WATERING ORCHIDS IN WINTER

Hmm well I was watering my Orchids when I thought that maybe I should write something to you new Orchid growers about this.

Despite the fact that many books give you the impression that they live in deserts by stating a reduction on water as a generalisation this is not the case at all.

Their is also not much in the way of a general rule of thumb on this but you COULD state that watering should be reduced for this Orchids that have pseudobulbs. In other words Phalaenopsis (Moth Orchids) and Vanda should not be reduced too much just do not let water collect in the crowns (middle of the plant) for too long and certainly not over night. I use cotton ear-buds to absorb excess water.

Now you could call this a rule of thumb but both Cymbidiums and Zygopetalums have pseudobulbs but should be treated like Vanda and Phalaenopsis in the winter. I know this from experience. They do not like being too dry for too long. In fact my Cymbidiums have so far refused to flower and I think because of this.

If you own Dendrobiums this is the other way around for sure and that not giving them water to the point where they are starting to shrivel will make them produce more flowers when you start watering again. This is certainly true of kingianum, nobile (ones normally bought in supermarkets ad hardware stores) but not of victoriae-reginae. The latter is a species Orchid with blue flowers covered and pictured elsewhere in this blog and does like to be damp (DAMP) most of the time and seems to just flower regardless of care. There will be one or two others like victoriae-reginae species, like parishii, which would be similar in moisture levels.

Of the other big Dendrobium group normally seen in store are the Dendrobium phalaenopsis and so called because the flowers look like ... you guessed it, Phalaenopsis. Now it is important to note that these can be told by their canes to which at the apex (the tip) they are pointed and NOT blunt as in nobile. These are TROPICAL Dendrobiums so the care will differ somewhat. I am not really a great lover of the Dendrobium Phalaenopsis so I could not really state anything about there care other than warmer and more humidity so a large tray of water would be the order of the day.

Remember that IF your Orchids are mounted or that you want to mount them and DO get around to it that these watering regimes will change a fair amount. In fact with my mounted Orchids I can water them everyday and several times a day without worrying as I know there will be no standing water collected anywhere that they will dislike or will cause rot to the roots.

Also with some, like Phalaenopsis, you will need to increase the humidity levels too.

I have a few things mounted that are now doing well and this includes that odd Bulbophyllum now in flower (pictures of its previous flowering I need to find and put up as its a bit odd) the Podangis dactyloceras, Vanda caerulea, Vanda denisoniana (now) and Trichoglottis pusilla. I am tempted to mount the species of Phalaenopsis I have...

Phalaenopsis heiroglyphica
Phalaenopsis zebrina
Phalaenopsis sumatrana
Phalaenopsis violacea
Phalaenopsis bellina
Phalaenopsis parishii

But I will not do this just yet, maybe in the spring on this and first I need to find the right piece of wood to look good and be large enough to hang it over and along the back with enough space for all of them?!

The flowers of the first five listed are somewhat incredible for two reasons, first of all is the colours and patterns which just have to be seen to be believed and there is no hybrid that can come close to them for sheer beauty.

The second reason is the flower spikes which have a zig-zag like look to them. Here what they do when they flower is the produce one really showy and gorgeous flower and when this one dies and drops off it is pretty common for the plant to then produce ANOTHER flower shortly after.

So having all the above lined up doing that would be so very cool while like fantastically tropical and exotic and I still have one or two to acquire too. So if I get the wood first I had better make sure there is space for two more?!?!

LMAO!!

Dendrobium kingianum decides differently this year!!

Another surprise the Orchids gave me was spotting this spike on my Dendrobium kingianum Berry Oda and a surprise in that this flower every year around the same time. Only that is normally around the middly of January and I would normally only see the smallest beginnings of a spike around 5th January if I am lucky?!

So spotting this today which had grown unnoticed forced me to do a double take...

...there also appears to be two and I have not inspected the entire plant as yet, nor the other cream D. kingianum to see if there are any more on view.

BULBOPHYLLUM BARMY-NESSI?!

OK well like I said my Bulbopyhllum ECHINOLABIUM was about to flower, LMAO.

I am somewhat confused and trying to remember if I was intoxicated all last year as when this flowered before it produced FIVE flowers and none of them looked like this?!?!

So now I am going to have to hunt down the picture I took at the time with whatever crappy smartphone I had at the time and post them up on here?!

They had long trailing petals before and as said there were 5 of them so I am not sure if their is something about this species I am unaware of, or perhaps it is a hybrid and has some quirky trait?!

There is at least one Orchid that produces different flowers and this belong to the Dimorphis genus but I have not come across anything else that produces different flowers.

Now this has four BULBS presently and only had two bulbs when it last flowered.

Strange...

More spikes from SAME ORCHID TABLE!!

The Orchid table is going to put on its BEST show since I created it and very soon, around Christmas day at a guess?!

AS well as the FIVE hybrid Phalaenopsis that I know for SURE are in spike there are also these too...

Bulbophyllum echinolabium, maybe due to winter but just ONE flower were before there were four or five.

Same Bulbopyhllum echinolabium and an unusual time of year to flower.

The Green Velvet Jewel Orchid of Ludisia well on its way after spike grown 5 inches.

The Red Velvet Jewel Orchid and this has produced two flower spikes now (see next pic)

Darn it!! Right the Red Velvet Jewel Orchid of Ludisia with the previous spike in the top overexposed part, lol, and the second you can see nearer soil surface, which is coco-fibre by the way. It came planted in that.

My TINY Schoenorchis fragrans with roots looking long and attached now and now realise I am MISSING a photo?! LOL.

Ahh right!! My TINY Schoenorchis picture that went astray showing a new growth! Or Keiki (Hawaiian for Baby). Now to give you an idea of size that cork branch is somewhat less than an inch in diameter!! The flowers look like tiny Phalaenopsis ones but at around 1.5mm across and normally a dozen. Flowering this would be way cool but I would estimate not until around April 2013 at earliest.

 Another miniature species but somewhat bigger than my Schoenorchis is this Trichoglottis pusilla that I had been after for a couple of years and had sent over from a German Orchid Nursery! Picture here as a root looks like it is in the process of attaching to the cork which is for me a very good sign it will soon grow more rapidly and hence flower. Spring 2013 at earliest as a guess.

Annoying as this did not come out so good. My Podangis dactyloceras or Crushed Diamond Orchid as I like to call it. New growths are getting bigger and not immediately obvious in this photo but if you look to the bottom most leaf on the left...That leaf that reaches half way along its length and annoyingly blurry is the largest of three leaves in a Keiki! The other one is smaller but symmetrically in the same place on the other end of the plant! Much pleased about that!

PHALAENOPSIS HYBRIDS LATEST ON SPIKES

Well took a picture in turn of all that have spikes out of my hybrid Phalaenopsis.

The 5 species are too young to produce any but maybe from Spring 2013 onwards there may be some action and of course stunning photos.

There are a few other things in spike and with new growth I will show in the following posts...

I have two other 'normal' size hybrids without spikes as far as I can tell but expecting them to appear. One mini hybrid and I cannot see a spike on that currently though without pulling them all out it is impossible to say for sure.

So here are 5 hybrids that have spikes..

Deep Red with Cream Edging and Specks this is an unusually large leaf hybrid

This is the Pelloric one that double spiked earlier in the year and doing it again. Cream with purple spots.

These following three become mixed up and I am hoping that two of them are the purple painted looking ones I found. One would be white and the other yellow but with large deep dark purple blotches that look really cool and like that is paint sprayed from a car paint spray gun...

Has to be said though I never bought anything that you would consider the usual suspects seen in supermarkets and indeed uniform colours I never purchased!

UPDATES ON MY ORCHIDS?!

NO ... well sort of! RIGHT!!

Today or tomorrow I must take some shots of the Orchids as it has gone as expected and then some!

May of the flower spikes have come along very well and even more have appeared to add to the surprise! Will make a good few shots when they are all in bloom.

The ones I was not sure were spikes are indeed just as I suspected. Some others that showed no signs of spikes now have started to produce them and I have not looked for a couple of days so there may well be more surprises by the time I am ready to take those pictures?!

So later tonight or tomorrow I will wade across to the table with the Nikon in hand and have a look but right now I have to quickly spray their roots before leaving the house on my fortnightly chores and it will be painful... hmm I think I will take more painkillers than normal today!

Watch out for that post and like I said tonight or tomorrow afternoon they should be up!!

MY SQUIDOO LENS

http://www.squidoo.com/orchids4