Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 27 of 27

Thread: More on orchids

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Qld Australia
    Posts
    175

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Arron View Post
    As there isn’t much else flowering at the moment it’s time to talk Phalaenopsis.

    However I’m slowly changing my mind because there’s no doubting that – given a very small amount of knowledge of how orchids grow – there is no other orchid that is as easy care, floriferous, pest free, sociable, convenient and long lasting as the phals. Over the last 20 or so years of selective breeding for the 'modestly-priced flower' trade, breeders have developed them into little commercial flowering-machines.

    cheers
    Arron
    There are a lot of Phals that do not like the cold weather or extreme heat so they probably will not do well outside in that area. You could also look at Cymbidiums as they actually need a cold spell to initiate a flower spike to form.

    As for Phalanopsis, it also depends where you are, up here in Queensland I found that every bug and critter liked the Phalanopsis as a treat and it was a constant battle to rid of the them from meally bugs, slugs, mites, cockroaches and even down to rats etc. The rats actually destroyed several hundred of my newly deflasked Phal's in one night, they ripped out the seedlings and just chewed off all the roots and left the rest of the plant alone, they crapped all over the trays and the crap developed a mouldy fungus which contaminated and killed the ones they didn't eat. I sprayed all the plants with Supracide and and the morning found a couple of dead rats. So up here, they are a lot of work!

  2. # ADS
    Google Adsense Advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many





     
  3. #17
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Central Coast, NSW
    Posts
    3,330

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ed.. View Post
    As for Phalanopsis, it also depends where you are, up here in Queensland I found that every bug and critter liked the Phalanopsis as a treat and it was a constant battle to rid of the them from meally bugs, slugs, mites, cockroaches and even down to rats etc. The rats actually destroyed several hundred of my newly deflasked Phal's in one night, they ripped out the seedlings and just chewed off all the roots and left the rest of the plant alone, they crapped all over the trays and the crap developed a mouldy fungus which contaminated and killed the ones they didn't eat. I sprayed all the plants with Supracide and and the morning found a couple of dead rats. So up here, they are a lot of work!
    I did not realise that. In a sense we have it lucky at this latitude as we have very little problem with pests and diseases. Our downside is that our plants struggle through the winter cold - but our upside is we really only have scale and mealy bug to contend with and even those you can keep on top of without much effort. No spider mites, no rats, no snails or slugs, no grasshoppers or their relatives, no orchid-eating beetles. I get occasional mould or bacteria infections, but easily handled.

    I often read American forums and notice that they get a much wider range of pests and they seem to hit much harder - especially spider mites.

    In the tropics of course everything pestwise is magnified.

    My phals just sit in the corner of my shadehouse and I’ve never actually seen a pest on them. The cattleyas and Oncidium-types get a bit of Biosduval Scale, but only to the point where I have to go over them with a cotton bud and alcohol, I don’t need to actually use chemical sprays. I’ve never seen a pest on the bulbophyllums or the dendrobiums either - I guess nothing in the local fauna has a taste for them which is odd as both genera have local native representatives.

    I don’t use any kind of chemical or treatment preventatively, either.

    This week the temperature has dropped dramatically, so it’s time to bring the phals, bulbos and species plants inside for the winter, where they will stay till mid-September. Then I cover the shadehouse all over with plastic, and those that are left will be looking a bit battered by the end of winter but they will recover in the first few weeks of spring.

    Thank you for reminding me that the grass is not always greener.

    Cheers
    Arron
    Apologies for unnoticed autocomplete errors.

  4. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Qld Australia
    Posts
    175

    Default

    Arron, no problem, each area has it's own growing requirements/problems, as for the sprays and chemicals, when you have a smallish collection it's easy to give them your personal attention, however when you have about 10000, by the time you realize you have a pest problem it is usually an infestation, your only choice then is mass chemical/poison treatment. As for care and maintenance, most orchids seem to thrive on neglect and just a little care, I have seen a lot of orchids that have been "loved to death" with over watering and over fertilized. Especially with Phals where the leaves can still look healthy but the roots had rotted away.

    I once did a clean up and repotted a lot of phals with new media and bagged up the old media and quite a few of the less than nice Phals into big plastic poly bags to take to the tip, however I forgot about one bag and found it about several months later and when opened up the Phals were looking great. Total neglect but a nice humid environment.

  5. #19
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Central Coast, NSW
    Posts
    3,330

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ed.. View Post
    I once did a clean up and repotted a lot of phals with new media and bagged up the old media and quite a few of the less than nice Phals into big plastic poly bags to take to the tip

    If Id known that and if I lived in your area I would have been down the tip picking them up. I love rehabbing plants.

    I picked up a dried out Stanhopea that a neighbour threw out and it took me eleven years to get it back to healthy and flowering again - I didn't mind the wait.


    Were you producing the phals commercially ?
    Apologies for unnoticed autocomplete errors.

  6. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Qld Australia
    Posts
    175

    Default

    Yep, I was at the time, but have closed it down as there wasn't any money in it due to the drought and people stopped buying plants. It was costing me a small fortune trying to heat, repot and fertilize them and not making any money, so I ended up putting an advert in the paper for people to came and take as many as they wanted for free. Needless to say, the inner greenhouse was cleaned out in a day. I kept a lot of the Brassias, Cattleyas, Dendrobiums and Bromeliads in the external shade house as they could survive the weather conditions and those just required very little maintenance compared to the Phals.

  7. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    Sydney Upper North Shore
    Posts
    4,464

    Default

    One of ours has just bloomed. Beautiful flowers.

    88DAF784-DFEC-4368-A1D4-83EFAA319906.jpg

  8. #22
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Qld Australia
    Posts
    175

    Default

    Nice Cymbidium!

  9. #23
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Central Coast, NSW
    Posts
    3,330

    Default More on phalaenopsis

    I mentioned previously that it isn’t hard to grow-on phalaenopsis orchids that were bought in full flower, as long as you have a basic understanding of their requirements, but I didn’t explain what you should do.

    To recap, phalaenopsis are those pink and/or white orchids sold flowering in most supermarkets or hardware stores for about $30 or so. The ones which usually go downhill after flowering and thus have come to be regarded like cut flowers - enjoy them while you can then throw them out once the flower dies.

    My strategy with these is to pull them out of their pot immediately (even while they are flowering, it won’t shorten the flowering time, in fact it may prolong it). Then I pull away all the sphagnum moss till the roots are bare. The growers pack them tight in sphagnum as that’s the most convenient way to bring them to the market, not because its a good way to grow them. Then I repot them in a well ventilated pot, one that lets air travel right through the pot. For potting media I use just chunks of pine bark - coarse is better. If They are going to a place where humidity may be a bit low then I wind a few strands of sphagnum moss on the surface of the media, just to retain the moisture a bit. And that’s all, just find nice warm humid spot for them with a fair bit of shade.

    Growing orchids is a lot about getting the roots right. Remember these are epiphytes, meaning they grow in trees, with their roots largely exposed and scrambling down the tree trunks. That’s why they won’t survive if their roots are bound up in soil or dense-packed sphagnum moss, their roots need air flow, and they need to alternate between being wet for growth (because all life processes require water) and drying out (to kill the pathogens).

    Anywhere north of Sydney these will do alright, though in the southern part of that range winter growth will be slow. Bring them inside for the coldest 3 or so months of the year and place them close to a screened window.



    So looking at one my neighbour asked me to repot a few days ago:

    This is the plant immediately after removal from the pot in which it was sold. You can see the ends of the roots are dead and mouldy where water has collected in the bottom of the pot. Orchid roots don’t like to be kept constantly wet. I just cut the dead bits off. Some people sterilise with cinnamon, hydrogen peroxide or whatever but I have not found it necessary. You can see the plant was dense-packed in sphagnum moss, and that heap of sphagnum moss on the right hand side was somehow crammed into the pot as well.

    A0880503-38F1-4FC5-B9AF-CDC66FAF41E1.jpg

    Removing the sphagnum, you can see that the roots in the centre of the plant have died off, suffocated by the dampness and lack of air circulation.

    bad roots.jpg

    This is the type of pot I like to put them in. This is actually a hydroponic pot. If you can’t find one of these, perhaps drill holes in a regular black plastic pot.

    holeypot.jpg

    And this is the growing media I use. Just chunks of pine bark - nothing else and especially no soil. Some people say the bark should be aged and/or processed - others say it isn’t necessary. I’m not convinced either way.

    barkchunks.jpg

    That’s it. I have just six of these ‘supermarket rescues’ and that's enough to mean we have a phal flowering in the house about 50% of the time. All have been growing well for a year or two and all 6 are currently in spike (meaning they have maturing flower spikes), which is pretty remarkable for orchids.
    Apologies for unnoticed autocomplete errors.

  10. #24
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Millmerran,QLD
    Age
    73
    Posts
    11,061

    Default

    Arron

    Thank you for this thread, which I have passed on to SWMBO, who loves orchids but has little knowledge: Unlike me where this is not just restricted to orchids.

    Her orchids always live outside. They are in a completely shaded area both by a dense canopy of shrubs and small trees and the side of the house. They never get direct sunlight. Our climate is pretty cool in winter with a few frosts and red hot in summer.

    P1050207 (Medium).JPGP1050210 (Medium).JPG

    From your comments she may have to look at thinning some of the potting medium, although they seem to be surviving quite well possibly despite her well meaning attention.

    Thanks again.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  11. #25
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Central Coast, NSW
    Posts
    3,330

    Default

    Hard to tell from the photo, but the potting mix looks dark - so I’m guessing it’s either bark chunks or one of the commercially available ‘orchid potting’ mixes.

    In either case, you can expect the mix to break down within 2 or 3 years - and once it breaks down it turns into something like soil. Orchids don’t grow well in broken down media - it smothers the roots, making them too damp and preventing air flow. Hence most of these orchids need to be reported every (rough estimate) 3 years. Just take them out of the pot, shake the old mix off, and repot them in new fresh mix, pushing it down around the roots just enough to stop them from wobbling in their pots. Best to do this in early spring when the new roots are just starting to emerge at the base of the plants.

    Failure to repot regularly is one of those things people like to think they can get away with but really they can’t. The point is that orchids do everything slowly (even die), so once they start on their downward trend due to bad potting mix it may be a long time before they show it, although they might have already gone beyond the point of no return.

    When growing orchids, focus on the roots. Keep the leaves in good condition, sure, but it’s the health of the roots which ultimately determines the survivability of the plant.

    It looks like you have a flowering Laelia there (the white flowered one). Maybe Laelia anceps or Laelia albida.

    Cheers
    Arron
    Apologies for unnoticed autocomplete errors.

  12. #26
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Bottom of the leg
    Age
    82
    Posts
    828

    Default

    i just bought my first PHALEONOPSIS last month. it was on the TLC bench and was only $20. already it has a new LEAF growing.
    i have a friend who has one and the flower is spectacular, hers lives in a well lit bathroom.
    Cheers Fred



    The difference between light and hard is that you can sleep with the light on.
    http://www.redbubble.com/people/fredsmi ... t_creative"

    Updated 26 April 2010
    http://sites.google.com/site/pomfred/

  13. #27
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Central Coast, NSW
    Posts
    3,330

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by fenderbelly View Post
    i just bought my first PHALEONOPSIS last month. it was on the TLC bench and was only $20. already it has a new LEAF growing.
    i have a friend who has one and the flower is spectacular, hers lives in a well lit bathroom.
    Yep, you can get some good results out of the rescue bench.

    Below is a photo of one of my rescues. I’m showing this because it’s a good illustration of reflowering. This orchid was given to me with an expired flower spike, wherein all the flowers had recently finished and dropped off. The flower spike was still green, so I cut it off just above the fourth ‘knuckle’. When you do this the spike often reflowers- in other words it will grow a short, branching spike(s) off the previous spike. This one grew two (actually it grew three but the third one was broken off by our cat although I don’t think it was developing normally anyway).

    We have had a very good spring/summer flowering season for the orchids this year. I’ll get around to posting some photos shortly.

    Cheers
    Arron

    4FEB592B-83B8-4918-BA4D-5E21FBA14801.jpeg
    Apologies for unnoticed autocomplete errors.

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Similar Threads

  1. Our orchids are going nuts
    By Arron in forum GARDENING
    Replies: 22
    Last Post: 25th September 2017, 10:21 PM
  2. My Only Orchids
    By _fly_ in forum PHOTOGRAPHY
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 22nd July 2012, 01:19 AM
  3. Orchids and Frangipani i grew last year
    By fenderbelly in forum PHOTOGRAPHY
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 4th July 2008, 09:49 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •