Thursday, December 16, 2010

Portagrow custom design installation

We've been busy here at Portagrow!  We have had several local orders where we have gone to our customers homes to install their new Indoor Growing Environments.  We decided to offer local buyers this option after having several requests during the Denver Orchid Society's Fall Orchid Show.

We installed a Six Tier Grow Stand and Pocket Greenhouse one day last week for an orchid hobbyist who after 20 years of growing has decided she wants to grow some more difficult orchids and loved the idea of the indoor growing environments that Portagrow provides for her new experiments.

We were also recently hired to design and build a set of custom grow stands to be used with a customer's existing 48"x32" hydro trays.  She has been growing orchids for roughly 35 years and has experimented with many types of growing areas, from large scale greenhouses where she kept her 1500+ prized orchids to window sills and everywhere in between.  She has been reducing her collection to her most loved plants and was having difficulties allowing the room to cool down at night.  The heat generated by her HID light was overheating the room.  She was also struggling with too much humidity in her basement growing room and starting to see signs of mildew on the drywall walls.

By using Portagrow's  highly efficient, high output, cool running, T5 fluorescent grow lights and stands we will be reducing the heat generated by the grow lighting significantly, as well as reducing the energy consumption of the old HID light we replaced.  We also were able to contain the majority of the humidity within the Pocket Greenhouses, maintaining a comfortable growing environment for her plants while protecting the rest of her home from too much humidity.

The project consisted of two custom stands for her four hydro trays, a six tier grow stand and three pocket greenhouses.  Each of the grow stands incorporated a Humidity Distribution System (HDS).  The set-up was designed to hold her 250 -300 orchids in controlled environments inside her existing growing room.

We are all excited about the set-up and will share more about it in the future.  It is our largest single project to date and look forward to the possibility of creating others like it.

Here are some pictures of the project.  We will also be posting a video or two of it on You Tube soon.








Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Orchid Board Website #2

For some reason the link to Orchid Board wasn't active in the last post so here it is again:


http://www.orchidboard.com/

Orchid Board Website

Just a quick note tonight; I've been checking out other sites that are related to orchid care and growing orchids in general and I found a great one called Orchid Board.  It's a large forum with thousands of posts from orchid enthusiasts all over the world.  It has many interesting topics and I found some of the advice enlightening.  Check them out at:


www.orchidboard.com


Here are a few pictures from the Spring 2010 Denver Orchid Society show:









Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Orchid Care Resources

I've been growing orchids for about 15 years now and I still consider myself to be an avid hobbyist.  I'm constantly learning new things about orchids including their care and how diverse it is.  Tonight while looking through several different sites I came across one that had good information for the beginner and even some that I think more experienced growers might find interesting.  The links to the website and their blog are below:


http://imagine123.com/orchidtips/easy.html


http://imagine123.com/Orchid-Plants-Flowers/


Some of the most basic requirements for growing healthy and happy orchids are the ones that we tried to solve while developing the Portagrow products.  The concept for the "pocket greenhouse" came from the lack of humidity or the ability to sustain it in dry climates.  The use of the pocket greenhouse helps to maintain the humidity level at an acceptable range for most orchids.  The use of Portagrow's grow stands adds the required amount of light, without the heat gain of HID systems, humidity, from the Humidi-Grow trays and the available Humidity Distribution System (HDS) creates an environment for healthy growth and flowering.


I've included some pictures of some of my orchids.


Enjoy!














Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Portagrow Debut at the Denver Orchid Society fall show

Welcome to the Portagrow Blog.  Portagrow manufactures and sells indoor growing environments for orchids, bonsai, African violets, and many other tropical plants.  Our systems can be used for growing a variety of plants requiring controlled environments.  I also grow many types of vegetables in one of our systems.


We offer several "grow stands" or plant stand models that range in size from 2 tier to 6 tier and provide efficient T5 fluorescent lighting, optional 55 watt LED lighting, and large growing areas using high quality Humidi-Grow trays.  Several grow stand models include Portagrow's (HDS), Humidity Distribution System.  A simple system that delivers a fine vapor directly into the growing area of the stand.  See our HDS You Tube video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdRJeXArMiM   


We also offer the Portagrow "Pocket Greenhouse" which is designed to be used as an indoor greenhouse in combination with one or more Portagrow grow stands, though it can be used with your own plant stands as well.  The "Pocket Greenhouse" gives you the ability to grow your prized orchids, bonsai, and other plants in a light and humidity controlled environment while helping to protect your home from dirt and moisture.   For more information about who we are and what we do please see our website at: www.portagrow.com  


We had a great debut at the Denver Orchid Society's fall show in Denver and thank everyone who helped make it possible. We would also like to thank Fantasy Orchids in Louisville Colorado for supplying the beautiful orchids in our display. Here are some of the photo's from our display and the rest of the show:


PORTAGROW'S DISPLAY AT THE DENVER ORCHID SOCIETY'S FALL SHOW


PORTAGROW'S "POCKET GREENHOUSE"

PORTAGROW'S  DISPLAY AT THE DENVER ORCHID SOCIETY FALL SHOW
CATTLEYA "IN THE MIST"


CATTLEYA
PAPHIOPEDILUM 
PHALAENOPSIS

HUMIDITY DISTRIBUTION


CATTLEYA

PAPHIOPEDILUM

CATTLEYA

PHALAENOPSIS