The Importance of Keeping Plants Cool inside an Orangery

Orangeries are ideal for allowing certain kinds of plant life to have a healthy and long life, but helping them reach their full potential while preventing them from the risk of getting damage is a constant struggle.

Orangeries are usually thought of as being an extra room of a house by homeowners, but they are actually designed to act a form of greenhouse for cultivating certain kinds of plant life. In fact, this was the originally intended use for those structures when they were first introduced into European life during the 17th century.

An orangery setting was considered perfect for used to cultivate tropical plants that would otherwise be near impossible to grow in the harsh UK climate.

Plants can still thrive still in modern designs of both orangeries and conservatories; however, doing this effectively is often overlooked due to confusion over the temperature needed to raise plants healthily. But what are the best methods of keeping plant life healthy in a contemporary orangery.

Stop overheating your orangery

Regardless of whether your orangery is comprised of steel or is made from a plastic material like the kind used in PVCu orangeries, it is inevitable that at the height of summer the structure will become extremely hot inside. In British summertime a conservatory can reach temperatures of 40 degrees inside an orangery.

Although some heat is needed for plant life, the sheer volume of this heat can cause strain on the roots and dry the plant out. Watering plants regularly may sound like an obvious solution, but such a practice runs the risk of over nourishing the root. To prevent this from happening, it is essential to ensure that a good cycle of cool air is frequently pumped around the orangery.

Good Ventilation

Keeping your orangery cool can be easily achieved through leaving a window open during the day, especially during late morning and early afternoon when the sun is at its hottest. But alternatively you can leave the door inside your home nearest to the orangery open to give cooler air from the rest of the house the chance to circulate in a manner that evenly distributes it.

If possible, keep an air conditioning system on during the day to keep your plan life cool. Air conditioning can be set to an automatic timer which is particularly useful if you are going away for a day or two and don’t want to leave a window unlocked while you’re not at home. 

Fresh air is also necessary to stop plants from developing fungal diseases. Citrus trees in particular necessitate sufficient air ventilation or else their fruit won’t ripen correctly and may fall prematurely.

But can plants get too cold?

Of course the flipside of overheating plants is allowing them to get too cold instead. Generally speaking, there is no one orangery temperature to keep plants at as they are all different and require diverse forms of maintenance.

However, it is advisable to store subtropical plants at a temperature of around 5-8°C, which will ensure they are kept warm during the winter months.

Taking these few points into consideration can make all the difference to the health of your plants.

If you want to become the owner of a bespoke conservatory or orangery that will be custom made to cater to the health of your plants, contact Auburn Hill where you will find the finest designs made from a range of durable materials.