Vanda/Dendrobium/Ascda New Orchids--HELP
 

Okay, so I love orchids and while on vacation this weekend, my husband took me to a botanical gardens in Florida. My Valentine's gift was six new orchids from the gift shop- all 6-8 inches tall, just the leaves/stem with leaves and roots in good shape. I've planted all of them in orchid potting soil and I've spent the last couple of hours on the internet deciphering what the jibberish on labels actually mean and finding photos of what they'll look like when they grow up to bloom.

I've identified five of the six as best I can:
1. Den Oriental Smile 'Fantasy'
2. V Gordon Dillon x V Annette Jones
3. Ascda Krailerk White-V Kultana Gold x Ascda Jakrit Gold
4. Den Love Memory 'Fit'
5. Den Red Emperor 'Prince'
(6.) Ascda (it says "lenanchal", but this is the one I haven't been able to figure out)

Anyways, I've figured out that the dendrobiums, vandas, and ascocendas require different light/water/rest conditions than the four phalaenopses I already have but I'm having difficulty figuring out from all of the orchid websites exactly how to care for them (in plain English, that is).

Somewhat unrelated, my phalaenopses are doing well in the windowsill and have grown rootlike structures (I think they're called 'rhizomes') up above and out of the soil in the pots. Should I cut these off to promote flowering or leave them as they are?

Orchid potting soil?

I don't understand...

You mean the stuff people use to grow Cymbidiums?

Or are you referring to fir bark chips (aka wood chips, orchid bark, fir bark)?

If it's the stuff for Cymbidiums, I recommend removing them from the "soil", and potting in bark.

Each genera (genera is the plural form of genus), requires different grades of bark.

There are three grades that I'm aware of:

1. small grade (aka seedling grade)
2. medium grade
3. large grade

Some companies that sell orchid potting media (particularly bark), like to add stuff like perlite (perlite is basically volcanic glass that's formed in a certain way - it's the same material as obsidian, which is also volcanic glass in a different form) to the bark they sell. This is fine.

However, if you come across a company that sells their brand of orchid bark mix that contains peat moss (peat moss usually refers to finely chopped, or degraded moss - the same material found in peat bogs, where stuff like bog mummies are found) as part of the mixture, I don't recommend this. Peat moss is too acidic (I believe the pH is usually around 3 - 4, but don't be surprised if you did a pH test on it, that it could sometimes turn out to be somewhere around 2). It also has the problem of compacting easily and can therefore rot the roots out. Very few orchids actually grow in material this acidic.

The proper balance of aeration and water must be achieved in order to succeed.

Here's a link to First Rays, a company that a member here on the OB named Ray owns, there's some info about air management and moisture balance:

http://www.firstrays.com/free_info.htm

All the plants you've listed are epiphytes (grows on trees).

Here's the breakdown of the word epiphyte:

epi: Greek prefix meaning - "on"
phyte: a derivation of the Greek word phyton, meaning - "plant"

The reference for the breakdown of the word epiphyte was from Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com.

All the plants listed are hybrids.

I posted this info on someone else's thread as well. But here's what Dendrobium means:

Dendro: Latin for "dendros", meaning - "tree"

bium: a derivative of the word "bios", meaning "life" - it's the same "bios" from the word biology.

Dendrobium = "tree life" or "tree dweller"

Ascocenda is an intergeneric hybrid.

Intergeneric hybrid is a hybrid between two or more genera of orchid. This mix of plants from different genera are usually closely allied to each other.

Ascocenda (intergeneric hybrid name) = Ascocentrum (natural genus name) x Vanda (natural genus name)

Here's the same formula in abbreviation form:

Ascda = Asctm x V

The "x" is not a "x", nor is it a multiplication sign, it stands for "cross".

"x" = "cross"

So if you said "V. Gordon Dillon x V. Annette Jones" out loud, it would be said like so:

Vanda Gordon Dillon "cross" Vanda Annette Jones

The word "cross" is referring to one plant being bred with another. Or one plant being crossed with another.

Using the example of V. Gordon Dillon x V. Annette Jones, it would mean that the breeder took a plant that was named V. Gordon Dillon and bred it with a plant that was named V. Annette Jones.

Okay, you're not using the word "rhizome" correctly.

All a "rhizome" is, is a name for a horizontal stem.

Yeah, sure people can say horizontal stem, but that takes a long time.

So we use the word rhizome.

What you're describing on your Phalaenopsis (Phal is the actual scientific abbreviation for the name Phalaenopsis, btw) are not rhizomes. They are roots!

You do not want to cut any of them off unless they're dead! Cutting the roots off will not promote growth, but rather promote the eventual decline of your plant (aka you'll kill it).

Phalaenopsis very rarely produce rhizomes. They only do that when they're growing new shoots from the base of the plant. And this is not a relatively common thing for Phals to do!

I'm also sure you've come across the two terms:

1. monopodial

2. sympodial

I'll start with the easier one...

Monopodial: broken down the word consists of these little words "mono" + "pod" + (suffix) "ial".

Well...

"Mono" means - "single". "Pod" means "foot", but according to Dictionary.com, the "podial" part of the word is a derivation of "podium" which would mean "foot-like".

So...

"Monopodial" roughly translates into: "a single foot-like structure".

Think about it...and be a little creative here...

Which plants out of the group you mentioned has "a single foot-like structure"?

Okay...next on the menu is the word "sympodial".

This is where it gets a little complicated...

I've already discussed what "podial" or "podium" stands for, so now we're going to discuss what the prefix "sym" means.

Well it turns out that the prefix "sym" is a derivation of another more commonly seen prefix in the modern English language - "syn" (as in synonym, or synergy).

"Sym" or "syn" is roughly translated from Greek as "together".

So the word "sympodial" would roughly translate into:

"The coming together of foot-like structures."

There's only one group of plants on your list that are categorized as sympodials.

The genus name starts with a "D".

So...

What are those "foot-like structures" the words "monopodial" and "sympodial" are referring to?

Well...

My guess is that the "foot-like structures" are referring to the plant's base where all the roots are supposed to originate from.

Now...

Let's be real here...

Nature doesn't play by our neat little rules and doesn't always make everything fit into our neat little clear-cut categories.

As you go along in the hobby, you'll constantly find plants that defy these nice and neat categorizations.

If you're unclear about any other terms, there is a glossary of terms here on the OB.

Should they be unclear, post a thread and ask.