Hi, I'm at a point where I need advice :P
Many eons ago, when I was young, LOL, I built a greenhouse in my mother's back yard (under the shade of trees) on the floor of the San Fernando Valley, and I grew orchids and carnivorous plants. And they grew and grew, and I grew and got married, the greenhouse cover was demolished by winds and Mom eventually took the thing down. I tried to keep the orchids alive but they all died, and any orchid I brought home since then died as well. So I gave up on them.
Then one day I came accross Michael's orchids videos on youtube this January and it gave me hope I might be able to grow some plants at home, in the house. Ray's system of using leca as a semi hydro system seems perfect for my conditions. There was no such thing as an ultrasonic humidifier in the olden days either, we had these horrible things with a fan and a membrain dipped in water, and they got so dirty and didn't work, were loud, Ugh!
So I got me some leca pellets and some containers, drilled my holes.... got a RO filter which I just hook up out in the back yard to tank up for the week, LOL. And I got me some orchids.
One of the first orchids I got was a Clowesia Rebecca Northern Mikabi which still hasn't woken up from dormancy!!! In fact, I've been so annoyed, I got a Clowesia Rebecca Northern Grapefruit Pink just so I would have something growing (it's new to me, and it's doing great
but very early in it's growth spurt) No problems though, I had Fred Clark look at it and he said it's fine. I think I might see a white triangle on the bottom of it, both sides.... don't think I saw them before, so maybe....
So I got some phals at green thumb and cattleyas at Home Depote that were seedlings. Then I got some oncidiums from Seattle Orchids, because I love the sprays of flowers they give, and they had a special for 3 unknown Tolumnias and I got a phal gigantea, a vandatious thing called Aerides odorata and that clowesia bulb, LOL.
Then I moved over to Fred Clark after I saw a video of his lecture, and became fascinated with the Catasetums. Boy, if you want to start an orchid in semi hydro, catasetums are the way to go! They dig right in, no adjustment needed as they grow new roots each year.
So far so good except that I bought a lady slipper, paphiopedilum, and the grower sent me a miltoniopsis along with it. Both are cool growers and probably going to die :P I'm hoping they'll get established before it gets too hot here and survive the worst of the summer all right?? I also picked up a few others, and as is usual, these things have really multiplied.
I do have a couple of questions which got me to join officially, and they are:
1. I have my orchids under red/blue grow lights because the house has no real sunlight windows, everything is shaded as much as possible
So all my oncidium bulbs are turning purple, at least the side facing the lights. I know this isn't supposed to be bad, but they're really really purple and I want to make sure I'm not giving them too much light, so as to harm them. Is this really OK? The led grow lights don't create any heat....
2. I've only been growing since March, this means most of my orchids are still adjusting to semi hydro. In the process, my cattleyas had the hardest time I think the leca pellets were too dry on top. So I replanted them down lower into the leca. These guys are only 4" tall, and have a long way to go, so their bulbs are under leca. But this makes the moist leca easier to reach. Do you think this was a good choice? or will there be consequences?
Finally, the girls have an US humidifier and fan blowing on them lightly all the time. Do you think this will be enough if they're left unattended and the heat goes up (accidentally) Like if I forget to turn on the air conditioner or something? How delicate is everything going to be this summer
Semi hydro looks so promising, I really hate to see everyone die because I'm forgetful!!!
Thanks everyone
Hello, I'm new here :)
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