2019 orchid project - let's brainstorm some ideas!
 

So many people are wondering if a new project is going to start anytime soon, and recent attempts at starting one have led to not much.

So instead of proposing an idea and hoping people like it, I thought we could start differently: all interested people decide together one the type of project we'd like to do.

To get us started, I've created a poll with different general ideas for a project. Vote for your preferred type(s) and we'll take it from there!

We can also recycle ideas from project 'proposals' that never became projects.


---------------Plant suggestions -------------------

• Laelia vasconcelosiana
• Laelia harpophylla
• Vanda ampullacea (ex Ascocentrum ampullaceum) or similar (A. miniatum, A. pumilum...)
• Phal parishii / Phal lobbii
• Nervilia plicata (terrestrial)
• Dendrobium pachyphyllum
• Eria ornata
• Sarcochilus ceciliae
• Sarcochilus hartmannii
• Sophronitis coccinea (cool grower)
• Dendrobium bellatulum
• Dendrobium eriaeflorum
• Dendrobium tannii or bracteosum (unclear if they are separate species, and in any case they're similar enough for our purposes)
• Bulbophyllum biflorum
• Bulbophyllum lobbii
• Bulbophyllum macranthum
• Bulbophyllum medusae
• Dendrobium unicum
  
  

I would be interested in joining a project and can help out some as well!

So far it seems that a classic compact plant project is favored. Any suggestions for plants? Generally we try to stick to plants that grow well in intermediate temps, so that everyone has a faire shot of growing it successfully.

Laelia vasconcelosiana or Laelia harpophylla.

I'll edit my first post to include a running list of ideas, starting with this! :)

I was thinking of a small Vanda type, like Vanda (ex Ascocentrum) ampullacea or related.

I’ll think of more and add them.

But as a start:

Phal parishii

I'll add Phal lobbii next to it, they are so similar that either could be grown if this were to be the project plant.

Who is eligible to join?

I probably wont join but I'll help think of a few ideas.

A deciduous plant would be interesting but also not, because most are on a set flower-grow-dormancy cycle - but perhaps Nervilia plicata?

Some other ideas:
Dendrobium pachyphyllum
Eria ornata

would ascocentrum pumilum be related to the other vanda/ascocentrums you were thinking Camille? I would also be interested in on of those.

A sarchochilus type plant (e.g. sarchochilus cecilia) would be in the same realm.

sophronitis coccinea might be fun also.

If people are into dendrobiums the following might be fun:
Dendrobium bellatulum
Dendrobium eriaeflorum
Dendrobium tannii

---------- Post added at 04:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:24 PM ----------

You should definitely consider joining :biggrin:

My understanding is that the project is open to anyone (but I could be wrong lol).

i would be interested in growing one of the dendrobium species (compact/miniature obviously) but i am open to any genus really. also it might be better not to choose a pendant/usually mounted species...

As far as I know, all dendrobium (and lots of other genera) species like to be on mounts better because they are epiphytic. There are a few dendrobiums that sometimes grow as terrestrials though, but most are epiphytic. I dont know if there is an exclusively terrestrial species.
Also, dendrobium capituliflorum?

i'm sorry, i wasn't very clear with my response. what i meant is that hopefully it can be grown in a regular clay pot (or similar) rather than a hanging basket or mount or such because some people (like me) can't accommodate those conditions. :)

Anyone can join, projects are open to everyone, providing that they can find the project plant! We generally check that it's available in the main world regions (US, and Canada and/or Europe depending on who joins the project). It's usuaully too difficult to insure availability for other countries, unless many people from one area join.

---------- Post added at 03:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 PM ----------

List has been updated to include all of the new suggestions!

I agree that it would be nice to have the choice in growing something mounted or potted since not everyone's conditions (or time) allow for mounts.

Thanks for setting this up Camille; I voted for other as well...a brainstorm; what if we all grew whatever seedling we wanted, but used the same type of pot [ie plastic, unglazed clay, terracotta ] and media? I've participated in a few projects in the past where we've focused on a specific plant or genus, but I don't think there's ever been one focused on basic culture parameters...and it should work regardless of our collections' temperature parameters...
Just my $.02,
Adam

I do like the idea, but am afraid it will set up some people for failure. Temperature/humidity ARE important factors, and people grow plants with a particular medium/pot type because it works well for their conditions.


I set up a poll to see exactly what sort of project people prefer to do, because then there's the greatest chance of it actually getting off the ground (which has been the problem in pat attempts). As it is now, people vastly prefer to do a standard type project, so that's what we'll do it seems. I would have loved to do a seedling or flask project though.

Well, it's just my two cents, but if there are several people on the board who have a strong interest in something different, say, a flask project, why couldn't those few members just get together via PMs or even a separate thread here on the board and make plans for what they will do exactly, and then share their results in a dedicated thread for that project. It wouldn't be called the "2019 Orchid Project," as that name and thread would be reserved for the one that wins the vote here and garners the most participants, but it just seems to me that, at any time of the year, for any reason at all, there's nothing stopping a few of our members from saying, hey, let's have a little fun and all try growing the same thing and discuss it on the board.

If there's some obvious issue with that idea that I'm overlooking, please let me know.

I completely agree with you. If some people prefer to do another sort of project in parallel, I'm absolutely in support of them setting one up if someone else will take the time to organize/run it. People are free to start whatever sort of project they'd like, and the organizer(s) are free to set whatever project rules they want.

At the moment I'd just be happy to get a standard plant project off the ground, and if 2 different types of projects are running at the same time that's even better. If everyone decides a different sort of project is better instead of this one, that's fine too.

Looks like we have a reasonable amount of interest (based upon the number of votes that we have). I agree that we should attempt to get this standard project off of the ground, and if others want to also organize a seedling type project (or any other) as camille alluded to, that is also great.

Do you think we should wait for more interest/ideas or should we start voting on plants?

Apologies for nothing very constructive or useful in this post, I'd just like to get this going again.

I’m still interested :D

Sorry for the delay, June was really busy so I didn't have time to go over the list of plant suggestions. I'll have plenty of time this weekend though!

I believe I missed something. I'm new to the whole project thing and was reading over this thread but...
What exactly is this project? Everyone grows the same plant and we compare results?

I believe what was decided (based upon the poll) was that we would all choose the same plant/plant type to grow and compare notes/results/etc as we progress.

I think now we are at the stage of suggesting plants and narrowing down.

Ok I think I got it now. I like the idea of a phalaenopsis, because I was already looking at mini phals.
Alternatively has anyone suggested a jewel orchid? Something like macodes petola?

Again! :) Laelia harpophylla or vasconselosiana.

They're already in the list, but I think I was concerned about the size of one of them, which may be rather large.

None of them is a large plant so it won't be an issue, I think.

From what I read, Laelia harpophylla growths are about 30cm tall, and mature plants in bloom are something like 75cm. I would call that a large plant.

Either way, how available are those laelias?

Not very available, as far as I could tell. This weekend I was checking the size and temperature requirements of all the orchids in the list, and for the Laelias I hardly found any information, and very few vendor websites were in the search results.

I do like the idea of a Sarcochilus, those are such pretty little plants even out of bloom. I would feel slightly more confident about the Sarc on my windowsill than a Sophronitis, but I’m still curious enough about either to try. My spring-early fall outdoor temps (with minimal cool off at night) are way out of the range for the Soph. But I wonder if it could be grown inside for half the year with less drop in night temps but slightly cooler days thanks to the air conditioner. I haven’t been able to find any success stories for indoors but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. A few weeks ago, I was talking to Jon from LOC in Baton Rouge who has been growing the S. coccinea outdoors by their wet wall.

My only reason for not wanting to do the Laelias is that the last project was a general Rupicolous Laelia project. However, whatever gets the votes, I’m in

Some more suggestions:
Bulbophyllum biflorum
Bulbophyllum lobbii
Bulbophyllum macranthum
Bulbophyllum medusae

I see no bulbophyllums on the list. These seem common enough.
Another question about the projects in general:
If a participant already has the project plant, do they still need to buy another?

I've added them to the list and since I was busy checking the candidate list, I did them too.

Generally it's ok if you already have the plant, if it is a recent addition. If you've had one a while you can buy another, or share culture notes on the existing one, but can't claim the "first to bloom" crown.

---------- Post added at 05:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:15 PM ----------

Having gone through the list checking size, general temp requirements and did my best to check availability (focused on the US and EU, and for US I checked at places I know are good, like Hauserman, J&L, Andy's, H&R, and Orchidweb). I was really surprised by haw many plants are out of stock at Andy's!

OUT of contention are listed below. If you want to try to find these (at reputable nurseries), go ahead, and let me know if you have more luck. Otherwise they're out, but we have enough to vote from, though it's a short list!

• Laelia vasconcelosiana (both Laelias are hard to find, and last project was a rupiculous laelia project)
• Laelia harpophylla
• Phal parishii / Phal lobbii (hard to find in US)
• Dendrobium pachyphyllum (hard to find in EU)
• Nervilia plicata (hard to find)
• Eria ornata(hard to find)
• Sarcochilus, both species (hard to find in US)
• Sophronitis coccinea (cool grower)
• Bulbophyllum lobbii (hard to find in US)
• Bulbophyllum macranthum (warm/hot grower)
• Bulbophyllum medusae (warm/hot grower)
• Dendrobium bellatulum (favoring cool, hard to find in EU)
• Dendrobium eriaeflorum (favoring cool, hard to find in EU)
• Bulbophyllum lobbii (hard to find in US)

Still in contention are below, and I will do a bit more checking but I think the poll will include these:

• Mini Vanda (ex Ascocentrum) can be ampullceum, miniatum, pumilum, garayi...)
• Dendrobium tannii or bracteosum
• Bulbophyllum biflorum
• Dendrobium unicum

Great! All are available here as well, except Dendrobium unicum (Although I have seen it available at times). Here's a few more suggestions that will hopefully extend the list:
Spathoglottis plicata (Blooms very often, I rarely see one out of bloom).
Dendrobium lamellatum
Dendrobium platygastrium
Bulbophyllum blumei/maxillare
Arundina graminifolia

I think we should define a genre first, otherwise we end up with a too large list.
In this case democracy won't work.:rofl:

Camille, I sugest you decide which genre and who wants to join, fine.
Another sugestion....why having yearly projects? I may not being sucessful this year and be in the next. A project should not have an end...this is my interpretation but I may be wrong.

For your first suggestion, what do you mean? This project ended up going the 'classic' route, where people suggest any plants they like, and if they meet the basic requirments (in the poll we decided should be small, and in addition it should be able to grow in intermediate temperatures, and somewhat easy to find) they go into the final poll to vote for the project plant. It's not up to me to decide who joins, people are free to join if they want and I won't force people either way.

There is no end to the project, we start a new one on a regular basis, but doesn't stop people from continuing to post updates in the previous project threads. Some continued being updated for several years after the project started.

I didn't ment that you decide who will join. Obviously, if anyone wants to join, then fine.
But I think deciding a specific gente could be easier, I think.
If a project never ends, then it was my misinterpretation.

Yes, picking a genus before suggesting plants is another way to do it. But since the last project was already that type (rupiculous Laelias) I thought it could be good to go back to the general way. The problem is also that for some genera it’s really difficult to find a selection of them to vote on that are in the main regions (US and EU usually). Phals are a good example, species seem far harder to find in the US than in Europe!

I always had the idea that in the US the orchid business is more organized collectively...there are a lot of associations and big expositions.
In the EU there are some countries that traditionally have a big role in the orchid world (Netherlands, for ex) but my feeling is that it isn't like that everywhere.
Here in Portugal, although not very developed, the orchid business is growing. We have only two associations (national) and the well known vendors are now including our country in their expositions' calendar.

Although not very numerous, the orchid vendors here make an effort to have available some of the more exquisite and rare specimens, together with all those that are commonly found both in the USA and the EU.

As a side note, altough last project was rupiculous Laelias, I proposed two species of these: Laelia harpophylla and Laelia vasconcelosiana.

Why?

Because I got one of each but I wasn't really sure about how to care for it properly. By using a project, I could exchange information with other members.
The information about their culture is scarse, especially about vasconcelosiana. This species, as I wrote in another thread, was discovered in 2010, less than 10 years ago.
A brasilian vendor (Colibri orchids, if I'm not wrong), as a way to protect its habitat and prevent collectors fom collecting them from the wild, investigated the best way to reproduce them artificially to start to commercialize it.
I think now it's on the advertisement phase, as this plant is starting to show for sale.
By adhering to a project for this specie, it would be a great way to achive this goal.

I understand that you really would like one of these as project plant, but I didn't feel that it was a viable option. Because it's so new in cultivation, few vendors have them (the US is particularily problematic), and the ones I do find are either not blooming size or too expensive for a project plant. One of the two was also far too large (in bloom especially), given the preference in the poll for a small project plant. So for this project, they are out.

But if you would like to do a project specifically with these, you are more than welcome to start one! There's no rule against several projects running at once. You may be able to rustle up some interest by posting in the rupiculous laelia project thread, to see if people doing that one would like to do another Laelia project.