My Project Plant and TCs Haul!

[The Mutant]

Originally Posted by camille1585

You ordered more????! What'd ya get this time? I'm curious!!

Only two plants actually, but OUCH, the price! My poor, poor wallet.

I got two Paphs (I'm NOT obsessed with Paphs, noooo siree, it's all in your minds), a Michael Koopowitz and a rothschildianum, both in blooming size with a leaf span of 60cm each. This was the reason for the outrageous price, but I figured that if I can't get them to bloom, I won't have any problems selling them.

I had wanted a Paph argus too, but these two got so very expensive that the argus have to wait until I've rebuilt my savings again.

Now, there's no more orchids for me for a while. I've run out of money and space so I can't get any more at the moment.

[camille1585]

[nenella]

Originally Posted by The Mutant

Only two plants actually, but OUCH, the price! My poor, poor wallet.

I got two Paphs (I'm NOT obsessed with Paphs, noooo siree, it's all in your minds), a Michael Koopowitz and a rothschildianum, both in blooming size with a leaf span of 60cm each. This was the reason for the outrageous price, but I figured that if I can't get them to bloom, I won't have any problems selling them.

I had wanted a Paph argus too, but these two got so very expensive that the argus have to wait until I've rebuilt my savings again.

Now, there's no more orchids for me for a while. I've run out of money and space so I can't get any more at the moment.

Hi Mutant you are acquiring a wonderful collection of
'chids Cngrats!
I have a favour to ask you, Could you post a pic of your Michael Koopowitz ? I have had one for 4/5 yrs and although it grew a new growth (which died) it's become huge growing leaves & I'd love to see the size of your plant to compare how long I still need to be patient!

[The Mutant]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I know, tell me about it.

Originally Posted by nenella

Hi Mutant you are acquiring a wonderful collection of
'chids Cngrats!
I have a favour to ask you, Could you post a pic of your Michael Koopowitz ? I have had one for 4/5 yrs and although it grew a new growth (which died) it's become huge growing leaves & I'd love to see the size of your plant to compare how long I still need to be patient!

I'll do that as soon as I get them, which should hopefully be this Friday. If Schwerter are as quick as they usually are, they'll ship them tomorrow and DHL will try to reach me on Wednesday... Maybe I should get home from work for a short while to receive the package so I don't have to wait, and so the Paphs don't have to wait too. I'll talk to my boss and see what she has to say about it.

Anyway, I'll post some pictures of it as soon as I have unpacked it!

[Rowangreen]

I think part of the reason I'm finding little problems with my plants is I'm avoiding the big problems in my life... Of course everything will be fine if my cornu-cervi bounces back and my two little pictas grow up big and strong. *whistles*

Meanwhile... I'm earning the same money from my job but it's going less and less far, I'm still bug spraying all my plants (only space on the public access balcony to do a few at a time...), there's a load of jobs I need to do around the place, I need lots of things... I'm behind with the assignments on a course I'm doing, I'm going to the dentist this week, blah blah blah.

Definitely no more orchids for me for a while.... except maybe the ones I've already talked to someone who's selling some of their collection about maybe buying... LOL

[The Mutant]

Originally Posted by Rowangreen

I think part of the reason I'm finding little problems with my plants is I'm avoiding the big problems in my life... Of course everything will be fine if my cornu-cervi bounces back and my two little pictas grow up big and strong. *whistles*

Meanwhile... I'm earning the same money from my job but it's going less and less far, I'm still bug spraying all my plants (only space on the public access balcony to do a few at a time...), there's a load of jobs I need to do around the place, I need lots of things... I'm behind with the assignments on a course I'm doing, I'm going to the dentist this week, blah blah blah.

Definitely no more orchids for me for a while.... except maybe the ones I've already talked to someone who's selling some of their collection about maybe buying... LOL

Been there, done that. You're not alone fleeing in to the orchid world to avoid reality with all its awful demands.

[camille1585]

I know... it's rough to make decisions of where to spend money! As a PhD student I have a salary, but it isn't all that much. Now I'm moving out of my dorm to an apartment, doubling my rent. So I have to think twice about spending money on non essentials. I also have a guinea pig which is accumulating vet bills for various health issues. And everything is more and more expensive, and if it weren't bad enough, the Netherlands is going to raise the VAT by 2 points, and make health insurance even more expensive than it already is... But I decided to treat myself to lots of orchids in May!

[Rowangreen]

I know, I should really have spent money on various other things rather than a plant order. But I couldn't afford them all anyway, unless things look up a bit, so why not?

I think I'll actually enjoy the new plants a bit more once I've got them all sprayed and sorted! Nearly done, but it's going to be mad tomorrow when I do the 'livingroom plants' as I guess I'll have to find room for them in the kichen or with the newbies in the bathroom to keep them out of the way of the cats until they are definitely totally dry! Newbies are also going to get done as a precaution.

It seems how many plants you can fit in is one thing... how many you can fit in when they've all been sprayed is another!

[Rowangreen]

Updates... I actually potted on Sunday, and finished bug spraying on Monday (including giving all the newbies a blast as a precaution). Pics of cernua and Paph roots in their relavant threads (both were good), but here's the rest...

Wine Delight: fab roots! There were some rotten ones, but on the old bulb. The old bulb actually still had a fair few good roots, which from what I've read is actually very good for these. There's still lots of see-through spots on the leaves, but they don't seem to be spreading to new areas, so I think it is just a bit of mechanical damage from wrapping.

Two little pictas! One has 3 pulbs, one 2 and a new growth. The one with 3 has rounder pulbs: be interesting to see if they always have the difference in shape. I potted one in moss and one in seedling compost: not sure if that was really a good idea! So tiny it was near impossible not to damage the roots, but they both seem OK since.

Purple Martin: good roots! Even if they were mostly round the edge not in that hard ball of moss! Just last night and today some see-through spots have turned up. It's on the top leaves so I suspect it may be it didn't like the bug spray. Or maybe it needs a warmer room? Monitoring..

Sedirea: could be prettier (by which I mean they are not even in size, a bit messy, perhaps a few old healed breaks...) but a good number of healthy ones.

Cornu-cervi: bit of a surprise here... as soon as I went to loosen it in the pot, it pretty much fell out. First photo shows what came out: I think there may even possibly have been more rotten roots left in the moss. 2nd photo after cleaning. All the small downward-facing roots are actually in poor shape, but I decided to give the ones that were still firm a go. The larger top roots also had nasty spots, even one of the two new nubins has a spot. Early signs are that a lot of the black around the base is just surface discoloration. Now I have it in dryer media it seems to be drying up a bit and looking fine.

I am going to report back to Volker, but I don't blame him. It looked totally fine. It's also a week between leaving him and getting re-potted, so it may have been in a much better state when it left. I think I'll probably suggest he checks the others in the batch just in case there's wider problems there, but it may well be just this one and since it left him.

So, overall very good plants!

[Rowangreen]

PS: at the moment all my livingroom plants are on a shelf up out of the way of the cats. The other day (luckily before they got sprayed) Teddy decided he could no longer resist jumping up there. I heard a noise and looked round to see him on the shelf, looking horified. He didn't leap off, he did a vertical take off, staying frozen in position as he arced up to the ceiling and across to land on the couch... my jade plant cuttings, pots and soil went everywhere...

After spraying that batch of plants did go back on the shelf once dry. I reckon it's unlikely he'll be back chewing on them! I think some on the newbies may get squeezed on in the next few days too: it's a sunnier/slightly dryer (but still humid enough)/slightly warmer place than they are, so might be good for the new Wine Delight and phals to get up there... I'll have to keep Teddy more ocupied though!