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[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I'm growing in clay, sand, and some wood. Not a lot of wood. The wood is just for ground cover. One of the tubers sprouted leaves and is continuing to grow nicely. The other tuber had its sprout tip die off, so I don't know if it'll make it or not, we'll see.

I can't figure out how to download photos from my camera onto my computer because the newer model of Macbook I currently own doesn't support a certain type of software anymore. So it'll be a bit more inconvenient to upload photos at this point. I have to borrow other family members' computers, (which are PC's), in order to do it. I've also been quite busy lately, so setbacks like this will take a while to resolve. I'll see if I can post pics in a bit.

In the meantime, the Diuris behrii sprout is now a little over a quarter inch tall and quite pristine.

My Thelymitra aff frechii has leaves about the same height but both tuberoids of Thelymitra has leaf tip burn for some reason.

[Andrew]

Bloomin Aussie,
I haven't found behrii to be shy to flower. Are you growing chryseopsis and, if so, do you have problems flowering that species as well? How big do your tubers get?

[Bloomin_Aussie]

Interesting... Yes, I've been growing chryseopsis for 2 seasons and had flowers in both. My behrii tubers are a similar size to the chryseopsis (about 10-15mm in diameter and average about 35mm in length) so I'm not sure what the problem is. Do they require similar conditions?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

1st pic = Thelymitra aff. frenchii

2nd pic = Diuris behrii

Pics:

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Bloomin_Aussie

Interesting... Yes, I've been growing chryseopsis for 2 seasons and had flowers in both. My behrii tubers are a similar size to the chryseopsis (about 10-15mm in diameter and average about 35mm in length) so I'm not sure what the problem is. Do they require similar conditions?

As far as I know they need the same conditions, or at least I'm growing them under the same conditions. Your tuber size seems fine. I wonder whether the differences between my experiences with behrii and yours might be due to them being different forms/locations.

[Bloomin_Aussie]

That's quite possible... mine came from Nesbitts. I'm not sure where they were originally collected though.

Interestingly one of my pots of behrii broke the surface today. My chryseopsis has been above ground for a few weeks now and the sprouts are a good 2 inches tall.

Andrew, note the leaf tip "burn" that Philip mentioned. I've seen this on some of my Thels in the past but it has never caused a problem. Any idea what it is from? I just put it down to scarring caused by the shoot moving through an abrasive mix because I haven't noticed it with mine since changing to perlite/coco peat mix.

The only other time I have seen it (not specifically with Thels) is when I was watering with chlorinated water. Excess salt buildup from fertiliser has a similar effect I am told.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Bloomin_Aussie

Andrew, note the leaf tip "burn" that Philip mentioned. I've seen this on some of my Thels in the past but it has never caused a problem. Any idea what it is from?

I'm not sure what is causing it. I used to have problems with burnt leaf tips on my Thelymitra, which I've put down to too much light when they're emerging. A bit of extra shade while they're emerging solved the problem.
Melbourne tap water has fairly low TDS so I probably haven't had much opportunity to see how damaging salt build up in the mix is.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

May have been the light issue that Andrew mentioned.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I just inoculated these with a mycorrhizal fungi mix I got from Fungi Perfecti. Trichoderma harzianum is in it as well as many other fungal symbionts and beneficial bacteria.

A few days afterwards, these guys grew really, really fast!

The Thelymitra nearly doubled in height! The Diuris also showed some significant growth.

[Wjs2nd]

Which mix did you get? I can't wait to see more pictures as stuff gets bigger!