Ghost Orchid Advice PLEASE!!!! Anything helps .. (Dendrophylax Lindenii)

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by flhiker

I don't think Aaron was correcting you Philip, I just think he was giving his experience and theory. I too was a little taken back with his second paragraph. And was thinking that if this wasn't the idea condition for them to grow, why are the here. and if left untouched, thrive. Man has screwed with the Glades for decades. Had it been left alone, I feel they would be tens of thousands. But with man draining and diverting the water, I feel now he is right.

---------- Post added at 03:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:34 PM ----------

Oh I also extend that same invitation to you.

Oh, ok...

I'll still leave the above comment. I wanted to mention the whole evolutionary thing a lot earlier, but I felt it probably wasn't necessary so I didn't do it.

[flhiker]

My grammar and spelling doesn't allow me to even think about trying. LOL

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

lol

[hcastil3]

I"m extremely thankful for all the advice you guys have provided me with I'm actually in college going to the toxicology and plant biology of different species. I will be doing a lot of research on orchids specially on these guys. You guys seem to know a lot about this thought so thank you for everything.

I will keep both of the comments to assist me through my journey to grow them. you guys are wonderful resources and both of you please keep in touch with me I want to learn as much as I can about orchids. I have many years ahead of me so any bit of knowledge, please stop by and let me know. I will be keeping an eye on all of you and the post you make here.

[aaronsaxton]

My comments were directed to the creator of the thread and not your comments Philip.

Near 100% survival rate is exceptionally easy with seedlings when you can control the environment precisely. They produce millions of seeds and few make it to adulthood not because the seedlings could not make it, but because they are given the wrong conditions. Mostly by nature and by orchid growers.

Just about every Ghost Orchid that ever started to grow can become an adult - millions of them. How this is done would require an exceptionally long thread with at the end a simple few steps to ensure they all make it - but giving those steps without a comprehension of why would serve no purpose. And the environment must be controlled - no mean feat.

They require no fungus of any kind or any symbiotic relationship under controlled conditions - outside of controlled conditions they do. Again this would require an exceptionally long explanation.

I make phals grow flower spikes out of their crowns, or make them produce 8 flower spikes a year or none if they are ones I want to have bigger before they bloom, some orchids I grow flower spikes up to 4 feet long to make them into near trees for our house - or perhaps make them grow and flower at the same time, or grow one bulb per year or three - all of these factors are under your complete control - if you have total control over their environment.

My Ghost Orchid has a 16" flower spike that is 14 months old - most would think this impossible, but it is true, now producing a bud. Its just an example of controlled conditions and the only reason it is going to bloom now is because it needs to for my marriage - I could have it bloom in any month of the year to make a point of the control factor.


But to go into the seedling issue would be an exceptionally long discussion and get into technical matters at the core of how plants exist generally in the first place which I know you and I could discuss along with other members, but probably not most, and would confuse the issue more than help them.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by aaronsaxton

They require no fungus of any kind or any symbiotic relationship under controlled conditions - outside of controlled conditions they do. Again this would require an exceptionally long explanation.

I kinda figured this would be true for this species. I didn't think the symbiosis between the Ghost Orchid and the mycorrhizal fungi would be all that inseparable. If people were able to grow these in a greenhouse environment and sell these orchids on a somewhat regular basis, it would make sense the symbiotic relationship between the plant and the orchid shouldn't be very tight.

Originally Posted by aaronsaxton

My Ghost Orchid has a 16" flower spike that is 14 months old - most would think this impossible, but it is true, now producing a bud. Its just an example of controlled conditions and the only reason it is going to bloom now is because it needs to for my marriage - I could have it bloom in any month of the year to make a point of the control factor.

I don't have a difficult time believing this either.

This orchid takes effort to get growing right. It's something not everybody is able to achieve quite so easily. It's not to say that it can't be done, but it takes a lot of knowledge and dedication.

[naoki]

Aaron,

I'm trying to learn about this orchid. So I read all of your prev. messages. About a year ago, you mentioned that your growing condition is 4000 + foot candles, 85% or more humidity. Temps day/Night in excess of 70 F, fan speed about 1 yard per second near it, and a regime of ferts and additives daily.

Ghost Orchid

Is this the condition you still shoot for, or have you made some refinement? In this thread, you mentioned high CO2. Are you injecting CO2 now?

Are you growing in a greenhouse or some kind of enclosure?

Mine is a tiny one (1/2 inch diameter) from Oak Hill. It's been 10 month or so, but it hasn't done anything (most of them died, and only 1 left).

I (and probably lots of other people) would appreciate practical tips if you don't mind sharing them!

[aaronsaxton]

That Derecho that tore through WV last year put us without power for a while.

My greenhouse was really just a hut and it was damaged. To boot the outage in the power rendered my CO2 injection, meters, heat and humidity useless.

A good case for Hickory Bark!

I ended up having to bring the orchid inside - it was in a box with the cadgets on the porch and too big to bring into the house. So it was placed in the laundry room.

But even before then, I stopped using so much light.

After that happened, I resigned myself to not build a new box until I was ready to spend serious money on a proper installation.

With the Wedding date looming, I opted again for a temporary box I built inside the house but with no CO2 injection - the consequences of a leak could be deadly.

Its purpose is to just bloom the orchid, but it is not a permanent home.

There is a much better way to get Ghosts into good shape before they are removed from flasks so they survive, but I do not have any measurements or solid proof to give. The main barrier is that I have to go to Florida and get the flasks, because when they are sent to me they are all rattled around and there is a step that should be taken prior to removal from the sterile environment. I had some sent to me before and I could not perform the step because they were tossed around, and every single one was in the greenhouse hut when that storm hit and every single one was lost.

I am able to go to Florida this early summer and I will photograph the steps and document the failure/success when I bring them back.

[flhiker]

Aaron since you have never been in the area's these grow, I don't think you realize how difficult the spreading of seed would be. the area's they grow are wet most of the time specially when the seed pods open. the Trees can be far apart as well. I think the reason they are not as abundant in the wild is most of the seed have little chance of attaching themselves to viable areas. The Everglades is not one big swamp. It's made up Parries, Sloughs, Hardwood hammocks. That being said, the areas they grow are the smallest of the 3. most of the time. Also the areas they grow are small low line areas. Plus we must not forget what man has done to that environment. The trees were logged, and water diverted. their is a Everglades restoration project going on that will allow water to go in place it hasn't been for a half century or more. Plus they are finicky little devils. I have wittnessed a group of trees close together with 40 or more plants

[aaronsaxton]

I have studied via photos and scientific data the region.

The survival rate could be higher. If we took 10,000 seedlings and grew them to an inch and placed them in the swap area, I still doubt more than a handful would survive, unless of course, the perfect little location was found - which do exist.

In order to have people perform a much higher success rate of bringing Ghosts into the world I will by the end of this year have something solid to give to people, but it must be well documented first. It relates to the early steps in a Ghost Orchid's like from 1" to 5" and is fairly key. The equipment to make the correct measures is frightfully expensive and I am not a man of any substantial income, thus I try to get equipment as I can along the path.

I have never been to an Orchid Show in my life and I am looking forward to next month to go to one, and to have the Ghost Orchid judged. Here is a pic of it as it stands today - the bud is forming well and the other flower spike has a bud emerging, too (not photographed).