Greenhouse: Vandachostylis ‘Ploenpit White’

I built my 12′ x 22′ Arcadia Glasshouse greenhouse in the Spring of 2019. As I was finalizing the build, the opportunity to acquire and plant the next door property, Peck Cottage, arose, so I devote my full attention and resources to the new acquisition. The greenhouse was left on life-support, if that, only keeping temperatures above 55 degrees.

In August, 2025, I realized I needed to start logging both temperature and humidity, I had relied on the swamp cooler to provide what I thought would be sufficient humidity. I was wrong. Many of the cattleyas I had purchased in anticipation of the completion of the greenhouse withered… and died.

So I focused on the greenhouse in August and purchased a professional fogger (1,000 psi). Then came the question: how do I monitor? So I designed and constructed three digital monitors which run on battery and solar power and transmits readings every second via LoRa radio and a script saves the data in a database. More on that later.

I purchased some more cattleyas and vandas and after I had the fogger operational, suddenly everything starting sending out healthy hungry roots. I concluded I had been depriving my plants of the humidity, 70-80+%, they needed.

Here’s a picture of a Vandachostylis ‘Ploenpit White’ (Vanda ‘Renu Gold’ × Vandachostylis ‘Nong Kham’, 2019) that I bloomed and is starting to send out strong luscious roots like mad. When I purchased it in August, 2025, it was non-blooming that is suppose to bloom a year from now, so I lucked out. The dark shipment from Hawaii, plus a welcoming humid environment, must have trigger a bloom cycle. A dear fellow plantsman wanted to see a photo when it was in bloom, so I am accommodating her requests.