Greenhouse Details Part 1

Now its time to introduce the greenhouse (or GH for short).

It is a Rion Prestige Greenhouse, that has a floor area of 8'x16'. The roof panels are made of light-diffusing polycarbonate and the side panels are made of near-clear acrylic.
Both materials block most of the UV-rays from the sun.

The UV-blockers are nice because this means that I will not get sunburned much while I am inside the greenhouse.

The frame is made of a resin combination that is rated to support an even distribution of 1100 lbs of dead weight. (That is good to know just in case I do plan to hang 1100 lbs worth of orchids on the frame).

Here is the GH kit on the day it arrived:


Here is the bare bones greenhouse after assembly.


Greenhouse Location
The GH is located about 20 feet behind our house, and is oriented in such a way that the front (door end) is facing about 20 degrees NorthWest.
This means that:
1. In the morning, the sun will be hitting the entire eastern side of the GH with a slight sideways angle.
2. Approaching and leaving mid day, the southern (back) end of the GH receives the most exposure.
3. As the sun moves, the sun exposure gradually transitions from the eastern to the western side.
4. The roof gets full exposure all day.
5. In the afternoon, the western side of the GH receives the most sunlight, and the front end also receives some sun.

Because of the high temperatures and direct sunlight it receives, I placed a layer of shade cloth fabric over the roof, as well as the south and south-west sides of the GH.

Here is a picture of the GH with the shade cloth on the roof:


Here is a more recent picture of the GH with additional shade fabric on the western and eastern sides. The colorful dome is for my daughter, and is not related to the greenhouse :)


I will be detailing the equipment that I am using in the GH on a later post.

~John

A New Beginning

I deleted all the old posts and decided to start fresh with a new format.
The old posts were getting bombarded with unnecessary spam anyway and were severely outdated.

From now on, this blog will chronicle my adventures in trying to grow orchids in the exciting climate called Riverside, California. This part of town gets summer high temperatures of up to 115 degrees F, and winter lows of down to 30 degrees F.

Either one of those extremes WILL kill most orchids if left unprotected.

Most of the orchids featured here will be inside a greenhouse. I will be providing more details on the greenhouse in a later post.

That is it for now.
Thanks for reading,
John