Newly arrived orchids. What should I do?

[Zindaginha]

Here are pics, if anyone's curious.

Eria Pannea:

Close-up of Eria's roots and keiki:

Sophronitis Cernua X Sib:



Dendrobium Reflexitepalum:

[Dollythehun]

No pictures.

[Zindaginha]

Doh!

From left to right:
1. Close up of sophronitis (should the roots be flat like this?)

2. Den. reflexitepalum

3. Close up of Eria Pannea with keiki

4. Dendro and Soph, side by side

5. Current (temp. set up). Does this look crazy to anyone?

[Dollythehun]

Can you take a better picture of the light set up? I don't think your positioning is very good from what I can see.

[Roberta]

There apprears to be white stuff on the oldest pseudobulb of the Brassavola. I would hope that a new plant didn't have scale, but if it is sort of powdery, that is what it could be. Spray with soapy water (a few drops of dish soap in water) and then rubbing alcohol in that spot if you are suspicious, and keep an eye on it.

A thought for hanging your plants to get them away from the wall (otherwise you're going to have mold issues at the very least) - get a sheet of "egg crate" light diffuser (like from Home Depot) - a 2 ft by 4 ft sheet, with approximately 1/4 inch holes. Hang your plants from that. (Makes it easy to move them around, too.

Oh, and flat roots on the Sophronitis are normal. S. cernua also tends to have flattened pseudobulbs.

[Zindaginha]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Can you take a better picture of the light set up? I don't think your positioning is very good from what I can see.

Hi, Dollythehun!

I have now moved them around some. I'll try to take better pics when I get home, but if you see this message before then, can you tell me what you mean by "not very good"? Too close to the bulb? Too far? The plants are currently moved a little further away than this.

---------- Post added at 01:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:46 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Can you take a better picture of the light set up? I don't think your positioning is very good from what I can see.

Originally Posted by Roberta

There apprears to be white stuff on the oldest pseudobulb of the Brassavola. I would hope that a new plant didn't have scale, but if it is sort of powdery, that is what it could be. Spray with soapy water (a few drops of dish soap in water) and then rubbing alcohol in that spot if you are suspicious, and keep an eye on it.

A thought for hanging your plants to get them away from the wall (otherwise you're going to have mold issues at the very least) - get a sheet of "egg crate" light diffuser (like from Home Depot) - a 2 ft by 4 ft sheet, with approximately 1/4 inch holes. Hang your plants from that. (Makes it easy to move them around, too.

Oh, and flat roots on the Sophronitis are normal. S. cernua also tends to have flattened pseudobulbs.

By Brassavola, do you mean the E. pannea? And maybe you mean the white cast to the little keiki? I didn't notice anything that looked to my eye like mold (going off of what I've seen in my outdoor plants), and the stuff on the keiki didn't run off when I touched it (I was afraid to rub hard, tho!) so I just thought it must be fuzzy trichomes, like what some species of tillandsias have. Is that not a thing with orchids? Oh, man!

Re. mold and egg crate light diffuser: excellent idea! I was just pondering this dilemma, since I have recently constructed an air plant "basket" from an old seed sifter that I have hanging on my wall. So you would hang the egg crate on the wall and hang the orchids from that, or do you somehow have the egg crate standing up on its own, away from the wall?

Thanks!

Oh, a question about humidity? I just set up a hygrometer and the average humidity in my room is 47 degrees, 50 degrees where I have my two little humidifiers going. Is this enough for these orchids? I have also just ordered a humidifier with more oomph, but I am hoping not to use it too much for the mold reasons you mention and also because the same room also houses my beloved succulent and cactus collection (although, I feel confident that I can help them successfully adapt to a more humid environment, if need be). I will say that at the current humidity level, my sundews, which are housed where these orchids are, are not very dewy and my lichens dry out completely every day.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Zindaginha

By Brassavola, do you mean the E. pannea? And maybe you mean the white cast to the little keiki? I didn't notice anything that looked to my eye like mold (going off of what I've seen in my outdoor plants), and the stuff on the keiki didn't run off when I touched it (I was afraid to rub hard, tho!) so I just thought it must be fuzzy trichomes, like what some species of tillandsias have. Is that not a thing with orchids? Oh, man!

Re. mold and egg crate light diffuser: excellent idea! I was just pondering this dilemma, since I have recently constructed an air plant "basket" from an old seed sifter that I have hanging on my wall. So you would hang the egg crate on the wall and hang the orchids from that, or do you somehow have the egg crate standing up on its own, away from the wall?

Thanks!

Oh, a question about humidity? I just set up a hygrometer and the average humidity in my room is 47 degrees, 50 degrees where I have my two little humidifiers going. Is this enough for these orchids? I have also just ordered a humidifier with more oomph, but I am hoping not to use it too much for the mold reasons you mention and also because the same room also houses my beloved succulent and cactus collection (although, I feel confident that I can help them successfully adapt to a more humid environment, if need be). I will say that at the current humidity level, my sundews, which are housed where these orchids are, are not very dewy and my lichens dry out completely every day.

Oh, I thought that was the Brassavola. The white may be nothing, or could be something you don't want. It would do the plant no harm to give it a spritz with soapy water and/or rubbing alcohol. They do no harm and if there is bad stuff they'll knock it down (and it will rub off easily if it's a contaminant). (But since both just work on contact, if there IS scale you'll need to repeat at weekly intervals to get the following generations)

For the egg crate, you could mount on the wall, perhaps with some hooks to get it away from the wall a bit to allow space for the plant hooks. You could also put some plastic behind, to protect the wall. (Your landlord will thank you...) Water, over time, can be pretty destructive if allowed to sit on surfaces. Which a wet plant will do, even if you don't water it in that spot.

I think the humidity is adequate (you don't want to create a mold problem in your house). The mounted plants will want daily watering at any rate, if possible. (Spritzing isn't particularly useful - water well, they will still dry out quickly) With your carnivorous plants nearby, there will also be some ambient humidity.

[Dollythehun]

If you hang it on your wall, you will have either spotting or mold or some destruction of the paint. Also that wall looks pretty far from the light. Can you use chicken wire/egg crate/mesh to make a little easel to put under your lights? Get creative. Or set them, mount and all, in a clay pot and set them under the lights.

[Zindaginha]

The wall is about 6" from the light.

Since I just got them, does it make sense to leave them in this spot for a couple more days before moving them into more intense light?

[Dollythehun]

Your Sophronitis would be better off under the lights. I'm not familiar with the other two.