Hi from Cali!

[junebug's orchids]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Welcome, June! San Diego? A GREAT place to grow orchids. As you get into it, you'll find that the low humidity is manageable. Just WAIT until you find out all the wonderful things that can grow outdoors. (If you are far inland can be more of a challenge but anywhere near the coast, orchid heaven) And you live in easy visiting (and buying) distance from some excellent nurseries.

Haha I'm already on it. I ordered Catasetum spp and Maxillaria because I HAVE A POND!!!! It will be perfect. But I do have turtles in the pond, so there is that to contend with.

And yeah, I know of Andy's orchids. He's in the same county as me. I'm planning a trip up to see him to get bulbo treschii (not for outside, but still an odd, pretty plant! and good for epiphytic growth in my Sulawesi biotope aquarium). And to just chat him up in general.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by junebug's orchids

Haha I'm already on it. I ordered Catasetum spp and Maxillaria because I HAVE A POND!!!! It will be perfect. But I do have turtles in the pond, so there is that to contend with.

And yeah, I know of Andy's orchids. He's in the same county as me. I'm planning a trip up to see him to get bulbo treschii (not for outside, but still an odd, pretty plant! and good for epiphytic growth in my Sulawesi biotope aquarium). And to just chat him up in general.

Keep the orchids out of reach of the turtles... I have a friend who has a pond with a little stream and turtles... he had a lovely Phrag. besseae, a great habitat because they like running water... that got eaten, was just a little too close. Heartbreaking...

[junebug's orchids]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Keep the orchids out of reach of the turtles... I have a friend who has a pond with a little stream and turtles... he had a lovely Phrag. besseae, a great habitat because they like running water... that got eaten, was just a little too close. Heartbreaking...

They are going on the waterfall, mounted on the rocks. The turtles can't get up the waterfall, but it's possible they might crawl out to where they killed the alocasia (little jerk turtles) and walk up there. I've never seen them do it, though.

I know it's a concern so I'm planning to, at this point, keep them in that area in pots for a few weeks. See where they do best, and see how the turtles and dogs react to them. If they don't seem to like the area, I'll be pulling them inside and will mount them in their own little spaces in the fishroom.