Polyrrhiza lindenii 'The Florida Ghost'

[Franco24]

This species is my new biggest challenge. I've admired these plants for such a long time but everything I read online talks about how difficult they are to grow, where most plants perish within the first 4 weeks after acquisition. Well, to keep a long story short ... I finally got the "pseudobulbs" to drop some hefty $$$ and give them a shot.

I ended up with a clump of plants mounted on some grapevine with a lump of damp sphagnum. Though me, being me, I decided to remove them and try something a little different. I separated the clump to find 10 individual plants and mounted them bareroot on a wire 'tree' that sits inside a cylindrical vase that sits under a light. I keep an inch of water in the bottom at all times for added humidity; and so far so good! Only thing I'm missing is the live spanish moss which will be here tuesday.

With 10 individual plants I have some room to experiment with different conditions. I soaked half of them in KLN rooting hormone just to see what happens and also plan to remove three and mount them back on grapevine once I go and buy fishing line.

Does anyone else here have any experience with these coveted ghost orchids?

Wish me luck! If I get majority of these guys to survive, I might have some plants to share with you fellow OB members in the near future!

The biggest plant:



And here's a full shot of their current growing structure:

[Paul]

Hope they do well for ya!

[Bud]

You really need to put it in a grape stick or a large bark slab to simulate its original environment and to let it develop a simbiosis with a fungi that it badly needs to survive...
there is a reason why they are clumped as a colony. you do not separate them as individuals(they need each other for survival)
you must ask the vendor where you bought it from to give you a dead root from the mother plant to get the fungi needed for it to survive.
its a seedling...and seedlings need that fungi to feed and give it the necessary sugars...
if you dont do that...your plant will not survive
I bought a flask last 2010 that all got decimated...year 2011 I learned my mistake and clumped them all in a colony in a bed of moss on a matt of cypress bark with an old dead root from the mother plant at the center...so far its thriving for the past 7 months since I got it as a flask

[Goods14]

I don't necessarily agree that they absolutely need wood to grow well. I've seen some success growing them on plastic coated hardware cloth, and it's unlikely that the fungus that is growing on the vendor's wood is the same as in the wild.

Franco, look in the culture section of the AOS site. I think they have 2 or 3 articles with culture advice. If you need any Spanish moss let me know. We have it everywhere here.

[Franco24]

Thanks for the tips. I got my grapewood mounts today and went ahead and wedged the ghosts firmly in the little nooks and crannies. I then proceeded to the small mounts on the same wire fixture inside the vase. There are 3-4 plants on each mount.

Here's how it turned out:

[Bud]

Good14, youre confused, I didnt say "vendor's wood" I said ask for a dead root from the matured mother plant from the vendor...thats where you can get the beneficial fungi to do the simbiosis with the seedling and the fungi...

[Franco24]

Looking more and more like a natural habitat:

[Franco24]

Originally Posted by Bud

You really need to put it in a grape stick or a large bark slab to simulate its original environment and to let it develop a simbiosis with a fungi that it badly needs to survive...
there is a reason why they are clumped as a colony. you do not separate them as individuals(they need each other for survival)
you must ask the vendor where you bought it from to give you a dead root from the mother plant to get the fungi needed for it to survive.
its a seedling...and seedlings need that fungi to feed and give it the necessary sugars...
if you dont do that...your plant will not survive
I bought a flask last 2010 that all got decimated...year 2011 I learned my mistake and clumped them all in a colony in a bed of moss on a matt of cypress bark with an old dead root from the mother plant at the center...so far its thriving for the past 7 months since I got it as a flask

Thanks for the input Bud. I went ahead and contacted the seller and purchased another clump (with a dead root) that I will leave as it is on the grapevine mount.

I plan to put it in the vase with the rest of my ghosts and see which do better in the long run. My others are still doing fine.

[flhiker]

I somewhat agree with Bud. I don't grow Ghost orchids but I do visit them in the wild very often. What I have observed in the wild is MOST plants grow on Pop ash trees, then next would pond apple trees, some cypress trees and on rare occasions royal palm trees. I also have noticed in most cases where there are many plants on the same tree, there is rotting wood at the top, which makes me think that the fungus they prefer come from the decaying wood. If your willing to pay for the shipping, I will collect a couple pieces of pop ash from the area they grow naturally. Then you can be assured they are getting the proper fungus.

[Franco24]

That would be great!

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