Enclosed porches rarely make great places to grow orchids, alright is about as good as it gets. 2/3 of the light a growing plant receives in situ is from directly above and this is the number one reason there are greenhouses and conservatories, the number two reason is shelter from excessive air movement. Cyms seemed happier in the house may have more to do with temps. Do you have A/C indoors? My aim here is to get you to look at your porch as the starting point for some kind of conservatory. Is the enclosure glass or mesh? Could there be a 'bump out' extension of floor? Could (gasp) overhead lighting be arranged? Are there fans? What is humidity, daily temp exc, etc. When all that is nailed down you won't have to ask whether the Zygo or anything else will be happy you will know beyond any doubt.

H

Hi Howard,

Thanks for answering my post.

If I could have a conservatory, trust me, all my fantasies would be fullfilled! I would LOVE one! Even a greenhouse would be okay, but I'm not there yet.

The porch I'm using is very small, about 10 X 10. There are double sliding doors (6 ft) on the east and west sides (roughly) and a glass door and window on the north end. So the light is extremely good. The porch is an actual room but it's built on blocks so the floor can't be insulated and as far as I know there is no other insulation, so wintering plants there just can't happen. Besides, the house is skewed in a weird way that the porch gets no direct sun in winter at all. Stupid builder! One reason I moved my orchids out for the summer is because I read they need a change of 15 degrees from day to night. They will get that on the porch, especially in fall before I bring them back in. Also, I have Low E glass in my house and regular glass/screens on the porch which will give them higher light than they can get in the house (unless I go into some elaborate lighting). Third, yes there is A/C in the house so they will get much higher humidity in general on the porch than they would inside in the summer (I use a humidifier near them in winter). So the porch is about as good as I can get right now for summertime growing. Our temps for the rest of the summer will get down no lower than 60 and won't get above a 100. (lately you don't know what the heck the weather is going to do, but I'm assuming...)

Do you think this new Zygonisia will work out at least as well there as my catts are doing? They are growing really well.

Thanks again,
Chris

ps. if somebody would like to donate a nice conservatory to the cause I would be one happy girl! ;-)))

Have you been able to rebloom your Catts?

Jane,
I haven't had them long enough for them to rebloom. I'm new to orchids but I tend to dive in to things head first, not in a slow, sensible way. The catts have lots of new growth and look very healthy. That's why I was hoping this new zygonisia would require the same conditions. If I just knew which group to put it with, it would help quite a bit. I grow a lot of different types of plants, and figured it would fit somewhere as I have several different "microclimates" for the different kinds of plants. With the exception of my 2 cyms not looking extremely happy, all my other orchids look great. Any ideas on where I should start with it at least?

Thanks,
Chris