Post by hal on Feb 15, 2014 23:39:11 GMT -5
I've been getting into orchids recently, and more and more tender plants seem to come in the house from the garden each year, so I decided to take the plunge and set up a corner of my basement as a dedicated growing room. Previously, everything was on shelves in the laundry room and humidity hovered around 20% in the winter. Not great for orchids, so I'm closing off a 10' x 8' area and sealing it up to try and get the humidity up.
Here's the area before. The exercise bike and weights have been removed. The floor has been scraped and painting has been started. The pine paneling I put up a few tears ago was full of knot holes so I've glued bits of wood over them from the back and filled them with acrylic caulk. That is a large mirror on the left. It will go behind some shelves to bounce the light around. The furnace room is beyond and there's 2 large ducts going through the room. I don't intend to have any forced air heat going into the room. The lights will heat the room up during the day and the temperature will drop at night when they're off.
Walls and floor painted. I used a white with a very slight tinge of green in it for the walls. That clear plastic tubing is from the condensate pump on the furnace in the room behind. I'd thought of using the water for plants but a bit of research showed it's very acidic, so it will go to the drain.
The potting bench is starting to take shape. The ceilings are unfinished and there's the living room hardwood floor above. In order to keep the humidity in (and protect the floor above) I used rolls of foil insulation on the ceiling, sealed with foil tape. It has the added benefit of reflecting the light. My wife bought some Floralight plastic trays a few years ago and the bench has been designed around them. It's 22" deep and 37" high. No more sore back from repotting on an old dresser at 30" high!
The bench is progressing and I've put up shelves for pots and supplies. The backer for the shelves is an old door I got at the Habitat for Humanity store. The Schizz chalets are on top of the 4 tube fluorescent. They like the heat.
Orchids in the back and on the 2nd shelf down on the right. Pings below that. Helis in the 10 gallon on the bench. Location for the helis to be decided. I'll probably take them oput of the tank since the humidity will be good enough. The room will also house a lot of tender garden plants that come in every winter - Rex begonias, tender ferns, papyrus, Echiverias, Ficus, Fatsia and others. And we'll use it to start seeds in the spring.
And another metal shelf has been set up. I plan to build a wall in front of it from old French doors so you can see in from the laundry room. Now I just need some more plants to fill it up! There's a laundry sink behind me and I'll use it for watering and cleaning but may eventually put in a water supply and a sink. Drainage will be a challenge. I don't want to saw cut the floor so I'll probably put a 5 gallon pail under the sink and empty it manually. All the lights are T8s. I'm thinking about T5HO's. We'll see how things go with the T8's though. There is already about 900W of fluorescent light in the room and I'd like to conserve energy if possible. Maybe one 5' shelf of light-loving plants will get 4 x T5HO.
Just checked and the humidity is at 60%! I filled all the Floralight trays with water and have a fan going.
Here's the area before. The exercise bike and weights have been removed. The floor has been scraped and painting has been started. The pine paneling I put up a few tears ago was full of knot holes so I've glued bits of wood over them from the back and filled them with acrylic caulk. That is a large mirror on the left. It will go behind some shelves to bounce the light around. The furnace room is beyond and there's 2 large ducts going through the room. I don't intend to have any forced air heat going into the room. The lights will heat the room up during the day and the temperature will drop at night when they're off.
Walls and floor painted. I used a white with a very slight tinge of green in it for the walls. That clear plastic tubing is from the condensate pump on the furnace in the room behind. I'd thought of using the water for plants but a bit of research showed it's very acidic, so it will go to the drain.
The potting bench is starting to take shape. The ceilings are unfinished and there's the living room hardwood floor above. In order to keep the humidity in (and protect the floor above) I used rolls of foil insulation on the ceiling, sealed with foil tape. It has the added benefit of reflecting the light. My wife bought some Floralight plastic trays a few years ago and the bench has been designed around them. It's 22" deep and 37" high. No more sore back from repotting on an old dresser at 30" high!
The bench is progressing and I've put up shelves for pots and supplies. The backer for the shelves is an old door I got at the Habitat for Humanity store. The Schizz chalets are on top of the 4 tube fluorescent. They like the heat.
Orchids in the back and on the 2nd shelf down on the right. Pings below that. Helis in the 10 gallon on the bench. Location for the helis to be decided. I'll probably take them oput of the tank since the humidity will be good enough. The room will also house a lot of tender garden plants that come in every winter - Rex begonias, tender ferns, papyrus, Echiverias, Ficus, Fatsia and others. And we'll use it to start seeds in the spring.
And another metal shelf has been set up. I plan to build a wall in front of it from old French doors so you can see in from the laundry room. Now I just need some more plants to fill it up! There's a laundry sink behind me and I'll use it for watering and cleaning but may eventually put in a water supply and a sink. Drainage will be a challenge. I don't want to saw cut the floor so I'll probably put a 5 gallon pail under the sink and empty it manually. All the lights are T8s. I'm thinking about T5HO's. We'll see how things go with the T8's though. There is already about 900W of fluorescent light in the room and I'd like to conserve energy if possible. Maybe one 5' shelf of light-loving plants will get 4 x T5HO.
Just checked and the humidity is at 60%! I filled all the Floralight trays with water and have a fan going.