Issues with terrarium growing (Slc. & Angraecum) - Orchid Board

stonedragonfarms · #1 10-11-2017, 01:58 AM

Good Evening:
Your Slc. definitely looks large enough to bloom; that being said, in my experience they really need three things to bloom optimally:
1. Light; I too grow them in enclosed cases under lights (though more wardian case style than terrarium style); those that bloom best for me are about 4-6" from the lights (I grow under a combination of 6000K equivalent Acintic White/Blue mix LEDs (ie saltwater reef tank lighting) and "warm" LEDs; lights are on 16-17 hours a day. My fc readings are about 1750-1850 at the distance between foliage and lights, though my largest case also gets a bump in light from a south facing window about 2' away.
2. Fertiliser; I got sidetracked this summer with my regime, and I notice it now that plants are starting to throw spikes... I aim to fertilise once a week at full strength, usually with a fish emulsion based feed; it's a 4-1-3; additionally I use a kelp feed once a month year round. I may try an experiment this winter and try treating a plant to the regime that I use for cymbidiums (ie feeding at every watering), but they need regular feeding to bloom best.
3. Regular watering; my best growing plants are in the two cases that I use a combination of hand watering and automated misting. I water by hand to fertilise plants, but they are also automatically misted for a duration of 1 minute three times a day--in effect, they are never dry (and the roots are always in growth); over the years that I have been growing them, I've come to the conclusion that they are best cultured like Sophronitis--ie ample humidity and very steady watering. Plants should either be tremendously under-potted in moss in clay pots or mounted (tree fern or cork works best). Misting occurs 1 hour before the lights come on in the morning, once about 4pm and a third time about an hour before lights go out--Sophronitis, in much of its natural range grows relatively dry during the day, with most precipitation (very heavy fog) occurring in the very early morning and again in the evening--mimicking this has been very beneficial I feel.
You made mention about moss on your mounts and not wanting to kill it because of fertilisation...I've got moss on a couple mounts (and in several pots of cymbidiums), all of which are fertilised regularly (in the case of cymbidiums, at every watering, barring when they get rain water by default of being outside...) I'm not sure it would be an issue.
Finally, I'd second the suggestion to trim the moss away from the Angraecum; for a fast growing plant it's not a problem (ie Lepanthes relishes growing in live moss, but if the moss is happy, the Lepanthes is usually even happier...); it would be worth finding out where in Africa/Madagascar A. didieri comes from--some of the Angraecum need a pronounced rest period of (if I remember correctly) warm and dry conditions--it has something to do with the seasonal wind pattern on the east side of Africa coupled with the fact that they are in deciduous forests--ie humidity is very high, but the plants receive more sun from bare trees and there is a period of little rainfall. I believe that it's a short window of time, but some of them need the period to trigger bloom...you might shoot Brenda Ovaitt a note (she owns Botanica Orchids in Montana and is one of 2-3 hardcore Angraecum growers/breeders in the US)
Just my $.02,
Adam