Maybe the Catasetum isn't dying after all

After all my concern, I think it is just doing what it's supposed to do. I was so worried because the leaves were turning yellow then brown and falling off. I wondered if it was the nature deciduousness of the leaves preparing for the dormant season, but it seemed too early in the year. I still don't know if it's too early in the year, but I think the leaves were falling off naturally. Now there are two buds for flowering spikes!!! So of course I have started Bloom boosting it with Dyna Gro- Bloom when I water. I wonder still if the plant is just going according to its natural schedule, or if all the moving and strange water and light regimes haven't disturbed its normal schedule. Maybe my problem is that I can't believe it's nearing the end of August and therefore is almost fall! I am super excited to see what the flowers on this thing are going to look like. I'm assuming they're going to be yellow, based on the name of it.

 

 

Steven and I talked about how we were going to deal with it over the winter and next year. It will need to go in a bigger pot because next years new growth will be over the edge of the current pot. I think we will take it out of its current plastic pot when we first stop watering it to let it dry out. Then we will just rest it in a 4-6" clay pot loosely and dampen the moss/potting medium occasionally so the roots don't dry out too much. I did a bunch of research online, and several sources said it's important not to let the roots dry out too much otherwise they will die and you'll have a weaker plant next year. We will reduce watering a little- to probably just once a week, until it's done flowering and even more until all the leaves are off. Once all the leaves fall off, or mid-November arrives it won't get any more water- whichever comes first.  

Exciting Happenings

Red Epi is flowering. It tried to make one flowering spike and something bit it off. It made a second one and most of it fell off in the second move to North Carolina. Only two flowers were left on. It's making kiki's more something also from the stems.

The Gus Orchid is going to flower if nothing goes wrong. It's made lots of sheaths and I'm bloom boosting is ALOT to try and get it to make lots of flowers. I've been watering it with bloom fertilizer and misting the leaves with bloom fertilizer every day. It seems to be working.

Cattleya cernua is growing a bunch of new growths again after resting for a couple of months. Maybe all of them will make flowers this fall!!

Dendrobium spectabile is making four news growths despite its somewhat unfortunate repotting experience a month or so ago.

Steve Stevenson might be making a flowering sheath! not sure yet though

Yellow and maroon cattleya popped out a flower just yesterday. We weren't expecting a flower this year because it had such a sad looking winter, but I think it is back on it's feet and growing well again.

Bulbophyllum makoyanum is busting out with flowers all over the place. It has 7 spikes right now, but only one is open at the moment.

Oncidium Gold Medal is making a flowering spike. It normally blooms in November so it seems kind of early, but I'm just excited it's going to flower! It's about six inches longer than in this picture by now.

Phalaenopsis amabalis is also making a flowering spike. The grower said they could be in flower nearly continuously, but this is impressive. It only finished a few months ago.

Charlie Brown's new growths are looking really good which is great after it experienced such a downslide this winter.

Migrated again....

The orchids migrated again after about a month in Chicago. Now we are in North Carolina on a screened in back porch. They don't get as much light, but we are doing our best. I'm hoping it will be enough. They certainly like the humidity. We are also no longer fearful of sunburn or overheating which is kind of nice. Not sure what we'll do in the winter- TBD.

FLOWERS!!! on Phrag bessae

A bunch of stuff is flowering. The most exciting of which is our Phrag bessae hybrid!!!! We have been waiting for this what seems like FOREVER. It is really lovely. We have finally succeeded in figuring out what it wants! It's also making two really nice new growths for next year.

The first flower even survived the drive from Chicago to North Carolina. It's made a second one, and it might make a third. We still have no idea what it's hybridized with- maybe caudatum? since it has the longer sepals that are slightly curled.

Psychopsis mendenhall part 2

Our psychopsis is doing well. It's planted in a 4" square plastic pot that is rather deep with a coconut chips medium. It stays wet for a long time. When we asked the vendor we bought it from about our growing conditions she said we may need to repot it so it would dry out fast enough. We are really reluctant to repot it because we killed the last psychopsis we had after repotting it. Instead we cut two long slits in all four sides of the pot to increase air flow and help it dry out faster. It seems to be working so far. It had two new growths when we bought it, and they are still with us. One is completely mature. I'm not even sure which one it was. The other is forming the pseudobulb right now and still doing well. I'm still very careful when I water not to get any water down in the cracks. The sheaths that cover the pseudobulbs on the new growths always seem to turn yellow and start rotting. We keep a vigilant eye out and pull them off when this starts to happen just incase it might spread. I don't know if this is really necessary or even a good idea, but it seems reasonable. We'll see how it goes. The grower told us to grow it exactly like any other oncidium. That is what we had tried to do before, but we had it growing in the wrong medium then. Hopefully this medium and setup will be alright until it outgrows the pot. Now that we've cut slits in the side some of the roots are visible and they look really good. I'm trying to keep them that way

Dendrochilum wenzellii- red

From Redland Orchid Festival 2013. Steven had been wishing for one of these after seeing a huge one at a show over the winter. We looked all over for an affordable red one at the show. The vendor told us to grow it like a cattleya. That's what we have been trying to do, but it is having issues with the leaf tips. They turned brown and yellow. I'm not sure if that's from too much sun or not enough water. I tried looking it up today and it might be both. It is growing in a little tiny 1" plastic basket with sphagnum moss. We are going to leave it alone in that until it starts making too many roots or growing over it. It hasn't grown at all since we've had it. I'm a little worried about it, but don't know what else to do. I will try and pay better attention to it drying out. Because it's so small it dries out faster than our other plants that I only water weekly. It may have also gotten too much sun while it lived in the greenhouse. I don't think it will be getting too much sun anymore here in North Carolina because we have less sun available on the porch here.

Paphiopetalum bellatulum "Dai" x "Nobu"

From Redland Orchid Festival 2013. We had seen a Paph bellatulum at a show over the winter, and put it on our list of things to look for because the flowers were just so fun looking. They are big and white and prostrate. We looked all over the Festival for one and finally found a vendor selling them. It's not exactly the same hybrid we had seen at the show, but it is still really cool looking. I can't remember what it came in when we bought it. We repotted it in a little 3-4" clay orchid pot in sphagnum moss. One of the lower leaves was kind of yellow when we bought it. It's still yellow, but doesn't  seem to be spreading at all. The plant has also since made two nice new leaves. We water it when the moss is mostly but not completely dried out and fertilize weekly with Dyna Gro- Grow. It seems healthy and happy. We are excited about it because it's our first Paph.

Rhyncholaelia digbyana

Also from Redland Orchid Festival 2013. This is one of the white cattleya looking plants with a fringed lip. We got this bare root. It was the only plant at that vendor that seemed like it might have any live roots. We got it because I have been wanting one since they are so interesting looking. We potted it in a 4" clay orchid pot with standard bark mix. We had to use one of those metal clips to hold it in place so it wouldn't wobble and kill any new roots. After we bought it, we looked it up and found out it can sulk about repotting. We were nervous because of that, that it wouldn't root and start making new growths, especially since it was bare roots. But it is !!! It seems like the roots that looked alive when we bought it have lived, and it is starting to make a new growth! We are growing it just like our cattleyas with a good amount of light and letting it dry out completely between waterings. We mist the top sometimes to keep up humidity near the new roots and growths.

Phragmipedium longifolium

Also from the Redland Orchid Festival 2013, this was in bud when we bought it. We got it because we are into Phrags and wanted to get more. Plus it was a good deal with Bulbo micranthum. It came in a 4" plastic pot with rocks and dirt. We haven't repotted it since we got it. There's one mature growth that's flowering and one new growth happening. It doesn't really seem to need repotting except that the cat has tipped it over a couple of times and made a bunch of the dirt fall out. The guy told us it wants lots of water, but it doesn't want to sit in water. We have been watering it a bit everyday from the watering can. It runs through, but not it's not as much water as when I water everything once a week. So far it has been doing well. We are really pleased. It has made 3 flowers so far with another bud developing. I think this next one will be the last though. I think it's getting tired. We have nutricote on it for fertilizer, and I have been supplementing with liquid fertilizer occasionally, but with fewer scoops than I would normally use for a similar sized plant/pot (just a couple).

Bulbophyllum micranthum

We also got this plant at the Redland Orchid Festival 2013 from the same vendor as Phrag longifolium. We had seen one at a show and liked it because it has a yellow flower, so we put it on our list of things we would like to have. We saw it there and got it because it was a really good deal in combo with longifolium. It had a few really old shriveled growths at the back and a nice new growth started. It was potted in a little 4" plastic pot that it had completely grown over the side by multiple pseudobulbs. We didn't have any flat/shallow wooden baskets because we forgot to buy one at the supply place at the show, so we put it in a round take out container in sphagnum moss. We drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom for drainage, and it's only about an inch or so deep so it dries out fairly quickly. I cut off the old shriveled backbulbs when I repotted. A couple of the leaves had some yellow and spots on them when we bought it, but we thought that was because of a broken leaf. Also, so many plants have leaf issues and discoloring that we'd never be able to buy anything if it had to be perfect. A couple of the leaves turned yellow and popped off the pseudobulb which was a little worrisome, but it seems to have stopped. The new growth is doing well, and looks to have some sun spots. At first I got worried about the new growth because where the rhizome forms it got kind of slimy and gross. This had happened on our other Bulbophyllum baileyii. I just cleared more of the moss away, and it improved. Seems to be doing alright now. Once it gets more roots established we will see how it does. I fertilize it when I water with Grow.

When we went to look up the plant after we bought it, turns out there's a macranthum and micranthum, and people are often not so good with the labeling. So we will see what it turns out as!! Oh well, we like bulbophyllums anyways because they are interesting and easy.

Phragmipedium kovachii x schlimii

This is possibly the most exciting purchase ever!!! Steven has been hankering after a kovachii ever since it was discovered. We never thought we would be able to afford one though. (Granted we didn't get the species). We got it from Peruflora at the Redland Orchid Festival 2013. The guy had a couple of different hybrids and a species for sale. We talked to him for a little bit about the price and how to care for them. He ended up giving it to us for only $25!!!! We thought about getting the species, but decided we should practice on a hybrid first just in case. He told us they want to be wet, but maybe not quite as wet as our Phrag bessae hybrid. It is a substantially sized plant with several new growths. We planted it in a standard bark mix that we added some coconut chips to for moisture retention. It's planted in a 6" clay orchid pot. I think it would be happy if we watered it every day, but that is awfully high maintenance so we put a small tray of water for it to sit in and water it every couple of days. We put 10-10-10 Nutricote on it like we did with our Phrag bessae. We read online that it likes more basic soils, so we are thinking of getting some crushed shells for it, but haven't done anything yet. It had some slight yellowing issues at first that was a little concerning, but it seems to have quit doing that. I think it was probably just repotting stress. Plus, when we bought it it was wrapped in a bit of sphagnum in a plastic baggie for who knows how long. It seems to be growing ok. Some of its new growths have elongated nicely and are doing well, it also has some little tiny new growths that don't seem to be growing. This happened before with our Phrag bessae. It started to grow then they got stunted for one reason or another and never kept going. Eventually the stunted growth on Phrag bessae rotted and we cut it off, but that took over a year. I wonder if the little growths on kovachii will stay stunted... I don't have much to say about how to grow this yet, because we only just got it!