Suggestions of fall and early winter blooming orchids?

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Roberta

A species to look for, that blooms about that time, is Sophronitis cernua. It likes to a bit warmer than its other Sophronitis cousins, so might be a good candidate. And totally charming. Mine usually blooms November-ish.

I really love this orchid, but sadly I've already killed 4 of them, 2 mounted and 2 potted. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong... I had given up after the last one a couple years ago, but if you have any tips I might give it one last shot.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I really love this orchid, but sadly I've already killed 4 of them, 2 mounted and 2 potted. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong... I had given up after the last one a couple years ago, but if you have any tips I might give it one last shot.

Hard to say, since my growing conditions are so different. I do think they benefit from RO water (the one change that greatly improved my success rate for a lot of species) Both of mine are mounted. They don't get anything special. Bright shade or filtered sun, daily watering, whatever humidity Mother Nature provides.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Hard to say, since my growing conditions are so different. I do think they benefit from RO water (the one change that greatly improved my success rate for a lot of species) Both of mine are mounted. They don't get anything special. Bright shade or filtered sun, daily watering, whatever humidity Mother Nature provides.

It doesn't sound like a complicated, fussy plant. So I really don't know what I'm doing wrong. Switching to RO doesn't seem like it will benefit my plants much, my tapwater is so pure that I use MSU for rain/RO water... I could give it a try anyways.

[Roberta]

If your tap water is good, RO is not likely to be useful. Mine is moderate TDS (200-350 ppm) and fairly high pH (Calcium bicarbonate, a stubborn pH of 7.8) Better than the liquid rocks coming out of the tap in most of southern California but not great. Until I got RO, I needed to add vinegar to my fertilizer water to get the pH down to about 6.5 .

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Roberta

If your tap water is good, RO is not likely to be useful. Mine is moderate TDS (200-350 ppm) and fairly high pH (Calcium bicarbonate, a stubborn pH of 7.8) Better than the liquid rocks coming out of the tap in most of southern California but not great. Until I got RO, I needed to add vinegar to my fertilizer water to get the pH down to about 6.5 .

My tapwater has an EC of 0.15 ms/cm, which I think is in the ballpark of the 50-100 ppm range. I know they can't be directly converted, but there are very rough equivalents. pH is 7.8, only because it legally must be above 7 to avoid damaging the pipes. Adjusting it is difficult because the water is barely buffered, and even the tiniest pinch of citric acid will make the pH plunge to 5 or lower!

Sadly I have not been able to locate a new Soph cernua, but they regularily pop up at vendors so I'll keep an eye out for one.

[Roberta]

Camille, your water is pretty pure (so has little buffering capacity) Out of curiosity, what do they use to adjust the pH up? Mine is buffered at 7.8 because it is loaded with calcium bicarbonate. If they using a dab of sodium hydroxide, ouch. (I know some growers in an area near San Francisco who ended up with big problems, and some dead plants, when the water company started "adjusting" the pH of their very pure water with NaOH, of course without telling anybody)

Also a thought on pH adjustment... maybe try vinegar... fairly dilute to begin with, weak acid so might be easier to titrate the water (dropwise if necessary) That's why I used it when I was using tap water for fertilizing... it was easy to control and not over-shoot. Also easy to obtain. (Cheap store-brand in big bottle)

[Jeff214]

I have a few dendrobiums that bloom on and off all year long. Plus, they are very easy to grow indoors or outdoors.

- Dendrobium auriculatum (very strong pleasant fragrance)


- Dendrobium Jonathan's Glory 'Dark Joy' (compact and fragrant)


- Dendrobium goldschmidtianum (rambly but fun)




Also..

Procatavola Golden Peacock is a compact and easy grower that blooms 3 times a year for me. It does bloom better outside, but does well indoors. It doesn't seem to mind full sun either. Very adaptable! I think the Brassocattleya Richard Mueller hybrids are all very nice...

[Shadeflower]

I found this site really helped me pick a compact fragrant cattleya.

Cattleya

If you click on each variety it tells you if it is compact and if it has a fragrance.
I wanted to get the last one on the list the huan gold but it isn't compact so I will stick with the compact ones.

You need to read the description carefully though, the fragrant ones are the ones where it is specifically mentioned. Like the Shinfong Little Sun is marked as fragrant but I know the fragrance is hardly noticeable - still seems to be accurate if you read the description, they either don't mention it (basically non fragrant) to fragrant and extremely fragrant ones.

---------- Post added at 02:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:27 AM ----------

check out this beauty:

Lc. (Lc Love Knot' 'SVO' x Lc Blue Rose 'Dark Blue') / Orchids.com

or
Lc. Tiny Treasure 'Sweetheart' ' (C. Porcia x L. lucasiana) / Orchids.com

[yug]

Cattleya trianae, or Cattleya percivaliana.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Jeff214

I have a few dendrobiums that bloom on and off all year long. Plus, they are very easy to grow indoors or outdoors.

- Dendrobium auriculatum (very strong pleasant fragrance)


- Dendrobium goldschmidtianum (rambly but fun)

Two of my favorites!