Newbie 2 months and 9 orchids in...

[rosemadder]

I think I caught the bug several years ago, but its incubation period broke out all over this year's Pacific Orchid Expo. I, who have never even kept houseplants before, went into a small frenzy and bought 5 orchids. Shortly after this purchase, I stumbled across info on semi-hydro. As it happens somebody abandoned an enormous bag of Hydroton in my back yard, so... yeah.

Of course as soon as I got these babies home and looked up their care, I discovered that they are NOT beginner's plants. One was a sensible, hardy, forgiving Dendrobium kingianum-- but the others were two Vandas, a dramatic Catasetum hybrid, and a Phal lowii. As usual, I've opted to jump right into the deep end of the deep end, going straight for a bleeding edge-ish growing method with rare and challenging plants. Can't just do things the safe or easy way, oh no. Then comes the ohnoWTFamIthinkingIspentallthismoneyimmajustgonnak illem!! panic. Go me!

The Dendrobium kingianum is in hydroton in a clay pot outside, blooming comfortably (or trying to, better now that I put some copper tape on the pot to keep away the snails). That's the easy one.

The Vanda Tokyo Blue 'Sapphire' was bare in a basket-- and the expo had battered the poor thing such that all of its roots were dessicated and mangled. I cut away the basket and trimmed off the worst damage-- which did not leave much in the way of roots at all!-- and carefully wired the orchid to a small bamboo trellis, wrapping the roots thoroughly in sphag moss and live spanish moss. I've been spraying it down at least once a day. I unwrapped it today, to rearrange the moss a bit... and discovered at least a dozen brand new growing root nubs, sprouting from the main stem and from the old roots, everywhere! After reading about how fussy vandas are I really thought I was going to kill this one, but it's actually growing! I got a sad Vanda and two months later it's not just alive, it's GROWING! Holy crap! *happy Kermit dance*

Now, I am going to try this one in S/H... of a sort. No leca, no pot-- just braids of sphag moss, wrapped around the roots and then dangling down into a saucer of clean water 6" below. I was looking up "self-watering" pots and seeing setups that use a string wick to pull water upward to the plant, so... hey! The Vanda's roots want to be free, so why not wick the water up to them?? We'll see if the sphag actually pulls enough water to work, and hope it won't be tooo damp. I might try a different material-- maybe something inert that will last longer, like... I dunno... shoelaces?

The other vanda, Renanthera 'Kalsom', came potted in very coarse orchid bark. I watered it just a bit once a week for about a month-- then, when I finally got the guts to repot it, I found nearly all of its lower roots in various shades of mushy, unhappy brown. I debated hanging this one up as I did the other vanda, but in the end I stuck it in the hydroton and went S/H with it. Through the sides of the net pot I can see brown roots, but also green roots-- and the aboveground roots that had been trimmed back to stubs by the seller have all sprouted new growing tips! (I didn't know they could do that!) The leaves are still a happy green, and I think it's about 1" taller overall than when I bought it. We shall see.

The Catasetum... ah, yes, the Catasetum. This is the incredible Fdk 'After Dark', nearly black with spots and an amazing clove fragrance. I wanted the 'Black Pearl', truly black with an even stronger fragrance, but... it was $100 and I'm not only poor, I've never kept orchids before! I'm crazy but I'm not quite THAT crazy. So I got this one instead. (side note-- Sunset Valley Orchids had an amazing batch of orchids at the expo. For me, it was more exciting than the whole rest of the place put together, with a huge range of scents. The breeding they've been doing is impressive work!)

After Dark was dormant, with several huge pseudobulbs and nothing else. I left it sit, watering it lightly just once a month. One growing point appeared near the bottom, followed by the tips of brand new roots. When the new leaves hit 4" or so, I pulled the thing out of the pot-- to discover that it was a single solid mass of roots, with just a tiny bit of moss wedged here and there. I have read some recommendations to take off all the old roots, but I don't know how to tell which ones are still alive and which aren't... so I just stuck the whole mass in a bit of hydroton in a net pot, and started watering it this week. The new leaves are over 6" and counting, the growth noticeable daily! I know it's mainly powered by its energy reserves from the pseudobulbs right now, and it will probably take at least a full season to really see the effects of my care, but it's still satisfying to watch these leaves go gangbusters.

I also picked up a couple of cheapo Trader Joe's NOID phals-- you know, the kind I probably should have started with-- and stuck them in S/H as well. I'll experiment with these later on. I'm very interested to see the effects of using water from my planted aquarium...

And then I met the tiny Neostylis Lou Sneary 'Bluebird' at Paxton Gate, and the fragrance knocked me flat. So that's one more vandaceous addition to the collection. It was in a clay pot, and firmly attached, but I dumped out all the bark (it fell out, the roots stayed) and set the pot in a saucer of water. After a week of coaxing, the roots let go of the wet terracotta, and I transferred it into a small S/H pot with hydroton. A couple roots at the bottom don't look so happy, but many others are crawling everywhere with 1/2" growing tips. The flowers, of course, have all finally dropped off. We'll see if I can bring out any more.

Paxton Gate also had a gorgeous Masdevallia ignea 'Crestwood', whose colors are so lovely I can overlook the lack of fragrance, and I've been biting my nails resisting the urge to spend yet more money on that one... I think I'm losing... argh, that's just what I'd need, another plant that wants totally different conditions to grow in...

I have the orchids in a tray, in a northwest-facing window (that's all I've got) in my living room. On the next shelf above, I have two 56-watt compact flourescent lights on a timer set to come on at 10am and turn off at 4pm just before real sunlight comes in through the window (for about 2-3hrs only). The Phals are all lined up behind the others, farther from the window. Under the tray is a heat mat, and under that is a layer of foil-lined styrofoam insulation that I got with some shipments of live fish. Each orchid (except the Tokyo Blue) is in a 5" net pot with its own inch-high saucer for a reservoir, and I water each until it overflows into the tray. The standing water in the tray is about 80 degrees, but the hydroton above is more like 70. The evaporative cooling effect is very strong. The humidity in here was about 65% back in February, but now the weather is heating up, it's dropped to 45-50%. I may need to take steps to increase the humidity through the summer-- despite being right down on the bay, we get NO rain May-November, so it may get quite dry in here. I'm getting a lot of other plants, ferns and ivy and such, and that should help a little-- I want to find an Areca palm, those are apparently quite good at transpiring water. Also I want an ultrasonic mister, partly because they're just plain nifty-looking. I've also picked up a few sundews, in hopes they'll catch whatever fungus gnats might have hitched a ride in.

I water with tap water run through my faucet filter, plus just a touch of fertilizer and occasionally a tiny dab of kelp stuff and this 'Sea Green' stuff a local hydro supply store gave me. My San Francisco water is pretty soft-- dKh and dGh around 4-- and very close to pH 7. I'm thinking of trying to lower the ph a bit so it can flush more effectively. I'm already seeing tiny bits of white on the hydroton here and there. It's probably just calcium, but it concerns me a little. I'd like to use media that wicks better and thus stays more moist, as I've heard primeagra does (or did?), but it's very difficult to find specific info on types of leca. I may also go with less airy pots to cut down a little on the evaporation.

My main issue right now is trying to find decent S/H pots. The net pots are just too damn squat-- it's very difficult to keep a decent reservoir without immersing any roots, even with small plants! Also I'm not looking forward to fighting roots that try to escape. I think I'll post a separate thread when it comes to the pots issue, because the hunt for something better has been driving me absolutely batty.

Anyway, this post is gigantic already. Maybe I should start an individual thread for each type of my plants??

Mainly I'm just ecstatic that I've kept them all mostly alive for 2 solid months!

[bellini girl]

My main issue right now is trying to find decent S/H pots. The net pots are just too damn squat-- it's very difficult to keep a decent reservoir without immersing any roots, even with small plants! Also I'm not looking forward to fighting roots that try to escape. I think I'll post a separate thread when it comes to the pots issue, because the hunt for something better has been driving me absolutely batty.

First of all :Welcome: Seems like you're well and truly hooked. Nice haul you got there !You won't find any one here telling you to stop buying I grow most of my plants in SH and use deli containers, starbucks cups (don't actually buy starbucks, too costly and the money can be used to buy orchids instead) coworkers give me their discarded cups, other containers I pick up at thrift stores. Some people worry about how they look, I simply put them in a decorative pot if I have to take them anywhere, like for show and tell at our monthly society meetings

[PaxTea]

Haha, I like the Starbucks cups. I'm going to punch out a hole in the box for "custom" and scrawl the name of the plant on the cup in sharpie.

Or, for true Starbucks realism, I might scrawl out something that is close to the name, but not quite right.

Eddie --> Freddie
Kenzi --> Kelsey

I don't have any advice for you, rosemadder, but welcome!

[rosemadder]

What, no stern warnings, no scoldings for my madness? Aha... no doubt you're all crazy too! Nice to meetcha!

Yeah, I've got it pretty bad. If another expo comes along, I'm in trouble... cause I've done a bunch of research and I have a big fat specific wishlist now!

Starbucks... even if I didn't buy Starbucks, I dunno if I can handle having that logo staring out at me from every shelf, heh.

Deli containers. What do I do, just march up to the deli at the supermarket and say GIMME ALL YER CONTAINERS!...? Or do I have to eat a ton of potato salad??

Hmmm. I do work in a restaurant. Maybe I'll go with my boss to Restaurant Depot next time and see if I can get a giant box of something...

[AnonYMouse]

Hello from the lower Peninsula!

You were lucky at Paxton Gate. I have never seen any interesting orchids there (I've only been there a few times). Great selection of Tillies, though.

There is a much smaller show in GG park in September. And if you're willing to drive to the Winchester Mystery House in SJ, there is a small one end of May, IIRC.

I've been drilling holes into plastic-stemless wine glasses. This works for me since I only have miniatures.

[rosemadder]

Originally Posted by AnonYMouse

You were lucky at Paxton Gate. I have never seen any interesting orchids there (I've only been there a few times). Great selection of Tillies, though.

I think this particular batch was special or something, the person at the counter said they were from one of the main people that organizes the POE, but they didn't say who. They had a pretty wide range of different ones.

Also got some tillandsias too, of course. They're nifty. And actually my orchid frenzy has expanded into a full-on houseplant/gardening phase, so I've been collecting lots of things to grow. (I grab just about anything and everything fragrant...)


September is quite a ways off.... In the meantime, I've been trying very hard to find good places to find more orchids, and other plants, but it's quite a challenge! I live near downtown, and that whole area really doesn't have much space for such things. There are a couple very small hydro places, and the flower mart (which mostly seems to have oodles of phals), but that's about it. I have to spend a ton of time on the bus to get to the few places I've found-- Bay Natives, Flowercraft, etc. I haven't found any orchid-specific nurseries that are open to the public or anything.

I don't have any power tools for attacking glass... that does sound like a lot of fun, though! If I could afford a dremel, I might try carving interesting patterns into some containers.

[AnonYMouse]

The only reputable orchid grower left in the city/county is Golden Gate and you need to make an appointment to see their stock (I've not done this yet), they have an online presence though. There was a big famous one 20 somewhat years ago but they sold the property (made a killing I'm sure). There is Brookside in Menlo Park (not been there either). There are a few smallers ones but I only know they exist from their POE presence.

Here is the link to the SJ show. Golden Gate, Seed Engei, Cal-orchids and Andy's are the big names for the show. They are probably going to be at the Orchids in the Park show as well (can't find the info).

Check into the SF orchid society, they should have more resources than I do.

[rosemadder]

Aha, the orchid society has a big list of vendors. I'll start checking those, thanks.

In the meantime, I've finally got the image stuff going, so here's my batch.

(er... it won't let me post images from my own album?? Weird. Okay I'll attach it instead..)

'Bluebird' is hiding on the left, Renanthera 'Kalsom' is the stout little vanda next to it, the vanda hanging up is Tokyo Blue 'Sapphire', and the thing hiding on the right is 'After Dark' (I'll be needing to raise the upper shelf soon, that one is shaping up to be much larger than the rest). Lined up in front are all the new Trader Joe's phals, still wearing some of their store blooms.

The gizmo in front is a temp/humidity gauge. The white cord dangling up to the Sapphire is an extra temp probe, handy for spot-checking different areas of the setup (like inside the hydroton).

[rosemadder]

Oh, btw, Mouse-- I stopped by Paxton Gate again today, and they had another batch of nifty plants, including Angraecum didieri, Dendrobium victoria-regina, some nice happy-looking paphs, more Masdevallias and Miltonias, and something called a Dialaeliocattleya (say THAT five times fast ). Also one lady was there who actually seemed to know what she was talking about when I started asking questions about them, which was very nice.

[MandaneWiser]

Hi! Nice to meetcha!! Necessity (and being orchid poor) is the mother of invention!! I go to the dollar store and buy childrens plastic sippy cups.. they are clear but are in blue, yellow, and green.. I heat them up with hot water and punch holes in them!! they are perfect for my minis and my seedlings!! Best part.... THEY ARE PACKED 5 FOR $1.00!!! I also buy my wire there to suspend my pots from my porch ceiling!!! ....Save money..Buy more Orchids!!! love the Starbucks idea...