Hi everyone, my name is mark and i live about 100km north of Sydney Australia. I am a 32 year old nurse and i have been interested in Orchids since i was a young boy. My father took a fancy to cymbidiums when i was a child and i always dispaired he would not take things further...
Fast forward 20 years - we're now about to glass in the side of our house for dads plants. I have recently bought a 12 foot long glasshouse and a 6 foot long fish tank where i am currently incubating our (steadily accumulating might i add) phalaenopsis collection (a fan is suspended at one end of the tank). The tank has white pebbles in the bottom where i have encased 2x 75w aquarium heaters in a mesh shroud - i then fill this with rain water to the top of the pebble. Tank sits around 85-90% RH, 30c
I like to experiment: i am growing my keiki under blue and red LED light and fertilizing with seasol - the keiki are loving it, they are crisp, lush and full of vitality. I keep the keiki in rockwool and sphagnum which i have treated with great white mycorrhizae. I think the plants will take off even more once i begin to give the plants c02 of a night (produced via fermenting bread yeast).
I have collected flasks of the following species so far: amabilis, sumatrana, violacea, cornu cervi red, manni, serpentingula (lots of them died.. fungus.. mea culpa
), tetraspsis, schilleriana and a single keiki of gigantea (currently trying to import a flask from Bali for a good price)
anyway, talk soon everyone !
mark
ps: anyone checked out reichenbachia or the orchid review ? is over on the internet archive which is an online digital archive of old books... google it
G'Day from Downunder !
I'm about two hours south of Sydney in the Jervis Bay area and recently brought back 5 flasks from Bali, they were from the Bali orchid garden and were in very good condition, thinking I'll order more from them in the future or see if my brother can carry some back next time he is there. I've also ordered a couple from Burleigh Park orchids(Grammatophyllum speciosum and another similiar one) and recently recieved two from Rosella Orchids(Dendrophyllax-the 'Ghost Orchid' and Chiloschista viridiflava) Which genus gigantea are you referring to as there are a few that have gigantea as the species? If you are ever interested in trading excess seedlings, divisions, etc let me know as i'm always up for sharing around to increase each others orchid diversity 
. My most recent deflasks are doing quite well at the moment(dendrobium spectabile, antenatum and stratiatum and a Cattleya hybrid all from Bali) I also got a C. pandurata but stuffed up deflasking and only ended up with about 5 plants. I've also just started making my own flasks too. 
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