Growing Dendrophyllax lindenii-The Ghost Orchid?
 

Against my own better judgement I have bought myself a flask of this very interesting plant as well as one of another mostly leafless species Chiloschista viridiflava. I know there are a couple of people on here that have had varied success with it and wondering how they grow it? I am lucky enough to live in a reasonably mild, coastal part of Australia so while winters can be quite cold I don't have to deal with snow, etc here. I have a number of options available to me including a couple of large fishtanks which i could convert into terrariums, a greenhouse, a shadehouse and of course various places around the house itself. It sounds like I will have about 8-10 plants to play with in the flask so thought I might try a few different methods rather than putting all my eggs in one basket.

Any recommendations?

I can't tell you for sure how to grow it, but I have had one for almost a year now and it was bought in bloom and no other blooms as of yet. It has produced tons of roots though!

I put mine one a round glass terrarium. It has a 3 inch hole in Te front for viewing and watering, and a 1/2 inch hole in the upper back to aide with air circulation.

I put sphag on the bottom and covered it with small pieces of cork, building up a nice layer of cork so the roots wouldn't come in contact with the sphag.

It's sitting in a southern windowsill, with the summer shade of a huge pin oak tree, but now that the leaves are gone it gets more direct light.

If you haven't already, you might use the board search function. I know there are a couple of members who have posted some progress with theirs.

Good luck!

I have searched :) Many of the threads were from a while ago so I thought that there might be some updates as to how members' plants had progressed and whether they had changed their methods at all over time. :)

adventure and romance books??!! hmmm dkchristi is a spammer/advertiser for sure.....

regarding the lindenii....

I inherited five seedlings newly opened from flask 2 years ago and I was worried it was just wrapped in nylon with sphag on a grape twig....so I made a mini hammock of spanish moss and cradeled the seedlings on top of the moss and placed it hanging inside a large jar with 2 inches water....placed it on the soutfacing windowsill....sprayed every morning for moisture and refilled the water in the jar if it gets low....last summer, Glen sent me by mail some bark of cypress trees where dead lindenii used to thive in; the fungi that simbiotically help the plant was still there and the lichens is still visible= thats where I transferred the 2 year old seedlings and they are presently happy and healthy....its winter and the Florida glades are flooded and the winds are not strong but the sun shines brighter in the winter solstice angle of the sun than in summer....so I mimic the cycle since I am in the East coast but a bit northern and colder....but I dont let them feel the cold nor do I let them get too dry....it is evenly moist .....I hope to bloom them soon

I have no intention of insulting you, dkchristi...I was merely stating the fact when I clicked on the link you posted that you are selling books in this thread (you need to place your link ad in the correct thread)
your link is three times posted in here and that is not only spamming but you are advertising=you need to pay for that....

By all means make a little money with your fiction, this is a free country....but you need to put it on a correct perspective....
we must not neglect the fact that greengarden needs help in culture and care for his ghost orchids based on methods and dynamics....that is the main reason why he posted this thread....

Thanks to those that have responded. I would have to agree to some extent with Bud though, the first post suggesting the book might be of interest is one thing but you then suggested buying copies of the book to give as christmas presents and then added the link a third time in your fourth post. There is a line at which it becomes advertising and it really was crossed. That said it does look like an interesting book, I'm familiar with it prior to this discussion and had been considering it regardless.

Spam posts removed

Thank You, Gloria! but now my replies to her seems odd...heh

Eek! It arrived! It looks great and the Chiloschista looks amazing, so many plants in a huge bottle. I also got a B. lobbii division and it's in fantastic condition, I am so pleased with my purchases :D Anyone in Aus i highly recommend Rosella Orchids!!

Now the hard part... I have to work out how I will deal with the Dendrophyllax. I'd prefer to put it onto solid mounts rather than in baskets. I think mount availability is probably a bit different over here though so any suggestions welcome. I have some small pieces of cork and tree fern and can go out into the bush behind me and get some small branches off old apple trees that have gone feral out there or casuarina branches which are often covered in lichen?? Maybe one of each... I'm thinking that given I have all of these Chiloschista too it might be easiest to set up a 4ft fish tank I have spare as a terrarium, with damp coconut coir in the bottom.

The good thing is everything travelled really well, which means they can stay in their flasks for now and acclimatise :)

From what I've read on here is that you need a wood that is like to grow the fungi that the orchid likes. That is the hard part.