Random stuff

[Cheddarbob14]

I have a few random experiments/rescues. 2 of which are my fault, the last was just a result of my mother in law not knowing much about orchids other than "just adding ice".....smh. She gave me a noid phal, in really bad shape, leaves wilted, not 1 standard root, about 9 air roots ranging in 1-4" long. I soaked the air roots in water with kelpmax and a probiotic for about an hour, then started my 1st full water culture orchid. This was about 5 months ago and I'm blown away with how good it seems to be doing. The air roots slowly turned green, 2 new leaves have sprouted, a few new roots have emerged. I'm seeing signs of a potential spike also.

My Brassidium Yellow Star 'Golden Gambol' was purchased about a year and a half ago. When repotting it, 1 of the biggest pbulbs broke off. It was brown and soft at its base, and had no roots to speak of. I decided to brace it upright and put it in semi hydro just to see what would happen. Eventually a new growth popped, and some roots started to grow. After seeing what happened with my experimental phal, I decided to try the same fwc method with this 1. When pulled out of s/h, it had 3 or 4 nice long roots. Gave the same hour long soak as before and put it in a mason jar with water. All of my fwc orchids have about 20-25% of their roots completely submerged full time. Once a week they get a full root, 1/2 hr soak with fertilizer at about 25ppm, once a month I leave out the fertilizer and use kelpmax and probiotic. The root growth has exploded on my Brassidium, and another new growth has formed since the translation on 3/19/17.


The last "mistake" was when repotting a recently purchased Miltassia Shelob 'Okika', I again knocked off a single pbulb. It was about 3.5" (not including the leaves), and quite firm and plump. I put it in a mesh basket with about an inch of sponge rock, which then went into a Ziploc bag with a damp paper towel. Barely left a little crack in it. This was also done on 3/19/17. I will be transferring to fwc once the root(s) get at least an inch long.