The roots and plant look good, one episode of drying out isn't going to cause long term damage I don't think, orchids are tough.

Not even in S/H?

They drained the reservoir in a few days.

hey all, your plants look great! we wanted to participate this year, but for several reasons decided to watch from the sidelines :( however, came across this video this morning that you may find interesting...

https://youtu.be/9hejSEuhdNY

happy growing!

I want to be in this one.

I’m hoping I have an unfair advantage.

This is my little collection of sarcochilids. I bought these about 6 months ago. It was one of those bulk deals so I doubt they were their best stock.

Flowering should be in about 4 months - although I’ve been keeping them in excessively low light so I may miss out on flowering this year. I can’t see any flower spikes starting.

These came from Barrita Orchids, which is about 30km from us. They are further inland and somewhat more elevated although conditions should not be that much different. That has me hoping I should be able to grow them by sticking fairly close to Barita’s culture sheet.

They came in a mixture of perlite, polystyrene, charcoal and sphagnum, and they had a dense mat of living moss on top so they must have been kept very moist. The moss died off fairly quickly so I guess I’ve kept them drier.

I see sarcos growing wild when walking (very ocassionally) and always in deep, dark, ravines beside streams - usually on the permanently moist boulders streamside, or the lower trunks of the trees nearest the stream. However I note that Barita says that mimicking those conditions is not an ideal way to grow unless you want a lot of lush growth and very few flowers. I’ve always assumed that mimicking natural conditions as closely as possible is the best cultural practice but perhaps I need to rethink that.

Looking forward to seeing all your results. I’m not sure what blooming time to expect across the various cultural practices and hybrid backgrounds so it will be interesting.

Cheers
Arron

I also included a photo of Baritas potting mix, with the living moss long gone.

When he spoke to our society he said the hybrids are mostly derived from the species that get a lot more light. He said they water 365 days out of the year.

You must certainly do have an advantage!

What varieties? Species or hybrids?

All hybrids. Seedlings not mericlones. Mostly crosses of various hybrids with ‘Kulnura’ in the name.

My Sarcochilus has arrived! Sarcochilus ceciliae from Peter at Diamond orchids. He sent one in bloom! A division of his awarded one.

I'll try to add a sarcochilus or two to my next SVO order. Anyone attempting the project in S/H?

That would be me. :waving I did two in SH, mounted one. Didn't like the way the mounted one was responding, so have already moved it to SH.

Just wanted to do an update on the two sarcos I got from SVO on June 1st. They’re doing great! I repotted them into 3” net pots with the bark and perlite mix they came with. The roots and media looked fantastic on all the plants I got from SVO. I have lots of new root growth and leaf growth so I’m pretty happy. These are grown inside on a shelf under LED lights. I water about twice a week, once with tap and once with MSU fertilizer in distilled with pH adjusted up.

Lots of roots - and first flower spikes
 

We’ve been having a warm winter so I thought I’d take a peak at my little sarcos and see if there were any pleasant surprises. Lots of new roots - strong, rather untidy roots - and the first flower spikes. I wasn’t sure what very small sarco flower spikes would look like but these can’t be anything else. I expect these will flower in Sept or Oct.

Only one of the six plants has flowers but still very pleased with myself.

Cheers

I’ve been without orchids for more than a decade. Recently bought a few and I have 5 on my way from Akerne. Among them Sarcochilus fitzgeraldii.

If it’s not too late I want to join this project. The Sarco probably will arrive August 8th.

Never too late!!!

What Roberta says... That's why I mentioned it to ya! :biggrin:

If I remember well, we had a group for the Haraella odorata spring project. Is there a group for the Sarcochilus too? Can't find one. Or is this the thread for all future posts about the plants?

Will be fun to see all the different hybrids and species, de differences in culture (if there are any) and the appearance.

Let's grow them! ;) This is going to be fun.

You’re in it! :)

And here is my Sarcochilus fitzgeraldii. I got it in the mail yesterday. I’m very pleased with this plant. It looks healthy, 2 leads, flowered twice before and it’s actively growing roots.

I have it growing in a pot. I assume in bark only but I didn’t unpot it to have a look. I’ll grow it outdoors with day temperatures around 24-25 C and night temperatures around 16-17 C

Night temps might get cooler a week from today. I’ll watch that. .

http://www.orchidboard.com/community.../IMG_4315.jpeg

http://www.orchidboard.com/community.../IMG_4314.jpeg

http://www.orchidboard.com/community.../IMG_4313.jpeg

Oy mates! (Read with an Australian accent ;))

Well I've finally joined the 2023 "spring" project, although we're closer to the fall equinox than the spring one :rofl:

I've definitely have seen the change in my growing area. My NW facing windows are slowly starting to barely get any sun in the afternoons, which might be good if we get another heat wave in late August/early September like last year!

As for my sarco, I got Sarco. Heidi 'Clarity' x Sarco. Kulnura Snowflake 'Freeby' from SVO alongside my Catasetum order. They were almost out so my preferred one wasn't available, I got this little guy because it's supposed to stay relatively small while covering itself in flowers. Small plants that get hidden in flower shows are definetely my top priority growing in an apartment.

The hybrid is 75% Sarcochilus hartmannii which is a lithophyte and allegedly easy to grow and adapt to pot culture. So anyway, I decided to keep the media similar to what Fred had it potted in (I think they prefer repotting in the fall) and went really heavy on the lava rock and pumice. I also used som leftover big orchiata that I had pre-treated to add some additional dolomite for a Cattleya walkeriana. So I will be watering with plain water for a little bit.

Let's see where this goes!

Don't worry about night temps until they get well into the single digits C ... I grow both hartmanii and fitzgeraldii (and some hybrids) outdoors, they can experience winter nights down to the high 30's F (2-3 deg C) with no problem at all. They will have to come indoors eventually where you live, of course, but no need to worry until it gets a good bit cooler. A few hours of near-frost will be a warning of more to come, but won't harm the plant if they catch you by surprise.

The notes I took said 8°C, I will adjust that as I value owner experiences more than info I found on random websites. Thank you.

Nicole, you're back!!!! 🙂 Since you are one of the rare people from this forum that I have had the pleasure to meet in person, over the years I have occasionally thought of you and wondered how you and the dogs were doing.

Yes I'm back on board! I guess once bitten by the orchid bug, always bitten by the orchid bug LOL

Awesome to meet you here again.

First thing when I came back on OB was looking up your name :) and I was delighted to find out you still are an active member :)

One of my recent purchases was inspired by your collection back then, the Neofinetia falcata. I loved yours.

How nice to see OB still has project plants, off course I had to join the spring project when I found out one of my recent purchases is the project plant.

Happy growing!

I do tend to push limits. I find that orchids will often do fine outside the "specified range" especially if acclimated. So if a Sarco is outside as the temperature cools with fall approaching, it will handle a "surprise chill" a lot better than one that has been pampered in a greenhouse.

Yes, and we have to be aware that the quoted temperature range can often be based on observations of natural populations. For a naturally occurring population the temperature range must be suitable for the entire life cycle - and the life cycle of any microrhizzal fungus it is in symbiosis with. This may be quite different to the requirements of a mature plant.

No-one seems to have any difficulty growing sarcos in the state of Victoria - well outside their natural range - in fact outside of Barrita that seems to be where most of the growers and vendors are due to there being not much else to do there. It does get cold in Victoria.

Cheers

I suspect that 8 C quote came from a source for cultivated plants. (Their greenhouse). I looked up Sarco. fitzgeraldii on the Baker culture sheet (in Orchidwiz) and the temperature range for the habitat is -1C to 40 C (30 F to 105 F). It gives -2C to 40C (28 F to 103 F) For Sarco. hartmannii . So these are really tough little orchids.

I use those Baker sheets a lot in figuring out what I can get away with. Alas, Orchidwiz is no longer for sale. (I have backed up my backups of the installation files,) The Baker sheets can be purchased individually though. Habitat Information and Culture Sheets from the Bakers

Straggling in here. 1st time growing this. I chose this from a driveway giveaway because it had this tag still in the pot. If it survives til next spring, hope to see blooms as pictured.

https://i.ibb.co/89NnX30/2724407-E-4...5-BE291006.jpg

Edit: my “roadside” sarcochilus after repotting, bath and trim

https://i.ibb.co/C1Crwr2/E7-AA34-C7-...8-F8785872.jpg

I ordered a second Sarcochilus.

It's Sarcochilus Kulnura Roundup 'Multi Spot' x Kulnura Secure 'Shapely'

Probably delivered Tuesday.

Hello, I acquired another sarcochilus this weekend. A fitzgeraldii. It looks in bad shape, dehydrated and had numerous dead roots which I tried my best to remove everything.

What is the best way to repot this? The plantlets are further down on the stem but still firmly attached. I read a little about base division of monopodials. Would this be a bad time to attempt such a division because it would just stress the plant out even more? Should the whole thing be repotted, perhaps if I can angle it in a way that the 3 long roots at the top could get contact with potting material instead of just being aerial like they were? Ty for helping me try to rehab this poor fellow. This one didn’t have a pic, but the tag said “purplish pink” I’d love to see the blooms one day.

https://i.ibb.co/HHLbbZZ/E677-F5-FA-...76-D072396.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/xsbtn30/D90-FCA08-D...1687-F7-FA.jpg

Just pot it up. When you water, give the aerial roots a good spraying too. It will be fine. You have a few good roots at the base, and the aerial roots will also help.

I got myself a very healthy and good size second Sarcochilus.

https://i.imgur.com/JSLCd5O.jpg

This is Sarcochilus Kulnura Roundup 'Multi Spot' x
Kulnura Secure 'Shapely' (F226)

Just re-potted her and watered overhead. It's windy and warm, she'll be dry quickly.

Progress
 

I know it’s a bit unfair being able to show progress 6 months ahead of Nth Hemisphere growers, but think of this as what you have to look forward too.

This is the sarco I showed a few weeks back when the spikes were only just emerging. One spike is doing well, the other is way behind - not sure why. It’s the only one of the 6 sarco that I bought together which is in spike so I expect the other 5 have missed out this season. Obviously my culture was not ideal - probably not enough light.

If you are interested in weather conditions, I’ve had these outside all winter under shadecloth. The lowest temp we got down to at night was 6 deg Celsius, I think, although that was an outlier and average low was more like 10 deg this winter as it has been a mild winter. These come from Barita Orchids in Kulnura, which is about 30km from me but inland and a bit higher so would be a bit colder in winter. I didn’t water or fertilize them in the winter months although rainfall this winter was unusually high so I don’t think they dried out much. I can’t find an offical BOM weather station near Kulnura but the Terry Hills station is the closest I can find in topography so would probably have the same microclimate. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/20...4.202307.shtml.

I repotted two of the sarcos into scoria, which seemed like a good idea at the time as I’m rapidly running out of faith in bark, and pots, and bark in pots. I think it was unnecessary though, because they turned out to be potted in inorganic material throughout. So far they are doing well anyway.

The plants coming from Barita have excellent root systems so I can’t fault their culture but I still think these things would be happiest if they had a big mossy rock to scramble over.

Cheers
Arron

What a treat for you to be so close to one of the top hybridizers of Sarcos! That could be very dangerous to one's bank account :biggrin:

How are your Sarcochilus doing? Any progress?

Upon arrival I repotted mine. One shows good root growth, the other seems to struggle a bit, although they live next to each other. Reason might be the tad bit courser bark I used.

Have to get some new bark which isn't that course or add a few strings of sphagnum. That might the way to go as new bark always seems hydrophobic to me. This baby needs some extra moisture which I can't achieve by watering more often. The roots dry too fast in this coarse bark. I can't keep up with the watering.

This baby isn't that happy. Time to change growing conditions (= repot) now I see active root growth.

Yep, new bark can be hydrophobic. I think these need a lot more moisture then one usually gets in bark. I wind sphagnum around the top of the media and that retains the water for a full extra day, then water the day after it dries out - so every second or third day. Having the spahgnum at the top means I can adjust or remove it if I need too.

When I bought mine they came direct from the grower (Barita) and had a dense layer of living moss on top.

The spike has now opened on the only one of my 6 sarcos that will be flowering this year. I think the others did not get enough light or moisture at the critical time.

Like mostly everything else in my now mostly non existent collection, my Sarco is dying. I kept it separate from the other plants, watered it separately, and it still got infected... It's sitting out on the balcony now until it either dies from the disease or gets cold enough that I have to bring it indoors.

That explains why so many have Kulnara in the name!

@ArronAB. Yes, that is what I found out de hard way. It needs more water. Luckily the plant is salvageable. It's not in a too bat shape.

Yours has beautiful flowers!

@Camille. What is happening to your plants? Is it a virus?

Progress report: the two I got from SVO at the beginning of June are doing great, lots of new root growth everywhere, new leaves and new fans. They’re grown indoors under lights and they’re in a mix of orchiata bark and perlite in net pots. Im hoping I can get some flower spike started soon.

Great progress! Expect flowers next spring. April/May is when they bloom for me.