Re: [OGD] Virus infectivity


The discussion on viruses got me thinking about the virus
lectures we had in a Plant Pathology course I took 35 years ago. I dug
up my old note book, who knows why I kept it. One of the paragraphs I
wrote in my notes relates to using milk to block the infection of TMV.
Field workers on many tobacco farms smoked during the 60's and the
supervisors trying to keep the fields clean would have them all wash
their hands and boots with a mixture of powered milk. The idea was
that the milk protein would coat the virus particles on the worker and
inhibit infection of the plants they were working on.

To see if this was still thought of as true, I did a quick search
and found this article.
http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/crops/facts/01-017.htm

It had this on working with tomatoes to prevent virus
infection

Dip tools and gloved hands in
undiluted skim milk or virucidal disinfectant between every plant. The
skim milk should contain at least 3.5% protein, and as soon as the
milk starts to go sour, or curdles, replace with fresh
milk.

It has a lot of other
recommendations.

Would this work on orchids, who knows? If
you have some virus infected plants or you are worried about viruses,
try it and see what happens.

-- 

--Tom
/
| Tom
Hillson   
Agriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of
Agriculture
| 
Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little
time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Greenhouse fans

[Thomas Hillson]

Joe,
Trying using some penetrating oil to free up the bearings and then 
apply some light machine oil to the bearings. There should be open 
ports you can apply the penetrating oil and the machine oil through. 
Many of them are difficult to reach. I have an oil can with a 2 foot 
thin plastic extension on it to reach the oil holes on my fans. Check 
the manufactures maintenance requirements for the fans. If they have 
sealed bearings there is little you can do.

I would imagine that expensive fans like this have bearings you need 
to oil. With proper maintenance should last for 10 or 20 years. I 
find that some of the better fans I can buy at Lowes, Menards, or 
similar places have bearings I can oil. They last me longer than some 
of the fans I have purchased from greenhouse suppliers.

I try to oil all my fans every fall and spring equinox, the same time 
I set my clocks forward and back for day light savings time. My 
current fans vary from 4 to 15 years old.

Tom Hillson
At 9:32 PM -0400 4/23/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
We recently noticed that 3 or 4 fans in our greenhouse have locked up.
Presumabley, the bearings are frozen.  These are expensive fans (Patton high
velocity) costing over $200 each.  They were purchased about 5 years ago.
What is the life expectancy of such fans?
Joe Linger
460 Central Ave
New Haven, CT 06515-2208
http://linger.dyndns.org
___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

[OGD] Re:why roots grow down?

[Thomas Hillson]

Charles,
You are probably thinking of cystoliths with in lithocysts. Calcium 
deposits in the vacuole of certain surface cells of leaves. They are 
not found in roots that I remember, but that was 35 years ago when I 
studies this.

At 1:27 AM -0400 4/13/05, Charles Ufford wrote:
on 4/13/05 1:04 AM, Mark wrote:
 This brings up a question which I may have already answered above
 (light), but I don't know for sure. What is the trigger that causes
 auxin to know if it is in a root to grow downward with the pull of
 gravity? Is is lack of light or the presence of some root cells? Light
 causes new growth to grow upward, but does less light with gravitational
 pull cause roots to grow downward? With epiphytes root growth maybe
 dictated by contact with a surface or otherwise light?
 Mark Sullivan

Hello Mark,
  I remember a little from plant phys class that some plants (can't say all
as I don't know if is the case) have something like crystals or some other
solid structure that is inside certain cells. Can't remember if they are
free-floating or attached. Where these 'objects' cause pressure on part of
the cell insides due to gravity that is 'down', and if the cells are
designed to grow down they follow the signal and if they are to go up, they
go opposite the pressure in the cell. Hope someone has a better explanation
than that!
charles
--
Charles Ufford 
Calen the Border Collie   CGC - now in Heaven
Oriskany, NY USA
IPA, Central NY and Southern Tier Orchid Societies
[EMAIL PROTECTED]   http://www.paphiopedilum.net
Http://www.geocities.com/charlesufford

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

--
--Tom
/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"
___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

[OGD] Re: Greenhouse venting: further questions

[Thomas Hillson]

Tennis,
You want the air to come into the greenhouse by the fans and to go 
out through the roof vents. The hot air will be above the plants, you 
want it to rise up and out through the vents. Or you have the fans 
mounted high on one end to pull the heat out of the greenhouse. If 
the fans are mounted high they may pull some air into the greenhouse 
through the vents. It depends on how you have it setup.

Tom Hillson
At 12:41 AM -0500 3/31/05, tennis wrote:
I am appreciative of the replies to my query, and have a further, 
though simple, question which is puzzling me. Perhaps I'm missing 
something really basic here, but I do plan to have solar powered 
peak vents, which, as I am making them myself (not the openers, just 
the vents) will surely leak like sieves. I have decided the 
practicality of having a large exhaust fan on the roof is offset by 
the difficulty and will probably go the standard route of vents and 
fans on opposite ends of the GH at bench height (maybe a few vents 
at floor level too). My question is this: when the fans kick on, as 
the peak vents will already be open, am I not just pulling air 
through them down into the GH and not from the opposing bench level 
vents which are further away, depriving the plants at that end 
needed circulation and cooling?

Tennis Maynard
___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Greenhouse venting/fans

[Thomas Hillson]

Tennis,
You do not want to mount the fans in the roof of your greenhouse as 
maintenance would be a pain.

One of the best designs I saw in a greenhouse had roof vents like 
many greenhouse, but had several swamp coolers around the base with 
the fans blowing the air in over the pads. They had two thermostats 
one to turn on the fans for ventilation and another to turn on the 
water flowing through the pads. They had excessive capacity for their 
greenhouse to make sure it stayed as cool as possible in the summer. 
The roof vents were controlled by same thermostat as turned on the 
fans.

I agree the standard of having the cooling pads on one end and the 
vents on the other is not the best idea. I did it in my greenhouse 
and I have been trying to redo it in recent years to something to 
allow more air flow over the plants. I also use misting over my 
plants to both provide cooling and additional humidity. We have less 
humidity here in Iowa than you do in Ohio. One thing I have added to 
my greenhouse is standard roof top cyclone vents. I found they help 
pull out the heat on very warm days. They are also there incase of a 
power failure to vent the greenhouse.

Good luck with the greenhouse are you sure 24 x 12 is large enough. 
My greenhouse is 14 x 32, too big in 1984 and too small in 2004.

Tom
At 1:24 AM -0500 3/30/05, tennis wrote:
As I enter the final stages in what seems to be an endless period of 
planning for a new greenhouse, I am attempting to finalize such 
design details as air flow/venting and heating, etc. I would like to 
hear from anyone knowledgeable and experienced in this area. It has 
occurred to me the most effective way to vent an overwarm 24' x 12' 
greenhouse in the summer here in Ohio would be to put the venting 
fans venting through the peak roof of the GH  as near the center of 
the structure as possible, and have vents all around the edges, at 
floor level and bench level.

Sort of the 'whole house attic exhaust fan' idea. Of course, steps 
would have to be taken to keep the rain off, but other than that, 
any reasons why this wouldn't be the best method for venting heat, 
and having air flow over all of the plants in the GH? I will have 
three levels of plants (floor, bench, and above-bench shelf + 
hanging) and the normal 'vent at one end, fans at other', at bench 
height just doesn't seem to fit. I had planned on a wetwall  for 
cooling, but have decided misters in front of intake vents would be 
as good and easier to manage, which enables the vents to be spread 
out as well.

Tennis Maynard

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

--
--Tom
/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"
___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Temperature/humidity Sensors

[Thomas Hillson]

The simple answer is that I covered one sensor with a wick and left 
the other bare. They are suspended over a reservoir with water in it 
and the wick in the water. I took a small DC fan from a computer and 
connected it to provide a flow movement of air over the sensors. I 
take the reading from both sensors and using a formula calculate the 
relative humidity.

Here are the formulas I copied off a several web sites and use for my 
calculation of RH.

// Convert Fahrenheit temperatures to Celcius
dry = F2C(myParseFloat(obj.drytemp.value));
wet = F2C(myParseFloat(obj.wettemp.value));
// Determine saturation vapor pressures
Es = 6.108 * (Math.pow(Math.E, ((17.27 * dry) / (237.3 + dry;
Ew = 6.108 * (Math.pow(Math.E, ((17.27 * wet) / (237.3 + wet;
E  = Ew - (0.00066 * (1 + 0.00115 * wet) * (dry - wet) * 1013);
// Relative Humidity
obj.relhumid.value = 100 * (E / Es);
I capture everything into a database on my local computer and I can 
plot how RH and temperature can vary over time. I am slowly building 
my own system to monitor my greenhouse and setting some control 
systems to try to manage my RH and temperatures. If you want more 
details ask me off line or wait until I am done and I will post all 
the information on my system on my web site.

Monitoring my temperatures is interesting I found that March is a 
nasty month in my greenhouse. It still sealed for winter, but I have 
the potential for temperatures to exceed 100 degrees F at 7 ft in my 
greenhouse when the sun is out. As a result I set up a small 
ventilator that allow the heat to escape from my greenhouse. I keep 
it closed during December, January, and February. Once we start 
getting sun light in March I have to open it during the day. With out 
my temperature monitor I would not have know this as the temperature 
was great by the time I got home at 6 PM. It also showed me where my 
warm and cool micro climates were in my greenhouse. I never thought 
to hang a max/min thermometer at 7 feet to find out about temperature 
spikes like this. This has helped my hanging plants by not hitting 
them with extreme temperatures in early spring.

Tom Hillson
At 3:20 PM + 3/23/05, Blue Moon Exotics wrote:
I'm interested in the method of using two temperature sensors 
(thermocouples) to derive RH. What type are you using and how do you 
set one as a "wet bulb"

Paul and Diane LeBlanc
Species Orchids, Ferns and Bromeliads
http://www.bluemoonexotics.com

-Original Message-
From: Martin Epstein [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 08:00 AM
To: 'Orchidguide digest'
Subject: [OGD] Temperature/humidity Sensors
I have been using a Radio Shack remote sensor and am well satisfied.
I have checked its accuracy with a sling psychrometer and found it to
be pkus or minus 5% over the range of 30 to 70% RH.
The original request for information noted that the remote they had
tried did not agree with what was reported by the weather bureau. In
making such a comparison there are two potential pitfalls.
The first is that RH changes with temperature and comparisons must
either be made at the same temperature or corrected for the
difference. Please note that the dew point does not vary with
temperature.
Second, RH can vary widely with small changes in location. That's
why many orchids are more likely to be found near streams.
Martin Epstein
___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

--
--Tom
/
| Tom HillsonAgriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of Agriculture
|  Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little time"
___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Accurate remote digital hyrgrometer

[Thomas Hillson]

Title: Re: [OGD] Accurate remote digital
hyrgrometer


None, of the simple thermometer/hygrometer systems I have seen
are very good, I have bought lots of them. If you want an accurate
measure of temperature and humidity you need a high quality weather
station system or a good wet bulb/dry bulb hygrometer.  You can
find lots of information on weather stations at Ambient Weather.

http://www.ambientweather.com/

One system I have used is from Sensatronics. It is a handy multi
probe system you can hook up to monitor your greenhouse, I have one
monitoring my greenhouse and I too two probes and set them to a wet
bulb/dry bulb system to track the humidity in my greenhouse.  For
me the nice this about it is the ability to track it all over the
internet. I have a computer monitoring my system and my greenhouse
temperature. I bought it as it fit my needs, but it is more than some
people want to spend.

http://sensatronics.com/

There are some systems being built and played with on the net by
technology oriented people that you can get into that are inexpensive
and can be very accurate, but they are not off the shelf systems. If
you want more information do a Google search on" one wire
temperature". There were some companies trying to build off the
shelf systems with one wire systems. I have not tried any of
them.

At 1:26 AM -0500 3/22/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I am a beginning orchid hobbyist.  I
have a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer/hygrometer combination which
provides hygrometer readings that just do not appear accurate for my
Florida (US) location, nor are the relative humidity readings close to
that reported by our weather agency.  Has anyone found an
accurate thermometer/hygrometer unit which provides for two sets of
readings (in and outdoor)?

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com


-- 

--Tom
/
| Tom
Hillson   
Agriculture Computer Services Manager
|(515) 294-1543  College of
Agriculture
| 
Iowa State University
-
|"The only thing I have too much of is too little
time"

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

Re: [OGD] Ahem

[Thomas Hillson]

If a company does not post an email address on their web site, they 
do not want email.

At 4:12 PM -0500 3/14/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
In a message dated 3/14/05 12:09:43 PM, Tom writes:
http://www.hrnurseries.com/
That's the URL for their web site, not an e-mail address. Thanks, anyway.
Iris
___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com

___
the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD)
orchids@orchidguide.com
http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com