Psychopsis Mendenhall 'Hildos'

[bogdan]

My Psychopsis was in s/h under t5's for 2 years and produced two pseudobulbs per lead, so quite an amazing growth rate. It also bloomed non-stop. For me it worked and the humidity was around 45%, keeping the top of the LECA dry. I had to give it away at some point, but it had no problem being constantly wet.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

...But lately I've been growing [Tolumnia] on wine bottles.....

Do you mean with the roots inside the bottle, or tied onto the bottle? Could you please post a photo?

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Do you mean with the roots inside the bottle, or tied onto the bottle? Could you please post a photo?

Sure. First pic, original experiment. Left is hung off piece of PVC stuck into bottle. Right is hung over bottle with a copper wire threaded through the roots.

Second pic, more tweaking. Left is on a wood dowel stuck in bottle, wrapped on until it sticks to dowel, Right is on a piece of grape vine it's been on for quite some time, both sticks stuck down into bottle.

All bottles are kept full of water. I will be moving ones in first picture over to stick method after they finish blooming. I have another in basement with three spikes on it mounted like second pic. Too lazy to climb up and down stairs right now to get a picture. Maybe later.

The stick method works better thus far. But I'm going to try one with a different wicking method instead of branch. Just haven't decided what yet. I mist all of them couple of times a day. Easy, because they're on back of sink.

[estación seca]

Thank you.

Have you tried not misting them, but letting them rely on water from the stick? If so, what happened?

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[SundayGardener]

Is that spag wrapped around the wooden dowel? Does moisture transfer from the dowel to moss, keeping it moist but not soggy? This I think I could make work for me.

I grew up in Kansas and it is definitely a wet heat...when it's not winter! I hear you all are having a bit of a heat wave today, enjoy!

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Thank you.

Have you tried not misting them, but letting them rely on water from the stick? If so, what happened?

Only water them when they're outside...about six months of the year. Then they just get sprayed like everything else.

In winter, I have to mist them. If not, I lose root volume, sooner or later start losing leaves, and no blooms. The one that's on a stick (not the dowel) used to be three times the size it is now. I attempted not misting. One huge piece of it, the leaves just slowly dried up.

I do just hang them in basement under lights, and have a mister on a timer. They do fine, then I just stick in bottle and bring up when the spike starts. They're cared for and placed differently, depending on summer or winter, in spike or not. The bottle is just a fun hanging mechanism for display, plus provides extra humidity and weight stability.

---------- Post added at 08:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 AM ----------

Originally Posted by SundayGardener

Is that spag wrapped around the wooden dowel? Does moisture transfer from the dowel to moss, keeping it moist but not soggy? This I think I could make work for me.

I grew up in Kansas and it is definitely a wet heat...when it's not winter! I hear you all are having a bit of a heat wave today, enjoy!

No, I don't purposely put sphag. The ones that look like it, it's just root mass, much of it old roots. Except for the one that's on the dowel. I pulled it from a pot it's been growing in for several years after an experiment in semi-S/H. There was LECA, a little bark, charcoal, and sphag in it. Just shook it out and pulled out main parts, then wrapped it on dowel so it would start attaching. It worked, but didn't spike as well. Thus, lots of plant, not enough spike to suit me. I'll try to find that picture and post here. Tolumnia are tricky little buggers for me to grow here, winterwise.

Yes, it's 60 degrees here right now, and I'm in heaven. Also I know it's Kansas' way of trying to tease me into insanity, as tomorrow's high will be 32.

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[SundayGardener]

These kinds of weather swings are what landed me in orchid overload in the first place. I am more of an outdoor gardener, but last year we had spurts of early spring which really pushed my "must plant now" button. We can get killing frost through mid-May so I bought an orchid to satisfy my need for green. Somehow things then got out of hand orchid-wise.

The bottles are nice mounts, visually!.

To the original topic, for what it is worth, I have a Psychopsis Hildos and I have been keeping the new root tips moist. Initially I let it dry out and treated it the same as the phals but with more light, but it didn't seem to respond too well to that watering cycle (probably because more light, dried out faster).

[Optimist]

[QUOTE=SundayGardener;867380]really pushed my "must plant now" button. [QUOTE]

I have one of those too!

Originally Posted by SundayGardener

To the original topic, for what it is worth, I have a Psychopsis Hildos and I have been keeping the new root tips moist. Initially I let it dry out and treated it the same as the phals but with more light, but it didn't seem to respond too well to that watering cycle (probably because more light, dried out faster).

I have my Psychopsis Hildos in semi-hydroponics. I have a new leaf started, and last year I got a good leaf out of it. I go with the theory that the plant starts to put out new growth, that is when you start to water more. Everyone told me to treat it like an oncidium, and I did. But I am famous for killing oncidiums, so I think I am giving it cattleya culture with slightly less sun.

I read once, in some kind of AOS article that in reality, all orchids have a winter rest.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Optimist

I read once, in some kind of AOS article that in reality, all orchids have a winter rest.

That just doesn't sound quite right to me... orchids come from so many different habitats, and have different growth patterns. Perhaps the term "winter rest" needs definition. When I hear that term, it means to me "much less water, no fertilizer because the plant isn't growing". But orchid from lower elevations in the tropics tend to grow and root continuously. Those with seasonal variation behave differently. If you don't severely "rest" a Catasetum (like no water at all) it will rot and die. If you did that to a Phalaenopsis you'd dessicate it to death. There just is no "one size fits all" rule for most aspects of orchid culture. To me, that's part of the attraction for the insanity... to learn what each one wants and try to provide that.

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by Roberta

There just is no "one size fits all" rule for most aspects of orchid culture. To me, that's part of the attraction for the insanity... to learn what each one wants and try to provide that.

Agreed. And to occasionally agree to disagree and gift it to someone with a different and hopefully more pleasing environment.