Epi. porpax

Blogging and weekly orchid inspections took a backseat to a little summer R&R during the last couple of weeks. The only visible damage to the collection that I can find so far is a cattleya once hung in the apple tree was blown to ground, pot broken and bark scattered. The orchid itself, C. Chocolate Drop ‘NOK’, is a vigorous plant with several still-intact sheaths.

In mid September I’m making plans to winterize the greenhouse and to bringing in the orchids that summered in the backyard. Last week, I purchased a new roll of sealing tape – the kind I use to secure the plastic sheeting that covers the louvered windows – from FarmTek.

My goal will be to get the plants in before the windows need to be sealed. That way they can become acclimated to the closed environment and still benefit by the opened windows. I think they adjust better to the airtight confinement of greenhouse existence than when I wait until the last possible moment – that is, the day before the first hard freeze – to bring them into a sealed and furnace heated greenhouse.

One little plant that has remained in the greenhouse all winter is Epi. porpax. As the photo shows, it’s now in full bloom.

Pot. Hoku Gem ‘Sun Spots’ x Pot. Little Toshie ‘Gold Country’, AM

Over the weekend, one of the several seedlings bloomed that I bought a couple of years ago during Tom and Barbara Larkin’s annual Whippoorwill sale in Arkansas. [See last week’s post about another plant I bought at the sale.]

It is a Larkin cross between Pot. Hoku Gem ‘Sun Spots’ x Pot. Little Toshie ‘Gold Country’, AM.  When I bought it, I hoped for a mini catt with spotted flowers.

I am disappointed. The flower is not only without spots, it is also without much color distinction.

Disappointed but not surprised. Little is ever guaranteed on the blooming end of an unknown cross.

On the positive side, this little plant is the first to bloom of the many seedlings I bought that day at the sale. The plant is super small and putting out a second bud.

Disappointed, yes. But I’d do it again because a big part of the fun of buying a seedling from a new cross is waiting to see the results.

Several of the current bloomers are pictured on the Photos page:

C. maxima

Cattleya maxima is a particular favorite. I bought it several years ago on the final day of the OSGKC show when the vendors were breaking down their booths. A desiccated, bare-root C. maxima had been tossed in a heap with some other plants by the Ecuagenera salesman. The plant had a withered flower so I was hopeful that, despite my lack of experience with bare-root purchases, this plant was a viable bloomer – which it has been, every year since I bought it. I grow it in a shallow, clay pot with a medium bark, charcoal and inorganic pellets mix

The Catasetum ochraceum is also a reliable and fragrant bloomer. This year it produced a record number (for me) of inflorescences . In addition this is the first year that I’ve had a female flower on this multi-sex plant. (That’s the flower pictured on the Photos page.]

The Cattleya dayana is a beauty. The diminutive plant produces an exceptionally large, deep purple and white flower with distinctive stripes. This is a first bloom.

The Miltassia Olmec ‘Kano’ x Brs Rex ‘Pieper’ is a reliable bloomer – big, spotted flowers and usually several inflorescences. During the winter, it lives near the door on the cool side of the greenhouse, and during the summer it hangs in the orchids’ summer shade house. This is a big plant and not suitable for the limited-space collector.

Success with bare-root C. maxima gave me the confidence to buy a large bare-root plant from the Cattleya family:  Laelia Pacavia ‘War Eagle’ (L. purpurata x L. tenebrosa). I bought this at Tom and Barbara Larkin’s annual Whippoorwill sale in Arkansas. This was a division from one of Larkin’s stud plants. Stately and graceful like all Laelias, this one has been a workhorse – blooming every year, starting within six months of when I potted it up as a bare root.

Mokara Salaya Gold is a lovely color – and I’m always a sucker when it comes to spotted orchids. I love them. Unfortunately, this may be the only Vandaceous plant that blooms for me this year. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I tried something different this year when I put my seven Vandas under trees near the garden’s waterfall. Picturesque and very tropical-like – but entirely too much shade, I fear. The Salaya Gold is the only one showing signs of flowering – but what a cheerful flower it is!

At any rate, last winter I noticed that, as the number of orchids in my collection grew, the time I spent trying to feed, clothe and discipline them was also growing – and growing and growing. Most weekends, I would spend an entire day toiling over each plant – fertilizing, watering, examining, staking, repotting (occasionally), pruning and repositioning for optimal light/temp/moisture/breeze conditions.

Hard to have a life when 50% — or more — of your time off is spent as a slave to orchids.

Now don’t get me wrong. I adore futzing with my orchids. But I also adore doing other things – or I might, if I had time.

What I needed was some serious time management assessment…And then I remembered that little siphon.

I dug through the gardening shed and, luckily found it, along with its battered sheet of instructions.

The photographs show how it works. In the above photo of the siphon, you can see its brass faucet/hose attachment, its long rubber tube and the wire, in-take tip.

The second photo shows how the brass attachment works: one end of it screws onto the outdoor faucet (this winter I’ll use the faucet in the greenhouse sink) and the other end connects to the garden hose.

The two- gallon jug in the second photo contains water and a concentration of fertilizer. The concentration is 16 times greater than the recommendations of the fertilizer manufacturer.

When the faucet is turned on and water starts coming through the attached garden hose, the siphon is activated, pulling the concentrated fertilizer into the hose water and diluting it to the proper amount recommended by the manufacturer.

It’s very simple. And very fast.

What once took me several hours can now be done in about an hour and a half. [The siphon is made by Grower’s Solution and is available online – and perhaps at your local hardware store.]

Now if I could just find a simple, fast device that takes care of the watering, examining, staking, repotting (occasionally), pruning and repositioning for optimal light/temp/moisture/breeze conditions.

Let me know if you hear of anything.

Epi. parkinsonianum

Epi. parkinsonianum — aka Epi. Once-in-a-Blue-Moon — has condescended to bloom again. The last time it sent out its creamy and white blossom, with a texture almost as dense as a hoya flower, was a little more than two years ago.

Not sure what the trick is. Last winter was relentlessly cold. Although the Escabe furnace fought the brave fight keeping the greenhouse’s temperature up, the thermostat sometimes dipped down into the upper 40s at night. Was that the trick? I always position the long, thick-leafed Epi. up high for maximum exposure to light, and I mist it every morning, as I do all the mounted plants. Was that the trick?

Who knows.

Since early May the plant has lived outside in the summer house, again hanging high up for optimum brightness. This year, summer heat came early to our midwest strip of Zone 5. Even back in late June, the temperatures sometimes remained in the 90s for several days. By July, the 90s became common — occasionally hitting 100. Lately, the heat index often goes above 100.

Was that the trick?

• Extra shelving was added in early June.
• Last winter the large, framed hardware cloth used to hang many of the mounted orchids had partly broken loose from the wall. We reattached it.
• The legs on one of the benches had begun to sag. They were rebuilt and reinforced.

Moldy old walls

And then we tackled the walls…

During the last two years, the knee walls, both inside and outside, were showing signs of mold (mildew?). Large black spots covered most of the panels. I tried cleaning them with peroxide – a temporary fix.

The main cause was the greenhouse’s high humidity, which can hit 80% or more during the summer when the misting system, used to keep things cool, is on for as much as three hours each day. Another probable cause were the poorly sealed seams between knee-wall panels, boards and Lexan. 

FRP installation

A couple of weeks ago, after several days of dry, sunny weather, we re-paneled the inside walls with a sheeting called fiberglass reinforced panels (FRP) purchased at Lowe’s – and available at most hardware/building supply stores. FRP is attached with either special fasteners (nylon-drive rivets) or adhesive. (The manufacturer cautions against using a combination.)

We also removed all old caulking, inside and outside the greenhouse, and then resealed the seams with silicone caulk.

Our next step will be to paint the outside of the knee wall – first with a coat of Kilz and then with two layers of latex paint.

New FRP walls for the greenhouse

By the time the work is complete, it will probably be time to insulate the greenhouse windows with plastic sheeting again and hunker down for winter…I’ll keep you posted on how the walls do as we finish up with this hot, hot summer and head into the deep freeze.

Stanhopea florida bloom close up

Newly bloomed Stanhopea florida

Some folks tell me that a Stanhopea bud pops like a little firecracker on the Fourth of July when it opens. I missed the pop, but on Friday morning I discovered that my long awaited Stanhopea florida had at last opened! 

It’s two blooms were a creamy, pale yellow accented with white and red spots. The larger flower was 5 1/2 inches across; the second was a 1/4 inch smaller. The blooms lasted three and a half days.

While its longevity is brief, the fact that it bloomed at all has renewed my hope and confidence that I might be able to encourage blooms from other plants in my collection in that wonderful, pendulous genus.

Phal. equestris 'Riverbend'

My little Phal. equestris ‘Riverbend’ is blooming. It’s a young plant, just one inflorescence rather than the multi-inflorescences that I’ve seen on older
Riverbends…but oh my, this little orchid is a workhorse . It blooms two or three times a year.  A couple of years ago, I had another equestris, which was pest and disease prone. Not so ‘Riverbend.” This equestris has an iron-tough constitution. If you’re looking for a little Phal and the colors of this one appeal to you, contact Tom Larkin at Whippoorwill Orchids. Tom is the breeder: 9720 Larkin Lane Rogers, Arkansas 72756. Phone: (501) 925-1885. Fax: (501)925-2428.

Stanhopea florida bud gets bigger

Distance. Now that’s the operative word here. Because at six feet, the Bulb. echinolabium is as deceptively charming as it is hideously repulsive at six inches.

Yesterday, I took the plant out of the greenhouse and set it in the backyard. By the time I returned three minutes later, its pouched lip – a beet-red proboscis that swings in the breeze – was covered in flies.

Most of the giant flies flew off when I approached with the camera, but one small bug remained. The video clip (I apologize for the poor quality) shows the lone fly crawling toward and entering the flower’s red, carrion-smelling pouch.

This is only one bloom on a plant that has seven inflorescences. Behind each blossom on every inflorescence is another bud waiting to unfurl its pouch and charm another unsuspecting admirer from a distance. If this orchid produces a repetition of flowers with the same uninterrupted regularly as my multi-spiked Psychosis… Oh, mercy! My winter days sealed up in the greenhouse could become uncomfortably long.

Does anyone make hazmat gear for bulbophyllum growers?

[On a pleasant note, the Aerides houlletiana is in full bloom, with its delicate colors and it exquisite citrus smell. See the Photos page.]