Orchid diary

[nemesis]

---------- Post added at 10:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 AM ----------

[/COLOR]It doesn’t disappoint does it! Very very beautiful!

[The Mutant]

Before getting to the great news, I just wanted to say that my Nelly has really kicked up the gear on the bud opening. After the first one opened, three more are now in the process. All buds have plumped up and the color has deepened on them as well. I think there's also a new leaf emerging on one of the growing pseudobulbs, but it's a bit difficult to tell without poking my eye out on another leaf.

Anyway, got a message that my package was ready to pick up and I pretty much ran off as soon as I got it. I got instructions from Schwerter that I should let the Phals stay in the package for 12 hours to let them slowly get used to warmer temperatures. This to avoid damage caused by the low temperatures during transportation. I've no idea how accurate this statement is, but I'm going to do as they instructed. I really want to check on the plants and make sure they're okay, so it'll be a struggle.

Jon, of course, thoroughly inspected the package before I was allowed to put it on the stove:

[tmoney]

don't listen to my advice, but i've never followed that warning and all of our schwerter plants have thrived! open that thing up!!! hahahahah

[WaterWitchin]

That Nelly bloom is just exquisite. Now I need one.

I'm with tmoney... I pay no attention to that "wait to open the box" instruction. Get 'er done, and let Jon have that box!!

Impatient people (such as me) don't have Time for that kind of direction.

[The Mutant]

Originally Posted by tmoney

don't listen to my advice, but i've never followed that warning and all of our schwerter plants have thrived! open that thing up!!! hahahahah

Well, they've been here for six hours now...

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

That Nelly bloom is just exquisite. Now I need one.

I'm with tmoney... I pay no attention to that "wait to open the box" instruction. Get 'er done, and let Jon have that box!!

Impatient people (such as me) don't have Time for that kind of direction.

I'm so happy I finally got one. I've been in love with the flowers even before I knew it was an orchid.

Bad! You're both bad influences! But I mean, what are the Phals going to acclimate themselves to more than they already have? The light maybe? I've had them for six hours, so it should be fine, right?

[The Mutant]

Due to peer pressure and bad influence from unnamed people on this forum, I went ahead and opened up the package. *coughs*

I know I should've trusted Schwerter to package things properly and putting in a heat pack with the Phals. It's been so long since I ordered from them, I've forgotten everything!

First, Jon had to inspect and approve the well wrapped plants:


After that I unwrapped them and they were in great shape. Only the Phal. Liu's Berry ES had gotten the tip of two leaves broken. Otherwise, nice growing roots and very healthy looking plants. The Phal. Ld's Bear King x George Vasquez Eureka appear to have some older mechanical damage, but that's about it.

Oh, another happy surprise were the spikes that some of the plants have. Especially the Phal. Ld's Bear King x George Vasquez Eureka has a bud that looks ready to pop open any day! I hope all spikes + buds make it, but I'm not counting on anything. The fact that they sent five out of nine plants in spike/bud was a super pleasant surprise. I ordered duplicates of the Phal. Mini Mark and the Phal. Liu's Berry ES as my friend wanted those as well.

Here are the Phals:




I realized after I placed my order that the Phal. Wiganiae wasn't blooming size and it's absolutely tiny! I hope I'll be able to keep it alive. I didn't want any young plants this time around, but completely missed that it's two years from blooming. My fault for not reading the description on the page.

And after I had unpacked all of the Phals, Jon had to check out the box they came in:


He's a weird cat though and didn't stick around in it and he's completely ignoring it now.

Tomorrow, it's time to repot! I'll see how many of them I'll get through. Probably not all. So, so happy now though.

[tmoney]

they look great! good luck with the repot session!

[WaterWitchin]

See Mutant?!? No harm, no foul.

[The Mutant]

Ugh! All seven Phals are repotted, Jon tried to put in an ad for a new owner, and melted plastic is hot. That pretty much sums up my and Jon's day so far.

Most of the Phals had adequate root systems, one or two had fine ones but the Phal. Yaphon Blue Bird had a subpar one. It also had something that could be stem rot, old or new was difficult to tell. I'll have to keep an extra eye on it and see how it fares.

I'm uncertain if I did a good job when repotting, some got potted too low, some too high, some have too much of the roots visible above the media... We'll see what they think and what happens. I'm expecting some repotting loss (i.e. roots not growing anymore, roots dying, leaf loss, bud blast etc.). I'm so unsure about what I'm doing! It's amazing what several years away from a hobby can do to one's confidence.

I tried to be very careful and not damage the roots. Luckily, all of them have growing ones, so I hope that's going to help them acclimate. Especially since five of them went from straight sphagnum to straight bark.

I'm going to be busy watering them a lot until the bark holds more moisture. I soaked the bark over night, but some of it is already drying. I also wish I had a heat mat to put the little Wiganiae and the Yaphon Blue Bird on, but I don't. I hope summer will get started here soon so it gets warm and cozy for them.

Oh yes, I got some melted plastic on my hand when I made some pretty (read; ugly) holes in the pots and boy did it hurt! Jon was very upset he wasn't allowed out on the balcony with me when I was using the soldering iron on the pots.

Here's the whole gang, from the top (then left to right); Phal. CTL Christopher, Phal. KS Pride Golden Diamond, Phal. Ld's Bear King x George Vasquez, Phal. Liu's Berry ES, Phal. Mini Mark (with two spikes!), Phal. Wiganiae, and Phal. Yaphon Blue Bird:

[The Mutant]

Drastic decision has been made today. I've been checking the skewer in the pot of my Nelly and it's now getting moldy... That tells me there's not much air in the pot, which was what I feared earlier, so I'm going to repot tomorrow.

This might very well be the end of my having a Nelly Isler, but leaving it as is to enjoy the flowers might also lead to the end. Feels a little bit like damned if I do, damned if I don't.

Ugh, I hope it'll go well. I've gotten attached to it during this short time I've had it.