New bulbophyllum haul

[cmoonbeam1]

Just got an order in that I'd been waiting for anxiously for over a month! Four of the plants are bulbophyllums and I would like to introduce them to the world.

In order of appearance:

- Bulbophyllum pardalotum
- Bulbophyllum moniliforme
- Bulbophyllum Elizabeth Ann 'Buckleberry' - a freebie!
- Bulbophyllum lepidum

These are my first bulbos. They are so beautiful. *sniff* I cannot wait for blooms!!

[No-Pro-mwa]

Oh my that one is so teeny tiny.

[DeaC]

One of my fave genus,love growing them and waiting to see the whole haul!

[u bada]

Congrats, bulbos are definitely in my top 5 genera... they've been really tricky for me to master as i don't have a greenhouse, but other's seem to have an easier time with them...

I'll tell you right now, the bulbo. moniliforme, one i absolutely love in my collection, really doesn't do to much... very slow growing and doesn't flower reliably... however i just love to look at it's vegetative growth alone so I'm happy with mine otherwise... but does appreciate slightly more light than you think and slightly drier than you think.

[cmoonbeam1]

Thanks for the tip on bulbo moniliforme. That's one I've had a bit of trouble finding care info for. It's nice to know that it likes it a little drier than you think, because I don't have a greenhouse either.

edit: what do you water your bulbos with? I've been collecting rainwater (advice from a book) but it would be good if tap water is ok.

[u bada]

I water with R/O water that I get from vending machines around town... I' a low tech guy and don't have a big collection so it's better than getting a whole R/O system, so far anyway... but only use that water on the more sensitive ones.

(you didn't ask, maybe you know all this, but here goes...) Whether you use tap water or not depends on your tap's water quality. While there are a number of things that may not be good, i think the biggest issue with tap water is it's hardness... Distilled water has absolutely nothing in it, and R/O comes close to it, both like rain so that's why there's value in using either of those ... but when there are minerals and consequently dissolved solids- large particles, then you have typical water from ground sources. Actually, when you work with pure water without any nutrients you end up having to add stuff like fert. With tap water there's always a certain amount of beneficial minierals so there's value in using tap... In LA tds (total dissolved solids) is high, meaning there is a lot of particles of stuff in it, then this can be bad for sensitive orchid roots, clogs finer orchid roots or burn them. I did some research and I guess water for you comes from the great lakes... tds of water from sitting bodies of water can be variable to region, so guess you'll just have to check... if tds levels are in 200 ppm (parts per million) level, you can use tap no problem. If it's higher than maybe use cleaner water... however, looking over your list, the main ones that would need cleaner water would be moniliforme (small little roots can be clogged fast by high particles in water) and pardalotum.

Pardalotum needed fairly high humidity for me, and it rambles everywhere... i killed it however because i tucked in a wet corner without too much light, so it still needs to dry out between waterings and probably between phal and cattleya light...

Lepidum can handle lower humidity (yay!) i found out, and you can even stick that outside when warm, probably would love your hot humid summers, as all of them probably would.

Elizabeth Ann, which I've never grown, I hear can handle lower/ variable humidity as well... does have ginormous flowers though so I'd try to keep humidity stable as you can when spiking. That's why i've never gotten it, it's really quite big when blooming, that you'd need a green house to manage it and it's growth, but at least one if not a few people here grow it under lights indoors. I believe there's a lot of info on here alone which you probably already know about.

[cmoonbeam1]

Thanks for your reply! I looked it up and Toronto's water seems to be on average about 124 ppm... so seems pretty good. I'll probably keep using the rainwater for the moniliforme and pardalotum, though on second thought, Toronto rainwater might not be the purest...

[Tindomul]

Nice haul. Any updates on these?