Japanese terrestrials 2023

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Originally Posted by Roberta

The Med terrestrials certainly don't need "real cold" like the Japanese terrestrials do. How does a plant "know" it's fall when it is an underground tuber? Probably the overall drop in temperature especially at night, and the start of rain. Timing is pretty flexible - last year mine started a bit earlier since it rained in early October (unusual) This year seems more "normal" as far as rainfall pattern goes (I covered mine up when Hillary came through which was still summer). Now, not much rain in the forecast but temps are pretty normal. (I expect to see Cymbidium spikes soon, warm days and cool nights trigger those)

Seems like temps are finally dropping this week. Especially at night, so the water between Halloween and Easter should work... But we're still getting forecasts for daytime temps in the 80s in November

I definitely feel this fall is being hotter than last year's

[Roberta]

Fairly typical southern California weather pattern. Last year was unusually cool. We have had a pretty mild season for Santa Ana winds (hot, dry, powerful winds due to downslope compressional heating) so far this year, but we're not done. Expect wild daytime temperature swings, but nights are definitely autumnally cool.

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Time for dormancy! I collected 9 tubers for Ponerorchis Enomoto-chidori, a wide range of sizes, but I'm hopeful they can all sprout next year if they survive dormancy. Fingers crossed.

A less successful "harvest" has been Ponerorchis graminifolia. Three (four?) fat tubers and two tiny ones. The biggest tuber has a medium-sized one attached, I don't know if it's all part of one tuber or two separate ones. I applied very light pressure to see if they would split. They didn't, so I decided to leave them be, but I did sprinkle a bit of sulfur on it in order to prevent rot around that joint area. I stored the tiny ones separately because I'm not confident they will survive dormancy and didn't want them to spread rot to their roommates.

They will be staying in the bottom drawer of the fridge, which will continue to fill up with other plants in the coming weeks. I also placed a control deli cup with a sensor to track humidity, I've had it in the fridge for a few weeks, and I could register very sharp changes in humidity. Hopefully storing the tubers in deli cups with wet sphagnum will keep humidity high and more constant.

[Roberta]

Looks like you got a good harvest! Mine, just got a few "maybes". Also in the 'fridge. I have my doubts... maybe I should stick to the Mediterranean types.

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Looks like you got a good harvest! Mine, just got a few "maybes". Also in the 'fridge. I have my doubts... maybe I should stick to the Mediterranean types.

I was surprised to see the Plover Orchid doing better, which was potted in lava rock, precision bark, and some Kanuma. The other one was in 100% Kanuma with some Grodan Grow Cubes. It does make me wonder if maybe they didn't appreciate that much acidity or maybe the hybrid is simply more productive.

[Roberta]

Hybrid vigor helps...

[MateoinLosAngeles]

I was stressed out because I procrastinated on getting stuff out of the fridge. I lost a Venus flytrap, and I feared the fate of other plants, especially these little guys. Last year, the Plover Orchid started to grow vigorously in mid-March. Would I lose an entire month's worth of growth?! Would the temperatures stay too cold for too long? Dang, I didn't even keep them humid enough. I was ready to grieve losses!

Finally, the other night, I dropped everything and said, "Get this done! NOW!" Most tubers looked fine, with no signs of rot or dehydration, and a couple had a little bit of growth sprouting.

It's been three days since these guys have been out of the fridge. Would you take a look at that?! The Plover went from dormant with mostly black tips to a 0.5 inch sprout in 3 days! The pot with the sprouts is Ponerorchis Enomoto-chidori... the vigorous hybrid. I potted six long tubers in a 4-inch pot. My expectation? Hoping for 50%-75% sprouts, but 5 out of 6 in three days?! Incredible.

This is definitely my most vigorous terrestrial, next to Stenoglottis fimbriata and Dactylorhiza romana. At least my conditions suffice for them.

Thank you, Estación, for pointing us to Kusamono Gardens! These little wildflowers are so enjoyable to grow.

[Roberta]

Looks great! Mine are coming along. I thought that that I had lost the Hab. radiatas, I didn't see any tubers, but I put the "organic masses" into the fridge anyway, and they're coming up! Maybe this year they'll be robust enough to make visible tubers. Here's hoping.

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Looks great! Mine are coming along. I thought that that I had lost the Hab. radiatas, I didn't see any tubers, but I put the "organic masses" into the fridge anyway, and they're coming up! Maybe this year they'll be robust enough to make visible tubers. Here's hoping.

I went full Kanuma this year, bought it from Calibonsai which has free pickup via Etsy. Might be a bit far from you but it does last. I'm also using it for Zygos now, they seem happy.

I'll probably start trying Kanuma as the sole medium for some of the aussie terrestrials as well.

[Roberta]

I put them back into last year's mix... same mindset as with the European and Aussie terrestrials, don't know whether good or bad. When I unpotted, I bagged up the mix for each plant (or plants) so each baggie of plant/tubers went back into its own baggie of mix (no sharing) So I'll see how it goes. But so far looking good.