Why not grow orchids?

[John hovancsek]

I love it here on the big island because orchids are so cheap and they are everywhere. I have found baby orchids growing all over my yard. First pic is one I got for 10$ and the rest were taken at the botanical garden 

[Silas_Sancona]

18 minutes ago, John hovancsek said:

I love it here on the big island because orchids are so cheap and they are everywhere. I have found baby orchids growing all over my yard. First pic is one I got for 10$ and the rest were taken at the botanical garden 

You'll like that Laelia purpurata ** Now lumped in w/ Cattleya apparently ** ( semi - alba form ) you picked up as it gains size. Very carefree and will produce increasing amounts of blooms the bigger it gets. Imagine conditions there will be exceptional for producing a large specimen pretty quickly.  As exotic as they look, these even survive outside in mild, non- desert parts of California w/out too much trouble. One of my favorites among the Cattleya/ Laelia group.

[Tracy]

The flowers on this Lemboglossum cervantesii definitely outsize the leaves and pseudobulbs; not that I'm complaining. 

[Tracy]

A couple of views of another orchid in bloom this Spring.  A smaller orchid and flower but not what I would call a miniture:  Sedirea (Aerides) japonica.  I really liked the wide leaflets on this and didn't really know what the flowers would look like when I was first attracted to it.  Seeing photos of the flowers hanging down like this closed me on the deal.  I initially was growing it in a different spot in the garden, but hung the stick off one of the fronds of my dense multi-stemmed Dypsis heteromorpha.  It seems to like the filtered light and mid-day shade provided by a Pritchardia overhead with its big round shade providing leaves.

[piping plovers]

5 minutes ago, Tracy said:

The flowers on this Lemboglossum cervantesii definitely outsize the leaves and pseudobulbs; not that I'm complaining. 

Striking patterns and form.  When I saw the photo I immediately thought of Tigridia, the Mexican Shell Flower.

[WaianaeCrider]

Here on the Wai`anae Coast I grow mostly dendrobians (sp).  They love the heat and sun.  Got some on my front deck railing that I try to water once a week but....more like once a month.  Photos tomorrow morn.  I have two shade houses about 8 x 16 that I'm not really taking care of the orchids there.  They get water every morning for 5 min about 6 a.m.  Grow like WEEDS there.  Shade is just to keep litter from blowing all over them if they were j ust in the open.

[WaianaeCrider]

Here are a few of my orchids.

 

[Tracy]

On 6/8/2021 at 11:32 AM, WaianaeCrider said:

Here are a few of my orchids.

Nice Steve, I see quite a few genus represented in your collection.  We have to be a little more careful on the mainland with growing them outdoors and select a little more carefully for the ones that will survive.  I always enjoy Encyclia prismatocarpa as they hold a lot of flowers and have attractive large psuedobulbs and thick strap leaves when not in bloom.  One of mine just started opening it's buds.  I'm sure this would be an easy grow for you as well.

[WaianaeCrider]

4 hours ago, Tracy said:

Nice Steve, I see quite a few genus represented in your collection.  We have to be a little more careful on the mainland with growing them outdoors and select a little more carefully for the ones that will survive.  I always enjoy Encyclia prismatocarpa as they hold a lot of flowers and have attractive large psuedobulbs and thick strap leaves when not in bloom.  One of mine just started opening it's buds.  I'm sure this would be an easy grow for you as well.

Nice looking.   Right now I have so many dendrobeans and off shoots from them that I don't have room for more.  LOL  My two 6 x 15 or so shade houses are full.  I started building another but never finished.  When I do I'll slowly go though the others, making new plants from what's grown over the pots.  Over here Lowes sometimes had 1/2 price plants and I've picked up about 1/2 dozen Phalyeanopsis types for $9 w/out flowers.  I toss them in the shade house and most of the time they comback w/nice flowers.

[Tracy]

Schoenorchis gemmata just starting to open its tiny blossoms.  I thought they would be slightly larger flowers but since this is the first time this is blooming for me, its possible they will get larger.  I practically need a magnifying glass to see them.  I was happy enough with the interesting leaf structure that I wasn't really concerned too much about the flowers when I first saw this orchid.  Anyone else growing it and can share their photos of flowers?

[Silas_Sancona]

45 minutes ago, Tracy said:

Schoenorchis gemmata just starting to open its tiny blossoms.  I thought they would be slightly larger flowers but since this is the first time this is blooming for me, its possible they will get larger.  I practically need a magnifying glass to see them.  I was happy enough with the interesting leaf structure that I wasn't really concerned too much about the flowers when I first saw this orchid.  Anyone else growing it and can share their photos of flowers?

  Time for a super- micro lens,  ..and maybe a piece of Black velvet ( to use as a background )

[Rick Kelley]

After a 17 month hibernation, the Hilo Orchid Society had its first in-person meeting last Saturday.  We were not ready to meet indoors, so we instead decided to start out slow and easy with an outdoor garden tour at my place.  That prompted me to dig up a couple of recent photos to post here.  Just to remind all the mainlander, East Hawaii is just about the most forgiving environment for most orchids.  Mild temperatures all year round, abundant rainfall, refreshing breezes, ideal humidity.  Orchids go nuts once they are tied onto a tree.  I never spray any pesticide and only occasionally get around to fertilizing.  Mostly, the orchids are on their own.  Because you never need to repot and divide a plant growing on a tree, it quickly develops into a large specimen size plant that puts on a wonderful show. First up is a Cattleya purpurata that started out about four years ago the size of John's plant shown at the top of this page. Notice all the unopened buds on the right side.

Next up is one of the few species I grow, Cattleya warneri. This was a freebie from an orchid society potting demonstration six years ago. It started out in a 2" pot, but this year produced 32 flowers.

Here is a very old hybrid using warneri as one of the parents. It is Cattleya Dupreana coerulea.  Sadly, this bloomed ten days before the orchid society visit, so they just got to see all the dead flowers.

Just to prove I grow more than Cattleyas, here is some random blue vanda. Vandas are my favorite because they last weeks even if there is nightly rain, and the colors are amazing.

[piping plovers]

Amazing displays of blooms!

[Tracy]

On 6/20/2021 at 11:19 PM, Rick Kelley said:

Vandas are my favorite because they last weeks even if there is nightly rain, and the colors are amazing.

 

Very nice collection.  We do have to work at it a bit more here on the mainland, with watering and finding the right spot in the garden to maximize the success of each species but it is still worth it.  I like the arrangement of the leaves on Vanda's.  Currently I have a couple of Vanda cristata's in bloom.  Below is the little one blooming for it's first time.  It is a smaller Vanda, but still holds the flowers for a long time like some other Vandas.

[metalfan]

I had this one pop into bloom. It lost the tag a long time ago, but I think its an Aerides

[Silas_Sancona]

56 minutes ago, metalfan said:

I had this one pop into bloom. It lost the tag a long time ago, but I think its an Aerides

Looks correct to me.. Not sure on the species though. Remember seeing these at various plant sales there, and that they all were extremely fragrant.

Edited June 22, 2021 by Silas_Sancona
edit

[piping plovers]

My Brassia Edvah Loo Nishida bloomed.  Bloom span is 10” tip to tip.  Last year they were 18” across tips.  Very light spicy fragrance in morning.  Hammer in photos for scale.  Second year it has bloomed; waited 5 years for 1st blooms.

[TropiCool]

On 11/10/2007 at 10:51 AM, Tomas said:

Hi all,

 

mine is an experience with growing orchids in a protected spot of zone 9a/9b . I already had some cymbidiums, zygopetalums and dendrobium nobile, but I never content with things I already have. Kim, you say that any orchid seller “can tell you what you can grow from his stock”, but when I asked here, everybody looked at me probably thinking poor silly boy, he is going to waste his money killing the plants immediately. I started to change my mind after reading about this experience

http://www.oscov.asn.au/articles/catcold.htm

I ordered my first cattleya for outdoor growing three years ago and put also my Dendrobium chrysotoxum outside, both got through the winters without any sign of damage and here they are....

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Bumping This! Tomas, I'd love to get an update from you and exchange notes over time, I've been experimenting with outdoor orchids the past 7 years around Barcelona (I donated an entire collection to a botanic garden on the Costa Brava. www.marimurtra.cat) and will soon move to Alicante, a bit warmer still.

On 11/10/2007 at 10:51 AM, Tomas said:

 

 

[TropiCool]

On 9/19/2019 at 2:15 AM, palmsOrl said:

I have this blooming.  I'm not sure what it is.  Perhaps a Zygopetalum of some sort.

Not a Zygo.  A complex hybrid involving Brassia.

[TropiCool]

On 5/26/2020 at 4:09 AM, palmsOrl said:

Paphiopedilum druryi, acquired in 1997.  This orchid has been through a lot of adversity over the years but has never given up entirely.  It bloomed for me for a few years, 2010 almost killed it and I have had occasional rot issues, but here it is tonight.

Is that a hungry snail in the center of the plant???

[TropiCool]

On 6/17/2020 at 2:18 AM, palmsOrl said:

I encountered a couple of pleasant surprises in the garden today.  Firstly, this lilliputian orchid species I have acquired two years ago actually survived and regrew.  I thought I had lost it like 6 months or so ago at least, as all of it turned gray and dried up.  Nonetheless, I left the small cork bark mount sitting in the sphagnum moss filled hanging clay pot upside down and there were clearly a couple living growing points left (or maybe even seeds?).

I cannot for the life of me remember what the Latin name for this orchid is, just that it cost me $50, it is native to South Korea and Japan and based on my research a couple years ago when I bought it, I believe it to be the most cold hardy epiphytic orchid species in the world.  This is partly why I bought it and it is supposedly not a heat tolerant species but I guess this is not the case.  It must be getting its needs met so I will leave it put for now and someday may grow it in one of those glass globe terrariums with the circular opening on one side.  This is how I grew it to start, a method which worked quite well.

Pelatantheria scolopendrifolium?

 

[piping plovers]

An interesting fact to learn about the most cold hardy epiphytic orchid. Am glad that it resurrected for you, always a nice surprise when paying $$$ for orchids.  Thanks for sharing.

[WaianaeCrider]

Funny thing about my Dendrobieans.  Some of the best in flower on on my front deck rail in pretty much full Hawaiian sun all day.  I screwed a bunch of pots to the deck rail and then slip the orchids in their pots when in flower into the stationary pots.  Haven't taken care of them for over a year but most keep on putting put flowers.  If it rains, and in the summer that might be 1/2 inch a month water drips off the roof into the pots.  Me I seem to forget to water or fertilize them most of the time.  I water maybe 3 times a month.  But they seem HAPPY.

[piping plovers]

On 7/19/2021 at 1:24 AM, WaianaeCrider said:

Me I seem to forget to water or fertilize them most of the time.  I water maybe 3 times a month.  But they seem HAPPY.

They do seem happy in the Hawaiin sunshine.  A Clever way to keep the pots displayed on the railing and switch them out when finished blooming.

[SEVA]

Dendrobium moniliforme on a snow day in January and later blooming in May.

[Tracy]

Another dainty little orchid that I selected more for us foliage than its flower.  This is the first time its flowering since I've been growing it for the last couple of years.  Meiracyllium trinasutum var album.

[epiphyte]

In the Anthurium craze thread @idesign123 asked about Ecuagenera aroids and orchids for outdoors in SoCal.  Here are my orchid recommendations...

Ansellia africana

Barkeria skinneri

Barkeria spectabilis

Brassavola cucullata

Brassavola nodosa 

Brassolaeliocattleya Aristocrat x Rhyncholaelia digbyana

Brassocattleya Fuchs Star

Cattleya aurantiaca 'Ecuagenera'

Cattleya harrisoniana

Cattleya intermedia (all) 

Cattleya loddigesii

Cattleya walkeriana ´Ecuagenera` X Schomburgkia splendida

Dendrobium Jonathan’s Glory ‘Dark Joy'

Dendrobium speciosum

Dendrobium wassellii

Dinema polybulbon

Encyclia dichroma

Encyclia hanburyi

Epidendrum macrocarpum

Epidendrum Orange Passion

Epidendrum schweinfurthianum

Epiphronitis Veitchii

Isochilus linearis

Laelia purpurata (all) 

Laelia sincorana

Myrmecophila tibicinis

Most of these prefer more sun and can handle more dryness than the average orchid.  There are 100s of other Ecuagenera orchids that would be happy outdoors year around in somewhat more shady conditions in high quality moss that stays on the moist side.  Naturally these would make better companions for the average aroid.  Members of her local orchid society probably grow a bunch of them outside.  

[iDesign]

8 hours ago, epiphyte said:

In the Anthurium craze thread @idesign123 asked about Ecuagenera aroids and orchids for outdoors in SoCal.  Here are my orchid recommendations...

Thank you so much! I'll be placing my Ecuagenera preorder in approx 3 weeks, and am excited to dip my toe into the world of orchids. Most of my experience is with bromeliads (which are relatively easy), so this will be a "level up" for me. Thanks again for the head-start on my research!

[metalfan]

2 hours ago, idesign123 said:

Thank you so much! I'll be placing my Ecuagenera preorder in approx 3 weeks, and am excited to dip my toe into the world of orchids. Most of my experience is with bromeliads (which are relatively easy), so this will be a "level up" for me. Thanks again for the head-start on my research!

Ecuagenera is having an open house here in Apopka Sept 2-6. Should be fun. I love the orchids I have gotten from them.

[epiphyte]

On 8/7/2021 at 12:06 PM, idesign123 said:

Thank you so much! I'll be placing my Ecuagenera preorder in approx 3 weeks, and am excited to dip my toe into the world of orchids. Most of my experience is with bromeliads (which are relatively easy), so this will be a "level up" for me. Thanks again for the head-start on my research!

You're welcome.  Here's a good resource... https://www.fascinationoforchids.com/species/index.html

[Tracy]

I caught this bee going to town on my Cleisocentron gokusingii (merillianum) and felt compelled to capture a simple moment.

[piping plovers]

Great photos! And that flower color, so unusual.

[piping plovers]

I’m reminded to post some orchid photos while visiting the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, FL.  I posted the aroid photos in another thread but wanted to include these few here.  In case anyone is interested, this is a premier US collection of epiphytes in Florida located on an old estate; apparently they made epiphytes their main focus.  The outdoors gardens are pleasant; however, the main attraction is the small greenhouse/ conservatory collection - a jewel box of a display. Wet, humid tropical gems. 
 

Being that this is palmtalk, I needed to add a photo of their impressive Licuala peltata ‘Sumawongii.’

 

[piping plovers]

When I was in Florida last week a friend gave me what I think is a Dendrophylax to take back north.  A leafless Caribbean orchid similar to the ghost orchid.  Also a chiloschista, as I understand it, a similar orchid.  I’ll need to sort out which is which.  Photos below.  I’ll do a cleaner wrap with fishing line soon; i just wanted to get them out of the plastic baggy and mounted outside quickly.

[Silas_Sancona]

24 minutes ago, piping plovers said:

When I was in Florida last week a friend gave me what I think is a Dendrophylax to take back north.  A leafless Caribbean orchid similar to the ghost orchid.  Also a chiloschista, as I understand it, a similar orchid.  I’ll need to sort out which is which.  Photos below.  I’ll do a cleaner wrap with fishing line soon; i just wanted to get them out of the plastic baggy and mounted outside quickly.

Which ever sp. the Dendrophylax is,  will cross my fingers you succeed w/ it..  Had the FL. sp. on my to acquire list but was stopped in my tracks after speaking with several long time Orchid gurus there who all explained how tough these can be to grow, let alone getting them to flower..  One minor mistake which wouldn't faze many orchids can kill these or set them back for years.

Still want to try one after i get the right set up going.  Angraecum, many from S. Africa / Madagascar are easier, but produce similar flowers. Surprisingly, have heard a few sp. can be grown outdoors in parts of S. Cal..

[Tracy]

9 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Angraecum, many from S. Africa / Madagascar are easier, but produce similar flowers. Surprisingly, have heard a few sp. can be grown outdoors in parts of S. Cal..

While mine haven't flowered, I can confirm 2 species I have had success growing:  Angraceum sororium and Angraceum magdalena.  I had to "restart with A sororium a couple of years ago, due to my son house sitting with his girlfriend's lab pup.  Fortunately, I was able to find a replacement plant.  Neither had bloomed yet, but both have put out new basal offshoots.  The current A sororium has been growing outdoors for a little over 3 years in my garden and the A magdalena about 2 1/2 years.  I'm looking forward to these blooming someday!

[piping plovers]

25 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Which ever sp. the Dendrophylax is,  will cross my fingers you succeed w/ it..  Had the FL. sp. on my to acquire list but was stopped in my tracks after speaking with several long time Orchid gurus there who all explained how tough these can be to grow, let alone getting them to flower..  One minor mistake which wouldn't faze many orchids can kill these or set them back for years.

Still want to try one after i get the right set up going.  Angraecum, many from S. Africa / Madagascar are easier, but produce similar flowers. Surprisingly, have heard a few sp. can be grown outdoors in parts of S. Cal..

I may need to curb my expectations then.  Thanks for the background info on that Silas (...and the reality warning,  lol).  They will enjoy their balmy humid breezes off the Bay for another month, then the dreaded bringing indoors for the winter. heating season  I'll see where things stand with them next spring.

[piping plovers]

My BLC. TERRI HENDERSON 'BARBARA' is in bloom. It started as chartreuse green with purple and will gradually go rich yellow with red lip.

[metalfan]

Picked these up yesterday for one of my terrariums. (I have 7 terrariums LOL). Ecuagenera in Apopka is having an open house and everything is 20% off.

Lepanthes saltatrix

Lepanthes lucifer

Lepanthes tentaculata

Dendrobium petiolata

 

 

[metalfan]

A few more views...

L. saltatrix

Dend petiolatum and the overall view