I'n going to try this posting pics voodoo again.

[james mickelso]

Hi. Here goes with the voodoo uploading. See if these load. Patience please. Ok it looks like the pics are there. I was trying to show you folks these Sun but couldn't get them to load. The pic of orchids...er...dead things in pots on the ground are my usual rescues and as you tile through the rest of the pics those are in progress pics. I'll be back after school tonight and kibbitz with ya.

[james mickelso]

Hi all. As for the flowers, if any of you can help me find a name for these, I'd appreciate it. Most of what I get don't come with a tag or name. Most are near dead. What tags are in the pot are mostly unreadable. The orchid in pic 3 took 6 months to grow a spike which was about 18 inches tall and then sat for almost a year doing nothing. Then in Jan, in about 2 weeks put out these flowers. It was amazing. Pic 4 came from the dead zombies in pic 5 in three years. And the flowers smell wonderful around 10-2. Pic two I have no idea where this plant came from. Probably a rescue from the OS species donation table. But pic 1 is what I mostly deal with. They are actually more yellow/white than the picture accurately depicts. They are still in this condition awaiting the elongation of the small new buds. What look like roots are in fact fossils from an earlier time. What roots are there are very long winding around the inside of the pot. Nearly useless if potted up like that. I wait as long as I can before separating the two or three pbulbs from the backbulbs hoping to get some new roots. But if they start to deteriorate I am left with no choice but to pot them up in a rescue mix and hope. Most make it but I have to wait a year or more for them to root and take off. Their last gasp is spag and bag or a wooden mount of some kind. Just thought I would show these and get some pic posting practice. Thanks for the patience. A couple more. ( most of this post is for the previous pictures. These flowers are just additional fodder.)

[Wynn Dee13]

Great pics James! You have a lot of patience to grow those! I'm sure it is rewarding when you see them give you all those flowers after you nursed them back to health. I can't help you with the flower IDs but they all look like hybrids. Thanks for sharing.

[RosieC]

Great looking flowers!

Sorry can't help with ID's either.

[magicatt]

It's amazing how you bring these back. The blooms must be the ultimate reward for all your efforts. Actually I have a catt that needs your attention....guess I'll sphag and bag and hope for results like yours.

[james mickelso]

Thankyou for the kind words. Magicatt, show me a pic if you can. Especially the roots and base of the pbulbs. You can unpot it. Catts are very forgiving. I'd love to help.

[james mickelso]

These were just barely alive a couple years ago and I mounted them on fake tree fern (foam) and spagnum moss. At the top is another orchid that still has not produced anything but refuses to die and just the other day I was looking and after 4 years I think, a bud has started to develope. Orange Nugget. A laelia I think.

[james mickelso]

Here's what I do as a last resort when all else fails. I've had this ? or what's left of one for a couple of years and it just wouldn't get going. I started with 6 pbulbs and they just kept shriveling up and turning to ghosts. So with just two pbulbs left I tied it to this cedar recue board where there are 5 other recues growing. If you look at the top of the rizome at the junction of the leaf stems you will see a reddish bud developing. I have no idea what this orchid is. Laelia or catt or ?.

[Slobo]

Amazing what you can do.

Slobo