Florida Native Orchids: another species to search for in the Evergaldes?

[IncurablePlantHead]

So glad to hear great customer service still exists! Hope to see those ghosts suspended around that mount in the future! I know the odds with this orchid make it challenging, but you have a great plan for success.

[mremensnyder]

Thank you for the encouraging words Incurableplanthead! I appreciate your enthusiasm and I WILL succeed with a ghost orchid.

My replacement plants have done the same thing, within 48 hours of receipt. I have just given them propiconazole, a systemic fungicide, but I think they are goners, too As frustrating as this is, I will order another one when I get the money to do so in the next few weeks, assuming they are not out of stock by that time.

What I will do differently this third time is give it a modest dose of fungicide immediately when I get it out of the box, and keep the plant outside suspended above water in a glass with protective screen. One part of me can't help but wonder if it is the heat (humid mid-upper 90s during the day, which the other leafless are fine with) in the greenhouse, though I am almost certain it is fungus, or maybe even bacteria that is to blame. I think I will treat the new plant with Physan, for broad spectrum coverage.

If this fails, I will wait for a new source to show up and buy one for them. I WILL succeed eventually though and I hope my success will begin over the next few months when the weather here will be basically identical to the Fakahatchee.

[IncurablePlantHead]

Admire your determination. It will eventually bring you success as long as you continually learn from the failures. These lessons are a bit pricy. Ha!

[gnathaniel]

Have you thought about going the symbiotic route? A Trichoderma product like Rootshield might protect your plants better than fungicides and physan.

[mremensnyder]

I would definitely consider the symbiotic route for long term success of (especially) young ghost orchids. I just have to keep one from crashing within a few days of receiving it.

With the two replacements "dead and buried", (I have actually been depressed today about it, guess I am a true orchidaholic) I have given some serious thought as to what the problem could be. By the way I am sorry I have derailed my own thread about FL native orchids to my personal saga of failure with the ghost.

I am thinking the hot greenhouse may have played a role somehow! The plants arrived seemingly healthy enough. My ghost orchid that I had for just over a year went downhill and perished within a month of being in the greenhouse, though it started to look a bit unhappy before I put it in the greenhouse a couple months back.

The plants did NOT succumb to a lack of moisture/water/humidity. I am wondering if the heat activated an already present fungus or bacteria (especially bacteria, since bacterial infections are particularly problematic in hot conditions). The plants just went so fast! I have never seen anything like it, short of death from obvious short term causes such as a delicate seedling being left in full sun all day and dead in a few hours.

Bottom line, I am keeping the replacement plant, whenever I get it, out of the greenhouse and in natural outdoor conditions. Ouch, this endeavor has hurt the wallet a bit.

[Arielinwonderland]

Originally Posted by mremensnyder

Does anybody else have a collection of FL natives to share? Has anybody actually completed such a collection?

I'm originally from south Florida, and I would absolutely love to have all of the natives, but even if I cloud assemble a "dream collection" the jewel of a FL collection would have to be Dendrophylax lindenii... and it being endangered, massively protected, and (as far as I know) nearly impossible to keep alive in captivity, I don't think that anyone has a complete FL collection

[Alexk82]

I've met quite a few people from the Homeland and Florida city are that keep them alive. It's def possible. I think some people try a little too hard. I have other FL natives if you are interested in a trade. Oh that's right I'm a Jr. Member so what do I know??

[Grandy]

I spray my ghost orchid once a day with a weak solution of fertilizer that is for the ghost only. The picture is of mine that I got in Jan 2013 and has bloomed each March into April. This is this years bloom. It hangs outside all year in bright light no direct sun.

Good luck with yours.

[SFLguy]

Are there more than one kind of ghost orchid? That one doesn't seem to be the one I'm used to

[wintergirl]

Originally Posted by SFLguy

Are there more than one kind of ghost orchid? That one doesn't seem to be the one I'm used to

Right, the one I was thinking of looks kinda like a white frog. (the bloom)