Dendrobium Spectabile is finally FLOWERING!!!!!

I know this blog is probably tired of hearing about the step by step of Denrobium spectabile, but the anticipation is over because it is FLOWERING! The greenhouse called us over the weekend, and we ran right over to pick it up so we can admire it. We are really really hoping the flowers will last until the orchid club meeting on Feb 10th. I think it can do it. I will give it pep talks. We have been misting it, to try and make the flowers last longer.

 And now for the pictures!!! Aren't they crazy looking?

Sickly update

Our sick babies are mostly better I think.

The red and yellow mini cattleya still has the brown under it's leaves, but it hasn't been losing any more. I think the virus busted out because it got stressed in the fall then we stressed it more by not watering it because we thought it was fungus. We put it in a window for it to get better sun and have been watering it regularly. It seems to be improving.

Sharry baby never got any worse. After several weeks at home we decided to bring it to the greenhouse. It has liked it there. The new growths have gotten big really fast. It doesn't show any sign of still having problems.

Zygopetalum is also looking fine. It's not doing anything either, but it is winter. I think the crisis is mostly past for the sick things.

A coupe of things got sick at the greenhouse. The coral colored epidendrum got brown spots all over and is turning yellow just like happened to the large growth it had. All we have left are the babies that sprouted. They're going to kick it too, and I think I'm just going to let it. It must have some sort of systemic problem. The mini grammatophyllum scriptum also got brown spots all over its leaves. We brought it home so it wouldn't infect anything else. We haven't treated it or anything. Nothing really seems to be progressing either. We are just waiting to see what happens.

Flowers!

Cattleya aurantiaca is flowering!!! I went to the greenhouse today and got this pleasant surprise! I knew it had buds, but I didn't think they would be busted out quite yet. It is really going to town this year. It has 6 flowers on the one that is already open, and 3 more buds on the next growth. I brought it home so we could admire it.

Charlie Brown is also about the flower. I brought it home too so I don't have to go back and get it next week or so when it opens. The spike is really long this time. I'm so glad this is able to flower again after having such a rough time of it last winter when we over sunned it. It looks happy as a clam.

The babies love the greenhouse

Nearly everything is looking plump and happy and growing.

Our vandas were struggling at the greenhouse at first because they don't get watered every day even though it is more humid there. They are getting much better sun there. The ascocentrum ampullaceum especially was looking bad with the leaves shriveling and one of them turning yellow. We took some moss from some of the other plants and a few bigger chunks of bark from our other plants and put them in the basket with it too keep up the moisture. We did that before Christmas and it is looking much better now. That leaf is still turning yellow, but it's not shriveled anymore. Hopefully it will still flower in the spring. The orange vanda is really happy. It's making tons of roots and new leaves.

All the cattleyas are looking really good- plump and happy. They are making tons of roots all out of their baskets. They are making new growths too, but slowly.

The bulbophyllums, especially the baileyi, are going nuts. Baileyi is making like 8 big honker new growths. Makoyanum is also making new growths but not as many.

Encyclia cindy's newest pseudobulb is big and fat and plump.

The octoporchid/ encyclia cochleata's new growth is massive. It's so fat that it split itself a little like tomatoes do when you don't water and then water all of a sudden. I'm actually a little worried that cooties will get into the splits, but I didn't have anything to put on them.

The red epidendrum has made a bunch of kikis and they have roots a couple of inches long now. They will need potting soon.

All the Oncidiums are looking great. Gower Ramsey's older pseudobulbs have always been shriveled looking, and I didn't think they would be able to plump back up. They are sure plump now though. I'm really impressed by that.

The Phrag bessae and Phrag longifolium are looking really good. Their new growths have made roots that are down into the medium beautifully. The oldest parts of the older growths are looking kind of yellow, but I'm not really worried about that. I think they are just getting old, and the new parts look great.

Phrag kovachii is not looking so hot though. The leaves on the older growths are turning yellow. I don't know why. It is making some new growths. I don't know if it wants more water, or it wants more basic medium, or if it's just delayed stress response from when we bought it. I will be so upset if it kicks it.

Dendrobium aggregatum

Aggregatum is not going to flower this year I'm pretty sure. We had it at the greenhouse, but didn't put the do not water tag on it until December because we kept forgetting. It was still getting watered though because it would be really easy to miss the tag or accidentally spray it along with all the others around it. We brought it home so it could dry out, and the very next week I noticed it was putting on new vegetative growth. No flowers for us this year because we messed it up. We decided to just water it and fertilize it and let it grow this winter, and hope for twice as many flowers next spring. It seemed like it would be too late to get it to flower if it's already making new growths since it normally flowers before it starts growing. We should have stopped watering it when it stopped growing earlier in the fall, but it wasn't Thanksgiving yet. Goes to show we should listen to what our plants are telling us rather than arbitrary dates. I think we will need to repot it soon. It's getting crowded in there!

Dendrobium spectabile is almost there

We have been watching this plant like a hawk for months. Visiting the greenhouse regularly where our babies are being watched. This is from before Christmas. 

 

 

This is from today!!!

 

 

 

The greenhouse man, Paul, says if it gets sunny at all it should bust out soon. I think the buds still have a little developing and growing to do before its ready based on what I remember these plants in bud looking like a shows last year. I can't WAIT to be able to bring this to the orchid meeting to show it off. It also has some new growths, but they are still nub sized while it focuses on flowering. I asked Paul to call us when it starts to open so we can bring it home and admire our hard work!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catasetum is growing again already

I was so surprised when this started growing already about a month ago.

 

 

This one is from today.

 

 

 

I haven't started watering or fertilizing. Several of the things I read say to wait until the roots are a few inches long before watering and fertilizing again. We also need to repot it. There's not enough room in the current pot for another big pseudobulb. I have been occasionally splashing the roots with water so they don't dry out so much that they die. I think this plant is just on a non-standard schedule. You would think it would start growing in the spring, but it's the middle of winter. When we bought it in March though, last year, it had a pretty substantial new growth on it already, so it probably starting growing again this time last year. I'm having to rotate the plant often because the new growth keeps bending towards the sun. If this new growth does well I might not mind having more of these plants. I would look for a solid colored one. I saw a really pretty completely yellow one at the Orchid Trail, our babysitting place. This plant has been living at home though because it doesn't want watering yet and there's no leaves to need sun either. Now I'm anxiously awaiting for it to start making roots!