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Although I began growing some of my orchids under lights last year, about half of my orchids hang in windows for the winter. Especially the larger plants and smaller mounts. The windows are a bit drafty and, although I have a humidifier boiling away two gallons of water per day, the humidity is far below what one would recommend for orchid growing. And the plants can feel downright cold to the touch. But here's what I have in windows this winter:

Aerangis distincta
Barkeria melanocaulon
Barkeria obovata
Barkeria spectabilis
BC Maikai 'Mayumi'
Brassavola nodosa
Cattleya intermedia
Dendrobium aphyllum
Dendrobium jenkinsii
Dendrobium nobile
Encyclia boothiana
Encyclia prismatocarpa
Encyclia tampenses
Epidendrum peperomia
Gongora atropurpurea
Gongora galeata
Gongora truncata
Lycaste nana
Maxillaria tenuifolia
Meiracyllium wendlandii
Neofinitia falcata
Ornithophora radicans
Phalaenopsis bellina
Phalaenopsis pallens
Phalaenopsis pulchra
Tolumnia sylvestris
Tolumnia tetrapetala
Tolumnia triquetra
Tolumnia variegata

All of these are either mounted or in baskets or in suspended pots. And nowhere near windowsills. The wife's cats are devastating to plants that get within reach. Some of these plants are new and the Lycaste, in particular, might not be suited to life in my windows. Many haven't bloomed yet, because almost all my orchids arrive as small seedlings. Others have spent previous winters in the windows, but happen to be under lights this year. Since a couple unused windows will provide the next and perhaps the last available growing space, I'm curious what orchids other people have grown in windows. Successfully and unsuccessfully.
 
Wow...that's quite a nice list of orchids.
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I also have orchids hanging in windows plus on shelving in front of windows. I have lighting but for right now, its used mostly for the CPs.

How do you have your orchids hanging? I have plant hangers attached at the top of my windows from which I hang a chain. Then I hang as many baskets or pots as the chain can accommodate without getting too bunched up so the light can reach them. Probably in the future I will expand and have a set up with lights. So far, the orchids perform well as they are although I know they could do much better if I had perfect conditions such as provided by a greenhouse.

But there is always something blooming. Right now its some oncidiums and a paph is in spike. Every time I water, I find something new coming up.
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I have lots of plant hangers, spaced every 8" - 12" across the windows. I use S-shaped extenders to keep the plants low enough to see some sky past the roof overhang. I also use outdoor plant stakes as "plant rods", suspended at each end by chain or wire hanging from the hangers. Mounted plants hang from the rods and from the front of baskets and pots. I don't know if you use them, but single wire pot hangers hook together and you can make long chains of pots.
 
The Nov 2003 issue of Orchids put out by the American Orchid Society has a very cool way to mount and hang Bulbophyllums using hardware cloth, Oasis foam, and sphagnum moss.
 
Yeah Thats a Rip, off of a close friends product!
Called the Hydro Log.
 
It wasn't a commercial product...it was just something they had slapped together. And why pay for a commercial product like that when it's most likely a lot less to make your own?
 
beacause it isnt
 
From photos and descriptions I've looked at, a home-made "log" isn't much competition for the Hydrologs that Khai's friend makes.

Some orchid growers want the whole package to be elegant.  So they buy fancy pots and mounts (or Hydrologs) instead of using  grungy old clay pots or pieces of tree fern that shed black bits all over the floor.  They're the customers for Hydrologs and I can't see them being happy with one of those homemade logs.

I've known people who did craftwork kinds of things for a living and they had to accept that some people steal their ideas.  But to hide their ideas would mean potential customers don't see their work either.
 
I totally agree with you, herenorthere.
this subject is actually a point of contention between the two fo us. I think he needs to do much more with his business and somehow hes content.
 
  • #10
But if he's content, he's ahead of a lot of us.
 
  • #11
Yes, content to leave the business where it is.
Yet he still complains about being poor.
Such is life, for some I suppose.
 
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