A nice visit from a fellow Orchids Forum member

I recently had Dexter (dex356) visit me and my greenhouse while he was in town visiting family and friends. I had a great time showing him my plants and talking about my new "Cloudhouse". He shared some great stories from his many years being involved with orchids and the whole orchid scene. He also shared some great tips and pointers from all his experience. Then something special and very generous happened...As we were chatting in the greenhouse he said, "I've got some plants for you". I knew from our previous conversation he was possibly going to bring me a division or two. So we go out to his car and he opens the trunk and pulls out a container with 10 established plants! Wow!, I said as I just about gave him a hug! Almost all Pleurothallids! I want to give a big public THANKS to a very nice and generous person.

Dexter, Thank You so much!

Here is the list with pics to follow...
Lepanthes eciliata
Scaphosepalum sp. #5
Pleurothallis gracillima
Pleurothallis palliolata
Pleurothallis allenii
Restrepia antennifera
Restrepia contorta
Restrepia wagneri
Restrepia sp. #1
Promenaea xanthina

I just mounted most of them and they are ready to grow!

 

And here they are

 

Kelly, It is cork. It's comes from ZOO MED and is called natural cork tile background. It's made for terrarium/vivariums. There are a few different sizes and mine was a 12"x 18" piece for around $12. If I remember correctly, I got 15 mounts from it.

 

"hear,hear!"

 

Hi, Chuck

Cloud House is the pet name for my greenhouse, but it should probably be spelled "Cloudhouse". I think it is appropriate because my main interest and most of my collection are cloud forest plants, and I keep the humidity very high so that there is almost always a slight haze of fog in the air. I run two Hydrofogger humidifiers, an oversized evaporative cooler, and have Hi-Tech polyfilm covering the polycarbonate panels that mimics the actual cloud/fog conditions found at the high elevations of these habitats. The film is called Luminance by AT films, and it is awesome! It diffuses nearly all the light, blocks the UV, but lets in almost all the PAR light, and most importantly, it blocks almost 50% of the infrared light! It's 7 layer, 6 mil, 4 year film. And on top of that I have 70% Aluminet shade cloth plus 1/2 inch bubblewrap completely covering the inside. That's my "Cloudhouse"

 

Indeed it is, Chuck.

Yes, rainwater, R.O. water, or any other water source with low dissolved mineral content is essential for fogging, I use R.O.

 

Hi, David...

I have been wanting to, and intend to soon. I'll try to give lots of details, and share pics from start to finish. I did a lot of planning and research. It is exceeding my expectations in every way, and I'm quite proud of it!

Thanks!