Inherited many orchids, need advice and identification help!
 

Last week, my boyfriend's grandmother passed. Among other things, she's the reason I started growing orchids several years ago. I was told by her family that I should take any and all of her collection of orchids, in addition to her grow lights, media, etc. I was incredibly honored and happy to keep her legacy going in this way. So the reason I'm writing is that I'm a bit overwhelmed and could take some direction as I just took on almost 20 new plants (only a portion of what she had), many of which have maybe seen better days, and many that are very new to me. Maybe you'll chide me as foolish for taking these on, but now that I've driven these from upstate NY to my house I would appreciate any advice on how not to kill them!

Her grow space (a room built in her basement equipped with a room humidifier, grow lights, etc) was overrun with scale, ants, and mealybugs. Some of the plants I took are more effected by this than others. I've eradicated scale and mealybugs before, so I have some ideas on how to deal with this, but it definitely complicates things.

I've already decided that I'm not introducing these plants to my normal grow space. I'm going to keep them in my basement for at least the next few months. I took a light panel with 6 high output T5 lights from NY which I still have to install. At the moment, I'm using the two fluorescent bulbs hanging above my workbench and some clip-on CFL bulbs. Is this enough light for now or do you think it's an emergency to set up the proper grow light panel? I've never used grow lights before. A photo attached of the current set up.


The list of plants I have taken are as follows:

Angraecum sesquipedale
angraecum eburneum
brassavola digbyana
phrag. Mayling Nielsen (wallisii x conchiferum)
Stelis quadrifida 'Len'
oncidium Moon Shadow 'Tiger Tail'
bulbophyllum sumatranum
Beallara Tropic Tom 'Kinky'
bulbophyllum mastersianum
bulbo cobbii

Then there are a few I can't determine what they are. Maybe I should post them in the ID forums?


estacion_seca recently mentioned to me on this board that one can soak a plant in a bucket of water for a period of time to suffocate any bugs and eggs on a plant, which I have never attempted but plan to now, since it's winter and too cold outside for the biweekly relaxing death-chemical spa treatment that I typically rely on in these cases. If anyone has any better ideas let me know! I also plan repot everything, but some of them make me nervous to repot! For instance, I've never grown phrags before and now I have two. What kind of media do phrags like? I'll try anything but s/h. I've heard the Darwin orchid is finicky about being repotted. So what do I do, hope for the best? Some of these plants have moss growing on them, which I would love to keep. Do you think that I should just dump it in case it's harboring evil bugs??

From the plants I took, I wiped off any visible bugs with rubbing alcohol just so mitigate the damage until I can do the marathon repotting/soaking/spraying required. The angraecum sesquipedale recently bloomed but looks pretty terrible. I peeled off some of the scraps of dead leaves from its long stem and there was the fluff of mealybugs in every crevice. The brassavola digbyana is afflicted with... something. What??? It had unbelievable amounts of scale on it. Pics attached.

Should I prioritize setting up the grow lights or repotting/soaking every plant?

Sorry for the one million questions!

I'm sorry on the loss of your boyfriend's grandmother.

The Oak Park plant you're holding... is that B. digbyana? The white marks look like mineral deposits. They aren't a problem, except I wouldn't prefer to use water with so many minerals in it. This plant usually has white waxy deposits on the leaves, as well.

I don't see any bugs, but you said you already removed a lot of them.

Those plants won't get any healthier than they are right now, until all the bugs are gone. You probably don't have time to meticulously unpot and scrub each one. I personally would dunk them all, one by one, pot and medium and everything, in a bucket of warm water. Add a small amount of soap so there is just a little bit of foam. You might need to use a brick or rock to hold them under water. A 2-3 hour soak for each should suffice. I would use water that is lukewarm to the touch.

The Angraecum might need a soak in the bathtub. It looks like it won't fit into a bucket.

Then remove them, unpot them, give them a quick go-over with a toothbrush, but you don't have to be obsessive. The bugs will be dead. Repot. Even the Angraecum. It actually looks to be in pretty good shape. I would guess most of the roots in the pot might be dead. The aerial roots look pretty good.

The light you mentioned isn't enough. Some of those are high-light plants. I would set up the T5s, if you can, and even if you have to stand them vertically, leaning against something.

I don't have any Phrags. I don't know how they would handle the soap. I know people here grow them standing in dishes of water, so I would also soak those, in plain water. I think a lot of people here grow them in bark/perlite/sphagnum mixes.

I agree with estacion seca. Since you already have peg board behind them, it would be quick to temporarily put the T5's up for them. Maybe even some of the really long brackets they make for pegboard, or as estacion says, lean up and brace. When I have to or want to move things around, I've been known to drive a few nails or screws into the rafters as I see in your picture, then hang lights with chain or bungee cords. Quick fix for now.

I have really hard water, and chloramine as the disinfectant. The phrags and paphs didn't do well with regular water, and since I switched over to R/O water they're fine. Tip was given to me by a friend and grower. Can also use spring water if no R/O. It's the chloramine or chlorine they REALLY don't like. I use a small bark, little bits of spagnum, and a little LECA for the potting mix, and put about an inch or so of LECA at the bottom, with water at bottom in tray that won't go past the LECA at bottom.

What an honor and wonderful gesture, to be given charge of a grandma's prized orchids. Yeppers, that's worth a lot of dunking and saving them.

I too am sorry for your lost. I can't help with the care (your'e already in the best hands) however, I noticed the tag says Oak Hill gardens, which say a lot about the age of the plants. Gram must have been a great grower!

Thank you everyone for your help and condolences!! She really was a wonderful woman.

Yes, the Oak Park plant is the digbyana. I would have skipped this plant due to its sad appearance but my mother is from Honduras where this is the national flower. I've been looking for it and it seemed like good fortune that it was in the collection! I too wondered if the whiteness was from mineral build up, but the water that was being used on these plants was extremely pure, moss everywhere thriving, so I'm not sure. Some of the other plants seemed afflicted with this white stuff, but not all of them. I had used alcohol to rub off the TONS of scale from these leaves and that did nothing to remove the whiteness. I guess I won't worry about it at the moment.

I don't know anything about Oak Park, but yes grandma had been growing for several years and had won some ribbons! She was deeply involved with her local orchid society, and I do think some of her friends there may take some. Her daughters also took a bunch. I don't think anyone will dump them. The grow room remains set up in the basement. The grow lights I took were an extra panel in an older grow set up somewhere else. Only when everything is re-homed I'll start taking the other grow lights.

Thanks for the guidance about the lights. I don't have any experience with them. I do plan on attaching the T5's to the rafters. I just have to put together a space, as I don't think they should sit on my workbench permanently. Maybe that's all I can do for now though, since I need to find a shelf on which to sit them, and buy some humidity trays and an outlet timer... I didn't realize how expensive humidity trays are haha. The vertical idea is something I can think about in the meantime, thanks!

I will attempt the marathon soaking and repotting session beginning tonight maybe. I enjoy repotting, but I'm most experienced with repotting cattleyas, phals, den–plants that like to dry out. I have a happy bulbo but it's mounted, so I don't know how to repot them, and I think I have 5 new ones in this bunch. I'll follow WaterWitchin's advice on phrags, thank you!!

Here are some better photos of the Darwin orchid. Hopefully these won't upload sideways again. I had tried to remove as much of the dead leaf tissue on the stem and every tiny bit of leaf was hiding incredible amounts of mealies or juvenile scale or something. It was terrifying. I'm sure there's still some under there. I tried to scrub every plant thoroughly before bringing them to Philadelphia but I know that the media will all be brimming with bugs. For some reason, I haven't found any bugs on any of the oncidium alliance types, nor the bulbos. What's with that?

Anyone know what the last orchid might be?

I always like to guess to myself and then see if I'm right. What alliance do you think it's in?

Dolly, you know I really can't figure it out! I have a few in this bunch that I feel confident about the alliance; for example the plant in the upper right corner of that pic I would guess is oncidium alliance. It too came without a tag but I would be surprised if it were something else.

Is the one I'm unsure about a... lycaste? I've never seen one of these in person.

The unidentified plant could be a Coelogyne. Don't worry about humidity. It's not as important as the other stuff.

Ooohh estacion I think you at least helped me with another one of my No IDs! It had a tag but I found it tantalizingly unreadable... now I realize it says coelogyne massangeana!

And thanks for assuring me about the humidity. I tend to fret too much about this, since I personally tend to desiccate and shrivel up below 40% RH.

That would have been my guess based in the way the leafless bpulbs look. However, ES is hardly ever wrong. So ES, why do you say that?

Suggestion on humidity trays... if you get big plastic storage boxes from your favorite big-box store (Home Depot, Target, Walmart.. etc), and sheets of egg-crate light diffuser (1/4" holes, comes from the fluorescent light area of places like Home Depot, in 2' x 4' sheets) over the top (easy to "cut" to size by breaking along the row with needle-nose pliers) you get the effect of humidity tray as well as a place for water to drain. And cheaper than any that might have been designed as "humidity trays".
For Phrags, I put about 1-2 inches (depending on size of pot) of stones or styrofoam peanuts on the bottom, then pot in small bark. And then set in water in a little pan. If the roots are so inclined, they can grow down to the water layer, but start out above it. They do like good water.

Even though you have killed off many bugs, insects were around long before we were, and will exist when we are long gone... all you need to do is miss just one, and infestation can come back. So after all are repotted, I'd suggest following on with a systemic insecticide such as Bayer 3-in-1 (primary ingredient imidacloprid), best alternated with something else every couple of weeks for 2-3 months. I would put de-bugging ahead of light in the short term if you have to set priorities... the plants will put up with less than ideal light for awhile but you need to get the bugs knocked down so they don't either re-infect the plants you have cleaned, or anything else in your growing area or house

I'm absolutely planning on treating them with Bayer, alternating with Telstar, biweekly for months. This, combined with aggressive repotting, is my go-to regimen that has worked in the past, but it's just too cold where I am right now to apply pesticides outdoors. And I agree that getting rid of bugs is a priority that can't wait until the weather gets better.

Gosh if it were warm right now, none of this would be an issue. I could put these plants outside on a porch and rehab them from there without lights or any of this fuss. But on the other hand, this is forcing my hand to try growing under lights, which is new and exciting.

The humidity tray hack is a good idea. I don't have a car, so it seemed easier to order something online, but I should think more creatively. I wanted to use the humidity tray primarily so that I could water in place, since I don't have a sink in my basement. Are these not typically deep enough to achieve this? Amazon.com | Humidity Tray for Bonsai, Orchids, Other Plants HT-102 H-2 1/4'' x L-26'' x W-10 1/2'' Black: Serving Trays

In other news, I just ID'd another mystery plant I got as a Prosthechea cochleata :)

Here's a thought. Do you have enough plastic bags, or old shower curtain to make a tent and spray them in that? Like a spray paint tent.

That cockle shell orchid will spread wide. A basket or low wide pot might be best.

Suggestion... Home Depot has all the stuff, so you could just have it delivered. One possibility:
Sterilite 6 Qt. Storage Box in White and Clear Plastic-16428960 - The Home Depot
for the container (they have lots of others to browse)
The "egg crate" diffuser they only seem to be selling online in 5-sheet packages
23.75 in. x 47.75 in. White Egg Crate Styrene Lighting Panel (5-Pack)-LP2448EGG-5 - The Home Depot
This would hold you for a long time... but stuff is really, really useful - you can use it for outdoor shelving as well, for total drainage

---------- Post added at 12:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 PM ----------

Hmmm... mine stay pretty well behaved in reasonable pots (with vertical spikes that bloom and bloom and bloom for months) Enc. radiata, on the other hand does tend to become a beast, those I whack off front divisions, pot up and donate to auctions now and then.

Does radiata smell like rancid cat pee? If so, that's what I've got. It sprawls everywhere. Whacking sounds reasonable.

To me it smells like wintergreen. But everybody's nose is different. Here's what it looks like.

This is Enc. cochleata ("cockleshell orchid") Ok, both of them are Prosthechea but not changing tags...

Dolly is right, it's a wild beast...

And the blooms smell like honey. It's wonderful.

Yes, I have radiata. Mine just stinks and sprawls. You have the nice one. Great container too.

Interesting, my cochleatas (have 2 in bloom) have no detectable fragrance at all... but they both started blooming in mid-September, and show no sign of pooping out, obviously not the same flowers, but they keep producing flowers at the tips, and the spikes are now pretty close to 3' (1 m) long. I suspect that there are different populations... I have one more, that typically blooms starting in spring and goes throughout the summer, ending about the time that these two get going. So not surprised that fragrance is variable as well as blooming season.

Mine is considering blooming, it has little sheaths forming...lots of them. Phew.

Bulb pan seemed to be the container of choice for a rambler like that. After whacking, the back-bulb part left in the pan is putting out new growth. Maybe the aroma is an acquired taste... actually, reminiscent of Vick's Vapo Rub to me.

You could try systemic spikes or granular systemic instead of spraying. As long as you have trays underneath to catch the water and dump the water in the pots of soil, non-edible plants, it is pretty safe to use.

I guessed Coelogyne because the pseudobulbs seem right, and it seems to me people in the cooler northeast tend to grow them. But I am not certain because the mystery plant only seems to have one leaf, and I think most Coelogynes have two. I'm not very familiar with Lycastes but I seem to recall most of the ones I've seen have much less elongated pseudobulbs.

Looks like you guessed it... Malteseproverb was able to take your hint to decipher almost illegible the Coel. massangiana... check above.

That's a different plant... the original mystery plant still remains a mystery. Are there any Lycaste with elongated pseudobulbs and one leaf?

Took another look at that "mystery plant" Doesn't look like Lycaste.. leaf doesn't fit... Lycastes have more ribbed leaves. I'm thinking might be Coelogyne relative. Like maybe Dendrochilum?

I thought Dendrochilum had enveloping, funnel-shaped bracts on the pseudobulbs?

When they are fresh, yes. But once they dry up and get cleaned up, not so much. Here is Dendrochilum cobbianum (just pulled off the patio), the bracts (and the spikes) are long gone.

Humidity Tray Expense
 

Why would a humidity tray be expensive? Not being a smartypants. For large setups, I use a boot tray with tall lip. Here's an old picture from one of my albums as an example of size.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...cture10505.jpg

Verrrrrry nice! I use boot that's on the bottom to protect the floor but using a deep on with ribs with a grate would work. Great idea.

WaterWitchin, I use a boot tray to catch the dripping from my mounted orchids in my normal grow space, but they aren't deep enough for watering in place. Watering in place with the added benefit of extra humidity was what I had in mind. So I went looking online for the kind of humidity tray I've seen in many indoor grow spaces and found that these sell for around $40 on Amazon, which seems overpriced to me, for exactly your reasoning. I'll try to get over to Home Depot soon to find a cheaper alternative but I guess it's really not top priority.

In other news, I hung the T5 lights above the workbench today (below the old fluorescents as I couldn't figure out how those were mounted and didn't feel like dealing with it). This is as temporary as possible. I'll tackle the repotting this weekend, but I'm glad they're getting enough light now.

Now I need to buy an outlet timer and to move some of this crap off the workbench! I think I'm going to stack something on the workbench to get some of the plants closer to the lights, too.

I looked at photos of dendrochilum online and I feel like I could be convinced this is it. The pseudobulb shape seems to be spot on. The leaves are a little different but I think it might be because the leaves are a little old or ragged.

Look up old posts by katrina and wintergirl in which they show their setups. They discussed watering trays under the orchids.

Also Dendrochilums are very thirsty orchids, from very wet forests, where they tend to grow in moss on branches or rocks. They are set back quickly if they dry out at all. The best ones I've seen were growing in baskets of wet sphagnum moss and watered almost every day.

Leaves can vary a lot depending on species... I grabbed a Ddc. cobbianum because it was easy to find and reach in the dark. (was mostly focused on the p-bulbs) But yours actually looks a little closer to Ddc. magnum (if so, a really spectacular species) On all of them, the leaves tend to get a bit ratty as they age. If that is what it is, they tend to bloom best when the pot is stuffed with p-bulbs,

More humidity tray info
 

You can't see it well from the first picture I posted, but each tray has a piece of 1/2" PVC and a hole in the bottom.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...cture10509.jpg

Water from top first, as tray fills up water goes down to next tray, then next tray, then on last tray into a hole I drilled in the floor, which sits over a basement drain.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...cture10504.jpg

I have a very small sink strainer I can put over the PVC to catch debris, and a small rubber plug if I want to leave water in the tray.

Some don't like this setup, because the orchids get "exposed" to water from the other orchids. I don't care. But if one does, a simple piece of florescent light grating in bottom takes care of that issue.

Oh my god!! That's amazing! Ingenious. Do you use grow lights in that set up? I can't see them in the farther away shot.

It's really unfortunate that my basement doesn't have a floor drain, or even a sink. But I'm also thinking that it might be advantageous to keep the water around in the grow tray under the plants to help with humidity in this new set up. My basement is not very damp (which is normally a good thing), especially not with the furnace going, and it would be hard to humidify unless I got a grow tent, which is an idea somewhere down the line but not today. At the moment, I have this tiny humidifier that honestly isn't very good and uses up its reservoir in 5 hours. RH is at 30% without it.

I'm going to start the repotting tomorrow. It's almost perverse how much I enjoy repotting so I'm looking forward to it! I also cleaned up the workbench last night. The plants on the upside down basket are around a foot away from the lights. All 6 lights are on. Is this too much light?

You could use her set up with a 5 gallon jug below to catch the water, then dump it or use it on your houseplants.

I'm curious about the picture, if you don't mind me asking.

Room humidity averages in winter
 

Your pic doesn't look like there's too much light, MalteseP. No, there's no grow lights on this one. If you scroll up a little ways where I posted first picture re humidity trays, you can see windows behind shelving. It's a sun room and has all windows on three sides.

Room humidity at 30% really isn't that horrible. In the setup in picture above, it fluctuated from 25% to 50%, but stayed mostly around 30ish. Having said that, this was a winter setup. All my orchids are outside around six+ months of the year, and it's VERY humid.

That's an old setup, and I rarely use it anymore. Now most winter in the basement, as it's easier for me. And the dogs don't knock stuff over. Dolly is correct about draining into a bucket or whatever. I had a 50 gallon aquarium on that bottom shelf for awhile, with a small pump to help with humidity. I ran the PVC into a bucket inside the aquarium, and when water in the aquarium got too high, I just dumped the bucket so there wasn't too much weight on the shelf.

Will try to take some pics later today or tomorrow of setup downstairs, which runs on sort of same principal, and has grow lights.

PS If you go to my albums in gallery here, there's a few more pics of that particular setup... I think. :)