Shade House Gardening In Florida

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ctcarol Apr 10, 2019 5:41 PM CST

Grapefruit size??? And people continue to live there? Insurance must be a bear!

ctcarol Apr 10, 2019 6:33 PM CST

Totally understandable! We normally get one little (barely pea size) lasting 10 min. hail storm a year. I can't believe folks put up with that kind of devastation. Of course outside is a relative term . Most of us that do grow orchids outside have most of them under some kind of cover, whether it be a tree, awning, shade cloth, or whatever.

Cameron, we never have hail here that I've seen, but my orchids are protected from heavy rain, birds and critters, and flying tree pieces etc. by our pool cage. It is made of window screening, and you can get screening material at HD or Lowe's in a roll for very little money. How about a PVC frame with some window screening attached to it for an awning over your orchids? It reduces the sun's intensity by about 20% but my orchids seem to like that amount of light very well. Screening material is made of fiberglass or plastic fibers, but you can also get metal screening material - even hardware cloth 1/4in. holes, metal screening - would surely protect the orchids from large hail, but wouldn't impede the light getting to them very much. Again, a simple frame made of PVC would hold it up just fine. Paint the PVC though because it doesn't stand up well to sunlight. Elaine "Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill

Nice little Spathoglottis glowing away in the shady garden under the mango tree today. This one has been a stellar performer for years for me, while my several other colors just sort of limp along, and don't bloom much. Elaine "Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill

Name: Gina Florida (Zone 9a) Tropical plant collector 35 years

maybe the forum needs a thread about shade houses? People show photos of their, describe how they made it, how it functions. I don't have a shade house, its not reliably warm enough in winter to just keep plants in a shade house here, that's why I have a greenhouse. But I am interested in the concept of shade houses Award winning beaded art at ceinwin.deviantart.com!

Name: Gina Florida (Zone 9a) Tropical plant collector 35 years

I have used PVC and plastic poly to make what I used to term 'portable greenhouses' before I had my real greenhouse. You can erect them anywhere, and put a portable electric space heater (the kind that blows warm air) under them if need be and save plants from freezing in a pinch Award winning beaded art at ceinwin.deviantart.com!

Ursula Apr 11, 2019 8:09 AM CST Moderator

There are many ways to built an outdoor growing area. I would think it depends a bit on how permanent you want the structure to be? My cage was a freebie, it had a previous life as a large tool bin in the basement of a chemical production building, which was demolished. We were allowed to rescue the panels. Now originally they came from wirecrafters.com. My sweet husband and his brother, a retired mason, set it up for me in 2004. I can cover the structure with plastic or tight netting if a late frost or hail threaten. I have done that a few times in the early years. https://www.wirecrafters.com/p... https://www.wirecrafters.com/p... I was looking for a pic of my cage, here is one after I cleaned out the greenhouse for the season.

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Shade House Gardening In Florida

Source: https://garden.org/thread/view/104498/Outside-Orchid-growing-shade-house-construction/

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