New guy here-from scenic New Jersey

[GluttonousSolarWrasse]

Hey All,

I've lurked these boards and others occasionally, whenever I need a quick bit of info on something. It turns out I spend a lot of time here so I decided to register. I've been into plants in general since I was about 12 years old or so, and have been keeping orchids for about 10 years. Luckily I have a wife who not only tolerates my love for plants, but even encourages it.

Plants have interested me enough that I decided to study plant breeding at Rutgers University. I've been going part time for ages, although I have a full time job in a completely unrelated field that pays the bills. I have many many orchids representing plus or minus 7-10 genera in my own self built greenhouse. The greenhouse is crude, but effective.

I grow most of my plants in vanda baskets, and some plastic baskets, in a mostly sphagnum based mix. I've been growing almost everything like this for a while now, and realized that while it was suitable for periods of little watering, and a warm house, it is not quite suitable for the greenhouse I have them in now.

Since it is quite a bit cooler and more humid than where I used to grow orchids in my house-it keeps the roots too wet. Now I need to re-pot a ton of plants, and even put them in smaller pots (I use whatever pots I could find in a pinch last spring, so many are over sized). That being the case I came to this, my normal internet orchid info spot for new ideas on genera specific media mixes, and decided to finally register.

Anyway, the real name is CJ, I am 31, a plant breeding student, a laser scanning technician as my day job. and I want nothing more than to one day open a specialty nursery/tropical plant supply (the wife would like that too). Oh I also keep reef tanks as well. There is actually a lot of overlap Between orchids and reefs if you think about it. the hobbies suit each-other well and fit together quite nicely.

Nice to meet you all!

[billc]

Welcome! I've been putting some of my plants into baskets also. I like that they dry out more evenly in the winter conditions.

Bill

[GluttonousSolarWrasse]

Hi Bill! I moved to baskets a while back, but found I did not water enough for my particular conditions, so I went to a mostly sphagnum (90%, with some large pine bark and a little charcoal) mix. This worked well for a while, like a couple of years. But now I've noticed that while my orchids LOVE the greenhouse, the mix is staying too wet for too long.

Another problem is i used whatever baskets I had lying around in a mad scramble last year to pot them up for the move to my current location. So many plants are potted together, (which I've never really had luck with) and some are in baskets that are WAY too large, so the mix is staying wet for that reason as well.

So I am going to tease them all apart, organize them, and pot them up in commercial bark based mixes with much less sphagnum in all their own individual baskets again. I also have a few to divide as well.

[Ray]

Welcome "aboard" CJ.

Considering where you live (I'm about 30 minutes west of you, just across the Delaware), you need to go check out Creative Hydroponics (379 Amwell Rd).

Jeree Harms is a good friend, and while he isn't the biggest "orchid guy" out there, he can teach you a lot. His wife, Arlene, is the orchid person of the couple.

Take what you learn from them, and read what you can about semi-hydroponic orchid growing, and I think you'll be pretty happy.

[GluttonousSolarWrasse]

Hi Ray!

Thanks for the heads up, That is literally right around the corner, and I never knew it existed. I've just recently started getting interested in trying hydroponics, after seeing another student's basil breeding project at the research greenhouses on campus. I'll have to check this place out!

[Subrosa]

Welcome CJ! I don't have many orchids in baskets, just a Stanhopea and an Acropera, and I don't have a greenhouse. I mostly grow mounted, so not drying out is never a problem! I do however have to water most of my plants daily. In a greenhouse with good humidity you might not have to. For my potted ones I make my own mixes of bark, sphagnum, lava rock, and a really neat product I got from First Rays - Using Science and Logic to Improve Orchid Growing called EcoWeb. I bought sheets to line the walls of a paludarium in which I grow my humidity loving plants, and cut the scraps into approx. 1" cubes. Ray also sells it in cube form. It's a spun plastic product with massive void spaces that retains very little moisture. I put the cubes in a bucket with some sphagnum and kind of grind it together to get bits of moss into the matrix. Then I mix everything up to hopefully get the desired mix for the plant at hand. Definitely take a look!

[WhiteRabbit]

[OCRC_Dir_China]

Welcome to the Orchid Board from the OCRC in China.

[GluttonousSolarWrasse]

Subrosa, thanks for the welcome, and the heads up on ecoweb, I will definitely check it out! Perhaps they will have some at the orchid show I am going to next weekend ( I never miss this one) Already this board has given me tons of great direction and ideas to try!

Also, thanks for the warm welcome WhiteRabbit & OCRC!

[nikkik]

Welcome to the OB!