Orchid Sunday

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by FairyInTheFlowers

Did anyone catch that football game that happened at today's Lady Gaga concert? Like, she was so kind to let all those men play their games around her performance. I don't know what happened with the game, but her performance was what every little gay boy dreams of.

Oh, Lord, the game was a total tragedy. I was sick. Fortunately, at halftime I found a button on my remote called MUTE, and in Lady GagMe's honor I listened to King Crimson's "Fracture".

[Leafmite]

I had too much to do and didn't watch any of it. I know exactly two of Lady Gaga's songs (Through my children, I am introduced to new music and most of it makes me desperate to get far, far away.) and I thought the songs were both very good. As a fan, Cody, you must have been in heaven. I know that I am always thrilled when I hear one of my favorite songs on the radio!

[jkofferdahl]

2.19.17: I missed last week entirely.It's been beautiful here in NW Georgia; right now it's sunny and 65 degrees. Days like this are frequent here, and so why I remain in this state. I'm on a 3-day weekend and doing my best to be as leisurely as possible.

The plants in my newest grow area, my mini area, seem to be happy there. Everything there except an Encyclia is mounted. I'm thrilled by the humidity level I've been able to get there, and have actually dropped it a bit from the maximum. My larger Phals are doing some wonderful things (like growing roots and leaves as well as spikes), but it's the cornu-cervi (how do you plural that?) that are exciting to me right now. It's among my favorite of all orchids, and so I have a number of the plants. Mine seem to get essentially dormant in the midst of winter and now they're waking back up.

My lone Paph is in bloom. The plant was a gift from my sister at a time I really needed a gift. I almost killed it, but somehow figured it out before I could. Having it in bloom is extra special. I also found buds today on my only Encyclia. Numerous Phals are in bloom while others are in stages between setting spikes and developing buds.

Happy growing to you all!

[jkofferdahl]

2.26.17: A Happy Orchid Sunday to all!

I truly wish that you are all enjoying a day like we have here in Georgia. It's nothing short of glorious, and has been for several days. We'll hit 60 soon, but almost got to 80 on Friday. I can't remember when I last saw a cloud.

The orchids here all seem very happy. There are two things which I personally feel are huge contributors to that. Of course temperature, light, and humidity are important but I feel that my use of diatomaceous earth to control creepy-crawly invaders and the extra fans I've added to up the airflow have been important. I've long been a fan of DE, but have used it a lot more with my orchids this past year and in that time haven't had a pest issue at all. Nor, by the way, have I seen signs of unwanted crud growing anywhere!

My most recent project has been to set up a grow area for miniatures. The area is lit by 4 T5 fluorescents and occupies about 2 x 3 feet. I've built a wire a-frame within and surrounded it with hardware cloth in order to accommodate as many plants as possible, and so have fitted about 40 plants inside. The largest is Encyclia garciana, a relative giant, while the smallest are probably various Zygostates. Since setting it up, the plants there have responded amazingly. Several mini Phals, chibae and braceana included, have spiked, while the two fully deciduous mini-Phals I have are now madly sprouting leaves. I have four separate mountings of Zygostates alleniana and each has gone into spike; Z. lunata isn't yet in spike but appears zestier than ever before. Now, I freely admit that the area has plenty of the miniature Phal species (I couldn't even fit all my mini Phals), a large part of why I set it up is twofold: first, I found interest in miniature plants really developing; and second, I found my interest in orchids that aren't Phalaenopsis to be growing. Thus, I decided I could both explore other genera (admittedly I've grown Zygostates for over 30 years) and also expand my miniatures. Funny how an "expansion" can so quickly squeeze the new area full!

Usually while tending my orchids I make and drink coffee and listen to music. I recently bought a pair of Sennheiser headphones on sale for $40 which give, at least in my opinion, better overall sound than anything I've tried from Bose. Being a produce of the 60s and 70s, a lot of the music I listen to is from that time; ProgRock and the harder side of R&R (the 80s, and especially Disco, killed Music for me). But there's a battle inside me between the old, mossy hippie and the Carolina Boy. Today the Carolina Boy has won out, and it's been mostly chillin' with John Prine and Leo Kottke. Both are laid back, but both have overcome issues of absolute threat to their careers. When young, Prine's voice was horrible and wonderful, but I think that throat cancer survival brought a tremendous new sound to it. When young, Kottke's hands and fingers moved fast enough that it seemed he could play 8 guitars at once, but overcoming severe wrist tendonitis brought a new virtuosity to his playing. Gotta be a lesson in there, right?

Finally, it is Sunday afternoon and there's not a sporting event of interest to me on television. I can feel a bit lost on days like this. The NFL season is completely over. I'm as avid a college basketball fan but can't bring myself to watch games between teams I don't care about. Today my beloved UNC Tarheels are off, hopefully able to enjoy the beauty of the town of Chapel Hill.

Maintain your roots and everything will grow.

[chiirioz]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

2.26.17: A Happy Orchid Sunday to all!

I truly wish that you are all enjoying a day like we have here in Georgia. It's nothing short of glorious, and has been for several days. We'll hit 60 soon, but almost got to 80 on Friday. I can't remember when I last saw a cloud.

Happy Orchid-Sunday to you too! I am jealous! We had 65F weather the last couple of days here in NYC but it's going to drop again. Today was a high of 48F and, while it's hotter in my apartment, the wind-chill is making it hard to walk the dog outside without a beanie and scarf.

So I got my orchids back a few weeks ago and the change in environment at my bf's parents' house in NJ has caused nearly 90% of the buds to blast on my tetraspis that had grown two spikes. It's so disappointing because it's been my slowest growing phal... Two of the buds have blasted on my NOID yellow-pink phal but I have really GREAT NEWS to brag about! Seems like the yellow-pink NOID is sending off two additional split spikes (?) from two nodes from the original spike below the 2 blasted buds. The Phal Tetraspis has 2 buds going to bloom and looks like the end node on one of the spike is sending out another spike? My Phal. Chibae is spiking as well so really looking forward to the light scent.

Here's a picture of both the NOID and tetraspis. Could they be new split spikes?

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by chiirioz

Here's a picture of both the NOID and tetraspis. Could they be new split spikes?

They are! Excellent.

[chiirioz]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

They are! Excellent.

How exciting! Giving up two buds for two spikes is a sacrifice I'll take

[estación seca]

Today went to the meeting of the Central Arizona Cactus & Succulent Society. Karen Zimmerman spoke. She is a propagator at the Huntington, and a well-known hybridizer of amazing miniature Aloes.

She started with a cross between two Madagascar species, the tall A. divaricata and the miniature A. parvula. This grex ('KZ #1') is not worth growing on its own, but it provides genes for bluish leaves from divaricata and marginal teeth/warts from parvula. Most of her other hybrids have this in their ancestry. She breeds for small (windowsill) size; amazing coloration; and profuse, colored teeth and warts on leaves. They all have spikes of red/orange/yellow flowers.

Aloes take on their best colors when dormant in the winter. They are a little greener in their summer growth period. But I can attest Karen's hybrids look great all year.

They are available through the Huntington International Succulent Introductions (ISI) program.

Aloe 'Wily Coyotee'

Aloe 'Jeff Karsner'

Aloe 'Marsha Layhew'

Aloe 'Brown Betty'

Aloe 'Chameleon'

Aloe 'Oik'

Aloe 'Princess Jack'

Aloe 'Dragon'

Aloe 'DZ'

Aloe 'Gargoyle'

[jkofferdahl]

3.5.17: Happy Orchid Sunday! It’s a delightful day here in Georgia. We’re nearing 70 degrees, with beautiful blue skies. The dogs have moved outside, where each has found a comfy spot of grass with good sunshine. They seem quite happy.

I’ve had a virus this week. Now, I recognize that I’m a naturally grumpy, semi-abrasive person, but when I get sick I can be evil. It’s probably a good thing I live alone! I managed to get out to do shopping yesterday and will somehow manage my laundry today, but housekeeping is off the board. To skip orchid care I would have to be very near death.

My older daughter and I had a good, long conversation this morning. I adore her; the best way to describe her personality would be to say that she’s a younger version of me but with a lot more of a positive outlook on life. Yesterday was her 28th birthday and we barely got to talk then. She and her husband live up the road in Durham, NC, a delightful and historic NC city I know well. Durham is home to North Carolina Central University, from whom I earned my MLIS degree, and has deep old ties to the tobacco industry. It’s also the home of a rinky-dink, secondary college who lost to my beloved NC Tarheels last night, but that’s another tale of woe and disgust. I’m fortunate that I have two adult daughters, both of whom are kind, generous people and neither of whom attended said pathetic, second-tier educational institute. And they love my orchids, too.

When I first started into orchids, like most I bought hybrids, and mostly Phals.In the early 1980s a business opened in Gordonsville, VA (I lived in Richmond at the time) called Floradise Orchids. If you live anywhere near Gordonsville, you should go there. Anyway, they introduced me to a plant I still grow, Zygostates alleniana. The only species orchid I’ve grown longer is Phal cornu-cervi. At the time it was the smallest orchid I’ve ever seen or heard of. While I don’t have that original plant I DO have four mountings of the species now. It seems like one of the mountings always has a few straggler flowers but it’s quite possible that I’ll soon have blooms on all four mounts. I grow my Zygostates (I also have lunata) in my miniatures area. The largest plant in the same area is my Encyclia garciana (I call the plant “Jerry”). Jerry garciana is still quite a small plant, yet in comparison to the Zygostates, Haraella, and Aerangis it’s quite enormous. I’ve only had Jerry a couple of months; when the plant arrived it must have been in sheath but I somehow missed that until about a month ago. Three flowers are opening now, and I hope will be photogenic by tomorrow.

I mentioned P cornu-cervi a moment ago. I often refer to it as my favorite orchid, which is based on a deep and emotional attachment to the plant. P cornu-cervi is the first orchid I had the honor of bringing completely through a cycle from bloom to new spike and bloom. I have no idea how many of these I have now, but my collection includes the standard yellow barred, reds, albas, and even a couple of pelorics. From late Fall until early Spring they can be the most forlorn of my Phals, seemingly languishing with little to show in root growth or leaf growth, though they sometimes will continue blooming through the winter for me. Now, though, they are all exploding back to life, with their typical thick roots going everywhere. New spikes are growing, but one of the plants has a spike that, with new growth now appearing, is entering its third year of production. Most cc’s I run into these days aren’t fragrant, but occasionally you find one that’s closer to the jungle than its brethren; these plants have a fragrance which I honestly prefer even to Brassavola nodosa.

Enough verbosity. I wish you all a Happy Orchid Sunday, and good growing all days!

[Leafmite]

I hope you feel better!

Yesterday, I spent the day helping with the OS show. We had two new Vendors with some really great stuff, along with Natt's, New Vision Orchids, Windswept in Time Orchids and Roberts Flower Supply. They all had a really great variety of orchids. When I had a chance, I took a look at the vendors offerings and I bought supplies as well as a Dracula lotax, Masdevallia amplexa, Bulbo frostii, Cattleya aclandiae 'Natural World, and Paph delenatii, var Dunkel x sib.

I am not really a Slipper fan but this delenatii is really small and quite cute so I will keep this one even if it isn't fragrant. I now have a total of two slipper orchids.

With the three new terrarium orchids, I think I will be bringing the other ten-gallon aquarium from the basement and giving the Dracs and Masdies their own tank. During the summer, if the weather gets hot, I will probably put the Pleuros under an LED grow light in the basement where it is cool.

I hope everyone has a good Sunday!