Time for a new thread. Please post your October blooms here. We came from: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1217478/
Ascda Sunsamran Spot X V. Doctor Anek is maturing nicely:
Jim
This message was edited Oct 1, 2011 7:14 PM
Cool October Orchids
This is Phal Candy Hope X Phal Oxford.
Jim
Great freckles, Jim! Thanks for the new thread.
On the way home from the Upstate today, the truck turned toward Carter & Holmes. I took a few pictures and thought I'd share.
This one was probably the largest flower I've ever seen on an orchid. It was a seed or pod parent they use for propagation - not for sale. Unfortunately I didn't get the name...
One of C&H's award winners, Blc Owen Holmes 'Mendenhall' AM/AOS. The camera never captured the colors perfectly, but this was close...
A soft yellow cymbidium...
This one sitting on the floor of their office and I had to look up to take this picture. Probably a 7 foot spike. Any ideas what type of orchid this is?
Last, a tall psychopsis spike with oncidium back-up singers...
This message was edited Oct 1, 2011 7:39 PM
Scott, nice show. The big catt has good floof as well. The tall spiked one looks like a Schomburgkia to me.
Jim
Jim, drooling over the ASCO!
Scott, great to see how those orchids SHOULD look! I can only dream.
Where is Carter and Holmes? I leave to drive home a week from tomorrow and am heading down I 95-- anywhere close I hope I hope! The tall purple one looks wonderful. I was in Indiana several years ago and stumbled across an orchid farm in Carbondale(?) HIlltop Orchids. The owner was a grad of The Citadel and had some beautiful orchids-- some of course he wouldn't sell. My vanilla orchid came from there -- dragged it around for 1 month before I got it home! Of course, I'm close to Homestead and don't ever seem to manage to get there-- and that's a fun area for more than orchids.
Happy Sunday everyone-- hopefully we will dry put here in Princeton for our afternoon Grand Prix-- the ring is very soggy and we had lots of horses cancel-- but an even bigger show next week.
Jim, I thought I had seen a picture of you holding a schomburgkia that was super-tall like that. Thanks for the insight. Those would probably be far too big for my collection.
I came home to find some den-phals that look like a squirrel munched on their leaves AND buds. Here's hoping I'll soon have some flower photos to post, nonetheless.
Debi, C&H is in Newberry SC. It would be a long drive inland from I-95, unfortunately.
I did bring home ONE new purchase. Thank God they don't provide shopping carts. I wanted it because it's already in sheath for winter blooms, and they boasted that it would be highly fragrant. Iwanagara Appleblossom 'Mendenhall' HCC/AOS.
The HUGE purple one is wonderful.
Thanx for the show Scott.
This was in bloom when we bought it in Santa Barbara this past July. Flowers lasted about a week and now blooming again.
brassia longissima
Scott, here is the picture you referenced. Mine is Schomburgkia undulata. A great plant but not for the space challenged.
Jim
This is the flower:
Jim
Carol, I felt the same way walking through their greenhouses. But it's such a controlled environment, where everything I grow is subject to the realities of being outdoors most of the year...and under much-less-than-professional care. It is nice to see such perfect-looking plants, though. To be under shadecloth, everything was still light grassy green and lush. Another thing that struck me was the fragrance...when concentrated in a greenhouse.
Yeah, Jim, that's the one. Insane! The undulation in the flowers is really neat.
Nice brassia, Ted. I have a couple of oncidium hybrids with brassia in their makeup...but nothing that spider-like. And the list grows...
Hey all, happy October! Enjoying the cool-down we've had the last week or so, and hoping to see a flower spike on my little variegated Phal. Couple of questions I'd appreciate opinions on - first, as you see in the pic, this baby is looking healthy and has shiny, perky new leaves, but I seem to be losing the variegation. See the older leaves with the cream borders on both sides, newer leaves with cream border on only one side, then the newest little leaf has just a brush stroke of cream on the end. Ideas? Too much or too little light?
Second question, this plant has not re-bloomed for me (it was in bloom when I got it) in 2 1/2 years now. It has a big root climbing out of the pot, and might want re-potting but I don't want to re-pot right now in case it is getting ready to make a spike. How long do I wait?
With my usual preface...I'm no expert, but...I'd be willing to be the variegation only happens once leaves have matured. And both the root growth and new leaves look content to me. A user on Dave's Garden with the screenname "RUK" once gave me some profound advice. She said, very simply, "Leave it alone. It looks fine." I've always had trouble adhering to that! Keep in mind that growing upright is not intuitive for phals, so the aerial roots might just be its way of trying to reposition itself. I've rarely seen a phal that didn't have some aerial roots. Let the cooler temperatures set-in for a few weeks. It might take the queue and surprise you with a spike. It's recently dropped to 50-degree nights here, consistently, and I have one that's spiking now for the first time since 2009 (sad, but true confession). They do move s-l-o-w-l-y. Hey, what's the brassavola looking orchid in the background? All the best...
Thanks for the sage advice, Scott. If I stick a chunk of bark vertically in the pot will that aerial root attach itself? It's searching for something . . . With an eye to eventually mounting this little fellow instead of the 'pain' of a pot, it seems like a possible transition process. What do you think?
I got two brassavolas at the Tropiflora Fall Festival last weekend, that one is 'Little Stars' and I got one called 'Yellow Bird' as well. They're both in little plastic pots, too. I do plan to mount them as well but thought I'd give them a little break to acclimate. I'm excited to see them bloom, but realize they probably won't until spring.
Yep, I gots da orchid fever! Elaine
Hi, Elaine. I've been out playing in the garden as it is a reasonably nice day here. Ursula (RUK) gives good advise so I would listen to it. Varigation is a mutation and often times plants try to get back to normal. I have had plants where I had to cut off new growth that was not varigated in order to encourage the varigation. If the plant wants to revert back badly enough, there is little you can do to stop it. If the plant looks healthy, be happy and let it be. Phals do just fine mounted and aerial roots will cling to wood if they encounter it. I think you once ask me to post an older phal that was climbing out of its pot and it slipped my mind. Sorry. Here you go.
Jim
Thanks, Jim. That picture makes me feel a lot better. As an 'ordinary' gardener not used to orchids, the idea of letting any plant root just wave around in the air is very foreign to me. But the orchids seem to like it. Epiphytes, right.
I received a lovely gift just now, in a trade package from another DGer - a cutting of a variegated Vanilla Orchid! It looks like it has a little adventitious root at each leaf node. Do I pot it in sphagnum, or lay it on a bed of bark or moss, or what? Again I hate to see any root out there waving in the air! Especially on a cutting.
This message was edited Oct 5, 2011 3:49 PM
I just discovered a bloom on Lc Warneri - purpurata 'Brazilian' X B. nodosa. Beautiful parents produce beautiful offspring.
Jim
Blc Keowee 'Newberry' is also in bloom.
Jim
Perhaps it is worth another look.
Jim
This messge was edited Oct 5, 2011 3:17 PM
This message was edited Oct 5, 2011 3:18 PM
Blc Hawallan Leopard 'Mai Ling' is becoming lighter with age.
Jim
This message was edited Oct 5, 2011 3:15 PM
Somehow my last post went twice and there seems no way to delete it. Oh well.
Elaine, yes, your new vanilla orchid is an epiphyte and does not need to be anchored to the ground in order to grow. I would just put the cutting in some fine orchid bark and set it at the base of a trellis or tree. Once it takes off, you can toss the bark pot.
Jim
I can look at those Hawaiian Leopards all day, no worries Jim. They are brilliant. But I think the 'Brazilian' x B.nodosa is my fave - something about that delicate flower form.
Thanks for the advice on the vanilla orchid, but it's going to be tender to cold, right? Don't want it getting a grip on a tree outside if I'm going to have to bring it in later. So I'll set it up to grab onto a branch or piece of bark so I can move it easily.
Elaine, that fever only gets worse! You're probably right about encouraging your phalaenopsis to adhere to a mount, if you can work that out.
This is a tough time of year for me, because it's a no-no to repot unless absolutely necessary. I have a bit of an addiction to 'messing' with everything...like Mother Nature's not capable of making plants grow without my meddling. :o) The good thing is I have far more "normul" plants than I do orchids, so there's always something to keep me busy, too.
Jim, what a great warneri cross! The spade lip looks like your David Sander, in a way. The other one - Keowee 'Newberry' - is one I passed-up at Carter & Holmes last week. But I hear it's one of those vigorous growers...so one day I'll probably grab one someday. Yep - Ursula - that's the one!
dyzzypyxxy- your phal looks great, i'd leave it for now.
oh jim do you still have that Phal climbing out of the pot?
This message was edited Oct 5, 2011 5:22 PM
Yes, I just took that picture this afternoon.
Jim
Bree, that is an unbelievable color on that 'chid! What's it's name?
Its Lc. Aussie Sunset.
As to mounting phals -- at the retirement community where MOm lives, they have a huge orchid house and a group that plants orchids on the trees. Many of the phals have 2-3 foot long roots growing DOWN on the trees and the blooms always hang down. My phals have attached themselves nicely to the palm trees and are blooming on schedule--and OFF! Several blooms this very hot summer. I was given advice here at DG that the vanilla orchid likes to attach itself to WOOD only-- so mine is now twined around a Lowe's trellis with great hope, I have had the best luck attaching with no medium between the orchid and the tree and cranking a zip tie very tightly. I water a lot at first and then they seem to adapt as orchids do. When I get home I'll take a picture of the cigar orchids that were on a tree when we bought the house-- they bloom religiously every July.
Beautiful art-shade Lc, Bree!
If phalaenopsis are monopodial...why do you never see them as big...and with as many leaves as a vanda? Do they get only so big, then start new growth at their base while the 'mother' plant dies-off? It looks like yours has new pups like that, Jim...several of them. Just something I've always wondered. Despite not doing well with them in the past, I've bought a few new phals / dtps this year, because you really can't beat them for long-lasting flowers...
The only thing left of this orchid is a single, half-eaten flower. You can see where the squirrel even chewed on the stake! Fortunately, the other dendrobiums weren't part of his lunch, and they should be blooming in the next couple of weeks. Dendrobium (Somsak x Mary Mak) x Thongchai. Pitiful...
Scott, I had marginal success keeping the squirrels from eating my mangoes last year using a spray product called 'Critter Ridder'. You can get it at Home Depot or Lowe's. It's a mild peppery spray, (like black pepper) and they really hate the smell of it. btw, it makes me sneeze when I spray it, so I wear a little filter mask. If you can spray something unappetizing in a perimeter around your orchid area, it might help keep the little rodents at bay.
I also have shiny, flashing fake owls near the tree, see pic, and a 'Scarecrow' sprinkler - impulse sprinkler with a motion detector that sprays a 3-second sharp burst if it detects an animal. Even works at night. Problems with that are, if it's windy the foliage movement sets it off, and every time I put it out at night to scare off the raccoons, the cat comes in wet (naturally).
So, our local Master Gardener plant sale was today, and I think I have scored a great bargain, but I'm not sure. Got this big (relative to my others) Brassavola for $12, all it says on it is 'white flowers'. So I'm hoping it is another 'Lady of the Night'.
It is trapped in a cute little metal basket with a bit of orchid bark in the bottom, and climbing out of it. The leaves are much smaller than the other Brassavolas I have. So, is it starving? I've seen pictures of these in larger clumps so it probably doesn't have to be divided, or removed from the basket (don't know how I'd do that except to destroy the basket).
Suggestions, advice please? Elaine
I'd attach the basket to a slab of tree fern and hang it from a tree. It looks great to me. Good buy indeed!
Jim
Thanks, Jim. Sounds like a plan.