A few pictures of Eastern Washington State...

[Carolla]

Oh, and for our foreign members... there are TWO Washingtons in the US. There is the Washington on the east coast that is Washington DC (District of Columbia) where our national government is built and run and there is the State of Washington on the west coast that is a good sized State and very different. I live in the State of Washington, no where near Washington DC. Our principal cities are Seattle, Tacoma and Spokane. The west side of the State is heavily forested wet and mild, it is affected by the Pacific Ocean and even has temperate rain forest. A large mountain range runs north/south down the middle of the state and the east side (where I live) is cut off from the ocean by the mountains and is generally dry. Our specific area is semi-desert with about 12" of precipitation a year, it is hot in the summer and cold in the winter and pretty windy. It's the harshest part of the whole State. There, now you have your geography lesson for the day!

[orchidsal]

Where I live in New Mexico our climate is much the same Carol. We've already had a couple days of snow, how about you guys? Our orchid growing conditions are also of course quite similar so I have some idea of how you grow your plants. AL

[Carolla]

No snow here, but a little in and near Spokane. It was raining a little yesterday. I would imagine that New Mexico would be pretty similar. Are your plants in the house? Mine are all house plants, in windows and under lights.

[orchidsal]

All in my greenhouse Carol. I use 'grow light's also in the greenhouse, thouugh I should lower them closer to some of my Vanda's. I saw a U-Tube video put out by a guy with a greenhouse somewhere in Canada (probably Britsh Columbia). In the video he was trying in early November to keep his humidiity down to 85% RH and was not able to do it ! His RH was running 92%. We should have such a problem...................I must say though that he had more bacterial spotting (Unsightly, not probably harmful) than you and I would ever have.............................AL

[Carolla]

So, if I get many more orchids, I'll need a green house too! As it is, even with low humidity, I need more air movement as I get some spots on my Oncidium alliance orchids. Maybe my gravel trays are keeping the moisture up better than I thought. I need to see how hard it is to get a computer fan set up to move a little air in my window. I am fortunate that I have 12" wide window ledges and can put plant trays in them to keep the mess down a little. Still, too many plants, not enough windows.

[orchidsal]

Oncidiums Carol are rather notorious for spotting. As I'm sure you know keeping the leaves dry helps and as the plants get older and bigger the spots are less, or at least much less noticeable. If you can do a greenhouse Carol by all means go for it......................It's worth it in the sense that you can do so much more. The longer your into our intense hobby the more you'll want to branch out into a larger variety of orchids. You'll probably "push the envelope" a bit and challenge yourself into growing some pretty special stuff....................AL

[Carolla]

I do have a few "oddballs" now - a Masdevallia that I'm glad to have kept alive for a year and a half, a Bifrenaria Harrisonae that seems to be thriving (but no blooms yet), I'm trying a lovely varigated Paph that is doing really well and a Psycopsis Mendenhall that looks great too. I'm trying a Cymbidium, which is growing ok, but who knows if I can bloom it? I like trying new and different orchids. Oh, I have an Epidendrum, but its really spotty and losing some of its leaves (came that way from a family member). I need to spray it again with fungicide and try to bring that under control. My Catts look pretty happy, still dealing with getting the Oncidiums to grow the way I want them to. Some do well, some don't. I'm experimenting with S/H with them and the Catts. It's a fun hobby. I have a large house, it may be a while before I go greenhouse. I do try to concentrate them where I see and talk to them every day, they are a part of my family somehow!

[78Terp]

The Denver climate sounds very similar.

We get about 12" of rain annually. We have ~300 days of sun a year and low humidity. Many days in the single digits.

I am already considering how I can enclose the next grow area in my second bedroom. I want to increase the humidity. So I do expect to have a vaporizer to help raise the humidity..

[Carolla]

When I incubate eggs, I run a humidifier in a guest bedroom with the incubator. Otherwise I can't get any sort of humidity in the incubator, even with wet sponges. I still can't get it above 55% in the summer most of the time. Fortunately orchids are more forgiving than duck eggs and most of them adjust pretty well. Most of our house, the part I have the plants in, is a large open space with generous openings from the entry to the living/dining room, through into the kitchen and back to the front room to the entry, one big circle. There's no way I can run enough humidifiers to affect that space, esp with 10' ceilings! It is what it is and I like having my plants near, where I can enjoy them and watch their growth from day to day.

[the dragonn]

Love the photos Carol, especially the Turkeys in the road. The bird list is very impressive.