Trip to Krull and Smith
 

I am in Florida this week and went to Krull and smith to check out their property. I wanted to see the private selection but Krull was not around and they didn't feel ok letting me in to see it. I understand though I was a little disappointed to not get the chance to see the phals. I own a few plants from this place, including a gigantea that is now growing in sh.

Anyway, with no phals to be seen, I went for my next obsession... Tolumnia. They had soooooo many it was near impossible to not pick up a few. I cannot remember their names but one I did score is one I've wanted for a while, Valentine! It's supposed to be a deep rich red.

I also got a den aggregatum and two Vandas, though the Vandas are form Goodwin orchids.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/08/umu6utu5.jpg

They will live on this sill until we return from the Bahamas, at which time I shall box them up and ship them home.

The Vandas....

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/08/qytyveva.jpg

These guys took a show with me this morning. Ill leave them in the window for a few days too.

I'd fly home with them but the box is just too big.

Great buys!

Nice!

How could you pass such nice plants? ;)

Those tolumnias look like they are quite old. that means the growths will spread in all direction. how nice! and two spikes growing??

Look at those long roots on vandas. how would you handle something like that? I always wonder about it when I see vandas.

Two spikes are nice. what color are they supposed to be, do you know?

Enjoy your next vacation in the tropics. I just got back from Hawaii, but need to go back to the tropics again. :)

Well grown plants .
They do not seem to sell them on website. I searched today and found no Tolumnia or Dendrobiums listed.

Gorgeous vandas, especially the one with double spike. What are their names?

I do have the names of the plants but cannot remember them right now. I was visiting my inlaws when I got them so that is where the plants stayed while I went to Nassau. I'm returning now.

Here are what they should bloom:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/14/6uvaqygy.jpg

The Tolumnia are not on their website and I'm not sure why. They have many. I'd guess two maybe three hundred. I found ones that I thought would be nice and some awarded ones I've been wanting.

Neil as for the tropics...Nassau was lovely. We stayed at the Atlantis and all I kept thing was how awesome orchids would grow here!!!!

As for the roots, I now grow in an enclosure and it can handle misting and spraying etc. so I think I can handle the roots fine. Ill box the plants up tomorrow and on the way to the airport drop it off at the post office and overnight it to myself.

LOVE to travel but looking fwd to going home.

Wow~ they look nice!
I won Vanda Pachong Blue "Giant" (in bloom) at a society auction last night. The flowers are qite big (like that blue one in your photo) for a smallish plant. I don't grow vanda, but I just got hooked by the large blue flowers.

Yeah, there's no place like home. Fly safe with those big boxes. :)

NY,

Bud grows his vanda successfully in NYC, maybe he can chime in with what he does.

My double spiked vanda is Motes Indigo and the other is ascda suksamran sunlight. I lost one of the tags of the tolu I got. I think it fell out when I had to hit the brakes returning from the greenhouse! Lol. It was a rental so that tag is gone and I cannot remember what the name was. It's spiking though and I have a few ideas of the name so ill do some searching when I have blooms. The Tolus are beautiful though! You can tell they lived in a greenhouse for a while and didn't get much love. Under my care I hope to have specimen plants very soon!

I've been away for a week now and am ready to get back to Denver. The Vandas have grown while I was away and now I fear they're too big to go on the plane with me. I thought of shipping them but I want to be there to receive them and so overnighting is t going to work. I will pack them well and toss in heat packs and check the box. Either way these plants will sit in the belly of a jet to get to Denver so checking it with heat packs seems a good route. I leave tomorrow from Orlando to Denver. Finally! I miss my house, chids and my dog.

Yes, I've seen pictures of his makara in bloom. It was very nice!

I love ascocenda suksamran sunlight! I think it's more orange than yellow though.

I am curious how the big boxes travelled to a new home. all is well I hope.

Yep all is well. I checked the box which was probably something like 10" x 36" x 30". It was big. The heat packs were wrapped up in news paper so they didn't touch any plants directly and tossed them in. The plants didn't budge but the newspaper was pretty moist! But they were in the box for maybe ten hours at most.

Now the trial begins...fitting these but Vandas in my grow space and keep them from shriveling up!!!!

glad to hear all is well! :)
all the best!

My big vanda is aborting its two spikes :( I believe they suffered shock coming from FL to CO as the spikes I think were just too far along. The grower told me that if the spikes have not developed buds yet that they stand shipping really well but the week I was in the Bahamas the spikes grew fast. This stinks because I suck at growing Vandas bc I haven had a chance to adapt my growing skills yet. Was hoping for some nice blooms. The other one seems quite determined to bloom!

That's a real bummer! two spikes would have given you such nice flower show!!!
Well, at least you have another plant that sounds coping well in its new home.

I love vanda flowers as well, but I just don't do well with them either. so I don't grow them. hehe

My littel Pink Starry Night is aborting its short spike I think.

As sorry to hear about starry night!!!! If it helps, my sky king neostylis isn't doing much. Though I replaced the moss around its roots with lava rock as the moss was useless. The rocks have done much better.

I cut the spikes last night as there is no question they're dead. They were getting in the way!

However I've decided I need another light fixture. I plan on getting an 8 bulb light t5. It isn't cheap but its big and will do well by my sun loving plants!

That's a huge light fixture. Why not get a 4 bb HO unit instead?

Have you thought about creating a mini greenhouse for the Vandas?

Beautiful! I have Suksamran Sunlight spot. It's being stubborn about blooming so I think I'll try keeping it indoors next summer. Maybe it likes it warmer at night then 11. It's growing well but hasn't bloomed.

I'm not up on what bb is but the fixture is HO T5s. I'd like to get it bc it is pretty wide and will fill the space I have to grow my vanda types among others. I only have t8s now and they're not cutting it with the sun loving plants.

Those T5s are going to blind you the then!

Lol oh come now, I don't think it'll be that crazy. I need the light truth be told. They have a two, four, six and eight models.

Just a couple of words about Krull- Smith Orchids. I live about thirty miles from the nursery and have been buying plants from them for years. Their quality is exceptional and prices are reasonable. It seems to me that Jim Smith may have received more AOS awards than anyone else in the business.

Some people like the look of the hanging roots but if you choose you can weave them in and around the basket to make them compact and easier to mist.
I do this with a lot of my plants and the roots seem quite happy.

This is the link to Goodwin Orchids.
goodwinorchids.com