Polyrrhiza (Ghost Orchid) - Initial Success - Orchid Board

4accord · #1 07-17-2011, 10:51 PM

Seems a while since there was an active Ghost thread so I thought to start a new one. Would love to see a dedicated Forum group for this species (hope I'm not missing something as a still-wet newby).

Anyway, after killing my first Ghost (from eBay) in 14 days, while gaining some experience and doing lots of Net research, I tried again and ordered 5 from Oak Hill. 18 days later all are doing great and I'm starting to feel an ounce of confidence. I no longer believe the ghost orchid is as difficult as seems commonly accepted. I think, instead, it's just a matter of isolating the key variables and giving it what it needs. Would love to compare notes with others who love the challenge and unique features of the ghost.

So far, here's what I have learned - all humbly submitted in the hopes of being helpful and inviting discussion...

They seem to do well placed on a bed of sphagnum and Spanish moss in a wire "cage" suspended in a vase over heated water. They cannot be kept wet or they will develop mold and fungus. Misting once a day and dunking in weak fertilizer once a week seems to be working great. Not only are they still alive but showing good color and evident growth.

They can tolerate immersion in store-bought 3% hydrogen peroxide as an antiseptic/antifungal. They also don't seem to mind a light spray with brown Listerine or equivalent. These were done as a remedy for some decline and mold that was evident after initially keeping them too wet (by keeping partial covers on the vases).

I've been keeping them at about 80 degrees with the water below them at about 85, using a $5 candle warmer as a heat source (same as a mug warmer, available from craft stores). The warmer is regulated with a dimmer available from Home Depot for $10. Without the dimmer, the water gets very hot - about 200 degrees! The heat maintains air flow and humidity, but if too high, moisture will form on the glass and mold or fungus will soon form on the plants. Also, if the vases are covered, visible moisture appears and again the problem of mold and fungus arises.

Daily misting is working well with just RO water, pH about 6.8. Feeding is weekly by immersion for about 30 seconds. I use filtered water to which I add much-diluted sulphuric acid (battery acid, $4 from any auto parts store) but be extremely careful with this stuff! I add 1 part acid to 9 parts water (never water to acid!), and then, with a baby-feeder syringe, add 2 ml of this mixture to a gallon of water. For me, this brings the pH down to about 6.2, but this would vary, of course, with the pH of the original water.

I then add Jack's Classic or Miracle Grow 30-10-10 in a weak dilution and then add 3 drops/gal of Superthrive. I have also sprinkled a tiny amount of mycorrhizal fungi which may be very helpful and at least does no harm that I can see. I keep the orchids in a south-facing bathroom window where they get bright but indirect light and extra humidity from the nearby shower.

What I found to be clearly harmful is keeping them wet and/or misting more than once a day. I also see problems with mounting with fishing line, as the roots can be constricted or even cut as the plants grow. I carefully cut my orchids off the grapevine mounts they came on and set them as pictured on moss in a wire mesh cage.

So far, I am thrilled to see new growth and nice color. I attach a couple pictures and welcome any response.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #2 07-17-2011, 10:59 PM

The Ghost Orchid (Polyrrhiza lindenii) is still not an easy orchid to grow. It grows much like the "Asian Ghost Orchids" (i.e. Chiloschista and Taeniophyllum).

There are numerous postings with pics of how Ghost Orchids grow in the wild, in the "Orchids In The Wild" forum of the OB, complete with a link to a documentary about them.

You also purchased them during the time when they experience wet season, which is most likely their growing season.

They may experience a light dormancy, where the fall and winter months experience less rain than the spring and summer months.

Wet season is also when these forests turn into swamplands.

From what I've seen of them growing in the wild in photos and in the documentary, Ghost Orchids usually grow on trees either without moss, or with very little moss on them at all, in shade to indirect moderate bright light.

They are cool orchids to have.

Good luck.

flhiker · #3 07-17-2011, 11:20 PM

After killing 4 I have decided to let Mother Nature grow them. I have found that only around 10% of the plants actually flower. Good Luck

FairyInTheFlowers · #4 07-18-2011, 12:40 AM

WOW! Super cool!

got ants · #5 07-18-2011, 02:45 AM

I've killed 5 of them. At least the prices have come down. the first was purchased for me by my sister-in-law from the World Orchid Symposium (2009?) for $50, and the last few from $15-25. I built a special area in my pergola, with a back mat of coconut husk (to maintain moisture) and shade/wind protection. All showed new growth but eventually went into decline.

My feelings are this...if you can maintain all the variables..light/humidity/temp, they should grow well. Growing outside is about darn near impossible to do so. There is an article out on the webs where someone has grown them to flower, up in Illinois I think. He used an aquarium, had it glued onto something, and had spanish moss draped over it.

I've resolved to growing catts because of the ease in doing so.

Good Luck, Brady

got ants · #6 07-18-2011, 02:51 AM

This is not the article I was writing about, but it is fairly informative...

http://www.aos.org/AM/Images/pdf/GhostOrchidSidebar.pdf

4accord · #7 07-18-2011, 11:42 AM

Thanks to all who have replied. Thanks also for the great reference.

A few thoughts.... I had to spend a LOT of time finding worthwhile references from people who have had success with the Ghost. The above is certainly one of them, although it is clear that many people have had sucess without great concern for the type of bark used as a mount - some report their best success on bare mesh alone!

Here are some of the best Internet resources I have found so far and which have most influenced my own approach:

Ghost Orcid terrarium question - Orchid Forum Orchid Care

Polyrrhiza lindenii - Orchid Forum by The Orchid Source

Ghost orchid flask

GhostOrchid.info

Ghost Orchid IN BLOOM - Orchid Gallery Forum - GardenWeb

Ghost orchid idea... - Orchids Forum - GardenWeb

Finally, several people have written about their failures...but do they know WHY they failed? It's important to learn from our failures as much as successes as we try to isolate the key factors.

Thanks, again!

dkchristi · #8 11-07-2011, 09:38 AM

Thanks for the ghost orchid resources. I admire those who go to great ends to grow domestic ghost orchids. the limited number growing in the wild and the constant threats to habitat are an incentive to keep trying.

Keith Davis received an Orchid Society award for his domestically grown ghost orchid, a real beauty. I have pictures posted at www.dkchriti.com. He gives talks at Orchid Society member meetings about his success. He also has healthy young starter ghosts that he offers to set in preserves to encourage more in the wild. I saw a bunch of Oak Hill ghosts hanging on a trellis at a local nursery. The nursery will not grow them, only sell the Oak Hill ghosts at $30 for the tiny little root that doesn't have much hope. The nursery owner said he knew of one ghost doing well on a tangerine tree; but it was still very, very small though healthy. I wrote the novel, Ghost Orchid, to appeal to a new audience for habitat preservation - to spread the word that these fragile flowers and more need our diligence and care to survive - and our healthy survival needs their environment for our own experience.

Researchers are examining the chemical composition of the ghost orchid fragrance - an aspect of its beauty not often mentioned.

4accord · #9 11-07-2011, 10:41 AM

Many thanks for your post and sharing your thoughts. This is a good opportunity for me to provide an update.

Four months since my last post, all four of my Ghosts are doing just fine - growing very slowly but seeming to be in good health and, so far, confirming the regimen that I have had them on.

Am considering moving one of the four to share a cork bark wall mount with a Cattleya - just as an experiment. It would provide much more air flow and less humidity. Am wondering if the Ghosts are much more vulnerable when young and become more hardy once they have a year or so behind them. Am thinking that it would be best to wait for the spring as I suspect they will be more dormant in these cooler fall-winter months.

Am attaching photos of two of the four, although they are all very much the same. They are still housed on mesh with some live Spanish moss and some probably long-dead sphagnum. They are suspended over water and misted daily. On a weekly basis, they are immersed for about 30 seconds in a weak mixture of Jack's Classic (30-10-10), ~6.2 pH filtered water, and 4 small drops per gallon of Superthrive. When the house cools below about 70, I turn on a heat pad under the vase to keep the plants at about 75-80 degrees F. For heat sources, I use either an aquarium undertank heater mounted to a small square of window glass or a candle warmer that is controlled by a rheostat (otherwise they get way too hot). Am not sure the heaters are necessary but don't yet want to mess with a system that is working better than I ever expected.

4accord · #10 11-14-2011, 11:31 AM

Am adding this note one week later: I have turned off the heaters under the vases because they keep a lot of moisture condensed on the glass. I suspect they also create too much humidity on the orchids, which would in effect turn out to be overwatering.