Descent into autumn...orchids of September

of the following, which ones do i esp. nedd to be in a hurry bringing in as the temps. fall: catts, ansellia, encyclia, stanhopea, staurochilus, dend., ? lee

My experience tells me the vandas are the most sensitive to cold.

Jim

jim, appreciate it. even thougt our cold weather really doesn't until mid-nov., our cool weather (40's-50') begins in mid-oct. this year, i'm going to have to cull some as i'm having total knee replacement sept. 23rd, so i'm trying to prioratize the moving of them. there is a woman here whom i trust giving them to, as i know she won't toss them in the trash. i've 24 inside now and it will be alot of work segregating the ones from outside. it's like having to choose your favorite child, as silly as that might sound. lee

Sorry about your knee. OK, here is my best shot: Cold Hardiness (least to most): Vanda, Phalaenopsis, Laelia, Cattleya, Brassavola, Oncidium, Brassia, Epidendrum, Dendrobium, Miltonia, Paphiopedilum, Cymbidium. Others may argue with me but this is from experience. Good luck to you.

Jim

hey jim very good. usually, i'm not a procrastinator but this year i am doing so. i think it's more the tediousness of it, checking for insects, disease, etc., that is the trouble not the hauling in. very good of you to respond. it seems you know your stuff. lee

Thanks for the list, Jim. I will also use it.
Sorry to hear about your knee and your hard decisions, leeflea!!

thanks boojum, good to hear from you again. i don't knoe which is worse, having the surg. or making the decisions about which ones to keep. one in particular i'll be keeping is the epidendrum ilense as it, to me, is so unusual and i like never to have found one. at least i've had time tonight to put that one on my keep list. lee

boojum, jim-- if you two didn't live so far away, i'd ship some to each of you. lol. i realize they are just orchids but i've invested alot of time in them. most of which bought from c&h for reasonable prices and are of good quality. i'd give them to the local garden club here but i'm still miffed that they denied me membership just because i'm male. i might be cutting my nose off to spite my face. cheers, lee

Jim, just running by here, but the list of cold to hot orchids is almost perfect according to my experience. But I think most Oncidiums are more cold tolerant than you suggest on the list. I'd have put them right above Cyms., although the prefer warmer. They are more tolerant, in my opinion, of lower temps than some others and will still bloom.
L

Sorry for the cross post Lee. It's late and I've been "away". Good luck with your adoptions.
L

mpl, you and i live only about 5hrs apart. are you facing the same dilemma as i am or are yours already taken care of? lee

no problems, mpl. i appreciate all input and i don't scream at people lol.

Gosh Lee, I'm up much later than usual. I just wanted to respond by saying I'm facing several dilemmas, but none of them involve orchids. I had a tree take down my chimney (which also knocks out the wood heat furnace) on Mother's day. We have had no rain this summer and it is one of the worst droughts in history for the state. Given that we grow a lot of the food we eat for the year, that is a serious situation.

I have enjoyed your posts and appreciate that you have a special collection. Hope you can find good homes for all your babies. In the meantime, I've been growing orchids as a hobbyist for many years. I'm no pro, but am used to the whims of nature as well as the unplanned circumstances (such as your pending knee surgery). Good luck.
Laurel

That's so sweet of you to think of us for your orchids. I really appreciate the thought, but it would be too costly and too much touble to pack them. I recently had a discussion about what my DBF should do with my orchids if we had to move or I were to die (not morbid you see because I was writing my will at the time) and I decided on the local orchid society. I wouldn't want the burden on him for any length of time.

mpl, boojum, kind words from you both. sorry about the chimney collapse laurel. yes, we, too, have been under drought conds. but not like y'all. please, i, too, am only a hobbyist. 8 yrs. and still so . i belong to the aos and post questions on their forum but only questioms as i feel i don't know enough to give advice. good luck and do contact me anytime.
boojum, didn't mean to give you a heart attack. lol. the closest larger towns near me are tupelo, ms and florence/muscle shoals, al. i'll have to check out those two places re: orchid societies. why do we have to face such dilemmas, he asks with disdain? lee

No heart attack taken! lol. I'm sure you will find a good solution. Maybe you could advertise on craig's list. Also you could look at those who live near you here on DG (Look under the "Extra" tab, then "DG Connections", then "Find other DG subscribers in your area") and contact them through dmail to see who grows orchids. Not all orchid growers "speak" on these threads. Some are lurkers.

good morn to you boojum, there is a woman and her daughter who live nearby and just as soon as i've had another cup of coffee, i'm going to call and ask the mother if she and her daughter want them and if they do, just come on and get them. get it done quickly, less pain and fret. lol.
re: lurkers. creepy term.
lee

Gosh Lee, I so wish you could keep your Orchids! Just look them over by eye and move them in? Once your knee is fixed and you are feeling better, you might be very sorry you gave them up?
I don't treat every plant which I bring in! But then I don't mind living with a couple of crickets right now....?

oh, ruk, so do i but i just decided to no be sentimental over them. i've no fine collection as i assume you and the others might but i have put alot of time into them. i still have a couple dozen inside. the women about whom i spoke left about 20 min. ago. the only one i kept of the outside ones was the george king 'serendipidy' because it's in sheath. of, course, i kept the epi. ilense which i had planned all along. in an odd way, i feel liberated because opal and vickie will properly tend them.
i just noticed that my odbrs. kenneth bivens 'santa barbara' is putting out 3 new leaves. it's a reliable flowerer.
if i had to get rid of all and be able to keep only one, it would be my blc. keowee 'mendenhall' (lc. lorraine shirai x b.nodosa) it, too, is reliable and not at all fussy.
for me, the paphios i have are 'needy'. odd, i can grow and flower most all, except phals and this one paph called paph. liemianum 'halls' x rothschildianum 'chester hills'. i've had it 3yrs but will give it until spring before i pass him on to someone else.
thanks for giving me this opportunity to talk of this and thanks for your interest. lee
hope the crickets don't cause you to lose your mind. lol

Hi Lee, I am one of the lurkers. I hardly ever have anything in bloom worth posting, so that makes me mostly a lurker. I am in Ocean Springs, MS, so "hi neighbor". I am also a member of the Gulf Coast Orchid Society. Not sure where Tupelo is exactly. I do know Hattiesburg has an orchid society, as some members of our society are also members of their society.
Janet

well hello, good to talk to another southerner.i know, the word lurker sounds ominous lol. i'm in itawamba co. which is in the n.e. part of the state. i'm about 300 miles from you and 50 miles e/ne of tupelo. and i hardly post giving advice on orchids as i've only grown them for about 8 yrs so i tend to ask questions of the more sophisticated of the growers. are you origionally from ms? i don't think tupelo has a society as i couldn't find it in the aos directory this morning.
so in return i say 'hi neighbor' back and do contact me about your goings-on. hope you didn't get any storm damage.
lee

Lee, just to let you know that I've only been into orchids for 3 or 4 years now but I give advice when I've had some personal experience and I talk to experienced growers on DG and with local growers quite often to educate myself. So you are way ahead of me. I think you sound settled and happy with your decision and the transaction with the ladies. Great job and I'm enjoying hearing about specific orchids. I'll hafta "find" my odbrs. kenneth bivens and see if we are in synch.

As well as keeping a cheat sheet on cold sensitive orchids, I also have one on sun or shade. I keep the vast majority of my orchids in my pool cage which is on the north side of the house. The screen cuts about 50 percent of the suns rays and I can control the rest simply by moving the orchids close to the house for shade or further away for sun. Here is my cheat sheet: Light Requirements (High to low): Vanda, Brassavola, Oncidium, Cymbidium, Laelia, Cattleya, Brassia, Paphiopedilum, Epidendrum, Dendrobium, Miltonia, Phalaenopsis. You can quibble a little with it but it seems to work for me.

Jim

Sounds good Jim!
I only might squibble a bit with Dendrobiums of the bigibbum or Phalaenopsis type. ( parents of many box store dendrobiums hybrids) I can't get them to bloom unless I hit them with full NJ sun.
My nobile types Dendrobiums ( soft canes) put on growth over the Summer under slightly protected conditions, but they go into full sun over the Winter.
Many Bulbophyllums need surprisingly good light too, or the new growth succumbs to rot.

Lee, I am glad you kept the Blc King George 'Serendipity'. I got one last Summer and I love the beautiful scented flowers. And Epi ilense is always a keeper.

jim, ursula, as earlier stated, i'm usually a listener when it comes to orchid care and i'm remembering what all of you have said and i thank you. ursula, after my last posting, i went outside a saw an orchid i forgot to dend away and am now glad i didn't. it was a cymbidiella pardalina i had parked beneath the south deck. usually, i like what for me, are the unusual ones and that one was unusual. it's doing well even with some neglect. hasn't bloomed yet bot doing nicely.
yes, the george king does have a great shape and scent and for me the latter is usually the more important thing.
i'm in the 'orchid room' now and am noticing that the alcra. mervyn grant 'misty' and the zygo. 'kiwi geyser' are putting up new growth. should look around and see what other surprises i find. no crickets or other bugs, i hope. someone suggested getting some praying mantis eggs and letting them hatch in here. NO, NO for if i did, i couldn't be dragged in here! can deal with them. a couple summers ago, a mantis had caught a hummingbird at the feeder and practically decapitated it.
will run. hello boojum.
take care all, lee

Sounds like you still have a wonderful collection, Lee. I'm happy you've stuck with us! What do you have in bloom now? I am very excited because my Lc. Loog Tone ‘African Beauty' which I got after Ursula posted pics is opening! High drama! Tomorrow I'm going to the Amherst Orchid Society sale-not that I need any more orchids!!

And Perreiraara Motes Leprechaun ‘Haiku Mint’ is opening on one of two spikes.

Cym. Golden Elf continues to wow.

HI boojum, what can i say? the orchid is too beautiful! aren't you the lucky one? yes, it will be high drama. isn't it strange how that is? at times, when i have them just in sheath, i find myself checking on them countless times throughout the day!

the only one i now have in flower is an encyclia cochleata. my blc. newberry is in sheath and am awaiting it's opening but it might be one that takes it's own sweet time as so many, as you know, do.

it's kind of you to say i have a wonderful collection. really, i have the ones that make my happy, except for 2-3, which i think are deliberately trying to destroy the last functioning nerve i've left!

will the amherst sale be a large one? do, go on, and get what strikes you. isn't that the fun of it---the adventure?

now, tomorrow, i'll be expecting to hear all about what wonderful plants you saw and BOUGHT.

have a good night and a good tomorrow, lee

Thanks, Lee. I'll bring a camera for sure. I have an Encyclia cochleata or one that looks just like it bloom too (Epi. Green Hornet). Thanks for your encouragement to have an adventure!! Good night!

good night to you, boojum. lee

Lee,
No storm damage this time. I am originally from Louisiana, so not far from here. I have had a lot of trials and tribulations with my orchids. Have been growing about 6-7 years, but hurricanes, work schedules, and no greenhouse have really given me a lot of challenges. Someone told me you don't really grow orchids until you've killed some. Well, I have definitely killed more than my share!!!
Janet

janet, yeah, me, too on the killing. i try to do all research before buying a new one but somrtimes i get over my head, which i am beginning i did with the C. pardalina. as with many things, i'm usually more interested in what is different and unusual than i am in the mundane. well, live, make mistakes, learn, and move on. lee

Nice show Kathy! I am on my way to Virginia for a week but before I go, Vanda Robert's Delight has just opened.

Jim

Wow! Such a beauty! So I ONLY bought 2 orchids today-both from Glen Decker of Piping Rock. Cymbidium Eastern Morning 'Shunshoku' (goeringii). Here's the pic of it in bloom (not till next year).

And this Pleurothallis imperiallis x Pleurothallis palliolata! Love this one, my first pleuro.

And the whole plant! Lots of buds.
Have fun in VA, Jim.

here's Glen (dark hair talking to Bill Hutchinson [Larch Hill Orchids]).

More.

Pretty cat.