Growing methods - sharing experiences

[bitis78]

Hi all,

I am curious about what successes you've had and methods you've used to grow tropical vandaceous orchids in temperate / cool areas.

I live in Sydney, where Winter and Summer are extreme opposites - Summer days are frequently above 30C (sorry, I'm not great with F temp) and even over 40C is not uncommon. Likewise, Winter nights where I live are commonly 5C and we can have Winter day temps of no more than 12C.

Nonetheless, I am having outstanding success with the following species:

Aerides falcata, Renanthera monachica, Aerides multiflorum, Angraecum sesquipidale, Dendrobium discolor, Paph. sukhakulii, Paph. moquettianum, Aerangis modesta, Vanda Gordon Dillon x V. coerulea, 8 varieties of Vanda coerulea (proper species), Vanda tricolor (currently as big as me, with two keikis and seven flower spikes!), Vanda tesselata, Papilionanthe teres, Renanthera imschootiana, and more!

These are not recently bought and in fact, the V. tricolor is on its third flowering for me after a particularly cold Winter.

Let me stress that these plants are outside, under an alsynite awning, but otherwise exposed to the elements.

I water them with collected rainwater when available, or with saved dirty aqaurium water from water changes on my tanks. I use an orchid specific soluble fertiliser from mid-Spring to early Autumn.

I understand that some of these species reputedly do "OK" in these conditions, but many would say that others, such as the R. monachica, do not.

Please share your experiences with me - I am keen to see what everyone else is doing with their hot growers...

Cheers,
Andrew.