Aerth. grandiflora

[MrHappyRotter]

I love it! I have a small seedling of this species. What are your growing conditions like?

[Subrosa]

I recently picked up a compot of seedlings of this species from Marni Turkel. She said that since she started keeping them a bit brighter than the normal recommendation they do better for her. Instead of Phal lighting she recommended lighting at the low end of Cattleya intensity.

[Leafmite]

Beautiful!
This is one I would love to grow someday.
Good luck, Subrosa, with your compot!

[dendro king]

That's a nice one mate! Looks like it's grown a ton since last time (:

[AussieVanda]

Thanks all, it's pretty happy. It lives under 60% shade cloth. Full morning sun, watered every day. The mix is mostly quincan (volcanic rock) 20mm in size. I've hung it next to the middle pole of the vanda house so it gets protection from the afternoon sun and a tad bit more shading from midday sun, otherwise the light levels are just shy of the vanda's.

[dendro king]

Where do u get your rock from? It's so good but I can't find it available anywhere

[AussieVanda]

Originally Posted by Subrosa

I recently picked up a compot of seedlings of this species from Marni Turkel. She said that since she started keeping them a bit brighter than the normal recommendation they do better for her. Instead of Phal lighting she recommended lighting at the low end of Cattleya intensity.

I was really worried about the light levels when I first got it, as I normally only cater for light loving vandas. It gets full morning sun without any problems at all and for the rest of the time it is 60% cloth.

---------- Post added at 02:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:28 PM ----------

Originally Posted by dendro king

Where do u get your rock from? It's so good but I can't find it available anywhere

It's local to my area, have you tried any of your landscaping raw material places?

[dendro king]

Yeah but all I could really get for orchids was the gravel that Jenny and I both use. It does the job but the plants I've bought from u always seem to do better and stay moister for a while longer

[AussieVanda]

Maybe add charcoal or perlite to your mix? I usually add charcoal if needed for extra moisture retention. Some crushed tree fern is good too.

[estación seca]

In the US they sell black or red lava rock at big box hardware/home stores to use as landscaping material, even far from volcanic areas. Is it used for that in Australia? A lot of people smash that up when they can't get pumice locally for succulents. It's a little more dense than pumice and certainly more work but plants seem to like it.