Modern Orchid growing
As I continue to seek to wean myself off Meta owned social media, but also continue in my desire to share my interests with an indifferent internet, I bring another interest to my blog here on Bear. Growing orchids. I grow lots of different types in various conditions, but my largest collection are Masdevallia/Pleurothallids cloud forest orchids from Colombia,Ecuador and such places.
Orchid growers in the UK are generally 90 years old at the youngest and grow in greenhouses they can afford to heat thanks to the fact the government gives them £300 of my tax money each winter to assist with their bills. I can’t afford that method, so I’ve developed alternatives. Thankfully the UK also has plenty of people wishing to grow another very different type of plant inside (one that has big leaves and smelly flowers) and they have lots of kit I can purchase to help.
I grow orchids on windows and in a smallish terrarium inside, but my biggest growing setup is a 1m by 1m growtent (from online retailer) in my garage. Two cheap grow light rigs hung from the ceiling of the tent. The smaller light bars run as they are, the more general purpose light runs at about 20-30% to ensure my lower light orchids (lower certainly than what the light is sold for) don’t get scorched. I have a humidifier that keeps the humidity at cloud forest like levels, and extraction for cooling or humidity drops. For most of the year in the UK there is also a small heater to increase temps during the day and ensure nothing drops too low on the winter nights. Plants are potted in various things but I’m trying to largely settle on net hydroponic pots or air pots. Both I get from either online sources or last time from a hydroponic shop in the West Midlands. Fantastic service. The gentleman serving stubbed out his joint when I arrived, then proceeded to talk to me for about 40 minutes as he ran around the shop getting my tiny quantities of things and showing a genuine interest in what I’m growing. I’ve NEVER had service close to that in a ‘normal’ garden centre!
Orchid grow tent
In terms of monitoring, I can keep a log of temperature and humidity that gets uploaded to my phone. Usually this is to ensure nothing is getting too out of alignment during very warm and very cold periods of the year.
With all this kit I can usually maintain a fairly good consistent level of environment. Light should be set to the perfect level, but that is the thing I question the most. Humidity stays constant and from October to May the temperatures stay within reasonable levels with a suitable nighttime drop that these orchids seem to prefer. For the 3 months of summer it varies, if like last year (2025) we have a sustained heatwave it becomes nightmarish to control as temperature goes too high during the day under the lights and then doesn't drop over night as the building holds on to the heat from the day. Despite that however I think I’ve got a fairly decent setup.
So that's my modern orchid growing setup and I’ve included some 2026 blooms below. I’ve blogged elsewhere on a now long extinct blog on orchids and orchid societies in the UK and wanted to import them here but it seems they’ve drifted into the internet black hole, so maybe I’ll have to write new versions for this blog. If you’ve come here wanting history, then I did warn you in the previous blog. If you love orchids then don’t read the rest of my posts unless you’re also interested in the small history of the UK midlands.
