Basement preparations

The weather turned cooler this Friday, with a steady Fall breeze. The forecast for this next week's nighttime lows will be in the lower 40's and upper 30's.

This weekend's project was to clean up the basement growing area and make some pallets. I used some old wood we harvested from the attic insulation project for the pallets, following the design from www.orquideas.com/growing/benches/benches.html. I bought some cinder blocks to support the pallets. The pallets will help raise the plants higher to the lights. I also have some SunLift suspension system hangers (not yet installed) that should allow me to lower the lights closer to the plants, if necessary.



















The electrician is scheduled to come at the end of the month to install the new circuits for the lights and lightmovers. I expect that the orchids won't need to be moved inside until Nov. 1 anyways. But, with the cooler weather, I'll be taking it one day at a time.

Lights in the Basement

It's getting that time again. The Summer is gone, and we're progressing through Autumn. Soon, the orchids outdoors will need to be moved into the basement to over-Winter.

I have two, 250 Watt SunSystem II lights to maintain the orchids for several months in the basement. Last year, they were static. But presently, I'm in the process of installing mover system, using LightRail 3.5. Once all the equipment arrived, it only took a few hours to screw things together. I've asked a local electrician to install dedicated wires to run the lights and lightmover motors, and user/equipment-friendly outlets that will allow for the lights to move up and down the 6-foot track without becoming unplugged.














With the new light meter, I can now get a better measurement of exposure under these conditions. While I don't expect to fully mimic the sun's intensity, I do expect that I can improve the indoor culture conditions.

As a first exercise, I took some light readings around the backyard shade frame, this last Saturday. It was mid-day, around 1pm, and sunny. The light meter read around 90,000 lux on top of the shadeframe, and around 50,000 lux underneath the shadecloth (advertised as 40% shade). I got too busy with other chores to take measurements once the shadeframe was shaded by the trees...

NCOS Annual Show/Sale

Well, we've just finished with our annual Fall Show/Sale at the Arboretum. It was reasonably well attended over the three days, but the sales were down due to the present economy.

I witnessed one big exception today while staffing the cash register. One person spent $685 on orchids, and then went back in to buy another $150 of orchids!

Below are some pics of a few of the orchid exhibits set up by either vendors or regional orchid societies. I'll admit that few of the plants are in focus. My digital camera is having issues, and is need of replacement. However, I was taking the pictures more for reasons to document exhibition style. Some displays were overcrowded or poorly designed for other reasons. I liked some ideas in these pictures.

Meyer's Conservatory

I recently obtained some Laelia anceps seedlings--directly from flask, from Meyer's Conservatory (http://www.troymeyers.com). This is my second attempt at growing orchids directly from flask. The first cross is L. anceps var. alba 'Drew's Yellow Girl' x self. The second is L. anceps var. veitchiania 'Fort Caroline' x self.

The previously mentioned Cymbidium erythrostylum seedlings (earlier post) died within a week. I mentioned my failure to another orchid grower, and he suggested buying some clear dome/community pot chambers from Tindara (http://www.tindaraorchids.com/index.htm) because he'd been using these for years without problems to successfully acclimatize seedlings directly from flask. So, I followed his recommendations, bought some clear dome compots from Tindara, and transferred the L. anceps seedlings into the chambers.




























The other variable I changed was to grow the seedlings underneath my Agrosun light. According to my light meter, the seedlings (really the exterior of the cleardome compots) are receiving ~4500 lux/~450 footcandles of light, 16 hrs/day (the lights are on timers).

The seedlings from Meyer's Conservatory arrived in excellent(!) health. I need to mention here that over the last year, I had purchased a number of established seedlings of other orchid genera from Meyer's that also arrived in excellent health. With the Laelia anceps seedlings, I didn't have to extract them from the flask, as this task was already completed by the Conservatory. All I needed to do was transplant them into a sphagnum moss-type media. I counted between 31-35 seedlings per flask per cross, which is consistent with the number of plants they try to achieve in re-plate flasks.

So far, the seedlings continue to appear far healthier for the same amount of time in my hands than the Cym. erythrostylum seedlings I tried to grow.

Dendrochilum cobbianum

As mentioned last week, here is Dendrochilum cobbianum.


















This is a fragrant orchid. Some say it's fragrance is unpleasant, smelling like old shoes. Who knows? Like wine, each has his'/her's own tastes. I like the fragrance very much, and it does not remind me of old shoes.

This is a reliable bloomer for me in September. The plant is potted in my Cymbidium media (45% coir, 45% medium coconut chips, 5% oyster shell, 5% dolomite). I grow it under lights in the basement over Winter, and hanging from a branch underneath a tree during Spring, Summer and Fall. I only got two inflorescences this year, so there is room for improvement in the plant's husbandry. I'm thinking that I will move it to a brighter location under lights over Winter and brighter location for the next growing seasons.

I also have a Dendrochilum magnum varietal that is sending up new growths, some of which may also have inflorescences. It's too early to tell right now.

Hanna's weekend

Tropical Storm Hanna blew through yesterday (Saturday), filling up our rain barrels. I was tempted to water the orchids on Friday, but given the forecast, it was clear that I should wait. On Sunday, I dumped out the water in the catch trays--considering Hanna's rainwater to leach out excess salts from the media-- and fertilized the orchids to promote blooming.

I clerked for AOS judging on Saturday (http://www.nationalcapitaljc.org/index.html). Despite Hanna's efforts, we had a large number of orchids submitted for judging, mostly Cattleyas, Laelias and Paphiopedilums.

Presently, I have Cym. ensifolium 'Jade Swan' in bloom (pictured below). It is a recent (Feb '08) acquisition, has bloomed twice for me this Summer, and has a nice, light and sweet fragrance. While clerking for AOS, I checked some of the stats for the previously awarded Cym. ensifolium varietals, and there's plenty of room for improvement to grow this plant up to an award quality specimen.















I also have Dendrochilum cobbianum inflorescences opening up. It was hanging from the tree branch, but I brought it indoors to protect the flowers from Hanna. Check back next week for pics.

As part of my (fortuitous) Integrated Pest Management program, I found this mantid on a Dendrochilum magnum leaf. We've lived at the house for 2+ years now, and this is the first time I've seen mantids here.

Cym. Eastern Bunny 'Oborozuki'

The weekend rain has finally stopped, and the sun is shining, so I went out to check on the Cyms and found this little surprise regarding Cym. Eastern Bunny 'Oborozuki' that I recently acquired from George Hatfield of Hatfield Orchids.

Here's a pic (obtained from Hatfield Orchids' website: www.hatfieldorchids.com) of the flowers.


















I'm both thrilled and surprised at the vigorous growth of this clone. The left pseudobulb is sending up four new growths, and the right pseudobulb is sending up five new growths!














The flowers are nicely fragrant and long-lasting. With this degree of vigor, next Spring's flower yield should be great.