Where are you located?

Your set up sounds good for many plants depending on the light levels. Could you give more info on the amount and type of light. I understand LED, but a photo would help. How many hours are the plants getting.

Please provide more info and some photos if you can.

Jane

Thank you so much for getting back so quickly.

I'm located in the Orlando area. The conservatory is completely "climate controlled" so I can maintain any temperature and humidity levels (within reason) that are necessary.

I've attached four photos, the two that show the "pink hue" are shining on "the pit" that is the area that I'd like to add orchids. the other two show the building just before completion. The tree in the center of the pit is an African baobab. I almost lost it when i transplanted it from a pot to the conservatory because of lack of light. I've installed four G8LED 900 watt LED grow lights and the baobab is recovering nicely. However the light from these are almost completely dissipated at ground level.

The building has four 4'x4' skylights but they are recessed about four feet above the room's ceiling so very little natural light enters from them. All of the windows have a high tint to them further reducing natural light.

I've measured the light in the building, At ground level in the pit, the light level is equivalent to fairly heavy shade. If you're familiar with daily light interval, DLI, it would measure around 4-5. Four feet off the ground the light level triples to around 12. Purdue Univ has a good website https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ho/ho-238-w.pdf showing the DLI required for various plants. They do show that phalaenopsis would do well in the 4-6 range.

Any suggestions to get me started would be appreciated. Thank you

I'm in Florida also but I think it would be better not to give advice. If you needed advice out of the building I have some thoughts. I think growers in the North will be more helpful as they frequently use grow lights. I feel that there certainly are orchids that can be happy in your building due to your ability to control the environment. Someone tried to give me a coelogyne orchid and I refused. They come from a dark rainforest that has raincloud humidity with very little rain. http://orchidfetish.com/coelogyne.html a link on culture. They like low light. I bet you can grow them in your conservancy. Good luck

Thanks, I went to the link you included. The coelogynes look great. That article says they need a 15 degree temp difference between day and night. i might not be able to maintain that much of a difference without running up my air conditioner bill, but i may give them a try. Thanks

Looks like quite a setup. Love the greenhouse.

My question would be why you don't grow your plants outside and move them back if the temps drop over winter. In Orlando you could have a few freezes but most can handle 20-40's because it is short lived and the days remain warmer and sunny.

I would have loved your greenhouse when I grew in NY. But I was successful growing most orchids by putting them out until late September and moving them inside under lights.

My light setup was simple lamps with CFL's. I never used LED's so can't help with that.

Your dirt plants would do much better outdoors because of better light.

Maybe you could explain why you are doing this to help us understand better?Outdoors is always optimal except for the cool growers.

We have growers who use setups for growing cool rainforest types by using methods similar to yours but primarily use shade cloth.

Here's a link by a member who lives in California who was building a greenhouse. He had a warm greenhouse and a cool greenhouse for those cool growers.

Any search of Nick on this forum will pull up many posts by Nick (who seems to have disappeared lately) but could be informative Nick

Jane

protecting my entire tropical plant collection, from our occasional frost, is the exact original reason for the conservatory.

I put the pit in the center for appearance reasons only. That is, I want to be able to walk in there, sit in there as well, (I have a TV and a rocking chair in there LOL), and have the experience of a gorgeous tropical garden. It just "has to be" beautiful.

Following your suggestion, I could most certainly do that and maybe that's the path I'll have to pursue.

On the other hand, I was under the impression that there are certain orchid species that might thrive in low light conditions and with the temps that I can maintain. I can just experiment but I was hoping someone would just "wave a magic wand" and present me with the exact solution. Thank you

Your conservatory is beautiful nice job.

I'm in the north and winter my tropical trees in my basement under LED lights. I do manage to get citrus trees to flower and fruit but the main objective is to slow down the growth until I can get them outside again.

They survive, but by spring they don't look so good, after few weeks outside they bounce back. I agree with Jane that the best option would be to move plants in and out, even if only for a few weeks. Whenever there are thunderstorms predicted for my area I put all of my house plants outside, it always perks them up.

That said I would suggest Phaius ( might work as a terrestrial under your tree). Sophronitella and Aerangis. You might be able to mount some higher light miniatures to the branches of your tree.

A great resource is Andys Orchids, you can do a search by temperature and light conditions. These caught my eye

I would also recommend adding fans, maybe ceiling fans. The plants will want some air movement.

This one looks interesting also. I may need to place an order myself.

James, thanks so much. Andy's site is wonderful. A bit overwhelming but you've given me some great choices. I need to root around a bit.

I'm beginning to think that the idea of keeping most of my plants including orchids, in pots, and move them in and out as most of you are suggesting, is the way to go. Rather than limiting myself to terrestrial plants

Make sure to save some space for a table and a few chairs. A perfect place for breakfast or the cocktail hour.