Wow! It's so cool to see all the new photos from everyone. Jim, it looks and sounds like you had a great trip to Phelps. I'm gonna have a surprise for you in a few days. I can hardly contain myself. lol
Carol, you've been holding out on us with that, "I have no flowers" lament. Get out! Your Cyms are looking great. LMK if you are interested in a swap when the weather warms.
Elaine, I like the Brassavola, with or without a name, as well. My collection is limited to mostly a few species types. Interesting about the racoons.
Scott, we do start blithering when we get more than a day without rain lately, don't we? I've been considering adding Physan to my bathing regimen.
I've been concerning myself with mysterious thick webs appearing at the bases of a number of plants, including mounts. It has to be caterpillars but I can't find them. There's been some bad root damage. I've been trying to chase them down by pulling and soaking plants and repotting like crazy. It's been enormously time consuming. I've soaked and removed sphag around the roots of mounts with chopsticks. Not a snail, not a slug (neither of which would make webs). Nary a spider, which I welcome, but there is the fress in those webs so common with caterpillars. I've sent macro photos out to my team of uber experts and they agree it must be caterpillar related. I've been holding off dropping the bomb because of the contained space but think I must don the hazmat suit and get with it. Ugh! Good thing one of my favorite orchid people is a toxicologist with the CDC.
January Orchids Part II
Laurel, did you consider trying Bt before you resort to the toxic stuff? It's good for caterpillars on edibles. I can't imagine it would be harmful to orchids since it's a naturally occurring bacteria.
Also, have you tried sneaking up on them at night with a good flashlight? DH calls me the Midnight Marauder when I go out at night to hunt bugs and things. But there sure are lots of them that come out at night - can't blame them, they're not so easy prey for the birds then.
Sri Lanka weevils are my favorite project for night hunting - they're white so they really show up when you shine the flashlight on them.
Mj, your raspberry red is just lovely.
Laurel, I see Thuricide in your future. It may be the nuke option but it works. Something for me? Now how will I sleep with a tease like that.
Mj, love the color of your new Catt.
Elaine, good job with the queen of floof. You should be able to enjoy her for six weeks or so.
Jim
Actually Thuricide is my bomb of choice in the veggie garden but must have had a brain burp here. You guys are invaluable! Now to find an Atlanta source that does not store their Bt outside all winter like the big box stores. It kills the bacillus. I keep my Bt indoors at Maypop where the house is on freeze protect. Okay, thanks so much for the great suggestion.
Mj, Your rasberry red is really pretty!
Laurel, Sounds like you have a war on your hands. I, too would try the BT first. I haven't been holding out, I've been waiting for things to open. This crazy weather has all my plants confused. They don't know wheather to bloom or die. The Cyms decided to open due to a week of hot, very dry , windy weather, but there has been a lot of bud blast and dry sheaths due to the rapid changes from week to week. This is not our usual weather, but I probably won't be buying much at the show next weekend. I need to see what what can take it, and what can't. I also need to get my Orchid shack more easily adaptable. The portable heater works great for the night temps, but when the day temps reach 85 with humidity at 19% it isn't working so well. The windows at each end can be removed for air movement, but it's a hassel, and doesn't help with humidity at all. Guess I'll have something to keep me busy this summer.LOL!
Carol, I have a small Vornado in the greenhut. It moves a lot of air even on the lowest speed. It's very quiet. It sounds like maybe you need a watering system to boost humidity. I have a pretty crude set up with tubing and misters. I use it when we are away but prefer to hand water when we are here. I have a hand misting/watering system that can put a lot of water in the air. The indoor/outdoor carpet on the floor collects much of the water and acts like a swamp cooler. If I want to decrease the humidity I put collection pans on the floor to collect some of the water and remove it. Vandaceous orchids, which are heavily watered daily, cause the most water fallout.
I gave up on vandaceous orchids (or any that come from the "cloud forrests") due to lack of humidity. The misters wet the plants too much, but I was thinking a fan blowing through a panel of shade cloth, topped by a drip or mist system would make a mini swamp cooler. The floor is pavers on dirt, so run off wouldn't be an issue. The trick would be where to mount it so the fan doesn't get wet. Or there are "misting fans" that aren't too unreasonable, but the only one I've seen working didn't appear to work that great, and they take up alot of space. As to the hand misting/watering system, mine consists of a spray bottle. LOL! The potted ones either get the watering can or dunked. Rain water is precious here!
All these are so outstanding. Been busy and have had no time for anything FUN. Decided to push all the work aside and go to the Huntington for the afternoon. Pics on a separate thread
Two of my little orphans surprised me with blooms this morning.
On the left, Lc. Goldbrand HCN-03 and right, Lc. Renate 'S&W'. Guessing the codes to the initials here - Lc. is Laeliocattleya, right? HCN-03 is an award in 2003? No clue on 'S&W'.
thx Elaine
This message was edited Jan 30, 2012 9:56 PM
Mjs, that's a beautiful color combination on that bloom!
Elaine, both are very nice! Yes, Lc. abbreviates Laeliocattleya. And 'S&W,' because of the single quotes, is the clonal name for your Lc. Renate, which is the cross itself, or grex. Capitalized names are hybrids, or crosses...whereas lower-case names are naturally-occuring species courtesy of Mother Nature. 'S&W' was probably named because a given Renate hybridization resulted in a unique flower...that was cloned (mericloned) for mass production. The process is where labs take tiny portions of the plant, wherever there is active cell-division, and get many plants exactly like the 'mother' plant. Whereas somebody can make the same cross for Lc. Renate by pollenating for seed, they can't guarantee the exact same flowers you have in 'S&W.' It was awarded an HCC/AOS (Highly Commended Certificate from the American Orchid Society). You sometimes also see awards from RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) JOGA (Japanese Orchid Grower's Association), etc. Confusing as h3ll, ain't it? ;o)
I have no idea what the other codes (AAA-11) mean...except maybe they were somebody's tracking mechanism for seedlings. I've also seen Asian imports - some beautiful orchids - that are hard to decipher, probably because so much is lost in traslation.
Lc. Renate is also found as Lctna (Laeliocatonia), which would be a cross between Laelia, Cattleya, and Broughtonia. This may be from recent name-changes. Even more confusing.
Laurel explains this stuff like a pro, and I insist its her medical background that makes it a little more intuitive for her. I've enjoyed learning some genetic basics, to better understand my orchid collection. Laurel (or others) may correct or amend what I've said here.
Scott
Scott,
Read your post. Now my head hurts. LOL
I thought Scott did a good job of it. lol I agree the tags can be confusing and don't know if I can help. Scott covered the hybrid genus part. He is also correct about the Asian growers adding info for tracking to their hybrid names. S&W is a Hawaiian grower. I'm just guessing the orchid came from their crossing but you could check the RHS listings. The other abbrevs do not have to do with any awards that I know of. This is just a stab, but CITES regulations require the fumigation of imported orchids and one of the chemicals used is hydrogen cyanide, abbreviated HCN. I'm guessing your orchid's parents were brought in '03 and gassed with hydrogen cyanide. The information may be on the tag because there are studies that track the possible effects of certain treatments on plants over successive generations. Since so much of this type of breeding is clonal they are always looking for information that may influence the genetics down the line.
Ted, need more Tylenol?
C Claudebec x Lulu i think
and C. Beaufort x Blc. Sunset Bay.
Everytime I think I've seen the "pretiest" Orchid possibly, another is posted.
When I was stationed in HI, I was attached to an Infantry Unit. We used to go out "in the field" and were told to camouflage our Kevlar helmets. One time the "field' was covered in small Orchids. So, I had this lovely helmet that the CO was NOT happy with. But I did blend in!!!!
Ohh wee, Bree. Is that first Catt an aclandiae cross? Sure looks like one.
Qwilter that's a cute story. Imagine how many orchids you'd need in your yard or greenhouse to cover a helmet. BTW, I'm falling behind in my quilting project while designing invitations.
I started just started a new thread for February here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1240494/ Come join me.