Orchids around the Yard.

[DeaC]

OMG. What a palate of beauty and obviously the right conditions for success as well as being a grower of all things lovely. The Gongora and Coryanthes really pop for me. Guess because I still have not done well by them. Just so gorgeous. TY

[SG in CR]

Originally Posted by DeaC

The Gongora and Coryanthes really pop for me. Guess because I still have not done well by them.

Both do best in filter light for me. Though they will survive almost full sun too. They don't seem to mind going dry for a few days. For potting them I put them in chunky charcoal media in a coco fiber lined wire baskets and finer organic material on top.. That way they can go years between repotting.
Gongora are pretty bullet proof here in this climate. They are the first genera that I had success with germinating too.
Coryanthes are tricky. A professional grower I know here says he won't touch them anymore because they just die for him. A lot of people here swear they need the symbiotic ants living in their roots to do well. I think they are beneficial, but mine do fine with out them. I'm trying to grow them from seed, but so far no luck.

[My Green Pets]

I'd love to see the orchid bees in action, if you ever get a shot.
Must be so awesome to be able to grow these outside. I looked at real estate in CR and it does not look cheap at all!

[SG in CR]

Originally Posted by My Green Pets

I'd love to see the orchid bees in action, if you ever get a shot.
Must be so awesome to be able to grow these outside. I looked at real estate in CR and it does not look cheap at all!

Just uploaded a video of the larger Eulaema orchid bees at a Catasetum flower.
https://youtu.be/znK9B1dlxfI
I'll see if I have any of the smaller metallic green ones.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by SG in CR

Just uploaded a video of the larger Eulaema orchid bees at a Catasetum flower.
https://youtu.be/znK9B1dlxfI
I'll see if I have any of the smaller metallic green ones.

Fantastic! Thanks!

[DirtyCoconuts]

great stuff- thanks for sharing!!

[SG in CR]

And another video of a different genus of orchid bee,
https://youtu.be/4BSBjvEgIxM

[My Green Pets]

SG thank you so much!! Nothing better than seeing how the flowers function with their pollinators. I think I saw a couple bees carrying two different types of pollinia as well. I love how they hover. It's cool how the inverted flowers and waxy surfaces encourage the bees to 'fall' and land with their backs on the stigma. Just wonderful, thank you again. If you can catch an actual pollination occurring on camera, that's BBC documentary level achieved

[SG in CR]

Originally Posted by My Green Pets

I think I saw a couple bees carrying two different types of pollinia as well.

Yeah, in the second video one has more rounded pollinia on its back. Those aren't from that species of Gongora, they are more like a flattened rod. Those little green ones and the big bumblebee looking ones are attracted mostly to the really fragrant orchids, and strangely to some anthurium flowers as well. There are other orchid bees that seem to pick up on scents that I can't perceive, such as Maxillaria flowers, most of which don't smell like much to me.
In general they are bit of an annoyance because on certain flowers, Coryanthes for example, if you don't get the pollen in the first hour of it's opening, it's gone.

[My Green Pets]

Oh wow, sounds like you'd need a mesh bag or something around the flowers to keep the bees away.