Albert Tamashausky - Growing Orchids in a 19th Century Brewery Cave - Get Up & Grow Podcast EP #9

Welcome to the Get Up & Grow Podcast, Episode #9. In today's episode, we have a special guest, Albert Tamashausky, joining us from Oxford, NJ. Albert has ingeniously transformed a 250-year-old brewery cave into a mesmerizing cloud forest environment, thriving with over 800 orchids and 100 bromeliads. Leveraging the cave's natural attributes, Albert's creation showcases his engineering prowess and dedication to his plants.

Albert discusses his journey into orchid cultivation, from his initial interest to the unique concept of using an ancient brewery cave as a growth space. He delves into the design process behind the plastic greenhouse within the cave, which recreates the ideal conditions for orchids to flourish. With a background in engineering, Albert shares how he applies his expertise to enhance his orchid growing methods.

Our discussion covers a range of topics, including:

·      How Albert's interest in orchids began.
·      The inspiration behind utilizing an old brewery cave for orchid cultivation.
·      Designing and constructing the plastic greenhouse in the cave.
·      The engineering principles applied to orchid care.
·      Essential factors for successful orchid growth and maintenance.
·      Balancing humidity, temperature, and airflow in the underground environment.
·      Challenges faced and solutions developed for maintaining the orchid garden.
·      The positive impact of transitioning to LED lighting.
·      Albert's commitment to sustainability in orchid cultivation.
·      Future plans for expanding and improving the underground orchid garden.
·      Albert's approach to selecting orchids and his personal favorites.
·      Advice for beginners venturing into orchid cultivation.

Interested in joining Albert's miniature orchid club and exploring his unique underground orchid garden? Find more information on his Facebook group. Join the community and discover the captivating world of orchid cultivation! 

This Podcast is dedicated to growers like you so we appreciate your feedback so we can provide the best experience possible for the grower community.
 
 Now Get Up & Grow!
 
 Taylor S.

Transcript

Taylor:
Hi Albert, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for spending the afternoon with us today or the morning where you are.

Albert Tamashausky:
Hi, Taylor. Nice to meet you.

Taylor:
Um, so I'm really excited to have you on. You're an expert in growing orchids. You've built this, uh, really interesting facility to create this environment for your orchids. You're also an engineer. Uh, I'd really like to kind of start getting into some of that, but I just wanted to first start off asking you, how did you first become interested in caring for orchids?

Albert Tamashausky:
Well, back in the mid 70s, probably 74, 75, house plants were all the rage and I got interested in growing house plants. And then ultimately I started growing bromeliads, mostly Talancias. That was my specialty, the genus Talancia. And then a friend recommended that I look at orchids as possible plants to grow. So I started to investigate orchids, bought a few, and then got very interested in orchids. And then around that same time, probably 75, I found an orchid grower. I lived in Union, New Jersey at the time, and there was an orchid grower called Lager & Hurrell Orchids in Summit, New Jersey, and they were probably one of the oldest orchid establishments in the country. I got to know the owner, John Lager, and eventually I was a biology major at Kane College at that time and I dropped out of college to go to work for Lager & Hurl Orchids. So I worked there for probably two years and learned about growing orchids and got really interested in the hobby.

Taylor:
and you've been growing orchids ever since, so it's been

Albert Tamashausky:
ever since.

Taylor:
30 years? No, 50

Albert Tamashausky:
Well,

Taylor:
years. Ha ha.

Albert Tamashausky:
yeah, I figure 1975, so the 40, 47 years, something like that.

Taylor:
Right.

Albert Tamashausky:
And my

Taylor:
Okay,

Albert Tamashausky:
interest

Taylor:
wow.

Albert Tamashausky:
is primarily miniatures.

Taylor:
He must have seen a lot of development, yeah.

Albert Tamashausky:
Yeah,

Taylor:
Mini-Tiorra codes.

Albert Tamashausky:
yeah. Yeah, I think

Taylor:
What is

Albert Tamashausky:
the

Taylor:
the difference

Albert Tamashausky:
biggest.

Taylor:
between miniature and regular besides the size?

Albert Tamashausky:
Well, not a whole lot. I mean, you know, there's most of what I grow or a good part of what I grow are in the genus Dendrobium and Dendrobium plants can be as small as a you know, the whole plant a half inch tall to three feet tall So there's not a lot of difference

Taylor:
Wow

Albert Tamashausky:
in the flower Characteristics or the plants themselves. It's just the size So a miniature orchid

Taylor:
Okay, interesting.

Albert Tamashausky:
is not miniaturized, but they're miniature by nature. So they're small, they stay small, regardless of how you grow them. So in other words, they're not miniature because of their environment. They're miniature, they evolved in environments where they became miniaturized, and that's now in their genes to be small, miniature.

Taylor:
OK. And you mentioned you mainly grow dendrobiums. Is that the correct pronunciation?

Albert Tamashausky:
Yeah, dendrobiums, I grow all sorts of miniatures. There's a sub-tribe called Pleurithalidinae. So the genus Pleurithalis, Mastivalia, Stellis, Lepanthes. Dracula, the genus Dracula. So any of the small pleurithalids I grow. But my favorites are the miniature dendrobiums, primarily in the group that used to be referred to as oxyglossum dendrobiums. They kind of split that up now. But my

Taylor:
Mm-hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
favorite plant species would be dendrobium cuthbertsoniae, as well as the other miniature dendrobiums that grow in in Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia.

Taylor:
OK. And why is that your favorite?

Albert Tamashausky:
And the plants are maybe two to four inches tall, and they have flowers that are an inch across. So you can imagine a little small plant that's two or three inches or four inches tall covered with blooms that are an inch across. So they're spectacular in the fact that the flowers are so colorful and so large compared to the size of the plants. They also have a beautiful leaf

Taylor:
Interesting.

Albert Tamashausky:
structure and texture. The leaves are covered with tiny little warts. So they have a beautiful texture. When I classify myself as a grower, I classify myself as a leaf man as opposed to a flower man. Flowers are great, but most of the time, you're looking at leaves. because the plants are not always in flower. So if I don't

Taylor:
Mm-hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
like the way a plant looks at a flower, I'm not interested in it. And the plants I grow have usually beautiful leaf structures and overall symmetry in plant structure.

Taylor:
Okay, so you're looking for symmetrical plants. When you're looking at orchids, that's kind of the goal to be symmetrical.

Albert Tamashausky:
Not really symmetrical, but just an overall beautiful display of the foliage, the growth stems with or without flowers. You know, I should have brought a couple of plants upstairs so I could show it to you, but I didn't think of doing that.

Taylor:
That's okay. You post some photos of your work on a few pages on Facebook where people can find you. You have a couple groups there. Is that right?

Albert Tamashausky:
I don't

Taylor:
Is it

Albert Tamashausky:
have

Taylor:
the

Albert Tamashausky:
groups that I...

Taylor:
North Jersey Orchid Society group? Okay.

Albert Tamashausky:
I'm a member of the North Jersey Orca Society group. There's a couple of miniature orca groups that I'm a member of. I'm a member of the Dendrobium Species group. There's also a couple of under-light groups I'm a member of. I don't know the exact names of them, but you know they're good places to display

Taylor:
Okay.

Albert Tamashausky:
your plants and also to get advice from growers.

Taylor:
Mm-hmm. Do you find that is useful information out there for orchid growers when it comes to, you know, how to care for your type of orchid or are you kind of teaching other people from your experience?

Albert Tamashausky:
Well, yeah, I guess I teach people from my experience, but there is a lot of great information on the internet about growing miniature orchids. There's

Taylor:
Mm-hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
a site, I forget the name of it, it's either dendrobiums of Papua New Guinea or species of Papua New Guinea, and they have extensive information on growing the types of miniatures that I grow, including habitat information. you know, temperatures, exposure, the altitude they grow at, etc. You know, when you're, when you're growing an orchid, the

Taylor:
Mm-hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
more you can find out about its native habitat, the easier it is for you as a grower to duplicate that habitat artificially. So they keep your plants happy. Um, you know, the, the dendrobium cuth personae types and relatives that I grow. are typically high altitude cloud forest orchids. So even though they grow in the tropics, they grow high enough

Taylor:
Hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
above sea level where the temperatures are cool year round. So when you know that, you're able to duplicate those environmental conditions in your synthetic environment.

Taylor:
Okay, we're going to get

Albert Tamashausky:
Um...

Taylor:
into your synthetic environment. Have you traveled to Papua New Guinea yourself?

Albert Tamashausky:
No, I haven't.

Taylor:
No. Yeah, that's a bit out there. And I think they only have one airport you can fly into, one major one. OK, just so people are aware, you're talking about dendrobiums. What are the other main classes of orchids? You're our first orchid guest. I kind of just want to give people the lowdown. What are the dendrobiums are one? What are the other main categories?

Albert Tamashausky:
Well, the orchid family is top of the food chain in evolution. So I believe they're the most highly evolved of all plants. And there's also a

Taylor:
Really?

Albert Tamashausky:
valid species of orchids. So there's more, you know, 40,000 to 50,000. So there's more species of orchids than any other plant family. There's many different types of orchids. They grow on all continents except for Antarctica.

Taylor:
Really.

Albert Tamashausky:
Something that are familiar to hobbyist growers would be Phalaenopsis, which are the plants you can buy in the box stores. Catlaeas, Oncidiums, Pathiopetalums,

Taylor:
Mm-hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
Phragmopediums, Catacetums, there's hundreds of different genera that are grown by hobbyists. Habitats are anywhere from near desert conditions to tropical cloud forests. I grow primarily epiphytic orchids, which are plants that grow attached to other plants. They grow attached to trees. They're not parasites, but they're epiphytes. So they use a tree or a bush as a holdfast to grow on. And there's also terrestrial orchids, orchids that grow in the soil, like some superpidiums, for example, lady slipper orchids. They grow in the ground. I have very few of those. I grow primarily epiphytic orchids. Yeah, epiphytic, epiphyte.

Taylor:
Epithetic, is that how you

Albert Tamashausky:
An

Taylor:
pronounce

Albert Tamashausky:
epiphyte

Taylor:
that?

Albert Tamashausky:
is a plant that grows attached to another plant. There's

Taylor:
Fidic.

Albert Tamashausky:
also orchids that are called lithophytes. Go ahead.

Taylor:
Okay, would you? Would you categorize some types of bonsai as epiphytes? Cause some bonsais

Albert Tamashausky:
Well,

Taylor:
can grow

Albert Tamashausky:
it depends.

Taylor:
attached to other trees or is it only this flowering

Albert Tamashausky:
I don't really

Taylor:
type

Albert Tamashausky:
know

Taylor:
of plant that you call

Albert Tamashausky:
of

Taylor:
that?

Albert Tamashausky:
bonesides that grow attached to trees. most bone size are trees and they're terrestrial, unless you're talking about orchids that

Taylor:
Okay, I was thinking of like a bonsai growing out of a dead

Albert Tamashausky:
Yeah,

Taylor:
tree.

Albert Tamashausky:
no, that's a little

Taylor:
That's

Albert Tamashausky:
bit

Taylor:
kind

Albert Tamashausky:
different.

Taylor:
of what I was thinking of.

Albert Tamashausky:
That would be like a chance epiphyte. Just by happenstance, a seed winds up in a dead trunk and then takes root in it. But eventually, plants like that are seeking the ground. Orchids, though, are what

Taylor:
Okay.

Albert Tamashausky:
are called a blue. not all orchids, but many orchids are obligatory

Taylor:
Okay.

Albert Tamashausky:
epiphytes, so they have to grow attached to a tree or you know a bush or something above the ground. And they do that so they can get

Taylor:
I see.

Albert Tamashausky:
up into a living tree. Yeah.

Taylor:
A living tree.

Albert Tamashausky:
They do that so they can get up where the sunlight is.

Taylor:
And why did they do that?

Albert Tamashausky:
to get into the area where the sunlight is. But if you

Taylor:
Okay,

Albert Tamashausky:
think about a

Taylor:
excellent.

Albert Tamashausky:
rain forest or a dense tropical forest, when you get down to the ground level, it's pretty much shaded. So in order to avoid the shade, get to the sun where the energy is, they grow high up in the trees or on the trunks of trees.

Taylor:
Okay, so are the plants that you are growing, do they require a lot of light, a little bit of light, or highlight,

Albert Tamashausky:
everything.

Taylor:
highlight requirement?

Albert Tamashausky:
I have probably a thousand orchids and so I have species that like shade, that like medium bright light, and that like bright light. So I adjust the position of the plants in my light bays to reflect the light requirements of a specific species. So plants that need highlight, I would put high, close to the root.

Taylor:
Okay, before we start getting into some...

Albert Tamashausky:
Cough

Taylor:
I think there's a little bit of a delay. Before we get into kind of the light stuff, maybe we can talk about your setup, your growing setup. You said you want to mimic a Papua New Guinea environment. I know a little bit about your background. I read that you had

Albert Tamashausky:
Cough

Taylor:
converted a facility that used to produce alcohol, beer, and you converted that facility into an orchid. space. So how did you do that and what was the reason

Albert Tamashausky:
Well,

Taylor:
for doing that?

Albert Tamashausky:
um. Originally, I grew under lights in a conventional home. And in 19... 1981, I met this woman who lived down the street from where I used to live. Uh, serendipity, you could call it. And she owned a house that was actually a 19th century brewery. So if you go in the basement of this house, which is the house I'm living in now, there's actually a door that goes through the foundation out into an actual loggering cave that was built in the 1860s that's about eight feet below the surface, the roof of the cave, and they built this loggering cave. It's an arch, It's 12 foot wide at the base, eight foot high at the center of the arch and 30 feet deep. It's underground so it's cool, it's moist, temperature is pretty stable. Anyway, I so I met this woman and she showed me her Orchid or not her orchid cave. She showed me this loggering cave in the basement. And I walked in this cave and said, wow, this is like a high altitude cloud forest environment and man, you could grow some great orchids in here. If you had the right setup. So ultimately I married this woman. That's my wife.

Taylor:
Mm-hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
And I moved my orchids over here when we got married and I built the structure.

Taylor:
Aww.

Albert Tamashausky:
In the cave, because it had to be enclosed, so it didn't have water dripping on it, and it was, you know, because it would be wired with electricity, it had to be dry, or not dry, but drip-free inside. I built this orchid structure, this room, and the room is about eight feet wide, maybe 20 feet long, and about six and a half or seven feet high. So I built it to fit inside. of the arched cave. And that's where I grow my orchids now.

Taylor:
Wow. And so we didn't get into it too much, but you're an engineer

Albert Tamashausky:
That's right, my...

Taylor:
by trade. And did that help or contribute to you kind

Albert Tamashausky:
Yeah,

Taylor:
of designing

Albert Tamashausky:
well my

Taylor:
this

Albert Tamashausky:
degree

Taylor:
facility?

Albert Tamashausky:
is in chemical engineering, so... It helped in that, you know, when you take courses in engineering, you learn a certain way to think and solve problems. So I guess from that standpoint, my engineering background helped me you know, think things through using the scientific method to design the structure. But I think more or less it was hit or miss and I learned by my mistakes over the years. I think my background in chemical engineering helps me more with things like calculating concentrations for fertilizer and that sort of thing, solution science, solution chemistry. But I don't do anything in the cave that... that any lay person couldn't do. Thank you.

Taylor:
Can you, do you mind explaining a bit about how you built this facility? Like what did you need to do to convert over to an orchid grow? You mentioned some of it with the sizing, but what are some of the other things

Albert Tamashausky:
Sure,

Taylor:
you had to do? Maybe

Albert Tamashausky:
sure.

Taylor:
a little

Albert Tamashausky:
Well,

Taylor:
more detail.

Albert Tamashausky:
you know, the cave, you know, if you're looking down from the top, you can imagine the floor of the cave as a rectangle that's 30 feet by 12 feet. So within that rectangle, I gave myself enough room to have a pathway to walk along the side of the orchage set up to get into the cave because I, when you step down into the room, You turn, you walk parallel with the long axis of the room, and then you make a right turn, and you enter the orchid room from the back of the cave. So anyway, I took cinder blocks, and the floor of the cave was relatively level, I'll start by saying that, and I laid cinder blocks in a rough outline of about eight feet. by 20 feet and then on top of the cinder blocks, I put a treated lumber plate, a two by four plate like you would do for a building. And then I built walls out of treated lumber and then a crude roof. And then I attached a one inch thick closed pore polystyrene to the sides, two inch thick closed pore polystyrene to the roof, built a door on one end, and then draped the whole thing with heavy duty polyethylene sheeting, both sides and top. And that's basically the enclosure, it's very simple.

Taylor:
Hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
So it's two by four walls. Yes,

Taylor:
So it's all closed up within the

Albert Tamashausky:
yes

Taylor:
cave.

Albert Tamashausky:
and there's

Taylor:
So it's like a greenhouse

Albert Tamashausky:
a

Taylor:
in the cave.

Albert Tamashausky:
on the one side on one of the end walls I have two fans mounted in so I can circulate air if I want to from the cave into the room. The door of course I can keep open or close depending on how I'm trying to monitor the air circulation or the temperature. Now most of the year The cave cools down at night because the plants I grow like to be in the mid fifties at night. So I maintain that at night by just opening the door of the cave and let them, opening the door of the orchid room and letting the cave air in. In the summer, the cave warms up a bit because there's a vent in the back of the cave that goes up to the surface. So some warm air comes down through the vent. And also the... room itself gives off a certain amount of heat from the lighting and the fans so that tends to warm up the cave. So what I did for summertime is I built a fin and tube heat exchanger which is basically just hot water tube fin and tube heat exchange material and I have a three rows of that and a fan mounted behind it. And I pump spring water through the fin tube heat exchanger and I blow air across that at night during the usually anywhere from 52 degrees Fahrenheit, which would be my winter temperatures. And then the summer when it starts warming up with the use of the cooler that I built, the chiller. I'm able to get the night temperature down to 57. My daytime temperatures are typically between 68 and 75. And the temperature goes up because of the heat given off by the

Taylor:
Mmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
LED

Taylor:
Wow.

Albert Tamashausky:
tubes in the fans.

Taylor:
Okay. So you're able to, you know, more

Albert Tamashausky:
Yes,

Taylor:
or less create

Albert Tamashausky:
yes.

Taylor:
this environment

Albert Tamashausky:
And

Taylor:
that

Albert Tamashausky:
the

Taylor:
you

Albert Tamashausky:
cave

Taylor:
wanted

Albert Tamashausky:
provides

Taylor:
to create this natural Papua New Guinea

Albert Tamashausky:
70%

Taylor:
cloud forest

Albert Tamashausky:
of that

Taylor:
environment

Albert Tamashausky:
environment

Taylor:
in the

Albert Tamashausky:
and

Taylor:
cave.

Albert Tamashausky:
I provide the other 30% with technology.

Taylor:
That's amazing. Yeah, we're going to have to

Albert Tamashausky:
Okay.

Taylor:
share links to photos after this so people could just see what that looks like. So that's it for your setup. Maybe can you walk us through your day to day, the process of growing and

Albert Tamashausky:
Well,

Taylor:
caring for

Albert Tamashausky:
um.

Taylor:
these orchids? What are some of the most important factors that contribute to their health and

Albert Tamashausky:
Orchids

Taylor:
their growth

Albert Tamashausky:
need

Taylor:
in this environment?

Albert Tamashausky:
light, they need water, and they need a temperature environment that duplicates their own environment. So they're the three things that I'll say struggle with. The light is relatively easy because I use these LED tubes and they provide sufficient light. I adjust the light level of course by just moving plants from one place to another closer to the tubes further away from the tubes. So that's relatively easy. The problem with adjusting for light though is that sometimes it takes a little bit, it takes a long time before you start to see whether a plant needs more or less light. But you know you work with that. The temperature, I explained how I deal with temperature. And that's relatively easy for me because of the

Taylor:
Hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
fact I'm underground, so my temperature is stable. I'm not dealing with the conditions that someone in a greenhouse would have to deal with. For example, if there's one of these awful New Jersey heat waves where you have 90 plus degree days for three weeks. people have greenhouse or pulling their hair out of their heads trying to keep their greenhouses cool, I never have that problem. No matter how hot it is outside, my temperature in the cave never goes above seventy

Taylor:
Mm-hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
five, which is perfect. My biggest challenge is water, dealing with watering,

Taylor:
Hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
because I have so many plants. Next to each other, it's hard to water in a way that allows all the plants to get what they need. So if I have a plant that likes to be kept

Taylor:
Hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
moist next to a group of plants that like to dry out, it gets very tricky watering to make sure that the plants that are moist stay moist and the plants that need to dry out dry out. And because I have so many plants, it's hard to segregate things specifically into wet and dry areas. I try, but I struggle with that. So watering is my biggest challenge.

Taylor:
Hmm. OK. You mentioned a little bit about lighting, and this episode's going to be trying to focus on that a little bit more. I'm wondering if you could walk through the lighting situation that you had in the past

Albert Tamashausky:
Sure.

Taylor:
since

Albert Tamashausky:
I

Taylor:
you

Albert Tamashausky:
started

Taylor:
first started

Albert Tamashausky:
growing

Taylor:
growing,

Albert Tamashausky:
under

Taylor:
how that's

Albert Tamashausky:
conventional

Taylor:
changed over the years, and

Albert Tamashausky:
or

Taylor:
maybe

Albert Tamashausky:
I

Taylor:
what

Albert Tamashausky:
should say

Taylor:
differences

Albert Tamashausky:
standard

Taylor:
you've seen

Albert Tamashausky:
T-12

Taylor:
as the technology's changed.

Albert Tamashausky:
fluorescent lights. You know, your standard 40 watt inch and an eighth or whatever they are, inch and a half diameter, 40 watt tubes. And then as technology changed and the wattages were reduced, So T8 were the 32 watt. I went over to those to save energy. The problem I had with conventional fluorescents were two problems. One was they produce a lot of heat.

Taylor:
Right, right.

Albert Tamashausky:
So it was a little more difficult to control the temperature in the room year round actually. And the other problem was the fluorescent lights lighting. Sometimes they would be hard to get them to light to start because of the temperature, the high humidity, and the cool temperatures in the cave. I conquered that problem, the lighting problem, by going over to solid state ballast. They seemed to be more dependable in getting the tubes to start. I still had the temperature problem though, and of course the high energy cost. When LED lights came out, I was a little bit hesitant for a few years because I wasn't sure of the technology.

Taylor:
Mm-hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
Finally I gave it a try and found that the LED lights worked just fine. They cut my power use in half and the temperature and the output, the heat output of an LED as most people know. So by going to LEDs, I not only improved by cutting my power use in half, I also lowered the temperature of the room making it much easier to control the heat output. The way an LED works or the way a fluorescent light works is completely different than an LED. A fluorescent light, there is actually a filament inside of the fluorescent light that glows and it causes the mercury in the light to vaporize and form a gas phase. And then that mercury gas phase conducts electrons from one end of the tube to the other, giving off UV. which excites the phosphor in the tube. All those processes that happen in a fluorescent light give off a lot of heat. And of course, as a grower, you realize that heat in the area, in the light areas. The LEDs are solid state and although they do produce some Yes, I'm using T5 LEDs. Yes.

Taylor:
Right and

Albert Tamashausky:
the 30, what are they, 40.

Taylor:
Yes, definitely. So are you currently using T5

Albert Tamashausky:
Yeah,

Taylor:
lamps?

Albert Tamashausky:
I was saying that

Taylor:
Yep.

Albert Tamashausky:
an LED works by a solid state electronic process that I don't quite understand, but it has a very low

Taylor:
OK, and you were saying

Albert Tamashausky:
heat

Taylor:
about

Albert Tamashausky:
associated

Taylor:
the solid

Albert Tamashausky:
with it.

Taylor:
state.

Albert Tamashausky:
I use the ballast operated lamps and I have a reason for that.

Taylor:
So are you using the ballast

Albert Tamashausky:
I realize

Taylor:
bypass

Albert Tamashausky:
it's more

Taylor:
T5

Albert Tamashausky:
efficient

Taylor:
lamps currently

Albert Tamashausky:
to run

Taylor:
where it's direct

Albert Tamashausky:
what they

Taylor:
line

Albert Tamashausky:
call

Taylor:
voltage

Albert Tamashausky:
hardwired

Taylor:
or are you running

Albert Tamashausky:
direct

Taylor:
the

Albert Tamashausky:
or direct

Taylor:
lamps

Albert Tamashausky:
wired

Taylor:
that

Albert Tamashausky:
LEDs.

Taylor:
still use a ballast operate?

Albert Tamashausky:
But because I'm spraying water all over the place, I don't want 120 volt house current going to the tubes where I'm spraying them with water. The idea of a ballast is it cuts down the current, increases the voltage, but cuts down the current. So there's a little

Taylor:
Mm-hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
bit of a, let's say a buffer between me and the water and the house current when you use a ballast. So I always think of the ballast as being safer in my setup. Yeah, that's yes. I don't spray the lamps intentionally, but they do get overspray and I've never had an incident. A short

Taylor:
I

Albert Tamashausky:
or

Taylor:
see.

Albert Tamashausky:
anything with them.

Taylor:
And you were able to spray the lamps with that setup

Albert Tamashausky:
You

Taylor:
and

Albert Tamashausky:
know,

Taylor:
not

Albert Tamashausky:
electricity

Taylor:
have an issue,

Albert Tamashausky:
takes the path

Taylor:
no issues?

Albert Tamashausky:
of leach resistance,

Taylor:
And you've been running

Albert Tamashausky:
which apparently

Taylor:
them for how long?

Albert Tamashausky:
is through the tube and not into the water that might hit the tube. Because water generally has a very low conductivity, especially if it's pure water. My water is very pure well water, so it has a very low conductivity.

Taylor:
Okay, that's good. Okay, and are you seeing, you mentioned upgrading the LED has the benefits of low energy

Albert Tamashausky:
Yes,

Taylor:
and,

Albert Tamashausky:
I don't

Taylor:
you

Albert Tamashausky:
know

Taylor:
know,

Albert Tamashausky:
a lot about

Taylor:
helping

Albert Tamashausky:
the light

Taylor:
you with

Albert Tamashausky:
spectrum,

Taylor:
more control

Albert Tamashausky:
but,

Taylor:
over your space. What about spectrum?

Albert Tamashausky:
you know,

Taylor:
Are you

Albert Tamashausky:
I

Taylor:
seeing

Albert Tamashausky:
have

Taylor:
that

Albert Tamashausky:
looked

Taylor:
spectrum

Albert Tamashausky:
at

Taylor:
of lights

Albert Tamashausky:
the spectrum

Taylor:
helps contribute

Albert Tamashausky:
that

Taylor:
to

Albert Tamashausky:
you've actually

Taylor:
healthier

Albert Tamashausky:
provided

Taylor:
growth of

Albert Tamashausky:
with

Taylor:
your orchids?

Albert Tamashausky:
your active grow tubes, and I've compared them to other LED lights and your tubes seem to fit right in there in that they supply the right spectrum you know, what's called photosynthetically active radiation, they seem right in there where they need to be to provide the plants with what they need. I've not actually measured the spectrum myself with a light meter, but my plants are fat and happy, so I assume I'm giving them the right light of the right quality.

Taylor:
I think you're using the sun white light spectrums, lamps. And I think that, you know, in the reason we developed that product was because we wanted to mimic a natural outdoor environment by adding far red light, as you'd see in nature. So

Albert Tamashausky:
Yeah,

Taylor:
that

Albert Tamashausky:
I mean my plants

Taylor:
has shown to be a

Albert Tamashausky:
are

Taylor:
difference for orchid growers

Albert Tamashausky:
growing

Taylor:
that I've seen

Albert Tamashausky:
as good

Taylor:
just trying

Albert Tamashausky:
as I

Taylor:
to

Albert Tamashausky:
can

Taylor:
recreate

Albert Tamashausky:
hope for,

Taylor:
that environment.

Albert Tamashausky:
as well as I can hope for.

Taylor:
So I'm happy to hear that it's doing the same for you.

Albert Tamashausky:
Well,

Taylor:
And you mentioned

Albert Tamashausky:
my

Taylor:
your

Albert Tamashausky:
airflow

Taylor:
biggest issue is air flow.

Albert Tamashausky:
is,

Taylor:
Are you dealing with any

Albert Tamashausky:
I don't really have a problem with my

Taylor:
issues

Albert Tamashausky:
airflow.

Taylor:
with pests or any diseases in your

Albert Tamashausky:
It's

Taylor:
garden

Albert Tamashausky:
the watering.

Taylor:
when there's that much humidity or is there other

Albert Tamashausky:
But my airflow, I have probably

Taylor:
smaller things

Albert Tamashausky:
nine

Taylor:
to

Albert Tamashausky:
or

Taylor:
kind

Albert Tamashausky:
10

Taylor:
of pay attention

Albert Tamashausky:
fans

Taylor:
to when

Albert Tamashausky:
running,

Taylor:
you're down there looking?

Albert Tamashausky:
nine or 10 fans running whenever the lights are on. So I have plenty of airflow. So I don't have fungus problems, but that's usually more. attached to overwatering

Taylor:
That's right.

Albert Tamashausky:
than anything. I do occasionally have insect pests. I usually deal with them mechanically, you know, by just removing them, taking them off scale, for instance. I've gotten away from using things like malathion which are highly toxic and right now when I have an insect pest that I think is too much for me to handle mechanically I use a product called N-star-2 which is a hormone that affects the ability of the insect to shed. create an exoskeleton. and that's relatively non-toxic. All the water that I use to water my plants is captured in trays that are under each light bay. I have nine light bays and then that water is siphoned out and that goes

Taylor:
Mm.

Albert Tamashausky:
to a sewer, a regular sewer system pumped out. So none of the water

Taylor:
Okay,

Albert Tamashausky:
from my

Taylor:
that's good.

Albert Tamashausky:
plants goes into the environment. zero. Well, you know, I think applying the term sustainability to a hobby is a

Taylor:
Good.

Albert Tamashausky:
little bit.

Taylor:
Yeah, I was going to get into that next.

Albert Tamashausky:
difficult because, you

Taylor:
Can you tell us about what

Albert Tamashausky:
know,

Taylor:
role

Albert Tamashausky:
if you're looking

Taylor:
sustainability

Albert Tamashausky:
at environmental

Taylor:
plays

Albert Tamashausky:
sustainability

Taylor:
in your orchid growing operation,

Albert Tamashausky:
for energy,

Taylor:
like the

Albert Tamashausky:
for

Taylor:
importance

Albert Tamashausky:
example,

Taylor:
of it, how you've

Albert Tamashausky:
the

Taylor:
used

Albert Tamashausky:
best

Taylor:
it?

Albert Tamashausky:
thing would be not to grow orchids because,

Taylor:
of that nature.

Albert Tamashausky:
you know, the orchids I grow don't really benefit anybody but myself. It's a hobby. As far as making it sustainable, you know, my switching over to LEDs to reduce energy consumption. I guess that helps the sustainability if you want to call it that of a hobby. But there's nothing really environmentally sustainable,

Taylor:
Hmm.

Albert Tamashausky:
probably about any hop. Probably nothing sustainable about any hobby unless you're talking about growing native plants or something that's actually outside and benefiting the environment directly.

Taylor:
And there's no, oh yeah.

Albert Tamashausky:
Yes, in that light, I

Taylor:
Well, I mean, it's

Albert Tamashausky:
try

Taylor:
a part of

Albert Tamashausky:
to

Taylor:
your

Albert Tamashausky:
use

Taylor:
life.

Albert Tamashausky:
as

Taylor:
It's

Albert Tamashausky:
little

Taylor:
something

Albert Tamashausky:
energy

Taylor:
you do

Albert Tamashausky:
as

Taylor:
to

Albert Tamashausky:
possible.

Taylor:
make you happy. You know, like

Albert Tamashausky:
I think

Taylor:
it's just,

Albert Tamashausky:
about

Taylor:
yeah. How do you try at least

Albert Tamashausky:
saving

Taylor:
to,

Albert Tamashausky:
more

Taylor:
to make

Albert Tamashausky:
energy.

Taylor:
a difference and,

Albert Tamashausky:
In fact,

Taylor:
you know,

Albert Tamashausky:
I'm even

Taylor:
save

Albert Tamashausky:
thinking

Taylor:
some energy

Albert Tamashausky:
about

Taylor:
while you're

Albert Tamashausky:
maybe

Taylor:
doing it? I mean,

Albert Tamashausky:
reducing

Taylor:
I would

Albert Tamashausky:
the

Taylor:
consider

Albert Tamashausky:
number of

Taylor:
it,

Albert Tamashausky:
tubes

Taylor:
you know,

Albert Tamashausky:
I run because

Taylor:
just like

Albert Tamashausky:
it

Taylor:
anything

Albert Tamashausky:
seems

Taylor:
else.

Albert Tamashausky:
like

Taylor:
How do we try to be

Albert Tamashausky:
the

Taylor:
better

Albert Tamashausky:
amount

Taylor:
about

Albert Tamashausky:
of light

Taylor:
taking

Albert Tamashausky:
I'm getting

Taylor:
care of the planet

Albert Tamashausky:
from

Taylor:
while

Albert Tamashausky:
my

Taylor:
we

Albert Tamashausky:
tubes

Taylor:
do it?

Albert Tamashausky:
is effectively growing the plants. And I might be able to even reduce my light or my energy consumption by pulling a few tubes out and seeing if that makes any difference. If it doesn't, I'll run using less tubes. As far as making me happy, my work, it's make me very happy. Um, I just love being down there, especially in the winter time when it's cold outside. I spend hours and hours just puttering around, repotting, looking at my plants. Um, moving things around. It's just so much fun and so relaxing. It's like, you know, sometimes I'll tell my wife I'm going down to the orchard room for a half hour and then three hours or four hours later she's down there looking for me saying, what are you doing? I thought you were coming back up in 30 minutes and I just get lost down there. No matter what time of the year it is, when I'm down there it's always a nice light breeze. It's sunny and in the mid 70s, you know, mid to low 70s. So it's a real escape from the cold of winter and the heat of summer. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, I don't think I could ever live in Florida. Too hot. Yeah, it's a great little escape. It's a real man cave.

Taylor:
So I'm assuming you don't have a summer place or a winter place in Florida. You just can go down to your orchid room.

Albert Tamashausky:
Oh, she, yeah, she loves the plants, but she doesn't really take any part in the hobby. That's just what I do. But she does love the plants. I think she likes the fact that she can get rid

Taylor:
And

Albert Tamashausky:
of me

Taylor:
does your

Albert Tamashausky:
for

Taylor:
wife enjoy orchids

Albert Tamashausky:
a few

Taylor:
as

Albert Tamashausky:
hours

Taylor:
much as you do?

Albert Tamashausky:
on occasion when

Taylor:
Maybe

Albert Tamashausky:
I'm down

Taylor:
not enough

Albert Tamashausky:
there

Taylor:
to

Albert Tamashausky:
and

Taylor:
do

Albert Tamashausky:
not,

Taylor:
four hours,

Albert Tamashausky:
not bothering

Taylor:
but is she

Albert Tamashausky:
her, not

Taylor:
kind

Albert Tamashausky:
in her hair.

Taylor:
of, is she appreciative at least of the hobby? That's great. I mean, it's amazing to tell you guys, you met that way and that just became, yeah, that's your story. That's amazing. Okay, well, we're getting towards the end here. I kind of wanted to talk about, you know, you mentioned what your favorite orchid species is. Is that a rare species that's hard for people to get, if you don't mind saying it again, what that was? And for your setup, how do you decide which orchids to- A little bit of a delay. Sorry, how do you decide which orchids to add to your collection? What qualities do you look for in a plant to be added? Or are you kind of at max capacity right now? I know you've been developing this space for some time, but is there any future plans for expanding or improving your underground facility? Is there any updates or upgrades you're thinking of doing or are you just happy where everything is? You've got things dialed in. Okay, I wanted to ask you here at the end, what advice would you give to someone who's just starting out growing orchids? Like you mentioned, people having orchids on their windowsill, I think that's the case for a lot of people. What would you say is someone who wants to take the next step and take this more seriously as a hobby? And that seems to be kind of a theme I've had amongst the guests that I've had. It's just try, go for it, give it a shot and you'll eventually learn, right? So, you know, I appreciate that advice from you as well. Well, Albert, I want to say thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today. You've been such a great supporter of our business and I'm just happy to speak with experts like you that have so much to share and to give. So if you need anything from me in the future, please just reach out directly. I'm happy to help you. But I think this is going to be super informative for a lot of people out there considering what to do next with their orchids if they want to. move them into a more serious controlled environment or try out different lighting or just get started. But I just want to say thank you again for your time and I appreciate you. All right. Thank you again, sir. Bye bye.