Tuesday, 25 June 2013

Saturday, 22 June 2013

VANDA DENISONIANA SHOWS SIGNS OF LIFE

Was hopint fo get some real action and growth out of my Vanda denisoniana seedlings but lack of summer putting paid to that?!

Still they are producing new roots and I MAY throw them in the heated Orchid nursery for couple of months give them a kick up the backside.

They got neglected for a bit which was beyond my control, see my other 12 blogs lol, but I am determined to get these going well again.

Maybe when they come out we will have a muggy, hot, close, unberably humid summer I hate but they love?! Lol.



VANDA COERULEA LAYS DOWN ITS ROOTS

Vanda coerulea roots seem to be getting everywhere which is good!

Can now glew or nail this cork anywhere I want in future and I DO have a very grand plan for Orchids that achieve this in my collection?!?!

Just have to wait and see, lol.







DENDROBUM VICTORIAE-REGINAE WITH SOME SURPRISES IN STORE

Some pictures of my Dendrobium vuctoriae-reginae which now look to be showing signs of many more flower buds that the previous two?!

Remember also that each of these can have between one and 4, 5, or 6 flowers and the most I had previous was two from one?!

First fllowering was one flower and second flowering was three flowers from two sources. I look to have 4 or 5 dark patches just from one cane and another cane looks to have at least one and another new growth at the top, where it was previously cut to produce more plants, growing upwards in line with the cane?!

This could be another flower bud but I do not think it is. Had I had longer experience with this beautiful species of Orchid I would probably know for sure but due to its diminutive size I am going with another cane or to be precise a KEIKI!

Now a keiki on this would be cool! I also want to order another one of these at some point and likely another Vanda coerulea.


In both these pictures you will see an area slightly above the second node which should be flowers buds. But better seen in the photo below is the tiny growth coming from the TOP of the cane which I believe to be a keiki or a whole new plant growth. Once big enough and has around two to four leaves this will produce roots around its base and once there are at least three of these of at least an inch long I can remove this plant to another pot, therefore starting a second separate plant?!

COOLIOS!!

Arrows point to the areas of dark patched where buds normally appear from. Only in ones or twos previously but this time around could be very different. 


Once these two new canes have gone beyond the shortest of the shortest of the previous canes this will become quite a specimen indeed. After that the flowers it will produce should equal or exceed a majority of those you see in pictures.

Saturday, 15 June 2013

MINIATURE HYBRID PHALAENOPSIS

This is a very small miniature Phalaenopsis HYBRID that when I saw I had to buy because of its diminutive size?!

To give you an idea that large leaf on the left of the picture is also a hybrid Phalaenopsis I bought at a supermarket store! That is only one third of the leaf in the picture too!!

LMAO!

So a very small and as you can see very healthy, and wet, Phalaenopsis miniature I have had about three years, got a bit neglected year before last, and I now hope will flower. Though as the only available flower colour was not my favourite pink it will be more a sense of achievement than anything else.

Before you curse me I DID state MORE and not ONLY, lol.

Also if you think this is small for a Phalaenopsis miniature how about a Phalaensopsis TINY and NOT a hybrid?!

Yes my Phalaenopsis parishii, also blessed with the cursed pink flowers, is about HALF this size?! Probably find that it is from this species, and probably Phalaenopsis equestris, that these miniature hybrids are produced from. Also highly likely why the flowers seem to be exclusively pink.

There is a white one with a bit of orange that I had intended to order last year and did not! Damn it whatr was it called?!?!?! Anyway it has given me an idea and I may place an order for a couple of plants in the next few weeks?!?!


I think of the whole plant as a pseudobulb between the leaves and the stem.

Healthy smooth leaves and tall fattish stem, especially when the plant is side on, and I see this as fully watered and fed.

In plants deprived of water in Phalaenopsis if the leaves look slightly shrivelled I then look to the stem and study it side on. If it looks skinny I then know I have a lot of work to do if I buy the plant from a store!

PHALAENOPSIS HIEROGLYPHICA NEW ROOTS

My seedling Phalaenopsis hieroglyphica is starting to look more like less of a seedling and more like a plant mature enough to produce flowers.

But I still think it has one more leaf and a couple of months to go before it reaches that stage, if we get any warm weather that is?!?!

Still that biggest leaf is a fair size now and new roots are emerging so I expect a speed up in the leaf production to start in the next week or two!

If you happen to be comparing it with previous pictures on previous posts I should point out that the pot you see in these pictures is one that it was moved into recently one that is a standard size, 5 inch I think, that you will see all the hybrid Phalaenopsis Orchids in at your local supermarket!

Not the little ones either the standard size Moth Orchid pots as this is what it was from! So it has probably at least doubled in size.




SPOTTED PHALAENOPSIS DECIDES TO OPEN 3RD FLOWER

Well after a long pause for thought my Spotty Phalaenopsis hybrid is now opening that third flower bud!


DENDROBIUM VICTORIAE-REGINAE - BLUE BAMBOO ORCHID

Now the excitement of the Bulbophyllum prodicing two new growths can ONLY be surpassed by me then spotting not one but TWO NEW CANES appearing on my Dendrobium victoriae-reginae!!!

Ooh YEAH!!

SO along with the bare beginnings of the dark patches that mean flower buds I also have two new growths?!

It produced two before but one ended up a little stunted but is still growing while the first one to appear is currently taller that the taller of the two canes when I first received it.

Now hoefully the stunted one will get another couple of inches and these new two, if I keep on top of it, will outgrow the current longest cane?!

If so when it is done this beautiful blue species Orchid really WILL put on quite a show INDEED!!

Fingers crossed, lol.



BULBOPHYLLUM GROWTHS AND SPIKE

My Bulbophyllum has sprung into action albeit late.

There are at least TWO new growths that have appeared and I think the beginnings of a flower spike.

Not sure the spike is visible in the pictures and awkward to get a picture of without removing the plant, which is bloody tricky!!




Wednesday, 5 June 2013

A SPIKE ON MY SCHOENORCHIS FRAGRANS

Well I hope so but now I have been editing the pictures it looks like a leaf?!

Still whatever it is it is faster and more than it wqas two years ago and as many orchids in the Vandaceous group produce spikes after neaw leaves appear it may well me this year it flowers?!

Now it looked very much like a spike as it looked like a tiny Phalaenopsis bumpy spike and a lighter green than the leaves.

New leaves have always appeared darker green before but then I have increased the light recently and oddly have just done so again switching over a 12 Watt fluorescent for a 4 Watt 2700K LED bulb with a small screw mount.

Oddly enough I also have a 3 watt version too and yet I cannot buy a single one of these in a 4 mile radius of my house?!

Argos, B&Q, Sainsburys, Sainsburys Homebase, two Tescos, Maplin and anyone else I have forgotten about, lol.

One of the two I have came from Lidl's of all places but not had them since while the other was purchased in Sainsburys Homebase but did not have a single on in stock a few days back except for aa different manufacturer at double the price!!

I digress.

Back to the PHOTOS!...





Tuesday, 4 June 2013

ORCHID NURSERY ADDITIONAL LIGHT


SO after trying to find an LED bulb for this glass nursery I gave up and bought the LED floodlight system I showed you in my last post.

AS a result of that I was able to remove TWO bulbs from the Orchid set up and then swing my Desk Light Fluorescent around to place over the nursery. I was able to remove a 7 watt Energy saving bulb from this nursery too.

Oddly though I saved energy while increasing light intensity on the Orchid main set up and overall the wattage has actually increased on the nursery because I removed a 7 watt fluorescent and added a 12 watt fluorescent?! LOL!

Still I have freed up an adaptor or two and now when I can next perform the task I can buy a GU10 LED bulb, which will be a great deal easier, or around 4 or 5 watts and save another 7 or 8 watts on top of the 10 watts I have already shaved off. It is possible that I may be able to loose the LED on the left too which would be another 2.8 watts.

Damn I just realised I actually already have several LED bulbs in my ceiling lights?!

LMAO IDIOT!



ORCHID LED FLOODLIGHT SYSTEM

I saw this in my local Maplin store while killing time before visiting my GP which I had some awkward questions to put to him while recording

As I previously posted I was after an LED bulb or two and could use any one of two different routes to do what I wanted and though I did not enter Maplin for that reason it did occur to me while I was in there.

Nothing to make it simple and after being told yes they would do that I was then told that they did not actually do what I wanted.

Now while looking in there I then spotted something I had only seen pictures of previously, an LED strip lighting system only this one was FLEXIBLE, made in a way that you can have them in different set-ups and best of all you can buy ADDITIONAL strips at a lower price than the main system and just link them in?!

The light colour temperature was even given as a warm 3000K and each strip contained 15 LED lights and there were three strips. The whole thing consumed 20 WATTS, but I need to check how this works when you ADD strips?!

The strips themselves have plugs at each end and you have a junction box with four plugs. I have not chain linked mine so three of the plugs in the junction box are used up leaving one free. They also come with adhesive backs too but I wrapped garden wire around them in three places for each strip just to be safe.

As I stated you can buy an extension pack for these but I am not sure if this comes with another junction box and I will check that out.

I was able to remove three bulbs totalling around 30 Watts so reduced my energy consumption a little more as well as placing one light over my Orchid Nursery to provide more light!

It IS bright but not quite as bright as I had imagined. However what it does do is act like a floodlight and fills in the gaps while adding to the photon count that will wash the Orchid leaves.

I will buy an extension pack but will check if they come in different sizes as I may not need another THREE, lol.

BUT I am now thinking about buying a second one and using them to REPLACE the two 36" fluorescent tube lights in my one metre aquarium! Off the top of my head the tube lights are 20 Watts each I think so 40 in total. Replacing them with one of these would HALVE that consumption which runs for 12 hours each day.

As for the Orchid set up in the picture I made the frame they are attached to out of bamboo canes using silicone sealer and gardening wire. My thinking is to add two more strips which overlap by about 4 inches in the middle, providing more intense light in the centre, will adding to the light on the left hand side.



Monday, 3 June 2013

I HAVE SEEN THE (ARTIFICIAL) LIGHT

Well this has been ... neglected and I DO apologise.

Mainly it ws a combination of the weather, a series of health issues and appointments with Doctors and Hospitals, tests and a new drug that sent me as high as a kite but now appears to be working where all others have failed?!

If true this means a great deal of opportunities will come my way and rather bizarrely around the same time several others will come my way?!

Good times.

But today I went out to do some Orchid related shopping and wanted TWO LED lights. These were two replace two energy saving fluorescent bulbs I still have so than I can... umm save energy, LMFAO!

Only I spent days going to all the supermarkets, electrical stores and even B&Q, should be ashamed of themselves, and Sainsbury's Homebase, where I was perplexed.

Ooh no not perplexed as that idiot Shidt used that word. Hmm or was it bemused?

Oh well after TRYING to help British Companies that are probably not British nor British owned anyway and even spending money by travelling on a bus to get to some locations and out of the two bulbs I was after I got...

...NONE, NADA, ZERO and ZILCH!!

*SIGH*

For some bizarre reason I cannot fathom two HUGE stores still have utter shite in the number of LED bulbs they have on offer?!

In fact B&Q is utterly abysmal and always has been and not changed at all but HOMEBASE actually had fewer LED bulbs in there than thay had when I was last in there around 6 or 7 months ago?!

Now how the feck can that happen?!?!

Very bizarre indeed.

Hmm so I ended up with no bulbs. But I do have LIGHTS!!

Along from Homebase I found a second-hand keyboard that would have cost me £50 or more in PC World. After I snatched this and hugged it I caught a bus back to Enfield Town from Waltham Cross as I had a very late Doctor's appointment to attend.

Now after a couple hours in a friends store talking all manner of things I then went to kill time and ended up in Maplins.

I saw something, they had neither of the two bulbs I wanted, and it got me to thinking but it was pricey at 3.5 times the figure I wanted to spend but it gave me many...idea and options and I bought it?!

Working on it now, lol, and tomorrow I should have it rigged up, see how it looks, move things around and get some shots.

THEN after this the next couple of months I should get a lot more content and order some SPECIES Orchids from Germany and Holland.

More in the next post if I am not dead from exhaustion or too many Gabapentin pills, lol.

Just do not understand the idiots that run these big stores their choices of offers and selection always leaves me walking out the store scratching my head and wondering why I bother going down there at all?!

Such a shame.