Group order for terrestrial orchids.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Hi guys!

For any of you who want to get a hold of Ophrys, Orchis, Anacamptis, Thelymitra, or Diuris - I will be putting together a group order to obtain these plants from Germany.

If you guys are interested, the website to the German seller is:

www.myorchids.de

If you'd like to get in on the group order or if you have any specific questions, go ahead and send me a private message!

[kevin1217]

Can you order any plant you want from their website?

[Ordphien]

Wow.... tapatalk did not notify me of my pms...
I'm interested still.


Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by kevin1217

Can you order any plant you want from their website?

Yes, anything on that list is fair game unless the seller tells me he sold out of those. And if the seller is out of the plant you want, I will tell you. I will not leave you hanging - it's just not cool to keep people dangling like that, imo.

There are no restrictions on what you want to order. I will not tell you what you can or can't order. That's not my decision to make.

The only restriction is what you can or cannot grow in relation to your level of experience or your growing environment.

If you want recommendations, I can make some for you if you like. That's the only thing I can tell you in regards to what you might consider ordering.

If you need some growing tips or advice, post a question and see what kinds of answers you get.

[birdybrain]

I've been wanting to try a terrestrial orchid and this seems like an opportunity to get one thats not commonly available. Do you have any suggestions for a warm growing, moisture loving, easy terrestrial orchids for beginners? I like compact and miniature plants if any happen to fall into those categories.

Thanks!!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by birdybrain

I've been wanting to try a terrestrial orchid and this seems like an opportunity to get one thats not commonly available. Do you have any suggestions for a warm growing, moisture loving, easy terrestrial orchids for beginners? I like compact and miniature plants if any happen to fall into those categories.

Thanks!!

If you're referring to recommendations I'd make for a beginner with the list of plants the seller has available - generally it'd be Stenoglottis spp., Ophrys spp., or Diuris spp., maybe some of the Anacamptis spp., but you gotta watch where they come from.

Many of these orchids are not very large at all. The only truly gigantic one I can think of right off the top of my head is Disa chrysostachya, which would typically grow to be around 5' tall at maturity with flower spike. If I'm not mistaken, most species of Ophrys are about 1' tall or under. Same with Diuris.

The thing about Stenoglottis is that they're available here in the US if you know where to look, but if you wanna get a Stenoglottis from Europe, that's fine too. These are extremely easy to grow, but surprisingly not all that popular in the world of growing terrestrial orchids.

If you're looking for plants outside of the seller's list, I'd look into Bletilla spp. or Bletia spp.

Also, I wouldn't really consider these plants "moisture loving". They would require drying out between waterings.

The wettest growing orchid on the list that I'm aware of is Disa uniflora, but this is a cool grower that can tolerate warm temperatures if the nighttime lows drop significantly to become cool to intermediate, and it can be rather finicky, and is therefore not a good candidate for a beginner. These also tend to run on the bigger side with them being anywhere between 1' tall with spike to being around 3' tall with spike. In the wild this species is primarily a lithophyte of a certain type of metamorphosed sandstone that stays constantly moist all year round or can also be found growing along rocky/sandy stream banks. Sometimes they grow within moss, but not always.

[Bloomin_Aussie]

I don't know... I find Diuris a little finicky. Pterostylis are easy, as are Serapias and Stennoglottis. Pleione formosana is easy too grown in a shallow tray of sphagnum. For moisture loving plants I would suggest Thelymitra. I have had most success growing them in 40:60% coco peat and perlite keeping the mix moist right through the growing season. Prior to this I was growing them in a commercial potting mix and lost almost all over a couple of years to rot. Don't need to be so careful with coco peat and perlite it seems.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

@ Blooming Aussie:

I get where you're coming from with the Diuris. However, I do find them to be a bit stronger than Thelys in cultivation.

I've never attempted Serapias, so I wouldn't really know what to say. But if you say they're easy, then I'd have to go with what you say. I also wasn't sure if many of the Serapias species would need to be induced to bloom or if they were fine to bloom without having to be tricked into "thinking" there was a fire, (if they do have to be tricked into "thinking" there was a fire, there is actually a way to do it without having to burn anything, btw - this is for those who are not aware of how to treat plants that bloom after a fire, and is not directed at "Blooming Aussie").

I also wasn't too sure about Pterostylis and how to advise with those. I know Pterostylis curta is occasionally sold here in the states, but that's really the extent of knowledge I have about Pterostylis. Not too many Pterostylis are offered here and not too many people grow them here.


@ birdybrain:

So, for Leanne (aka "birdybrain"), there you go, Dan (aka "Blooming Aussie"), gave you more options to go with.

[rosemadder]

I don't think I'm ready for one of these plants yet, but as it happens I think the climate here in the San Francisco bay area may actually be suitable for them. I'm very interested in learning more, especially about Thelymitra, and I'd like to follow the progress of the plants from such a group order. Exciting stuff!


If a person were able to keep orchids of this type, would there be any point in trying to pollinate them and produce more seeds? Even if we can't propagate them ourselves successfully, is there a way to contribute to the maintenance/availability of these species?


...And I'm curious, would it be possible or of any help to the grown plants to get a bucket of Australian dirt that had the proper native fungi in it?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by rosemadder

I don't think I'm ready for one of these plants yet...

If you're referring to the plants on Dr. Beyrle's list, I'm sure there are some orchids on that list you can grow quite easily. Like I said, Stenoglottis is definitely one of them! It is not out of your realm, you just have to be guided in the right direction.

Originally Posted by rosemadder

...but as it happens I think the climate here in the San Francisco bay area may actually be suitable for them. I'm very interested in learning more, especially about Thelymitra, and I'd like to follow the progress of the plants from such a group order. Exciting stuff!

First I'll talk about the size these plants get, as I think a lot of people really should know this. As I'm sure you've read in my post about the blue Phal, Thelys in general are not large plants. Many of them are actually about 1' tall or under.

I'm sure they can be grown in SF. I'm sure SoCal is a good place to grow Thelys as well, but my long term experience with Thelys is non-existent. The longest I've had a Thelymitra for was about 6 months, give or take - and this is only in 2 tries!

Thelys naturally don't have a large amount of roots, and this is part of what gives people problems with this group of orchids. While there are a few species that are not strongly fungus dependent, they are more or less designed to have a relationship with fungus.

They have a dormancy period, but because I have not grown them long enough, I cannot give you an accurate time frame of when that'd be. Maybe someone else can answer that question for you.

In the wild, they grow in soil that is composed of decomposed granite and crushed granite, (little chunks of granite rock and a fine granitic sand).

They grow under bright light.

Originally Posted by rosemadder

If a person were able to keep orchids of this type, would there be any point in trying to pollinate them and produce more seeds? Even if we can't propagate them ourselves successfully, is there a way to contribute to the maintenance/availability of these species?

My answer is, yes, there is a point in trying to pollinate them and produce more seeds. They can be grown from seed using in-vitro methods. If you learned how to flask epiphytes, all you need to do is modify a few protocols, and you will get seedlings of Thelymitras. Maybe not as many seedlings as you'd get with Phals, per se, but you'll get a good number.

Originally Posted by rosemadder

...And I'm curious, would it be possible or of any help to the grown plants to get a bucket of Australian dirt that had the proper native fungi in it?

Probably not, especially if you're in the States. Getting a soil sample also requires a permit from the USDA/APHIS, and will cost you money. And when you get the soil, there's no guarantee the fungus is still there. It's not worth it.

You're better off getting a sample of the fungus itself and culturing that. But again, it'll cost you a pretty penny. There's a reason I don't get my Thelys, Caladenias, and Diuris from the Land of Oz anymore.