Got an offer... advice about potting - Page 3 - Orchid Board

rbarata · #21 07-21-2016, 04:05 PM

Another update...

The zigopetalum is growing fine...a litle bit slow but at a steady pace.

Doesn't it look good?

The oncidium...well, it's growing fast and huge. Lots of roots and really long, 6 in (15 cm) leaves.

The xylobium (possibly) after all these months without any activity finally gave a sign of life...

Finally, the stanhopea...also growing slow but steady...

The almost dead oncidium...well, now it's more dead than before...I think it won't grow anymore.

From the 5 different pbulbs I got, 4 of them are now growing, so it's a ratio of 80% success, which is really motivating considering there are several new genera (to me, at least).
I think they all would benefit from lower temps and higher humidity but it's difficult to get it naturally so I have to be creative at night (opening the shower in the bathroom for a few min, hand spray misting, water trays, daily waterings, etc, etc).

rbarata · #22 08-20-2016, 02:41 PM

Hello, my friends

After my vacations, here's an update to my new plants.
I was not able to take care of them for a week. It doesn't seem much, but with outside temps above 40ºC (104 F) and HR bellow 15 %, it's more than enough to kill these young plants (or at least to set them back).

Temps inside have been stable on the 28ºC (82 F) and HR not above 25 % so additional measures were needed. I asked the woman who cleans my house to take care of them (water every two days, don't let them sit in water, etc, etc). She's an orchid enthusiast also, with a wast collection of cymbidiums...she's my main cymb supplier…. so, hopefully, she could learn something about other genera (she got a phap as a gift so it will be usefull for her to take care of my plants.

So, here's my Oncidium… something happened because the leaves were deformed when I arrived, maybe due to lower HR values. The plant is in a bath room and I was misting several times a day to increase it to something above 60%. No air movement but that's just a minor problem, comparing with the lack of humidity. Obviously she couldn't do it so maybe that's the reason. I know these leaves won't return to the previous shape...anyway, there are lots of roots and I'm sure it will grow to give me lots of flowers.

One more thing... in the last photo there's a tiny white spot of somethning growing...it seems to be a root but isn't it strande for a root to grow on what will be the top of the new pbulb

Now, my Zygopetalum… except for the exceptionally vigorous growth, nothing happend. I think, like my oncidium, that it will be turn into a great plant.

Now, the Lycaste / Xylobium… I'm not sure what this one is..if anyone knows, based on the photos, it would be great. It's growing slowly, probably due to the heat, so I assume this is a cold growing plant.

Now the Stanhopea… only one leaf, everyday bigger… I'll post some questions in another thread so that the experts could give me some pointers.

All the other orchids I have (den, cymb, phap and phals) are doing great, with new growths. Hopefully there won't be any problems.