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swan diving into miniature orchids...

i have a rough idea of how to take care of these puppies. going to be grown epiphytically on cork bark, with sphag. intermediate conditions...

if you have the following species please let me know how you are raising them:
Bulbophyllum frostii
Cirrhopetalum tingabarnium
Masdevallia nidifica
Trisetella gemmata.

i guess the most pertinent:
which ones are deciduous?
fertilization frequency?
watering differences in comparison from winter to summer?

thanks!
 
I am not/have not grown those exact species though I have owned/do own various Masdevallias, Bulbophyllums and Cirrhopetallum (formerly lumped in with Bulbophyllum). Generally the Bulbophyllums prefer warm Lowland temps and humidity. Masdevallias and Cirrhos prefer cooler conditions. I have not owned any Tristella, I think it's one of the Tristella species's blooms that look like impressionist painting of seagulls but I don't recall which species it was, I'd have to find the pics again.

Anyway, I do not believe any of these families have any deciduous species, mostly it's the miniature Dendrobiums who suddenly go dead and then can't be watered much beyond a spritz and look horrible until they decide to come back. Like any other plant that goes dormant, I kill those Dendrobiums and Dockrillia so I stay away from them.

If you want to grow them mounted (which is the awesome way to grow them!) buy a pump up garden sprayer and soak them well with it at least once everyday, more often in hot weather. If your terrariums are generally the same temp year round just make sure the moss at the roots stays moist. High humidity helps.

You can fertilize them weekly, daily or not at all. water them with plain water first, then a few minutes later spray them down with a low dose of fertilizer. I used Grow More's urea free fertilizer. Now I don't fertilize my orchids at all because they are in with animals but I have been considering watering with waste water from the crab pools.
 
don't know the others but the masdie likes light shading and intermeadiate to cool temps with a pronounced drop of ten to fiftenn dgrees (no lower than mid 50's), good air and humidity.
Any other minis you like? Steven frownie has written a good book on miniature orchids. Some of the smallwer sophronitis and maxillaria would work in masdie constitions as well
 
Where are you in the SF Bay area? Depending on how broadly one uses the term, it could mean anything from coastal fog belt to hot desert conditions. Growing orchids in the first might be easier than growing dandelions, while growing them in the second will take some effort to create reasonable conditions.

Don't fertilize them at all. Newly mounted or newly potted orchids can only be harmed by it. If you're new to orchids, I recommend you don't fertilize them at all for quite a while. They'll grow faster with the right amount of nutrients, which is darned little, but it's too easy to hurt them with too much.

Once I figured out what I was doing, I never fertilized a newly mounted or potted epiphytic orchid until I saw that new roots were growing. Eventually, I quit fertilizing them other than for maybe once or twice per year. However, my orchids spent much of their growing season outside, hanging in trees, so they were getting extra nutrients as rain dripped off leaves and branches. If not for that, I probably would have had to fertilize them a little more often.

I don't grow orchids anymore, other than for hardy terrestrials, because I got tired of taking care of them during the cold months when the air is so dry indoors. But I had 100+ orchids at one point and, if I lived somewhere with a maritime climate, I'd have so many Masdies, etc. that it would make someone's head spin.
 
Now that I have suceeded with masdies I want to move on to dracs
 
I hope you're more successful than I was. I could have been a horror film hero because I'm great at killing Draculas. But I only had marginal success at best with Masdies, Pleuros, etc., so shouldn't have expected anything better than that. Dry indoor air during winter seemed to be their biggest hardship - I never made a proper growing environment for them during their months indoors. I only remember losing a couple plants because of heat and even those weren't so much because of how hot it got during the day; they went into a rapid decline after a few unusually warm and muggy nights in a row.
 
dang i havent checked this thread in a while.
so....currently,

bulbophyllum and Cirrhopetalum are hanging out in the LL tank while the other two are hanging out on the side of my HL tank, right above the ultrasonic humidifier. thanks everyone for their input. i appreciate it a lot.
 
I've started on my mini-orchid wish list, once I've posted it I'll let you know. Might give you some more ideas.
 
looking forward to it! looking for miniatures under 3 inches, flower size preferably large, but small is good too. HLs even better. :)
 
  • #10
fwiw, the Lepanthes are a nice miniature group... and HL

I only have one example, but I like it...
taken a few mins ago

sort of a bad angle but oh well...
lepanthes1.jpg


older pic
lepanthes.jpg


full size
http://bluegrasscarnivores.com/lepanthes/IMG_1986.JPG
http://bluegrasscarnivores.com/lepanthes/IMG_1987.JPG

Av
 
  • #11
thanks for sharing Butch! i was wondering about growing orchids in live sphag. is it okay to grow them in it? or is there worry about root rot, smothering and all that jazz?
 
  • #12
This one loves it, there are some really beautiful pics of Lepanthes online if you wanna google it.
It's a large and diverse group with some beautiful examples.
Most (if not all.... I don't know) are native to South America.

I got this one from a vendor in Ecuador...
http://www.ecuagenera.com/epages/whitelabel4.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/ecuagenera

The sphag you see in my pic is an extremely slow growing species I got from NZ.... maybe a 1/4" a year.

---------- Post added at 02:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:15 PM ----------

classic image that has been circulated around the net for years...
Pleuro_Telipogon.jpg


Av
 
  • #13
that is one seriously goodlooking mini! you say from ecuador? dang...i think i'll stick with in state vendors for now until i get a sure footing on these plants.
 
  • #14
Jon, there are vendors in the US on that link I gave you who import/buy from Ecuagenera as well as several Ebay sellers who do also so just keep your eyes open or even ask if you find a neat plant you want they may be able to acquire it for you. I see Lynn's Orchid's site is down/gone, she had a really amazing collection of minis available.
 
  • #15
@swords: yeah for sure...i've been looking at those sites quite frequently. :drool:
 
  • #16
I've been making "must have" shopping carts and they never total less than $250 - 300 at most of them. I never let myself hit the checkout button though! LOL
 
  • #17
funny---i was planning on dropping a c-note earlier today. :p
 
  • #18
Did you make an order?

I got two new Pleuros from Evilbay

Dracula vespertilio

draculavespertilio.jpg

dracvespertilio.jpg


The blooms cooked in shipping since it's been 90*F+ every day but I've been soaking it daily and keeping it on the cool shelves and there is a new spike poking out of the substrate just a week after arrival so hopefully I can see a bloom before unpotting it and mounting on a branch which will likely set it back a good long time as it establishes but will look awesome in the long run with the blooms dangling in the breeze.


Here's a little clump of Masdevallia nidifica, again most of the blooms withered in the heat
masdnuctifera2.jpg
masdnuctifera1.jpg


I have a feeling I am currently subjecting them to too much light so I've put a sheet of black mosquito screen over their holding tank cutting the light about 30%. I am going to erect a twin vertical tank stand for growing these "shade loving" Pleuros, initially there won't be any direct light above either of the tanks but plenty of light bleed from top and sides from the terrarium shelves and window on either side of the stand. If they appear to suffer/not bloom from too little light I will be able to fit a CFL or two over each but my past experince with them is less light is more with these guys, My best growers & bloomers in my old plant collection were kept on the lowest shelves farthest from the light, hence my experiment. If they start to yellow on you they either have too much light or too much heat or both - which go hand in hand.

And yes Jon, most I've ever owned/bought were grown in either pure LFS (the two above came potted just as you see them) or mounted like Butch showed but Orchids Ltd grows most of their Draculas and Masdevallias in fine orchid bark. I think it's easier to keep them wet enough in LFS or a 50/50 blend. Water often just like a Nep, keep very moist and in very high humidity. The orchids with pseudobulbs (like Bulbophyllums) like to be moist but can dry out a long time before they really suffer, these little guys with no peudobulbs suffer very fast in warm weather or even slight droughts.
 
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  • #19
:p you are evil swords. hahahaa.
your plants are looking awesome as well. i'll take pics of the whole chebang when they come in. i love mounting the suckers.

yes i did. got a Lepanthes caprimulgus and Dendrobium cuthbertsonii red.
 
  • #20
I like the Qbert Dendro is it a deciduous type?

That Lepanthes has a really sweet bloom! Haven't seen that before but there's only thousands of pleuros so perhaps I could be forgiven!

We'll have to do some trades if we get our mini collections going good I've got some really neat things picked out, and a few more arriving in a few days. I just have to take the buying slow incase I'm the next contestant on "you're laid off" at my job. They laid off six before I went on vacation (including head of the 2nd shift printing dept) so now that I'm outta vac they could toss me to the curb with minimal backpay on Monday.
 
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