NEW VANDA COERULEA ORCHID SPIKE!!!

Ladies and gentlemen much to my surprise my Vanda coerulea has produced a second spike after dropping the first a few days after its first arrival?!

I was certainly not expecting this and as some of you know these have the highest light requirement of all the tropical orchids that are readily available in specialist nurseries or on-line!

This one is under the stairs and has TWO Toshiba E-Core lights about a foot, 12 inches, above it one of which is 16 Watt while the other is 19.7 Watt. Though if I was to buy them again I would probably stick to 16 Watt spots. Colour temperature of both the spotlights is 2700K and you can see from the photographs below that the plant has turned up towards the light which it did quite awhile back and of course i can clearly see from this it is doing fine as well as looking better, when not in a nice tall conical vase that is?! lol.

I am very happy to see this, very happy and could not be happier ... unless a see a second spike of course?!

Vanda coerulea third leaf down on left side you can see the spike appearing.

A closer inspection of SAID spike.

Series of Orchids Flowering Coming Soon

Much to my surprise that my endeavours and theories that I have put into practise had paid off and led to a series of Orchids producing flower spikes I have noticed more surprises one of which was a real shock!

Some have not flowered in three years or more and since I purchased them IN flower not really through my misunderstanding more to do with events beyond my control which led to them being neglected.

One particular one, Dendrobium Berry Oda, is spiking NOW when BOTH the Dendrobium kingianums do not do this until early January so a few weeks early.

Yesterday I noticed a new one and this one really blew me away! This one is my testament to my theories on Orchids under artificial lighting so it is, of course for those that have read all this, ON the Orchid Table No. 1 which is under my stairs and get no amount of natural light to make a single bit of difference. For those keen eyes I will say that it was actually in spike previously, when it arrived 5 months ago, but the travelling must have disagreed with it and the spike shrivelled and fell off, to my dismay! Now when this Orchid lost that spike, which I had not expected it to arrive with in the first place, I had then decided that it was not likely to produce one until around April 2013. So when I spotted a curious lump on the opposing side of the plant the the previous spike, not immediately obvious from my usual angles, I leaned in to take a closer look and thought 'whaaaa...????', lol.

I will not say which it is, though those of you with a rough understanding of what I own and with a good idea of light requirements, combined with my pleasant surprise, may have already guessed which one it is, or at least which GENERA.

I will also say this and that is by a mile this will produce not only the biggest but also the most stunning flowers of absolutely anything in my collection!! Bar NONE!

Oh you need more? OK it is a species and a rare colour for an Orchid and only two I know produce this colour and I have BOTH.

OK so there are NINE Orchids in spike and one bunch of buds in the process of opening... so a series of posts over the next 6 to 8 weeks will show each of these Orchids as well as close ups of the flowers one at a  time as they flower. Hmm could be two at a time on occasions?!

I have a tripod placed in front of the Orchid table fully extended so that I can get the best close up shots that I possibly can.

My next post I will post up the Orchid with the new spike I have referred to and likely shortly after will be the first flowers of the series of flowering to come.

Oh of course I state that there are NINE Orchids but this could obviously increase during the next  to 8 weeks and my two Dendrobium nobile normally flower mid December to early February. The Dendrobium victoriae-reginae could flower again only with more flowers (first had one and second had ... TWO lol).

Oh yes and of course this time of year should poke the Cymbidiums into action and this would be soo cool but lets see, surely my endeavours would not have a 100% success?! There are around 35 Orchids in y collection and to garner 100% success on a couple of theories would be quite something even for me?! LMAO!

Happy Orchid Times!!

Future Orchid Plans

Now while I am waiting for my second lot of painkillers to take effect before I go out of the house I thought I would have a mention about what I would like to plan on doing in 2013.

If all goes well with some projects I have out there and some others I am working on it may well turn out that I can vastly increase the living space size of my Orchids and hopefully this will be a fair size and private greenhouse?!

It WILL look like a tropical rainforest of done and will house amphibians and likely reptiles too.

But first up there are some things I still want to acquire that I had planned to this year, and some the year before too!

I have a large glass vase, and want a second one, that I want to place a Blue Vanda hybrid in each as they look very showy like this. I previously had Vanda Sansai Blue but Vanda Magic Blue looks nice but I have seen one that looks very impressive called Vanda Delft Blue! A British Orchid nursery did say he was going to Anco and would pick one up but I did not hear from him and presumed he did not get there. Well he has spent the year refurbishing and moving to other premises from what he told me so likely did not get the time to do so.

Also I want to get some species like...

Dendrobium nobile and another ...
Dendrobium victoriae-reginae or two plus I have seen some interesting colours of ...
Dendrobium kingianum ...
Dendrobium senile
any small species of Dendrobiums

Dendrobium violacea different forms
Grammatophyllum speciosa just for the hell of it (world's largest orchid with over 10 feet span all directions?!)
Cymbidium devonianum (I think it was - a small species one I saw somewhere)
Psygmorchis pusilla 3 of for Moss Garden
Schoenorchis as I want more than the one I have
Vanilla (yes Vanilla is an Orchid and a climbing one at that!!) as I feel like I should have at least one of these
Odontoglossum hybrids like Phoenix March but better and have seen these and hard to find

So you can see my Orchids of choice are not restricted too but mainly of Phalaenopsis, Vanda, Dendrobium & Odontoglossums. But I also like particular things and there are one or two Cymbidiums I like and others scattered among other genus.

Sometimes I like the look of the plant with a half decent flower and sometimes it is primarily the flower. To get both together is what I look for and anything that is unusual but simply HAS to look like an Orchid with its flower. If it does not then I am not so keen on them which is likely the reason I went off Pelloric Phalaenopsis and only have one, though I did see one in my local Sainsburys (I think it was) that was actually quite nice and surprised me that I liked it?! I did not bring it home though as I have enough hybrid Phalaenopsis, with NINE in total. Space left is to add to the SIX species of Phalaenopsis I have! So fifteen Phalaenopsis with probably two on my wanted list!

Five Dendrobiums are in my collection along with two Vanda, two Zygopetalums, two Odontoglossums, two Cymbidiums and ANOTHER giant Cymbidium now turned into THREE plants. Oh and the Oncidium ... and the Trichoglottis ... oh and the Bulbophyllum of course. Erm and the Podangis, lmao.

Plus I had around ten deliberately stolen from me by an Orchid retailer on eBay, and some died as a result of becoming involved with him that included THREE Vanda Sansai Blue.

Yes I have and have had one or two Orchids, LMAO!

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