Dendrophylax lindenii Winter Rest Care

[LokeLeaflessandPleuros]

I decided to travel with my new orchid and the glass cylinder broke just as I was returning home so I have the orchid in a plastic display case with some distilled water and live sphagnum moss at the bottom and a grow light will be left on 14 hours per day.

I actually exposed my orchid to hours of full sunlight and I think it caused some sunburn as the new green growing tips on a few of the roots have turned black at the very tips of the green part and one of the established roots (that i just noticed is being squeezed in a few spots by the fishing line securing it turned a brownish gray color when wet so I was afraid I was keeping the orchid too wet but now that it is dry I believe that is what a hint of sunburn looks like on an established root so I am going to keep the orchid in a steam bath humidity-wise while keeping it dry for the most part. I think that is the secret to keeping these from rotting.

I collected some lichens, mosses and bits of bark as well as a small Tillandsia recurvata from a few trees in my parent's yard in Port Charlotte, FL which is near the habitat for the ghost orchid and i mixed these with water and inoculated my ghost orchid a number of times in the mixture to give it the beneficial fungal symbiants it needs. Even though this is said to only be required for plants in the first stages of growth, I believe it will be beneficial for more established ghost orchids as well.

The final picture is my ghost orchid in its current terrarium.

[tmoney]

oh man, sorry to hear of your travel woes. going with plants is sort of stressful, eh?!

but the one you powered in the terrarium looks good! waaay bigger than the ones we got....good luck and keep us posted!

[LokeLeaflessandPleuros]

Thank you, tmoney. Yes it was a bit stressful traveling with my orchid and a real bummer that my brand new glass vase terrarium broke as I arrived home.

That evening, I noticed as I was setting up the new terrarium, an acrylic display case with distilled water in the bottom (see attached photos of the remaining plants and the new terrarium setup), that my orchid has one root that was rotting. Of course, this had to be the one root that was almost completely attached to the cork bark mount. Since then I have had two of the six plants rot completely and the remaining four have lost some roots. I treated the plants with H2O2 (1/3 H2O2, 2/3 distilled H20) last night as the dying roots were molding and while i was afraid H2O2 might kill the ghosties, I felt i had to risk it. Within hours the infected and dying roots were doing up and the mold was and is visibly gone.

I am going to be keeping the little ghosties unattached to what is now two separate mounts until I can get a hold of a hickory bark slab of a hickory bark log, which I will saw in half and it will fit well inside the glass terrarium, which I intend to replace from the same vendor, unless my remaining ghosties stay stable and do not loose any more roots for the next six months. I removed the fishing line from my ghost orchid mount because it was cutting into the roots (or compressing it at least) and that may have caused the first root to get infected, I am not sure, but the orchid babies will be sitting on top of two separate mounts without being tied in place for the time being.

I will move the plastic terrarium outside and open the top every evening just to allow for air exchange and will change the distilled water in the bottom once per week to prevent microbial and algae growth, because that could permeate the air in the enclosed space and infect the orchids with who know what.

Further, when I do the water change once per week I will water my ghosties with a mix of rain water, distilled water and Icelandic bottled water. Every other week I will include 1/3 H2O2 since rot has always been such a problem for me (and many other growers) with these little guys. The other watering without the H2O2 will include 1/4 strength MSU distilled water orchid fertilizer from November through March and 1/2 strength MSU the remainder of the year. The humidity in the enclosed space is certainly 100% or 95%+ at all times so under these conditions I actually may never need to water the orchids except for getting the plants needed nutrients. Does anyone on here with knowledge and or experience think that keeping a ghost orchid dry but enclosed with 100% humidity would be a viable way to grow the ghost as long as the air is exchanged with fresh air daily and the water at the bottom is changed weekly?

I guess my most important question can be summed up as follows. Can a ghost orchid do well without water for extended periods in a 100% humidity environment and can a this species handle 100% humidity all the time as long as it is not moist or wet?

Does anybody think Dendrophylax lindenii would survive and thrive with very humid and hot summer conditions year-round as this would be easier to achieve for me than a cool down because the latter option would require my putting the terrarium on the the porch which stays in full shade from roughly November through March and I suspect, if anything many to most ghost orchids in Florida habitat get more sunlight in the cool season than the hot, rainy season because at least some of the habitat has some deciduous trees like bald cypress and pop ash. Thus, keeping my ghosts in shade during the cool season might be counter to how they are used to being grown and might cause poor growth or worse.

As far as temperatures, if I do decide to keep the terrarium on the brightest part of the porch for the winter, I will only bring it inside if temperatures drop below the mid-40s. I may also bring my ghosties in if temperatues dip below mid 50s for highs, which lately has been maybe 4-7 times per year.
Thank you for reading my update and thank you in advance for the feedback.

Lastly, does anyone on here have any hickory bark slabs or hickory logs you would be willing to sell? My seller backed out, saying he is too busy at the moment to make the sale. Thank you.

-Michael

[Ray]

I have not given it any thought as to “why”, but several growers have found that this plant does better when grown on an open mesh substrate, rather than something flat and smooth. Specifically, they were unsuccessful when attempting to use flat bark or flat cork, but the plant did great on hardware cloth.

That may have more to do with the rest of their environment than anything, as a mesh certainly allows more air movement entirely around the plant. …just speculation.

[LokeLeaflessandPleuros]

Ray,

Thank you for your input. If it were weren't for the fact I have a hickory log in the mail I would actually mount mine on mesh substrate.

What I plan to do is grow my ghosts as they are until I can afford to replace that glass cylinder that broke. Once I get the glass cylinder replaced, I will have a terrarium that can accommodate the size of the hickory mount. I plan to carefully saw the hickory mount in half then use Elmer's wood glue (water proof, long lasting and inert as it gets (shouldn't leach toxins)) to seal all of the exposed wood on the top and back side of the split log. I also plan to use a tiny dab of Elmer's wood glue to attach the ghosties to their mount, as this should be a safe and long lasting adhesive for delicate orchid tissue. Of course, the plants will be planted in a cluster in the center of the mount with the growing center facing down and will get a 50/50 H2O2/pure H2O solution on every other watering, alternating with pure water with 1/4 strength MSU orchid fertilizer from November through February and 1/2 strength MSU from March through October.

H2O2 has saved my plants from rotting I believe and except for the one sitting atop the cork bark mount which stays wet for longer. So I have two plants left that are sitting on top of a small terra cotta saucer and these are looking healthy. Yesterday, I noticed that an area in the middle of the longest root on the healthiest plant had withered so I treated with 50% H2O2/50% pure water and it looks like the tissue in the shriveled area may actually survive and the root may survive. H2O2 for the win with these guys.

I take my plant projects very seriously.

[LokeLeaflessandPleuros]

To sum it up, my ghost orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) project is a failure. All of the plants have succumbed to fungal and/or bacterial infections and are now dead. Having my large glass cylinder break with my ghost orchid inside it at the time may have cut the roots in a few spots and introduced pathogens. Another possibity is that I was dipping it in the water inoculated with lichens and tree bark from South Florida too much and this initiated rot, which spread to all the plants and led to their death. Yet another possibility is that the microbial infection got started on the one root and keeping the plants "dry" but at 100% humidity was too much, as I suspect in the Fakahatchee, the humidity stays between 60%-90% almost all the time with an extreme range of 45%-100%. As for the habitat of the super ghost at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, I suspect the plant's surroundings average 50%-90% year-round with an extreme range of 30%-100%.

As a result, I am going to try a project with another "ghost orchid" a far rarer (in cultivation at least) leafless species, Taeniophyllum hasseltii, a species native to parts of Southern Indonesia and Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean. This species is found on small branches of rainforest trees and even growing lithophytically. What fascinates me is that I read that Taeniophyllum hasseltii is found growing on the trunks of the conifer Araucaria heterophylla on Christmas Island.

The official sources I have seen for this orchid say that it is a warm to hot growing species that appreciates good air movement and humid conditions. The source I have found for this species states that it will grow in Florida year-round and that it is a good choice for vivariums and terrariums. As a result of this information, I plan to keep it on my porch in a large Tupperware tub with the top opened 1-2" and water it once per day with rain or purified water with 1/4 MSU fertilizer. The plant will then be allowed to dry out on top of the container and placed back in it. It will be brought inside for nights below 50F and days below 60F. Overall, It will be kept between 50F-95F and given slight air circulation, and humidity between roughly 70-90% (best guess as to what the container will offer.

The hickory log I received is roughly 1 foot long and the good news is I will saw the log in half and use one side for a Dendrophylax lindenii when I eventually replace it. I will use Elmer's wood glue to both seal the exposed wood and to attach the plants, as it seems pretty inert and a few dots of this glue to attach a large sized leafless shouldn't cause the plant damage in my estimation.

Has anyone else on here tried Taeniophyllum hasseltii?

-Michael

[LokeLeaflessandPleuros]

Well, since my real ghost orchid didn't make it, this is my latest project,Taeniophyllum hasseltii. I think its culture will be easier than that of Dendrophylax lindenii. It's an adorable little plant and I will be growing it in the pictured jar.

[DirtyCoconuts]

if the appeal is the challenge, god bless and good luck.

if you want to grow leafless orchids, the larger they are the easier. i have a bunch of chilochista and the larger ones are bombproof here in florida. I also have a couple microcoelia and they are also completely laissez-faire for me LOL

cheers and keep us posted

[LokeLeaflessandPleuros]

Yes, i have had more luck with Taeniophyllum species than Dedrophylax for some reason. Also, I struggled with Chiloschista years ago because I think our days hare are too dry, even some rainy season days.

I think this one will do fine as long as I keep it between 55F-90F, humid and watered every other day with pure warer and a little MSU fertilizer.

-Michael

[LokeLeaflessandPleuros]

Here is my new ghost orchid. I am going to grow it alongside the Taeniophyllum and keep it humid but only water it twice per week during the day when it will dry within a few hours.

My new plant came from Botanica LTD. and looking at the plant, it wouldn't surprise me if it has the symbiant fungi that wild plants have.

One additional observation regarding Dendrophylax lindenii and likely other leafless species is that they resent root disturbance. I have noticed that, particularly when a root is flexed near or at its origin, it dies there and then the whole root dies.