It is mounted on a sliver of coconut. A whole sliver.
I guess I should post my growing conditions. It is hanging in the SW corner of the shadehouse right now because we had a weird chilly snap for May.
It's been in the upper 50s/night and upper 60s/day in the house with the plastic pulled back up.
The rest of this week it is supposed to get back to normal temps. Upper 60s night and 70s day. We pulled the plastic open again and are hoping that we don't have any more cold snaps.
We have a shadecloth on the shadehouse and it is getting filtered full sun for about 5 hours/day.
Humidity has been in the 50s since we had to put the heat on a couple of nights, but now we are hanging around 58% night and higher during the day after
misting the floor.
The 2 spikes are doing great and the plant looks really healthy. I got it from Orchids Limited in MN. I'm not sure what kind of water they are using but I use plain tap water which comes from an underground sand aquifer and is generally considered some of the best drinking water in the USA. The pH is about 7.1-7.3 if I remember correctly. I should test it again.
I fertilize using MSU formula weekly weakly using the 25% solution formula that I got from First Rays. Sometimes I leave the fertilizer made up in the sink if there is a lot left over and I dunk an extra during the week. I do not quarantine my water dunking (I know I should, but I don't).
I mix up the fertilizer, the Physan, and the Bayer systemic all in one big sink and dunk everything about twice a month. This has really controlled any pest and fungus problem.
I rarely have pest problems unless they come home on an orchid. I have had a bad time recently with some mealy bugs that came home on a couple of mini-phals.
I tend to get really aggressive with any pest. I spray with Volick oil mixed with dish soap after I dunk the whole plant in Bayer systemic. Then I continue to spray during the week with the soap and some alcohol. I also pick the mealys out with a toothpick and smash them (sadistic satisfaction for me)
So far, none of the orchids have been sensitive to my pest control methods (not even the Paphs/Phrags).
I can't wait to see the blooms.
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