Saying hello
 

Dear all. Bit nervous about this as never done anything like it before.Like most people, after I bought my first orchid I was hooked and now own 30.Everything going fine and they are stunning things of beauty. However I am having problems with a particular specimen. I can't remember it's correct name but it is the type with no soil and grows in a basket with the roots growing through and down the slats in the basket. Have had it about 6 months and all was well and gas beautiful blue blooms. But recently, the leaves are turning yellow, shrivelling up and falling off. I water it once a week by sitting the roots in a bucket of water for half an hour.It is situated in my kitchen out of direct sunlight.I would be eternally grateful if any one who can help with this. Kindest regards, Tyrone.

It sounds like you are describing a Vanda or Ascocenda. If so, you must water it every day. Sometimes three or four times according to hot hot and dry you are.

I live in Florida in a dry area. I water at least three times. And I mean with a hose. Gently soak the roots and plant.

This kind has no way of storing water. No bulbs. It needs water every day, but not stay wet overnight. My last watering in the summer is about 4pm. That gives everything enough time to dry before it gets cool and dark.

You also want to fertilize this one every two weeks or weekly with a half strength mixture (weekly-weakly).

Lot's of light. More so than most other types. Some go as much as 20% shade here in Florida. Watch out for direct sun and introduce to these higher light conditions gradually. These plants might seem fine for a week in too much light, only to begin getting black from sunburn.

This is where the group splits on advice....

It's hot here. It's dry here. I like to give my Vandaceous some moisture holding medium in the basket. I use large bark chunks.

But you need to feed and water it if it is a vandaceous. Check the vandaceous forum link and look at the pics. You will quickly know if this is the case.

I also have mine in a shade house of 50% shade cloth and they get about four hours of heavy heat and sun midday.

I hope this helps.

Thank you
 

Dear Charles. Thank you so much for your advice. I will up the watering regime immediately. The weather where you live sounds lovely. Unfortunately I live in England where we only have two seasons, winter & June. I hope I get the opportunity to discuss further orchid topics with you in the future. In the meantime, once again, many thanks. Kindest regards, Tyrone

I didn't know June was a season .. :scratchhead:
;) :coverlaugh:

Uh oh Tyrone .. sounds like you need a greenhouse! :D

BTW - Welcome to OB! :cheer:
Glad you can join us here
It's nice to have another person from across the pond as a member
I would love to see some :photo:
so I can :shock: and :drool:

Hi Tyrone :) Don't be nervous...you've just met close to 2000 new friends :clap:

If you could possibly post a picture, we'd be able to give you more direct advice. If what you have is a vanda, it needs a lot more water, misting every day becuase with no bulbs, it has no way to save it's own water and vandas need lots of light too.

We'll help you through it :Tup:

:welcome: Aboard Tyrone, its great that you have joined our community. So many globally, it's the hobby of nations :clap:

What other type of orchids do you grow, many of us grown indoors, myself included, tricky I might add but strengthening in knowledge is what it's all about. Charles gave you excellent advise and one thing he forgot to mention, we can ship you some of our summer weather to round out your growing enviroment. If only we could, but one has to remember that you have to teach your orchids to grow in your enviroment, no different than raising kids, the screams are silent, but we know when we have to beef up the attention and give them what they want.

Great that you are here...:photo:holics here on the OB. :nod:

:bananaslide:

Tyrone, welcome to the finest source of Orchid discussion, questions and answers, general goofing around and camaraderie. I hope you join right in with discussions and when you are able, please show us some of your orchids through pictures. We especially love to share our growing experiences with one another.

Welcome Tyrone. :biggrin: Sounds like a vanda. :banana: Charles gives sound advise above.

I sometimes forget to say welcome when I am thinking technical.

Welcome and come back often and anytime Tyrone. And be careful what you wish for, the weather here has it's drawbacks too. Hot, hot, hot! Sometimes too much so for a transplanted New Yorker.

Dear Dorothy. Thank you so much for your reply. I have been overwhelmed by the responses I have recieved. You really are a friendly bunch. I got 9 replies which I will be answering this evening. I am relatively new to this computer mularky so please bear with me as I feel my way about the site. My quip about winter & June was a crass attempt at being funny and was meant to show what a fickle weather system we have here in England. For example: It only rained twice here last week. Once for 3 days and once for 4. I will be attempting to photograph my Orchids soon and post them on this site for you to have a look and comment on.So in the meantime, thanks again for replying to me and taking away the nerves.I will speak to you again soon. take care, Tyrone

Dear susanne B. Thank you so much for bothering to reply to my cry for help. I have just replied to Dorothy and will reply to every one who posted me. I am newish to computers and am still finding my way around this site.I am aware this is a quick reply but don't know how to send a longer one or how this all works so please bear with me. I really do want to save this orchid as it is stunning (as they all are) when in bloom. Thank you again Susanne and if you can give me any tips on how to navigate round the site , I will be ever so grateful. Take care, Tyrone

Dear Cheryl.Just wanted to take a minute to thank you for replying to me. I was certainly made welcome and my nerves have disappeared and I do feel part of the family. Please, please,please send some nice weather as the family and I are on holiday next week in Cornwall and we need a break. weather at the moment is pants. I will try to work out how to get photo's on here so as you can have a look, so in the meantime, thanks again and I will write again soon. Take care, Tyrone

Tyrone -Thank you for the personal response!
My questioning your seasons is just my crass attempt at humour, also :coverlaugh:
You are already fitting in here quite nicely! ;)
I am looking forward to your photos .. whenever you get the chance to post them ..
no worries, no hurries :)
Could you explain what - the weather is 'pants' here means? ..
I don't recall ever seeing climatic trousers .. :roll:

Dear Charles. Just wanted to say thanks again for helping and making me feel welcome. All my nerves have gone and I do feel part of the family. I have started watering the orchid daily now and have loosely packed some sphagnum moss in the basket to keep moist.Is this ok? All the shrivelled leaves have fallen off now so I will keep monitoring it. I will try and work out how to get photo's on here so you can have a look. I really don't want to lose this orchid so all your advice is greatly appreciated. Take care, speak to you soon. Tyrone

Dear Dorothy.Please excuse the termanology. " Pants " is an expression that describes something that is not very cool and there are add ons for varying degrees of not very coolness. For example, if something is particularly poor it is described as " Being daddies saggy pants " For me it conjurs up images of my Dads Y fronts hanging on the washing line when I was a kid and me thinking that I would never wear anything like that and it stuck

OMG Daddies saggy pants .. love your visual! and after-comment on them
You have me laughing here :coverlaugh:

Dear Ross. Thank you so much for replying to me. I was very nervous about joining and felt a bit of a berk but everyone has been so friendly all the nerves have gone and I have been made to feel part of the family. I will try and work out how to get photo's on here(Any advice will be greatly appreciated)so as you can have a look.Am away on holiday next week in Cornwall so I will be back in touch in a couple of weeks. Once again Ross, many thanks. Take care, Tyrone

Dear Tindomul. Thank you so much for replying to me. Everyone has made me feel very welcome. The shop that I got this orchid told me that it was easy to look after and only needed watering once a week , soaking in a bucket of water for half an hour. Obviously more interested in the money than the care of the plant. So thank you again for your advice and I look forward to speaking/writing to you again when i come back off holiday in a couple of weeks time. Take care, Tyrone

Excellent. Laughter is the best medicine of all. I'm sure you have equivalent phrases over where you are so perhaps we could swap some and have a good old giggle. So remember Dorothy, if something is just run of the mill it's " pants " but if it is particularly un-cool, it's " Daddies saggy pants " . Tyrone

:coverlaugh: Tyrone, you seem to have found your way around here :clap:

Come join us in chat sometime :D

DSPs .. :coverlaugh:
Ok .. here's another I haven't seen .. 'and feel a bit of a berk'?
I love all these British colloquialisms :D
and the accent, too ;)

Dear Watsgw1155. Thank you so much for replying to me. Everyone has been so friendly and made me feel very much at home. I'm sure it is a Vanda and I'm desperate not to lose it because of the blue blooms. Thank you for the advice and I hope we can keep in touch. Take care. Tyrone

Susanne. How do I do that? HELP

Tyrone .. scroll up a bit and on your left is a site menu .. click on chat and you are there! :)