bulbophylums

[danjdob]

ok i bought a bulbophyllum echinolabium devision on ebay for 22 bucks...the guy sent a nice devision with 2 psuedobulbs and a new growth with lots of new roots,...

and as a bonus ( i had no idea he was going to send any more plants along with the order) he also sent 2 more nice devisions, a bulbophyllum lobbii and a bulbophyllum odoratissimum (as i was looking up the culture on this last one i found out that it contains several compounds that maybe used to treat cancers such as leukemia..interesting, but i digress lol)

all three were bare root. with healthy roots growing and new growths...the last one (odoratissimum) was in bloom and had 7 bulbs on it, and it was a bonus plant.

i was wondering if anyone had some good culture advice for these...all i know is many bulbos like mosture and shade and good air movement,

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Intermediate to warm (60 F - 95 F; although the Bulb. odoratissimum can grow as cool as 50 F without problems).

Bright shade to moderate indirect light.

Moderate to high humidity (50% - 80%).

Keep evenly moist. Short periods of complete dry outs will not hurt.

Preferably mounted with some moss around the roots. Make sure the layer of moss is not too thick or you will rot them out.

Moderate to good air circulation.

Since you live in FL, most of these requirements wouldn't be difficult to provide for.

Any more questions, just ask.

[danjdob]

great thanks for the info...it seems like they should do pretty well here based on your info...i have them on a covered balconey facing east, with a shade cloth to block the full morning sun till about 11 am...

echinolabelum seems a little large to mount...i have it in a clay orchid pot with bark and a loose layer of moss...

lobbii is in a basket...

and ororatissimum i intend on mounting,...it looks like it was never potted or mounted...im guessing it was cut from a larger overgrown plant...because all the roots apear to have developed in the open air...one question though,...odoratissimum has very long rambling ryzomes, that seem hard to contain....should i just mount it and let it do it thing or should i try and keep it on the subtrate as it grows? because it looks like it wants to fly away on its own...lol

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I would gently tease the stray growths onto the mount. It could be problematic for the development of the roots to leave some the growths dangling in midair. However, do consider that I am living in a vastly different climate than yours, so them dangling in the air for some time may not hurt it so much in your climate versus mine. The climate in FL is a lot closer to what the Bulbophyllums would encounter in the wild, compared to here in LA (a city that was built on a semi-arid desert).

[danjdob]

ok so here is what i did....the plant had about 8 or 9pseudobulbs spaced along the ryzomes which are about 5 inches long from one bulb to another....

i cut the ryzome into 3 sections leaving 2 bulbs and a new growth on two sections and the other section just has 3 bulbs but no new growth...which made the whole thing easier to manipulate.

i placed a thinish mat of moss over a treefern plaque and used fishing line to secure the 3 sections on top of that...taking care to place the newest growths roots into the moss...

however some of the older roots are just to uncooperative to tease them into the mount without damaging them,..but most are on the moss or in it.

(in my intial post i stated there were 7 pseudobulbs...but there are 9 if i include the two new growths which are not yet mature.)