Polyrrhiza (Ghost Orchid) - Initial Success

[aaronsaxton]

Here is a picture showing three flower spikes currently on my Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax Lindeii). They are taking forever and are the slowest growing flower spikes ever.



http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/5...0march2012.jpg

[4accord]

That's AWESOME! Good for you. Could you share a little about how many years you've been at this and what your secrets are and what you've been doing to get it to grow for you? Mine are holding steady but still alive - nothing to report, but they don't look all that good, unfortunately. Am hoping it might just be a winter dormancy thing. Can't think of anything else to do with them. Nick

[Wjs2nd]

The current owner of (at least I believe he was the owner) came to an orchid show we had in Minnesota and he said, "Everyone I have talked to about our ghost orchids have told me they usually take 5 years to be old enough to bloom." and he basically told me that if you can keep them alive for 5 years it should flower. He also suggested growing them in a vase or jar to keep the air stagnat And not get a lot of air movement.

[aaronsaxton]

I have had the ghost Orchid 1 year. I have been growing orchids 2 years.

I received it when it was dismounted and was in a severe state of de-hiscing - almost dead as a result of it being dismounted. It took 5 months to stop if from shrinking, and to start having root growth. I guess it went to half it's size by the time it stopped dying.

I subjected it to accelerated conditions and obtained 12" of root growth in 4 months, and decided I could risk putting it into flower. I was after one flower spike only, I have 3 now and possibly a fourth which is not good on a small plant like this - it may end up using all it's resources to flower and then totally shrink and die.

Fundamentally, the Everglades is not the ideal environment for the Ghost Orchid - it is simply an environment that has enough good things going for it to NOT kill the ghosts - if it were ideal, we would see 100's of thousands of the species there, but we do not.

I spent 100's of hours studying plant biology before I took on attempting to grow anything like a Ghost, and since then have read numerous studies on Orchids and other plant life.

I would follow Keith's instructions on summer time care for about 2 years straight and then force it to bloom or worry about it then. You can skip Fall, Winter and Spring for 3 years and the Ghost will love you for it.

I do not want to recommend additives that I am using that are not part of Fertilizer mixes until I can see the long-term effects - I may by having others do it, sentence their Orchid to death - perhaps mine will die from it, I just do not know.

The one thing I can recommend now is ensure the nighttime humidity is there - this is more important than the daytime humidity. In the everglades the air is near saturation and as the temp falls all night long, the Ghost enjoys the fact that the air can no longer hold the concentrations and essentially dumps water all night long onto the roots, degree by degree.

How large is your Ghost Orchid?

[Wjs2nd]

I don't own one. I don't want to bring home to many new orchids to fast or my wife will think I'm even crazier.

[aaronsaxton]

I know exactly what you mean...although it is my friends who think I am crazy, my lady loves the orchids - she got me into them, actually.

It starts off one or two...then 10...then a little space somewhere in the house...then a few shelves, and before you know it, you are building a greenhouse.

The good news is a Ghost Orchid doesn't take up much space, in fact you could hide it among your others and she will never know...

[Wjs2nd]

I started with 3 before I moved to Minnesota. 6 months later and I have 26.
I was stating what oak hill said for reference and an idea of how long it could take.

[4accord]

This is great to have all this new activity on the subject -gets me rethinking what I've been doing with my ghosts.

I think when referring to Keith's article, aaronsaxton means:
http://www.aos.org/AM/Images/pdf/GhostOrchidSidebar.pdf

Those are some fascinating thoughts about the nightime humidity. Never thought of that before. My four (I gave one away) are still alive and look good after watering, but they don't seem to be growing and I've been a little nervous about them. I tried switching to an every other day misting schedule, but this has made no difference. As mentioned, I have been thinking they might just be in a dormant phase. My other orchids (cattleya and phals) are suddenly coming back to life, blooming beautifully...so, maybe the dormancy thing is real. I certainly haven't followed the many seasonal steps that Keith Davis outlined. Will try increasing nightime humidity and see what that does - can do that just by partially covering the vases at night.

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[aaronsaxton]

I would love to see photos of the Ghosts you have with a ruler...perhaps they are at blooming size and need a kick.

Remember, you can make it bloom at any time of the year if you manipulate the conditions.

Anyways, a photo would be very good with a ruler to get the scale.

[4accord]

Until you sugested I take a picture, I didn't notice how well they are doing! I had always been looking at them from the top, but seems their growth is from the side and downward. The main difference between this group and the other three is that it has been suspended over a larger surface area of water and in a vase that is narrower at the top - the others were straight-walled. I suspect this has made a difference in the air circulation and especially the humidity. Have now moved them all into the same container. Attached are pictures that shows my best group's current growth (after almost 9 months) and the two types of glass vase. Mixed with the ghosts is some Spanish moss and sphagnum. I removed the heaters months ago, as they seem to create too much humidity.