orchid help

[otnorot]

Smitty that's a great set up,wish I had it and it looks like you have the touch as your orchid look great. Which way are the windows facing?
Bill

[Smitty]

windows face east and south Bill with two banks of four 4 ft grow lights..come end of January they all move over to my west bay window to enjoy some real sun...and then sometime in May they'll move back to the sunroom..I find that the summer sun thru that west window cooks them.

[Smitty]

so I took a closer pic of my dendrobium.....
when would you take this baby away from it's mamma??

[otnorot]

Smitty here I am late again.In regards to you using cactus soil,I'm glad it works for you but these orchids dont need soil and the bark is not supposed to hold water just to hold the orchid.I water my orchids (all types) once a month,I use the large round ice cream containers in laundry tub which will hold 4.I put pot in container then fill with warm water to pot rim and spray leaves at the same time then I leave them soak for an hour or more.this leaves the potting mix nice and moist and it also drowns any unwanted bugs.
Bill

[Smitty]

I think you told me before about the bark Bill...picked up some orchid mix at Walmart and transplanted a couple of my collection into it...I did soak it for 24 hours before using it...I'm not really pleased with it tho...it doesn't seem to hold any moisture at all...and the couple I transplanted into it are not looking good at all. ie..blooms dropping off before opening and the leaves are shrivelling like they aren't getting enough moisture. I do mist my orchids faithfully and water them as you suggested by soaking them in a pail of water for an hour or so but every couple of weeks here as it is really dry in my house over the winter months. They get fertilized at the same time. I sure wish my local nursery had sphagnum moss when I went searching for it as I find that much better for planting my orchids in.
I have not taken the baby off the dendrobium yet ,,,it appears to be very happy where it is..and I don't want to kill it

words of wisdom would be great

[orchidguy]

Heya Smitty...
that is a great orchid collection.
In regard to putting soil into an orchids potting medium, Bill is spot on.
Since I tend to mount most my epiphytic orchids on branches, cork slab and sometimes rocks, soil is never introduced, except for terrestrials only
Some phalaenopsis, pleurothallids, bulbophyllum, and dendrobium are lithophytic and grow on rock in their native habitat.
Sphagnum moss seems to be getting harder to find as the years go on, so if I run out, some florists carry it (have no idea why), so maybe can try looking for a local source there.
Keiki's that form on the branches of orchid can be left in place if you want or removed. Before I remove these "babies" I usually attach a cork to the stem of the "mother" plant so the new plantlet can have a base to start on.( I think I wrote about this on the forum before) Most times though, I just leave them, as the more plantlets that develop, the more flower stems the plant as a whole will produce. A lot of large speciman plants, become that way because of the keiki's produced.
Oh yeah, one other thing........I never feed an orchid in bloom. They are fertilized until buds are set, then fertilization is stopped until flowering has ceased and growth has started again.
These methods work for me, and by no means is the "holy gospel", as everyone has their own ways of growing orchids that work for them
Wow, still as long winded as ever

[Grannygardener]

Thank you Bill and Dan for that timely info. Was about to give up on my orchids because they haven't done anything for a couple of years but noticed new stems and buds just before Christmas. Doing the orchid dance now (you don't want to witness this). Was all set to start changing bark and starting to fertilize but glad I poked in on this thread. I'll just leave well enough alone in my dry-as-a-bone atmosphere that's encouraging my orchids to bloom.Will photograph when in bloom and hope I can post again. Edie

[Smitty]

thanks again Dan!!!!! long winded is not a bad thing you know. I will try and leave them alone for awhile and only fertilize those with no buds on them. and perhaps leave the new ones I purchase in the pots they came in!!!

soon everything will have to go thru the 'after Christmas shuffle' as I make room for seedlings in the sunroom