Where to buy Egret Flower (Habenaria Radiata)

[orchidsarefun]

I think Dean was saying that he can't source radiata in South Africa.
I agree with Dean generally about potting and mix. I learnt the hard way - by deflasking my own lindleyana cross - that it's imperative to allow the plants to die off naturally. I unpotted a couple of mine early and the tubers were smaller and soft and didn't survive the Winter rest.
Actually my folks are in Cape Town. We could make a plan but I think the Hemisphere issue is insurmountable.

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[DeanPrangley]

Originally Posted by estación seca

But remember Habenaria radiata is a bog plant. The others you mentioned are forest floor plants. In habitat the substrates, exposures and climates are very different.

My first attempt at quoting so hope I get it right.

Thanks for the info on habitat and substrate, I would have just grown it as per my other Habs but now will rethink my approach for when I finally find this species.

Also Osmocote is a great option for light feeders as long as you only place a few single pellets near the root zone, like 6 - 10 pellets in a 10cm pot, I even use it for my Disa, Sarracenia and my Drosera regia and these are all notoriously light feeders and grow in bog conditions.
Another plus is you never get surface algae growth at the rate you would with conventional top feeding with the wetter growing plants(as no food makes it to the surface of the media). It's temperature controlled release means it only feeds when/what the plant will take up.

---------- Post added at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:08 AM ----------

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

Actually my folks are in Cape Town. We could make a plan but I think the Hemisphere issue is insurmountable.

I'll definitely keep it in mind if I can't find any vendors willing to ship to the RSA :-)

The hemisphere issue can be tricky but can be gotten around with a short dormancy, short grow season and the inducing dormancy again and allowing it to remain dormant till the rest are coming up in the correct season, so basically trying to trick the plant into thinking 6 months was a full year.

Most vendors would be in the Northern Hemisphere anyway so probably going to be hard to get around the issue of opposite seasons.

[orchidsarefun]

I can't figure out dormancy in general. I don't know if plants are wired to grow x months and then go dormant or if there are other factors. Further it seems, judging from posts on this Board, that exiting dormancy is at a uniform date, regardless of growing conditions. I grow under lights and on windowsills in a temperature controlled house ( Winter and Summer ) and I keep the bulbs in Ziploc bags containing sphagnum during dormancy. ( no water sprinkles, completely dry ) My medusa bulbs broke dormancy roughly 3 weeks back. Most of my lindleyana in the last week.

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[Subrosa]

I have a very good friend who has had very good success with tranitioning seasonal terrestrial orchids and tuberous Drosera from the southern to the northern hemisphere. In fairness my own experience hasn't been as positive.

[AnonYMouse]

I'm totally ignorant on the subject but if you have/get dormant tubers, does hemisphere matter if the tubers have been chilled for a time?

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by AnonYMouse

I'm totally ignorant on the subject but if you have/get dormant tubers, does hemisphere matter if the tubers have been chilled for a time?

That might work with "normal" plants that grow in the spring and have winter dormancy, perhaps the radiata, but the plants I've tried are winter growing and summer dormant, so chilling them isn't stopping anything!

[orchidsarefun]

Originally Posted by AnonYMouse

I'm totally ignorant on the subject but if you have/get dormant tubers, does hemisphere matter if the tubers have been chilled for a time?

The subject is Habenaria radiata which by some accounts are difficult to grow anyway. Its my first year growing them but I have read many postings of these not surviving to a 3rd year bloom. Basically the tubers, already a little bigger than a pea, get smaller and smaller each year and then disappear- if conditions not 'right'. I'm not saying it's impossible - a flask probably has more chance of success as you can deflask in the SH season.
As for other bulbs - my mother took back some Amaryllis bulbs to RSA. Half perished and the others took about a year to acclimate........and these are tough.

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