What part of orchid culture am I not understanding?

[nogreenthumbs]

Originally Posted by NikkiM

I feel the same way! I have a good variety as well. I have a gramma as well. It's a fairly new one for me as well.Mine is lovely melody lip stick. I have 2 new growths and it seems to be doing good...so far!

My wife picked the Gramma out (Grammatocymbidium Memoria Nathan Newman 'NN' to be exact). I also thought it was attractive so we bought it. Afterwards, I've discovered that the Grammas can get HUGE! I've read that they can be 6-8 feet tall and some of the plants that I've read about were 6 feet wide. One person on a forum said that she wanted to get rid of hers, but it was too big to fit through the door to get out of the house and too big to fit in her car to take to her local Orchid Society show. If mine gets huge, I'll probably end up having to give it away, but that's fine. If I manage to grow it that much, I'll consider it a success and just replace it was something much smaller.

[NikkiM]

Wow! I hope mine doesn't get that big! It is a very beautiful plant and it's actually a pretty quick grower. I think they do get big eventually since it has cymbidium in it.

[nogreenthumbs]

Originally Posted by NikkiM

Wow! I hope mine doesn't get that big! It is a very beautiful plant and it's actually a pretty quick grower. I think they do get big eventually since it has cymbidium in it.

Yeah, I have asked around, one of the responses that I got was something like "Cymbidiums get big enough, but a cross with a grammatophyllum ."

Apparently, grammatophyllum are usually larger than cymbidiums. I'm just hoping that the Cymbidium (although I think it's only 1/8th cymbidium) stunts the usual size of the grammatophyllum (3/4 of this particular hybrid, I believe).

[NikkiM]

Originally Posted by nogreenthumbs

"Cymbidiums get big enough, but a cross with a grammatophyllum ."

Once yours blooms post a pic! I'm curious what it will look like. The stock photos of yours are neat. Good luck!

[KokeshiHappyGreen]

In regards to the Cullina book. I found mine at my local Half Price Books. Hopefully anyone else looking for it can too. I'm gunna re read it...as soon as I take time to hop off the Board 😜

[nogreenthumbs]

Originally Posted by NikkiM

Once yours blooms post a pic! I'm curious what it will look like. The stock photos of yours are neat. Good luck!

Thread with bloom pic here. Not exactly fine art photography, just a quick cell phone snap.
Grammatocymbidian Mem. Nathan Newman, how big?

[KokeshiHappyGreen]

Deleted album, entitled Newbie 1.0 What Not to do,on July 1, 2017.

Too confusing. Nothing wrong with culture types I tried....only in how I unwittingly misapplied them.

If anyone is curious about what all I tried and what problems I had, just let me know and I will post specifics.

Thanks.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by nogreenthumbs

They sound fantastic. I may not wait that long before I find one.

Of course, I'm not following your or my own thinking in that I'm a noob, and my first plant was a Cattleya, then a Paph, then an Oncidium, then the latest is a Grammatocymbidium ( ) and next probably be a "Prosthechea cochleata, formerly known as Encyclia cochleata, Anacheilium cochleatum, and Epidendrum cochleatum and commonly referred to as the clamshell orchid or cockleshell orchid"

I definitely think it seems smartest to start out with not much variety, but hey, I'm a glutton for punishment.

Another nice thing about Encyclia/Prosthechea cochleata along with being fairly bullet-proof... it's a sequential bloomer. Once the spike gets going, it can keep popping out new flowers for many months! In fact, don't be in a rush to cut the spike after you see flowers drop... wait until it is yellowing and definitely dead. Because until that point is reached, you may get more flowers.

[nogreenthumbs]

Holy moly, that sounds awesome! I'm going to have to get one ASAP. Hahaha

[KokeshiHappyGreen]

Yes the encyclia is sounding more and more awesome! Thanks Philip for the suggestion.

One thought on my setup. Would maybe a large fish tank with bright plant lighting on top maybe be better than my current setup? And it could help with humidity; add small computer fan if needed extra air movement.

Thanks