Favorite Orchid Foliage

[Roberta]

Chemtiger,
Orchid growing is all a big experiment... few of us live in climates that are what our orchids would call "home". But orchids are amazingly adaptable, and will tolerate a wide range of conditions (temperature, humidity, etc) on either side of their "ideal". I have found, though, that if there is a choice between "sheltered" and "outdoors" for a plant (not too extreme) they do better outside... better light, air movement, day-night temperature variation. Do consider more outdoor growing if you can manage the space. Take a look at my website (below) to see what I grow outside (Index of Plants has that info), I suspect that on the "warm end" you could grow many plants that I have to put in the greenhouse. Do your research, but realize that there's a lot of room for deviation, especially if you acclimate the plants gradually (spring is a great time to do that)

[DirtyCoconuts]

Terete vandas are the second easiest plant to grow in my neighborhood....attach to something vertical and water...or not.


Also, here is that grassy NOid Onc. I added it to the original post

Brassa bloom by J Solo, on Flickr

[Kruger]

There have been a lot of good replies and orchids I haven't seen before. Here are 2 others I enjoy from my collection. A non-alba psychopsis and a veriegated phalaenopsis. If they don't get enough light, they won't produce this pattern. It's kind of a nice aid to see if they are getting sufficient light from my T5's.

[Kruger]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Stenorrynchos and Sarcoglottis (and hybrids) Stennorrynchos speciosum has beautiful velvety dark green foliage with spots (variable), and flowers are red with red bracts. Sargoglottis sceptrodes has nice striped foliage and really weird flowers that look to me like seahorses or dragons. Stenosarcos Vanguard is a hybrid of the two genera, also very attractive. In all cases, old rosettes die back after blooming but new ones are already on the way. Low light, warmish temps, grow in well-drained potting soil - perfect house plants.

Very pretty and good photography!

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by Chemtiger

Indeed! I have made a very large investment in some (okay, 36, but it’s for the ‘chids!!) tube-shaped T8 full-spectrum LEDs. They’re pretty cool grow lights, but not that “Hi, ma’am [sir, as the case may be], we’re from the DEA and your neighbors have told us about your ‘orchids’, can we have a look?” magenta-blue color that typical grow lights have. They’re a “warm-white” and very, very bright. I know life is about to change with my orchids, I could always get great vegetative growth, but unless they were my “outside orchids” I have a bit of trouble—at times—re-blooming, or getting consecutive years to bloom. I’m sort of hard on myself as far as how well they do, because I almost always have some blooming orchids, but I picked up a bunch of seedlings that I’m going to pot up in different media, to compare (as “rigorously” as I possibly can!) how they do in each type. Thank you for being so friendly, genuine, and helpful, it really means a lot. I’m sort of self-deprecating, I keep forgetting that there’s not a font for that, nor for sarcasm.

You can't beat the sun! I live in central PA, and all of my orchids are outdoor orchids. It's just that some of them take an almost 7 month vacation indoors! I just sold my only terete Vanda, a Papilionanda Pink Fairy. I was able to bloom it by keeping it outdoors in full sun, and on a sunny windowsill which also caught a decent amount of light from an LED setup I run for the winter.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Originally Posted by Kruger

There have been a lot of good replies and orchids I haven't seen before. Here are 2 others I enjoy from my collection. A non-alba psychopsis and a veriegated phalaenopsis. If they don't get enough light, they won't produce this pattern. It's kind of a nice aid to see if they are getting sufficient light from my T5's.

Those are very nice Kruger.

If you don’t mind. What is that mesh you have as the table top in the back ground? It looks like a perfect shelf/surface to use in my lath house.

[mofms1]

My FDK After Dark doesn't have any leaves right now, I bought it because it looks like an alien plant with no leaves. I think I would be ok with it if it never grew leaves and just stayed looking like it does now. I also recently picked up a Bulbophyllum plumosum (I have no idea if I spelled that correctly). I love the way that looks too, also very alien.

[neophyte]

Kruger, what is the name of your Phalaenopsis?

[Orchid Whisperer]

Ludisia discolor

[Kruger]

The phalaenopsis is OX Blackface. It's in spike now, I'll post pictures when it blooms. Excuse the crowding.


The mesh is just hardware cloth I wrapped over a dog kennel liner. I put some bamboo sticks in the liner to keep the hardware cloth from sagging. This was a tremendous help over individual saucers because the plants drain completely, I get airflow underneath the pots, and the runoff provides extra humidity. I water heavily so I try to get as much airflow through the medium as I can.