Miss Orchid Girl

[NewOrchidAddict]

I watch her stuff religiously. I love how she will come back and do follow up videos where she says what did and did not work. And she gives little tours of her enviable orchid collection sometimes.

[Roberta]

Some information is good, some very questionable. And her knowledge is also evolving... so some earlier videos contain information that later has been shown to be wrong (like fusarium as a frequent diagnosis of orchid ills, or peroxide as a treatment for root problems... not...) So follow her process, but she doesn't know everything... NOBODY knows everything. Orchids are a perpetual learning process (part of their appeal). Unfortunately as new information is learned, those old videos don't change. So you really do have to do your own exploring too.

[SouthPark]

Although this is like 2 years since the last batch of posts ----- NewOrchidAddict ----- I know where Roberta is coming from about fusarium wilt. There was one video she (MOG) made which probably triggered a panic attack for all those watching that video. It gave the impression of fusarium was everywhere! And seeing 'purple' would mean certain you know what.

I think that at least she may have created one benefit out of that fusarium bandwagon thing heheheh ...... which was the possibility of creating unnecessary trouble with 'sharing' water ----- or re-using water for watering orchids.

[christoph0315]

I second the newbie approach.
I've watched many of her videos and love the orchid of the month as well. I certainly went on in love of cattleyas which she doesn't grow. Also, it seems like she is focusing a lot on nursery finds and low budget orchids which is no problem but just not so much my thing.
I love her passion and have learned a thing or two. She has great link tips as well and is quite up to date.
I would love to read her here, she would be a great addition.

[estación seca]

A while back OB was inundated with terrified posts from beginners who thought they had fusarium. It's rare; the organism doesn't grow well without fairly acidic medium, and not many people keep their orchids that acidic. Unfortunately a lot of people thought they needed to cut up all their new plants to look for purple rings. There were quite a few new posters here who chopped completely healthy plants into salad.

I also suspect too much video watching triggers the panicked fear that something horrible will kill orchids quickly unless they rip the plants out of the pot, spray with who knows what chemicals, and jiggle the roots three times a day. There have been times when I felt the best way to save an orchid was to send the owner out of town for a week or so.


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Edit: Acidic medium often results from delaying repotting too long. Organic matter breaking down makes things acidic. Most wetlands and peat bogs are highly acidic. Moist forests with a lot of leaf or pine needle litter tend to be fairly acidic. Plants growing in typical potting soil that hasn't been changed in 15-20 years are growing in a highly acidic and mostly air-free mass of potential harm. Not repotting plants often enough will promote fusarium.

Many desert-adapted cacti live in areas with soils containing almost no organic matter, and low rainfall. Over time rain falls; as it evaporates, it brings soluble and partially soluble minerals to the surface. This generally renders desert soils very alkaline.

When alkaline-adapted plants are grown in acidic conditions, they become highly susceptible to fusarium. This is one reason many people think certain desert cacti are hard to grow. Many cactus hobbyists use bagged "cactus mix" for their plants. This consists of perlite or pumice, sand and finely screened peat moss or sawdust. Plants grow acceptably in it, but repotting must be done every 2 years, or the cactus will be growing in a solid anaerobic and acidic pudding. A lot of cactus growers haven't repotted their cactus since right after getting home from that trip to the Grand Canyon 15 years ago.

The genus Ferocactus (large, spiny barrel cacti) is particularly susceptible to fusarium in acidic environments, and has a reputation as a difficult genus to grow. If it is grown in a medium with no organic matter, and watered with typical alkaline city tap water, it does not have this rotting problem.

[SouthPark]

Excellent post ES. That was great! And also should be inserted into those particular videos!!!!

Originally Posted by estación seca

The genus Ferocactus (large, spiny barrel cacti) is particularly susceptible to fusarium in acidic environments, and has a reputation as a difficult genus to grow.

Only yesterday, I saw an aussie gardening show on tv with that one!!!!! Fantastic plant.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sD47cdC2FlY

At time 2:03 (2 mins, 3 seconds) into the video.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Only yesterday, I saw an aussie gardening show on tv with that one!!!!! Fantastic plant.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sD47cdC2FlY

At time 2:03 (2 mins, 3 seconds) into the video.

Thank you. That is a famous collection, known to a lot of cactus enthusiasts. He has lot of Ferocactus outside, as well.

In what part of Australia do you live? There are almost certainly cacti you can grow outside in your garden.

[stripey-novice]

I enjoy watching her videos. She has a lovely collection and has a nice way of presenting them.
I’m someone who was gifted an orchid as new homeowner 11 years ago. Kept my little plant all that time without much thought until earlier this year when something wasn’t right. Her videos really helped me to identify the root problems my orchid had, and although I didn’t follow her advice to the letter, it certainly gave me some confidence to treat them. Then when I felt I needed some specific feedback on my plant, I joined here and was given more good solid advice. The plant is now doing reasonably well and I’ve somehow acquired two more.....

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Thank you. That is a famous collection, known to a lot of cactus enthusiasts. He has lot of Ferocactus outside, as well.

In what part of Australia do you live? There are almost certainly cacti you can grow outside in your garden.

Thanks ES, for mentioning that the collection is well known! I had only recently started to watch the runs/re-runs of the episodes on free-to-air tv ------ of that tv show (Gardening Australia), and thought the segment on the cactus collection was really great.

There is another one that they showed recently too ----- at this link here: Click Here - also quite excellent.

ES ----- I live in North East Queensland. I haven't got any prickly or spiky cactus plants. I think I might give prickly pear or one of those round ball cactus a try!!! I'll do my best anyway haha.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

I live in North East Queensland. I haven't got any prickly or spiky cactus plants. I think I might give prickly pear or one of those round ball cactus a try!!! I'll do my best anyway haha.

No prickly pears! You know what they did to your country!

Your climate is very similar to the parts of Brazil with Pilosocereus, Coleocephalocereus and Discocactus (not Disocactus, which are Central American epiphytes.) The first two genera grow on exposed black rock domes, in full sun all day, in tiny pockets of gravel and organic matter. I asked locals about summer weather; they told me it is often 130 F / 55C in the shade during the day. It rains every day in summer, and is dry the rest of the year. Discocactus grow in deep quartzite sand. Most are shaded by grass in the wet summer, but exposed to sun in the dry winter.

But you should be able to grow most other cacti outside, except perhaps high-altitude Andean cacti.

The various epiphytic cacti that tolerate warmer temperatures would also do well for you, but I would worry about birds spreading the seeds and the plants becoming invasive. They don't experience a long dry spell in habitat like you get, so seedlings might not be able to establish.