Haraella retrocalla (Project 8 - Spring 2009)

[whygreenberg]

Originally Posted by boytjie

Gosh, these spikes grow slooooooowwwwlyyyyyy... We've had these plants for weeks now, and Haraelephant's little trunk has gained maybe a quarter of an inch.

Just remember, it's all relative. The spikes are pretty tiny, so it probably doesn't have all that longer to go!

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

Mine doesn't either! Sniff!

well Terry - maybe ours are gathering their energy to put forth masses of blooms

[oldorchidguy]

Maybe you should give one to everyone who wants one and we can all race. Everyone likes a race.

[playtime8978]

Mine has not spiked yet either though it is growing a new root. Why oh why cant we have flowers too

[Blueszz]

Humidity inside the upside down clear pot, refering to this setup:

@ Nanella, I could measure the humidity in the pot and I was surprised with the readings I got.
When I went to bed I wetted the pot from the inside with a spray bottle. The humidity went up to 91%. The difference with the humitiy in the room was 40%.
This morning when I woke up the humidity was 77% in the pot, 30% higher than the humidity in the room.

As the tiny pot wiggles too much on LECA I have thoroughly wetted bark in the glazed (pets) food dish, this keeps the humidity higher when I'm not at home.

Nicole

[Blueszz]

Originally Posted by shadytrake

She sure likes to take her time to make an entrance.

Here are some pics.

Nice buds! Looks that you might have 2 buds that open about the same time!
Thanks for the pictures, I love Haraella pictures :-)

Nicole

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Blueszz

Humidity inside the upside down clear pot, refering to this setup:

@ Nanella, I could measure the humidity in the pot and I was surprised with the readings I got.
When I went to bed I wetted the pot from the inside with a spray bottle. The humidity went up to 91%. The difference with the humitiy in the room was 40%.
This morning when I woke up the humidity was 77% in the pot, 30% higher than the humidity in the room.

As the tiny pot wiggles too much on LECA I have thoroughly wetted bark in the glazed (pets) food dish, this keeps the humidity higher when I'm not at home.

Nicole

I really like your idea, I might do the same thing! The humidity in my room is 50-65%, but I think the Haraella could do with a little more. How often are you watering yours? I'm afraid to water too much, but also afraid of too little. Mine is in a mix of fine bark and charcoal

[Blueszz]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I really like your idea, I might do the same thing! The humidity in my room is 50-65%, but I think the Haraella could do with a little more. How often are you watering yours? I'm afraid to water too much, but also afraid of too little. Mine is in a mix of fine bark and charcoal

Hi Camille,
I monitored it this morning, when a bit of sun hit the clear pot. As OW advises 2000-3000 lux and knowing that a clear pot like this one dramatically reduces light levels, I want it to get some morning sun. The temperature was only 1C higher than the temp outside the clear pot but keep in mind I have a fan running towards the plants, in fact I have 2 fans running from different directions right now as I'm pushing light levels.

I water my Haraella by weight of the pot. When I potted it it was 28 grams (including pot and mix from fine bark and perlite) and I liked the humidity of the mix at that time. Without clear pot I had to water it every other day. After watering the pot was 34 grams. It lost about 4-5 grams water in 2 days. Now I have the pot covered to increase humidity I haven't watered it for about 4 days and the weight this morning still was 31 grams!
Now I have it covered and get some early morning sun the bud is swelling. Don't know if this is coincidence or not.

I use a small dog food bowl, which holds fine bark and a small layer of water. The Haraella pot is sitting on the wet bark. I tried this with wet Sphag but it didn't work for me. The clear pot is a 14 cm air cone pot. I'll measure how much light it takes away and if for instance a clear water bottle would give better results.

PS with the fan's running water that I spray on the sides of the clear pot evaporates much faster than without the fans running!

Nicole

[Don Perusse]

Hey WhiteRabbit and Terri - Don't feel too bad as you are not the only ones without a spike. I don't have one either. I do however have a keiki growing from the base of my plant. The opposite side has a new tiny leaf or another keiki sprouting up...but definately not a spike.

Nicole - WOW!! Just wondering if you are so scientific orientated with all your chids...measuring humidity? watering by weight, golly a long process. Guess if you have time and it works, happy growing.

[Zoi2]

I'm not sure yet, but I think mine is actually doing something....growing a new leaf. No flower spike though.
Joann