Masdevallia - General Questions

[Royal]

Dana,

If you still have plants for sale, I'd think the site would be crucial. If nothing else, a free site with a price list.

If you have any available, I'd love to get a list. If not, who do you recommend?

[CoolPhrog]

Royal, you realize you've highjacked your own thread, right?

I do still have some plants but there are somethings I'd like to tweak before plowing headlong into it...as far as who I would recommend in the interim..

J&L Orchids
Andy's Orchids
Marni Turkel (She also has an ebay store)

[Tindomul]

I really like Mountain Orchids and Parkside Orchids as well as Lynn O'Shaughnessy.

[Connie Star]

Have you tried J&L Orchids, in Connecticut? I've bought two Masdies from them, one a floribunda, and they are growing like weeds in a south facing window but behind a fern and right next to the cool mist humidifier. They haven't re-bloomed for me yet, but I've only had them for a few months.

[jeffg]

I just have few (6) Masd.'s as I have finally figured out what they need. I have mine on the floor (cooler) and near a water atomizer fountain. I have a deep artisan well, and the water seems fine for them. What really helped is a product called "Cool Pots" link below.
The Orchid Gallery

[Tindomul]

Do cool pots do keep them any cooler than sphagnum netted pots? I assume that the pots stay cool via evaporative cooling? How quickly do they dry out?

[jeffg]

Originally Posted by Tindomul

Do cool pots do keep them any cooler than sphagnum netted pots? I assume that the pots stay cool via evaporative cooling? How quickly do they dry out?

Hey,
I'm not sure how they compare. I saw Geraldine Powell at our Society meeting and she showed the thermal imaging
(on her site), and it averaged 10 degrees cooler than a plan pot. I'm not sure how that's accomplished. I can tell you she was a ceramics chemist and worked for a lot of years on the pots so she could grow Masd.'s in FL. I usually water mine 2x/week. When I called to order, she very very generous with her time on the phone, so maybe you might consider the same.

[stefpix]

On the topic of rain water...
How can people recommend rain water especially when living in an urban area over tap water?

what about Acid Rain?

when I used to live in Italy "acid rain" was a popular media topic like now "greenhouse gases".
In the US everyone talks about "global warming", but no mentions of acid rain.

read the entry
Acid rain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, i.e. elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals, and infrastructure through the process of wet deposition."

"Since 1998, Harvard University wraps some of the bronze and marble statues on its campus, such as this tortoise-borne "Chinese stele", with waterproof covers every winter, in order to protect them from erosion caused by acid rain"

Anyway apart from the acidity rain water probably collects smog, cancerogenic compounds, toxic substances.

Probably tap water is a lot safer for plants than rain water collected in the proximity of urban and industrial areas

[stefpix]

more in the next message - this was a duplicate message / error

[stefpix]

Anyway even if you live in rural PA, it is most likely that clouds that hover over industrial NJ collect a bunch of toxic compunds from refineries' smoke and so on.

I think it is unrealistic to consider rain water pure and clean.

File:Acid rain woods1.JPG - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Human health

Scientists have suggested direct links to human health.[31] Fine particles, a large fraction of which are formed from the same gases as acid rain (sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide), have been shown to cause illness and premature deaths such as cancer and other diseases.[32] For more information on the health effects of aerosols see particulate health effects."

"Affected areas

Places with significant impact by acid rain around the globe include most of eastern Europe from Poland northward into Scandinavia,[35] the eastern third of the United States,[36] and South Western Canada. Other affected areas include the South Eastern coast of China and Taiwan."