Trichoglottis brachiata (Project 13 - Summer 2011)

[pedidiva]

Monthly update~~~

No real change that I can see....

[Paul Mc]

I have a new root growing at the top. It's already about 3inches long!

[pedidiva]

green with envy

[keithrs]

Mine's Died. It did not like the cold nights....

[nenella]

Good News Paul!
Like Pedi, I thought mine hadn't really grown at all as well.So I just compared it to when I first got it and the roots are longer and the developping leaf grew and a second one has also grown. Had I not compared photos I wouldn't have noticed... Oh yes leaf next to root going yellow and will fall off.
First photo when arrived and the second taken just now.

[Zoi2]

Mine seems to be doing ok. Roots are growing and it is working on a new leaf.
Joann

[pedidiva]

Nenella yous has really grown. I should have taken pics--that's a good idea. ZOi2, glad that yours is doing well, too. Sorry about yours, Keith.

[Paul Mc]

Wow, now I'm going to look at my old pick and see what the changes are, lol... Other than roots, I wasn't sure there was much.

[Bud]

Trichoglottis brachiata, is not hard to grow … in summers they grow abundant leaves and robust roots and that is when I give them fertilizer weekly weakly of Algoflash alternated with seaweed mix and worm tea mix. My plant is 4 feet high with fast growing 2 babies springing from each side forming a clump hanging on a 4 inch wooden basket and the roots tied to the wires because they tend to go berserk and has a life of their own. I must invest on a trellis in a couple of years.
This plant had to remain indoors last winter and it was bitter cold that when I brought them back out on the fire escape last summer a few of the buds have blasted. As you can see on pic 3 this one lost at least 4 blooms, but still has seven flowers, so that’s not bad at all for me. Giving my room a bubble gum like fragrance…I purchased this back in 3/11/09 and it was already 2 years old so by now it’s going to its 5th summer; I have had to experiment with growing it. It took a little bit to figure out how to care for it, but I have it down pat now. I treated it like a Vanda from Southeast Asia. This is endemic to the Philippine Islands so it is equatorial and love hot and humid environment. Meaning: fertilizers, electric fans, humidifiers, heaters, lots of light and sprayers.
The light quoted by Orchidwiz is about the same as is quoted elsewhere for Neofinetia falcata - now can anyone tell me that they grow and flower Neo. falcata and Trichoglottis brachiata under the same conditions? Well…I grow both of them together in same windowsill in winters and fire escape in summers … they both bloom for me in the summer. I think that it would be better if actual light values were quoted(did they measure the light 24/7 in situ?), but when I read some of the figures suggested (like 3000fc) I wonder just what they are using as a light meter - and I observed while travelling through South East Asia looking at orchids in the wild, and taking light readings everywhere for my camera: 3000 fc is not moderate shade, it is a figure occasionally seen at mid-day in the growing season, in the upper part of the forest canopy only....
In fact: I am growing my Trichos with the Rrenantheras, Neos and Vandas, which means hanging up on hooks up the ceiling a foot away from south facing window - also rather too much algae on the inside of the glass as a result of spraying all the hanging plants more or less daily - and will all be cleaned off when I do a Spring clean-up when I transfer them all outside on the fire escape. But winter in Manhattan has brighter sunlight than summer; I don’t know why…
They say we could not grow Vandacious orchids here in the North East Coast like they're doing in Southeast Asia (especially by the windowsill). And true enough when I was there, my observation is: cloudy skies are rare, just like when you are in sunny Southern California and LA, the clear blue skies everyday got boring. In my part of the States (North East Coast), we have summers filled with cloudy hot and humid days and since we just had a very mild winter this year (this summer) we might have many 1000f+ days.
Yet, my vandaceous plants thrive by my windowsill or out on the fire escape...and bloom beautifully for me…like this Trichoglottis brachiata.

[Bud]

Keith...I am surprised: you live in SoCal...there is humidity in your atmosphere and bright sun...the plant would of loved it there...I guess you should of taken it indoors when it got cold and damp...