Crafts, Stelis on a trellis

[Pattywack]

I’ve had this Stelis morganii for about a year and a half. It grew and flowered for the first several months that I had it. It is growing in moss in a wood basket. Originally it was hanging in a SW kitchen window, shaded by a large birch tree.

I noticed after maybe 6 months the plant had some accordion leaves and also some yellowing leaves, browning and falling off. This plant likes to be kept moist and it had been...so I unpotted it to check the roots.

At the time I had been experiencing a minor fungus gnat issue, occasionally seeing them around plants in my kitchen. When I checked the morganii roots it was teeming with gnat larvae! Crap! The plant was cleaned of all the moss and treated with Bayer 3 in 1 as was the basket. I also put the wood basket into the oven and baked it for a bit. The morganii was potted into fresh moss in the basket and I retreated it one more time. The gnats never returned thankfully. The plant was weakened and I was hoping it would recover.

The plant was moved into my greenhouse shelving unit and after a few months it has recovered nicely, filling in where leaves had been lost. Recently I decided it needed a nice trellis to grow on as the tallest growth was bending from weight. I made this little trellis this weekend from chopsticks, skewers, super glue and artificial sinew. Might be silly but hey, it works for me and the morganii is happy again! Here are a few pictures. I enjoy crafts and if I can incorporate that into orchids, all the better.

[charlesf6]

Good news on the recovery, great job on the mini trellis and I love the wooden basket you have girl

[Dollythehun]

Pretty darned cute!

[jcec1]

That's a really neat and tidy job you did there. You can see your craft skills in the quality of the job 👍

[Pattywack]

Originally Posted by charlesf6

Good news on the recovery, great job on the mini trellis and I love the wooden basket you have girl

Thank you Charles! I was happy to have saved the morganii and to see it began to fill out and grow again. The additional humidity has helped tremendously. It was looking pretty scraggly for awhile. The trellis was fun to make though I did manage to glue my thumb to the skewer. I love these wood baskets, hanging or sitting.

---------- Post added at 09:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:22 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Pretty darned cute!

Dolly, thank you. It works well and is cute too. If this basket were hanging I’m sure the Stelis would have grown climbing up the wire. I guess we’ll see how quickly it outgrows this setup.

---------- Post added at 09:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:26 AM ----------

Originally Posted by jcec1

That's a really neat and tidy job you did there. You can see your craft skills in the quality of the job 👍

Jcec1, thank you very much. If you had witnessed my skill at gluing my thumb, twice, to the skewer...lol

It was a cold weekend here, crafty projects are always fun. I even repotted/mounted two other orchids to birch mounts. Not the best time of year to do this but the plants both have new growth and new roots. Maybe I’ll share those in another post.

[Leafmite]

Adorable!

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by Pattywack

...Jcec1, thank you very much. If you had witnessed my skill at gluing my thumb, twice, to the skewer...lol....

A plastic surgeon I know told me of a patient (anonymous) who was driving and, at the same time, gluing on her false eyelashes with methyl methacrylate glue (KrazyGlue in the US.) She glued her hand to the steering wheel. She telephoned him (without stopping, using the non-glued hand, driving with her knees) and he told her they had chemicals to dissolve the glue. She came to his office. The nurse went to the parking lot and freed her hand from the steering wheel. After advising the patient not to put on eyelashes while driving, she said it had to be done, because there was no other time when she could do this.

[Dollythehun]

I hate to tell you but that story is just that...

[estación seca]

No, it really happened. You have no idea what kinds of things you will see in a plastic surgeon's office.