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.

Water Quality Meter

Around two months ago, George Hatfield of Hatfield Orchids strongly suggested to the participants of the International Cymbidium Alliance, an online discussion forum, the purchase of a water quality meter that measures pH and total dissolved solids (TDS), for reasons of achieving better control over the pH of the fertilizing solution to maximize uptake from the orchid roots, as well as to avoid using media that has excessive salt content, e.g. coconut chips that still have significant salt content after washing and leaching.

I didn't run out to buy a meter at that point in time. But, I did observe during the weekend I was "led astray" that other serious orchid growers also used water quality meters as part of their orchid husbandry practice. The sum of these observations and suggestions motivated me enough to finally buy one (see below).





























Here are the probe pH and TDS values for the calibration solutions.




























Here are the pH and TDS values for distilled water.




























Here are the pH and TDS values for my rainwater that I use to water my orchids. I expect the rainwater values will change according to the seasons, e.g. pollen content in Spring.




























While I'm now ready to use the water meter when I make up my fertilizers, I also need to re-evaluate the advice of different orchid growers regarding the amount of "growth" and "bloom" fertilizers when the N, P or K values are given in ppm units. I've been accustomed to tsp/gal units, not ppm/gal units. I don't expect the results for using the water meter will be available for some time, but I'll be keeping notes...

Greenhouse tours

I was away this weekend taking a tour of some personal and commercial orchid greenhouses. Along with another NCOS member (Joe) whose goal was to "lead me astray", I drove to North Carolina to stay at the home of another NCOS member (Charlie) who had recently moved away from the DC metro area. Charlie gave us a tour of his greenhouse--which is almost as large as the square footage of my house--and the mechanics thereof. Charlie runs a really nice operation (potting, watering, humidity, light and temperature, and pest control), has the plants well-spaced, and healthy looking orchids--in bloom, recently out of bloom, seedlings, etc... One of the best role models I've seen for a personal greenhouse.

The three of us also drove down to Newberry, South Carolina to take a tour of Carter and Holmes Orchid nursery, stopping along the way to visit Seagrove Orchids in Seagrove, NC. Seagrove Orchids provides a show display and sales booth in the NCOS annual Show and Sale (October), so it was nice to see how their facilities are set up and reinforce the NCOS relationship with Seagrove.

Carter and Holmes is a larger operation than Seagrove, and has the advantage of an in-house breeding program and laboratory, so the orchid stock is not the same as Seagrove's. However, I appreciated comparing/contrasting greenhouse construction, maintenance and plant husbandry for these commercial growers.















Thankfully, our visit was, by-and-large out-of-season. That most orchids were not in bloom helped to mitigate the purchases. I know all too well the challenges of visiting an orchid nursery when in full bloom season. These little ones are either Laelias, Cattleyas, or Laelia/Cattleya (Lc) hybrids. So, in the end, Joe was able to "lead me astray" per design, and initiate a serious challenge to the "Primarily Cymbidiums".

Immature Seed Pods

Another one of this year's experiments is to try flasking cymbidium seeds, germinating them, and growing the seedlings to blooming stage. The major information source to guide me is "Asymbiotic Technique of Orchid Seed Germination" by Aaron J. Hicks of The Orchid Seedbank Project (http://members.cox.net/ahicks51/osp/Our_Book/our_book.html). Occasionally, Aaron offers some orchid species seedlings on eBay. I recently purchased seedlings from a flask of Cym. erythrostylum. We'll see if they survive and grow up...














I have two Cymbidium species with pods (fruits) maturing. The first is a selfing of Cymbidium insigne var. album, the plant being purchased from Santa Barbara Orchid Estates. Here's a pic of a flower shortly after pollination, where you can see the column having flattened/broadening out in response to the pollination.














One of the two pods from Cym. insigne fell off prematurely because the inflorescence was beginning to dry up. Advice from Cymbidium colleagues suggest that the seeds of this pod would be too immature for flasking, so I went ahead and dissected the pod for educational purposes. I didn't know what to expect.











































The second is a cross between Cym. sinense 'Geyserland' (pod parent) x Cym. sinense 'Oak Hill' (pollen parent).














Pod parent: Cym. sinense 'Geyserland'















Pollen parent: Cym. sinense 'Oak Hill'

Here is a pic of the maturing fruits.














The fruits are still doing well. According to the calendar, they may be ready for flasking as early as December 10, 2008 (nine months, earliest).

I'm curious to see what anthocyanic nuclear genome influence from the pollen parent 'Oak Hill' has on the non-anthocyanic 'alba' pod parent 'Geyserland', assuming the only contribution of the pollen parent to the offspring will be nuclear genome, and not any plastid genome, e.g. mitochondria or chloroplast. I'm not a botanist, so my understanding of plant genetics may be lacking. (Though, I'll make up a good story upon insistance.) Perhaps the pollen does, in fact, contribute plastids to the progeny. I need to look into that... I'm also thinking to have some seed sent off to Gallup & Stribling for treatment with Oryzalin to promote the conversion of diploids into tetraploids.

Present/forcasted weather for this week: mid 80's during the day, mid 60's during the night, a nice 20 degree differential. With Fall approaching, I'm getting ready to shift the orchids from "growing" fertilizer to "blooming" fertilizer.