Ghost orchid flask

[RookieGrower]

I just purchased a Ghost Orchid flask and was looking for care tips

[neb]

Other than low light, high humidity, and mount them I don’t have any care tips. I hope that you can find the right criteria to make them happy because I know how hard other seedlings can be. And I have heard stories of how hard Dendrophylax lindenii can be to grow even as an established plant.

[keithrs]

Humidity is the most important, but not to underscore light, and watering. They need bright phal. light.

YouTube - OrchidWeb - Dendrophylax lindenii - 'The Ghost Orchid'

[BobInBonita]

Had done a google search of leafless vanilla orchid and down the list was this ghost orchid info - hope it helps


The most famous of the leafless orchids is Dendrophylax lindenii or the Ghost Orchid. This orchid, a native of Florida, Cuba, Haiti and possibly other islands in the Caribbean, was brought to public light as a result of the book by Susan Orlean, The Orchid Thief, and the movie Adaptation. As a result of this publicity there has been much interest in poaching these rare orchids where they grow in the Florida swamps, unfortunately, they rarely survive.

These Ghost Orchids are available at Oak Hill Gardens under the name “POLYRRHIZA (POLYRADICION) lindeni”. Culture is rather difficult for most people as they need little light, warm temperatures, very high humidity and low air circulation. Several sources recommend growing them mounted on wood or wire mesh in old fish tanks just above the water. Daily mistings with rainwater will encourage growth. Some growers recommend that aquatic plants be placed in the water. A happy plant is capable of growing roots up to an inch a month. These seed grown specimens have a much better chance of surviving than those removed from the wild. The plant will be big enough to bloom once the root spread is about 5 inches or 13 centimeters in diameter. The flowers are produced in the spring, April through June in the northern hemisphere, with most plants producing just one flower on a 4-10 inch or 10-25 centimeter inflorescence.

[Daethen]

I have always wanted to try this one but have heard how finicky they are and I don't want to kill one. Good luck with your babies!

[gnathaniel]

Keith Davis spoke at my OS last year and had a lot of good tips for growing these. He's gotten an FCC and I think at least one or two other awards on D. lindenii. If you're an AOS member (or even if not, these might be publicly available) they have PDFs on their website of Keith's articles from Orchids magazine a couple of years ago.

Aside from what others have already mentioned, Keith recommended that young plants be placed (on their mounts) on a thick bed of live Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) over mesh hardware cloth. This helps keep both humidity and air circulation at appropriate levels.

He also said these like a cooler, drier period of about a month in late winter to mimic conditions of the natural habitat.

Keith recommended mockernut hickory (Carya tomentosa) bark as the most effective mounting material he's found, far superior to cork which many D. lindenii don't seem to like. This stuff is hard to come by and according to him the only way to really get it is to find a large fallen tree on which the beetle larvae have already tunneled under the bark to detach it from the wood. Keith indicated that the mosses and lichens naturally growing on this bark seem to help maintain a good root environment.

I've seen pictures of these mounted on various other materials like cork and grapevine, though, so YMMV. Since you have a flask you might want to try a number of different mount materials to see which works best. Depending on where you are, readily available mounting woods could include grapevine, rhododendron, sassafras, various cedars including cedar shakes, and crape myrtle. If you notice root attachment going better on one mount than others, you could switch the remaining plants to that type of mount.

I hope this helps, and good luck! You certainly picked a beautiful but challenging orchid to grow from flask.

--Nat

[RookieGrower]

Thanks for the info,I'll update with progress hopefully.