New in NC -- Impulse Control Problems

[MisterGuy]

I found this board searching around and finding the Phal Beginner thread which gave me some immediate help to problems I was having reviving bargain bin dying rejects. I just got into Orchids this year, because apparently I have severe impulse control issues and I seem to get easily addicted to things that take forever to see results. My yard is filled up with fruit trees despite it's small size, and I guess I needed to waste more time and money in the winter.

I swear it's not my fault; I had the best intentions and started because I really hate buying cut flowers for Valentines Day, and decided to get creative by getting my wife a live plant. I went the Garden Center's greenhouse and was dazzled by a fragrant Dendrobium nobile.

Then I discovered their $5 rack.... now I have a bunch of stuff I can't identify and about a 40% success rate saving the phals and mini phals.



I mounted a couple of the whatever they are to random logs because it sounded fun. IDs welcome, never saw the bloom.




Just recently, one of the canes bloomed after the rest had bloomed in March. While playing with it, I noticed that one of the canes had been damaged at some point and had essentially air layered itself. I decided instead of just being boring and potting it up, I'd be all creative and try mounting it on a yellow poplar chunk from the wood pile.




The log I decided to put it on was very punky wood on side, and nice and hard and dry on the protected side. I took a shovel and dug out the softest of the wood leaving a nice depression with some jags to serve as the cradle, soaked the log in the waterfall of my pond for an hour, and researched what angle a den nob might hang on a real tree, and found a lot that were sticking out like upwards whiskers. I decided that looked pretty cool, placed the roots carefully, and used waxed cotton twine to hold some moss that had been soaked in dilute orchid food to the chunk with essentially a terrible version of a running butchers truss. I stuck some thumbtacks on the back side to keep it from sitting against the wall and hung it by a hook, and started misting and praying!





More pictures of other impulse buys to come!

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[Maryanne]

Hello Mr. Guy:
You sound like a natural born orchid fanatic ; -)
The pink blossom in your photo looks like a Dendrobium nobile hybrid - there are so many it's tough to pin it down. They are a hardy group. I have one that is not mounted on anything, just hung up by a wire and it grows regardless!

On the mount in the photo, the only thing I think may be a problem is that it is a punky piece of wood. The Catts mounted seem to have hard wood that is not decaying quite yet. They look quite happy, so you had a good instinct for what they like. In the past when I've chosen wood that is too punky or deteriorating, the roots of the orchid seem to reject clinging to it and simply stall. Then, I've taken the plant off the mount and found a harder, fresher piece of wood or potted it. If the plantlet is happy on its wood, the roots will begin to cling within a couple of months and eventually you can take off the twine, or just let the twine rot off.

Good luck with your new hobby ; -)
Cheers
Maryanne

[MisterGuy]

Originally Posted by Maryanne

Hello Mr. Guy:
You sound like a natural born orchid fanatic ; -)
The pink blossom in your photo looks like a Dendrobium nobile hybrid - there are so many it's tough to pin it down. They are a hardy group. I have one that is not mounted on anything, just hung up by a wire and it grows regardless!

On the mount in the photo, the only thing I think may be a problem is that it is a punky piece of wood. The Catts mounted seem to have hard wood that is not decaying quite yet. They look quite happy, so you had a good instinct for what they like. In the past when I've chosen wood that is too punky or deteriorating, the roots of the orchid seem to reject clinging to it and simply stall. Then, I've taken the plant off the mount and found a harder, fresher piece of wood or potted it. If the plantlet is happy on its wood, the roots will begin to cling within a couple of months and eventually you can take off the twine, or just let the twine rot off.

Good luck with your new hobby ; -)
Cheers
Maryanne

Thanks for the tip, I will keep an eye on it. I am not sure how fast to expect the roots to grow but the moss stops right at the growing tip, so hopefully by fall they will emerge triumphant! I had actually considered the punky wood as problematic for other reasons, like rot, so I thought hacking back to wood that resisted would give me soft but relatively loose fibers for it to grab.

The Catts (thank you for the confirmation) are in similar conditions only naturally occurring and have sort of reached past the soft wood and glued themselves to the crevices. It's been really fun to see.

Everything was in bright shade outside but carelessness got them sunburned accidentally so they ended up in the East facing bay window in my kitchen, horrifying my wife with the supplemental CFLs on a lightstand.

I just put up shelves in the corner of my office, and now they finally look intentional!

[bethmarie]

You're in the right place for orchid impulse control problems!

Unless you want to control them. In that case, I suggest you run, run away, quickly!

Your plants are looking good. The only semi-sage advice I can offer is that with sphagnum moss, less is more. The mounted one in the last 2 pictures may do better with more air, less moss in the root zone.

[dounoharm]

looks good, but you might want to get a couple small fans to keep the air moving...good luck, and I think you already caught on to the first law of growing orchids....when you kill one, buy two more quickly!

[MisterGuy]

Originally Posted by dounoharm

looks good, but you might want to get a couple small fans to keep the air moving...good luck, and I think you already caught on to the first law of growing orchids....when you kill one, buy two more quickly!

Right now, I have great air movement OR great humidity, because the AC type I have dehumidifies as it cools and I redirected the register to not blow directly on the plants. So a good chunk of the day the humidity creeps up and then plunges while the air is on. I should probably track it to see exactly what happens in that corner. I do have a little plant clip fan, I was just worried about needing to add a water feature if I added the fan!

The little airlayer has been there for two weeks now and when I lift the moss like a flap at the bottom it really seems like the last quarter inch at least of root is "glued" already. I don't want to touch it too much but it doesn't move at all when gently poked. The moss is dry and very loose on the outside and not packed very tight, and I am watering it by spritzing the log above the moss until it drips first thing in the morning and mid afternoon when the AC is on. I was thinking about giving it to mid July and starting to tease the moss back out to see how the roots are digging the wood.

[Ray]

Where are you in NC?

[MisterGuy]

Originally Posted by Ray

Where are you in NC?

I'm in Raleigh, after growing up in Fayetteville.

[Ray]

You might want to check out the Triangle Orchid Society. They meet at Duke Gardens, second Monday of the month (this coming one) at 7:30.

[MisterGuy]

My God Ray, what have you done. I didn't know that NC had native orchids, but I do collect southern heritage apples, NCSU extension peaches, and more...this could be a problem...

And of course, it's the member's sale next Monday. Good thing my marriage is solid...