Bonatea speciosa

[b amateur]

As my small garden population grows in pace with my insatiable curiosity,the idea of turning to deciduous botanicals becomes more and more appealing. The concept of growing something as beautiful as Bonatea speciosa or as other-worldly as Bon. polypodantha and overwinter them with my dahlias in the corner of the basement sounds pretty damn good.This would leave room in the light garden for more[must have more].The problem is finding seed.Any ideas out there?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Are you able to produce orchids from seed?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Have you considered growing Habenarias? They're closely related to Bonatea. You don't have to find seeds of these.

Or...

How about something "easier", like evergreen Disas. Gets you used to the idea of root tubers. They're cool growing and is very difficult to overwater.

Stenoglottis are deciduous. And grow similarly to Disas.

All of these you don't have to find seeds for.

Except if you're looking for winter or summer rainfall Disas. But that's a whole different ball game.

[b amateur]

Habenarias? You mean those hot peppers? But seriously, yes ,praestans or maybe pusilla.Hadn't given much thought to stenos and disa seems a bit touchy as far as temp/humidity parameters from what little I've heard. Definatly food for thought.Thanks, Brad oh yes...I could possibly grow from seed with a little help from my friends, would like to try ,at any rate. Brad

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I currently own Disa tripetaloides. I grow this outdoors. I don't grow them hydroponically either, they're in terra cotta pots and potted in perlite and Supersphag.

I've found that humidity is not an issue. Actually, this is the first time I've heard of humidity being an issue with Disas. I mean, how humid is South Africa? From what I understand, it's not a "steaming tropical jungle" down there (seriously, most tropical jungles aren't even "steaming" either). Disas are temperate species. I just think the information you've got so far is based on erroneous beliefs.

The temperatures here can get hot. Just a couple weeks ago there was a h
uge wild fire that kicked the temperatures up over 100 F each day. This lasted about a week-and-a-half. I don't see any problems with them. The trick is to keep the tubers and roots cool. The leaves themselves can handle whatever temperatures we're comfortable with.

In other words, I believe this temperature issue with Disas is just hearsay. I don't think it's based on much truth at all.

I live in the Los Angeles County area, where it's closer to the equator. I'm sure you won't have much of a problem with Disas at all.

The bigger problem is root damage. Because with root tubers, if you damage too many of the roots, that's all she wrote. You'll end up with dead plants and obviously no new growths. Most of the new growths originate from the roots. Some will come from the base of the plant itself.

I also own a Habenaria rhodocheila and Habenaria carnea, these form root tubers as well. It's tougher with these cause they're not terrestrials, they're lithophytes growing on limestone cliffs. They're also a bit harder because they're not as prolific as Disas are and they're deciduous and go dormant.

At least with plants like Disa uniflora, Disa tripetaloides, Disa cardinalis, and Disa aurata, they're evergreen. That eliminates one part of the difficulty.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Out of curiosity...

Who's telling you this stuff about Disas and Stenos?

Do they grow or have they successfully grown these plants at all?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I forgot to mention...

Most Disas like bright indirect light.

They don't like to dry out at all.

And they don't like high mineral content in their water. So it's RO/DI or they die.

I'm willing to bet whoever has been growing Disas and have failed, did not follow these guidelines.

[b amateur]

The info on disa comes from independent study I did several years ago-temp issue was not a problem at hot end of scale but with maintaining cool temps; humidity issue is in reference to water at or near roots in reference to streamside growth preference of some species. As for water quality,I use only,no exeptions, rain water ,MSU fert,hardwood leaf compost ,some pine compost on the cymbid's,and of course lots of prayer to whatever's out there. The main source of info was...so long ago...[gettin old aint for sissies]...maybe Clan ,at any rate, they had come up with some Rube Goldberg device made from a recycled chest freezer to grow Disas.More than I wanted to tackle at the time. At your suggestion,I have taken a closer look at Hab's. Looks doable from here. Please, tell me more and thanks, Brad

[b amateur]

Heard about the fires.Seems like you go from fire to flood. I lived in Pacific Grove[Montetey] in the 80's.Fire,flood,earthquakes,and incredible beauty. Keep yourself safe. Brad

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I only have Habenaria carnea and Habenaria rhodocheila, so the information is for these two orchids and no other Habenarias. Habenarias are too diverse to cover generally.

I have not grown these two Habenarias long enough to tell you how to effectively overwinter them. For that you must find out the answer through someone else.

But I can tell you how to grow them when they've broken dormancy.

They like it intermediate to warm (60 F to 85 F preferrably). Grow in bright shade. They're lithophytes on limestone cliffs. I grow them in limestone with a thin layer of moss covering them. I don't allow the plants to dry out completely during growing. They both flower during the late summer early fall.

They form tubers through their roots. So breaking roots is a big no-no.

I suggest buying them during mid-spring.