An orchid I recently bloomed....

[thc24]

nice luke, i have a few that have not flowered in years but keep making new bulbs, should i seperate and when is best,

 

Thanks

[smokie7902]

hey luke,

i love orchids ...i myself prefer all the other weird thing like slipper family,pencils..i will get other names later and post up my list i think i have about 16 diff kinds all up **pretty small for an orchid collection i no** and if my pencils are stil in flower ill get a couple pics and pst up

 

peace

[Luke Skywalker]

@ smokie - Yeah, I love dockrillias, great family of plants. Should be working on expanding into those soon myself. Just a matter of saving up I think. I'm concentrating on building a cattleya species collection at the moment, which is going quite nicely if I do say so myself.

 

@thc24 - If it's not been repotted in many years that could be crucial, but in the end unless you can tell me what kind of orchid it is it's pretty hard to give advice. Most people have cymbidiums these days, depending on where in oz you live, and their fundamental for flowering is a temp drop of at least 10-12 degrees during the night in summer. Watering only in the evening can help this along a bit. But yeah, if it's got lots of leafless pseudobulbs and the orchid mix it's in looks like mud rather than the chunky bark they usually are, then certainly take out and repot, dividing up if need be. They will respond best if you leave 3 leafed bulbs behind every new lead per division, but you can even pot individual old bulbs up in a small pot of orchid mix and these can sometimes shoot from dormant "eyes". They'll take a few years to develop, but they are a way to get new plants.

 

Take a photo of the plant if possible and I can give some more specific advice. This time of year isn't ideal for repotting, it's usually done in spring as their dormant periods break into growth, but if the plant is sick/desperate for new media it's better to repot than leave it alone IMO.

 

@gush - Stanhopeas are natives of South America, living as epiphytes (growing on branches of trees) and having the spikes simply hang down around the branches. You can grow them at home like that too, with a mount of tree fern or tree branch which you tie the orchid onto initally and then they will grab on with their roots as the new growths develop. Unfortunately most stanhopeas like high moisture levels than mounted plants usually receive, so they don't do as well that way as they do in wire baskets, but I have seen some excellent examples of people growing plants "au natural"....

 

@ thatswho - where do you live? Just about any climate is suitable for some kinds of orchids, but once again with 30,000 species and 150,000+ hybrids it can be a matter of picking the right ones. Best bet is to rock up to your local orchid society with a couple of plants and ask some advice. There are also many excellent books at your local library about growing orchids - prob the best for beginners IMO is David P. Banks book - Growing Orchids and another one by him called simply - Orchids, cultivation propagation and varieties. Most libraries should have one.

 

You're very lucky to inherit orchids from an older grower, as these are usually selected over many, many years and some of those cultivars may not be commercially available anymore. Cherish them and learn about them. Once the orchid bug bites, it either abandons you or infects you totally, subverting you to their will.

 

@ frazzle - God yes I talk to them. Nothing helps them more.

And yeah, many murders have been committed in the search for some orchids. Some of the early collectors would deliberately set fire to a habitat after collecting every plant worth transporting to simply prevent others getting to them after them, thus ensuring that they'd be the only supply. They would also lie about where they found them, for similar reasons, and this would often mean the plants when (if!) they made it back to Europe would be grown in conditions that were completely unsuitable. England was known as the graveyard of tropical plants.

 

So many species lost - Some estimates put the flora of Australia alone at 2% of the original before european habitation. Scary and sad.

 

I'll pull up some other piccies for you all to enjoy later on today. I have a crucifix orchid and some older pics of a laeliocattleya, as well as some other native terrestrial orchids too.

[smokie7902]

hey man,

here my list of orchids

 

cymbidum Wollar

cymbidum clarise carlton

 

Laeila anceps

 

Eppdendrum sunray

Eppdendrum sagittarius

 

Odontoglossum Avaeux

 

Rossioglossum grande

 

Oncidum Varicosum

Oncidum haematochilum

 

Brassia antherotes

 

Vanda alpina

 

Dendrobium Kingianum

Dendrobium speciosum

Dendrobium nobile

Dendrobium agrostophyllum

Dendrobium aemulum

Dendrobium monophyllun

Dendrobium Linguiforme

Dendrobium strolation

Dendrobium teretifolium

Dendrobium tenussimum

 

bulbophyllum globuliforme

bulbophyllum braceatum

 

and one slipper which i dont got a clue wat it is :scratchin hmm yer for one of the main family i like i dont got many of em **slippers**

 

WISH LIST!!!

VANDA ROTHSCHILDAIANA

RHIZANTHELLA GARDINERI 1st pic

PLEIONS FORMOSANA 2nd pic

 

 

do you have the GROWING ORCHIDS COMPLETE AND UNABRIDGEN

by J.N.Rentoul

if you dont i recomened this book to anyone into orchids

 

peace

p.s have you ever growing your own orchids from seed b4 or sent seed pod into a lab??

[Luke Skywalker]

That's a nice little collection you've got there mate. :thumbsup Mine too isn't too spectacular, only maybe 50 plants, but we all start somewhere. I'd rather have 50 quality plants than a thousand mediocre ones.

 

I'm going to sow my own seed this year in flasks, and then develop my own breeding lines. Can't wait.

 

Yeah, I've got the collection of the J.N. Rentoul books Growing Orchids 1-4.... A little out of date now, but certainly a valuable resource. Particularly useful for info on history. Just reading his "The hybrid story" book at the moment, as well as "The specialist orchid grower", both excellent reads.

 

You'll never grow Rhizanthella gardinerii, or R. slaterii for that matter. It's a saprophyte. Unless you're willing to start lab cultivation, and even the Botanic Garden labs at kings park in Perth have only just managed to grow them with any certainty. Not a garden subject, so just enjoy it in natural habitat. The only way you'd get it is through seed, it's illegal to collect the plant. (You can certainly obtain some other natives through orchid rescues however, try contacting your local species orchid society.)

 

There are labs which offer seed-growing in flasks, true, but these are usually quite expensive propositions for the avg home gardener. I've decided to take the harder, (although comparitive in cost) method of doing my own sterile seed sowing.

 

Whereabouts are you smokie?

 

p.s. Epidendrum, not Eppdendrum

[smokie7902]

from what i have read about getting your own seeds growing in flaks isnt as hard as MANY people make it out to be they all say to send em**seeds* to the lab but as you said is very $$$ have a look on google if you havent already and you will find it will b difficult your fist time but not impossible..doing it yourslf will give you much pleasure as it does when i grow my own seeds fomr my plants that have seeded;) think u no wat iam tlkaing bout

have a look at this site here i just found it and what i have read on it so far has inprssed me very much

iam living on the gold coast, how about you ??

 

are there any special orchids on your wish list?? and do you have any orchids that go through dormat stages in the year as Iam REALLY interisted to obtian some of these have read so much about them in books but i never seem to b able to find any at my nursery or anything

 

peace

[Luke Skywalker]

from what i have read about getting your own seeds growing in flaks isnt as hard as MANY people make it out to be they all say to send em**seeds* to the lab but as you said is very $$$ have a look on google if you havent already and you will find it will b difficult your fist time but not impossible..doing it yourslf will give you much pleasure as it does when i grow my own seeds fomr my plants that have seeded;) think u no wat iam tlkaing bout 

have a look at this site here i just found it and what i have read on it so far has inprssed me very much

 

Yeah, it's not too hard, but I know a few individuals who do flasking for others. PM me if you want details of how to contact them.

 

iam living on the gold coast, how about you ??

 

Perth.

 

are there any special orchids on your wish list?? and do you have any orchids that go through dormat stages in the year as Iam REALLY interisted to obtian some of these  have read so much about them in books but i never seem to b able to find any at my nursery or anything

 

You need to get permission to collect from local govt. Honestly, best bet is to go to local orchid society. There is one nursery which specialises in native terrestrials. Nesbitts orchids, try orchidsonline.com.au, and if they don't have their details, just pm me and I'll get it for ya. Some terrestrials easier to grow than others, but nesbitts have done the hard work of selecting best types as well as developing more amenable hybrids.

 

My wish list is loooooong... I'll think about that and post something later on for ya.

[smokie7902]

ill b waiting to see your wish list hehe...i went to an orchid show a few months back and i saw his one very nice orchid sitting all by itself i started looking at it closer and closer and i went to pick it up and ave a better look and the shop keeper went nuts aye he told me dont touch dont touch very rare dont touch and i said ok then he said its very very rae worth many of thousnads of dollers hehe i was like holly crap :: i want it hehe anywyas dont no y i said that maybe cause iam a bit stoned haha :thumbsup

 

tlak to you later man think u have a opm comeing your way soon

[Spurious]

Nice work there Luke.

 

An orchid that has always tempted me to try growing in Perth, is Vanilla planifolia.

 

I'm sure it would present itself as a challenge, at the very least.

[Luke Skywalker]

Yeah, I'd love to grow Vanilla planifolia myself, but it's what's called "warm" if not "hot" growing. No room for temps below 15-18 degrees. The Vanilla industry is huge, but centered around the tropics, for a good reason. There are hydroponic (well semi-hydroponic) vanilla plantations in hawaii apparently. Every flower lasts but a day,(although they produce several in succession from one inflorescence) and has to be hand pollinated to set a pod. Once harvested several months later, it needs specialised curing to develop that lovely vanilla flavour and scent.

 

I've often thought of growing it under lights in a scrog style scenario, which would be about the only way I can conceive of growing it down here in Perth, next to a professionally built hot glasshouse, and damn wouldn't it be fun! Your own vanilla pods! :thumbsup Takes a while to cure though, but we already have those skills, don't we?

 

Something you might be interested in Spurious, on the subject of orchids used in cooking, is one other orchid used in flavouring in times gone by. Leptotes bicolor was used as flavouring in sherbert and icecream, and still is today in some countries. A little more amenable in cultivation for the hobbyist as I understand it.

 

 

One orchid on my present wishlist is Catasetum pileatum var imperiale. I've actually got a place where I can get this from, and I'm saving up for it as we speak. There are several other Catasetum species I'm looking into as well, and these are some damn speccy orchids. One of the few with separate male and female flowers.... a rare trait in orchids. They actually shoot their pollinators with their pollinia, with a force that can send the pollen across a room! Talk about a rough job for the poor bee.

 

I'd like to have a complete (well, as complete as possible) Cattleya species collection one day, as well as some of the rupiculous laelias. Disa uniflora is something I wouldn't mind owning, as are Dracula vampira and its relatives. Corysanthes, which are also known as bucket orchids, look pretty cool too, but these are not particularly long lived for orchids, although pretty easy to flower according to some sources.

 

Stanhopeas are pretty darn cool too, and I think they'll be my next big project in collection after Cattleyas. I've just ordered Cattleya labiata var alba (damn pretty) and Cattleya mendelii, as well as a small plant of Cattleya intermedia var coerulea.

 

Perhaps one day, after I've got some more experience with orchid seed sowing and colchicine treatment for tetraploids, I might even move into genetic modification to produce true, blue Cattleyas... At the moment we get pretty close, but there are no delphinium genes in the genus, and it would have to be introduced artificially. This isn't too hard apparently, but it would require some more time and experience with seed sowing and mericloning.

 

*sighs*

 

We'll never own em all.... We can give it a good shot though.

 

 

There is a Trichocentrum (formerly Oncidium) species, Trichocentrum cebolleta which was actually used as a hallucinogen! I'm yet to learn just how they used it, and what specific effects it had, but that's another orchid on my wish list, just to see whether it's true. :reallyexcited:

 

Here's an older pic from a couple seasons back of my Laeliocattleya Pink Perfume Got this from an oooooold grower, who had this as an ooooold plant. Has a lovely scent too.