10/28/2008 - Lc Longriver Compton 'Golden Star' FCC/AOS

Here's one for all you floofy fans.
Large plant, large flowers.

10/09/2008 - C. Hawaiian Wedding Song 'Virgin' x Self update

Here is the growing seed pod.
I anticipate it to be much bigger in the coming weeks.

10/09/2008 - October weather swings!

Yes folks, it is October again - the season of the dreaded drastic diurnals for my local area.

This is the usual time when summer and winter forces are duking it out and leaving dead orchids in their wake. And add to that the occasional Santa Ana winds and you could have dead plants from your neighbor's garden landing in your yard.
Daytime highs can peak at 100F outside the greenhouse and then dip into 50F at night.

So during the day I have the greenhouse in "summer mode". Misters active, exhaust fan and HAFs running full blast, etc.
But after sunset its time for "winter mode", I shut off the water supply, bring the electric heater into the GH plug it in and make sure all the auto-vents have sealed shut.
The next morning, I remove the heater and open the water supply and the cycles starts all over again.

I cannot leave the heater inside the greenhouse during the day because I dont want to risk getting it wet or damp with the misters active. The last thing I want is a deep-fried gardener (ME!) in my greenhouse!

I anticipate this routine to go on for a few more weeks until summer finally gives up and I can permanently shut down the misters until next summer.

09/23/2008 - Orchid Detox: Update

All the plants are growing nicely.
So far they do not seem to miss all the other supplemental ingredients that I used to give them.
But it is still too early at this point to tell if the new feeding regimen is better than the previous system.

09/23/2008 - C. Hawaiian Wedding Song self pollination update

Here's a picture of the seed pod today.
This thing is growing fast.

09/18/2008 - C. Hawaiian Wedding Song self pollination update

Since the two seed pods were visibly swelling and developing well, I decided to cut away one of the seed pods to allow the plant to focus energy on the single remaining pod. I believe that this will give one seed pod a better chance of growing properly instead of having the plant divide its resources to sustain two seed pods.

I will keep you posted on the progress of the seed pod in the coming months.

09/16/2008 - New Hybrid attempt failed

I checked the ovary of the pollinated cattleya this morning and it was turning yellow.
Clear signs that the pollination did not take place.
There are a couple of reasons why it could have failed.
1. I did not properly insert the pollinia into the stigma.
2. The two hybrids are probably incompatible.

Another remote possibility is that the Caulocattleya Chantilly Lace (Diacattleya) is a sterile hybrid. I will need to research that some more.

This was the hybrid attempt between the Cattleya Hawaiian Wedding Song 'Virgin' and Caulocattleya Chantilly Lace 'Twinkle' (Syn. Diacattleya)

Attempting a new orchid hybrid

This afternoon I have decided to attempt hybridizing two orchids that I have in the greenhouse.

Pod parent: Cattleya Hawaiian Wedding Song 'Virgin'


Pollen Parent: Caulocattleya Chantilly Lace 'Twinkle' (Syn. Diacattleya)


Comparison of the plant and flower sizes of the parents:






Pollen removed from the pollen parent:


Pollen attached to the stigma of the pod parent:


So in a few months I will find out of the seed pod is viable and will then attempt to germinate the seeds.
If that process is successful, then I have between four to eight years to wait if this breeding results in any desirable flowers.

John

09/07/2007 - Diacattleya Chantilly Lace 'Twinkle' HCC/AOS

I have had a hard time trying to get this plant to bloom successfully. It had produced inflorescences in the past but the flower buds keep failing at the last moment.

This time it produced two inflorescences with only two flower buds each. The buds did not fail though, and here is a close up of one of the flowers.



This orchid is synonymous to Caulocattleya Chantilly Lace 'Twinkle' HCC/AOS.

09/07/2008 - Orchid Pollination Attempt

I attempted a self crossing of two C. Hawaiian Wedding Song 'Virgin' flowers friday afternoon.
It looks like the flowers recognized the pollination attempt and the ovaries are visibly swelling.

Since it takes several months for the seed pods to mature, it will give me time to gather all the necessary materials for seed flasking.
I will also take this time to practice making some flasks to make sure that I have the routine and techniques down before attempting on real orchid seeds.

Here's a picture of the two seed pods growing:

09/02/2008 - Greenhouse Update

The orchids are looking good. They seem to be weening away from the supplements just fine. They are now on a strict diet of balanced fertilizers.

I have a couple of orchids that have been doing poorly for the past couple of years (poor foliage growth, no blooms, etc) and I have grouped them together for closer observation. The plan is that if they still do not improve, then they will be tossed into the compost pile to free up bench space. It is cruel maybe, but I'm not fond of using my greenhouse as an orchid ICU.

08/29/2008 - In Bloom Today - Howeara Lava Burst 'Puanani' AM/AOS-HOS

These orchids were a gift from a friend of mine some time ago. They did not bloom the first season that I received them as they were probably still adjusting to the greenhouse conditions.

This year is different however, as you can see from the pictures below.
These two orchids (along with some of my other oncidinae orchids) are grown in semi-hydroponic culture or S/H.

08/28/2008 - Back after two weeks

I took my family to the Bahamas for two weeks for some R&R and the orchids were on their own during that time.
The greenhouse has enough automated features to keep the temperature and humidity in check, so I was not so concerned with the orchids there.
None of the devices failed, Woohoo!.
The mister timers, thermostat-controlled exhaust fan and assorted mechanicals all worked great despite being left alone for a couple of weeks.
The patio orchids however, needed someone to come in every few days to water them.

I am happy to say that all the plants are doing well despite being virtually unattended for two weeks.

It looks like some critters are still coming into my backyard and digging up my bulbs outside of the greenhouse. I am now looking into purchasing an electronic pest repellent to see if it would help.

08/06/2008 - Mounted Orchids

Mounting orchids is more than just slapping on a plant to a driftwood. It takes careful attention to detail to make sure that the plant's growth habit complements the driftwood's shape and scale.
The mounted piece should become a homogeneous entity. Plant and substrate should be viewed as one living creature and not a bunch of building blocks that you can dismantle and reassemble at will.
It is also important to understand the properties of the wood being used. Mounting an orchid to a wood that easily rots within six months is rarely a worthwhile excersize.

Here are some of the orchids that I have mounted on driftwoods, to show their progress after one year or so.

Dendrobium (NOID) on a dense river driftwood. July 2007.


This is the same piece in April 2008.
Notice that the inflorescence's arch is consistent with the arch of the driftwood. Coinsidence? or careful pairing of the plant and substrate? you be the judge :)


Here is a recent photo of the plant. July 2008.



Here is another dendrobium (NOID) mounted to a dense river driftwood. June 2007
I tried to orient the plant so that the direction of new growth faces towards the left side the driftwood. My hope is that the orchid's new canes will crawl across the remainder of the wood.


Here is a recent photo of the plant. July 2008
So far the plan seems to be working.


Cattleya guttata mounted to a similar dense river driftwood. June 2007
Cattleya roots tend to ramble on, so I mounted the plant in a higher spot than usual to give the roots room to roam.


Here is a recent photo of the mounted orchid. July 2008
It has only been one year but the roots have already reached the outer edges of the driftwood.


Other works in progress:

Dendrobium (NOID) on a dense river driftwood oriented vertically. July 2008
This was a keiki mounted a few months prior to this picture. The roots have already taken hold of the driftwood.


Two Cattleya aurantiaca orchids mounted on a dense river driftwood. July 2007.
I intended this to be a compound piece, with two identical plants in the upper and lower sections of the driftwood.


This is a recent photo of the mounted Cattleya aurantiaca. July 2008.
Only the lower orchid survived, and I decided to keep the upper section empty.
Even with our best efforts, some orchids are bound to die. Thats just the way it is.

08/06/2008 - Just some eye candy

Here's a collage of current and previous bloomers from my garden.

08/02/2008 - Orchid Detox: Fertilizer feeding

As scheduled, I performed a fertilizer feeding on all the orchids with a balanced fertilizer at 1/2 tsp/gal.

At this point, I believe that I am the one suffering most from "supplement withdrawal" as I was so tempted to add in those other trace ingredients in my supply container.
I must stay the course though, in the name of science!

08/02/2008 - GRRRRR! Moles!

Not orchid related, but still very aggravating when this happens to your garden.

Moles, voles, gophers, whatever those devious creatures are, they have dug burrows under my backyard and ate the roots of mature blooming aloe vera plant and a two year old banana tree.
I noticed when I was inspecting the garden this afternoon that the aloe vera was tipped on its side and the banana tree was leaning at an extreme angle.
I first thought maybe the winds did it but we did not get any high winds yesterday or last night.
Once I touched the aloe vera plant, it just fell over and saw a hollow chasm where the roots and stem should have been.
I then went to the banana plant and gave the top leaf a gentle tug, and the entire plant came with it. Again, the entire base was missing.

I dont have much experience dealing with these vermin but it looks like I will need to start reading about them and the control methods.

08/01/2008 - General greenhouse notes

1. It was very hot today (95F outside) and the greenhouse plants were quite dry. So I decided to do a full watering early afternoon.
The plants' leaves were dry by the time I did my last inspection at 7:00PM.

2. I had two 30gal plastic tubs (I think they are 30gal) that I used to store water and just act as a small scale heat sink and moisture battery inside the greenhouse.
I was beginning to smell some foul odor in the water so I decided to drill a hole along the side of each tub to drain the water. Once the water drains, I will clean the tubs and seal the holes and refill with clean water.

08/01/2008 - Some random pictures around the greenhouse

Here are the two oscillating desk fans that help with air circulation in the greenhouse.



Maxillaria tenuifolia recently repotted into a 6" wood basket.


Blc. Magic of Mishima 'Volcano Queen'


Dendrobium Blue Violetta


Cattleya Hawaiian Wedding Song 'Virgin'

07/31/2008 - Updates finally caught up

Alright, I have finally updated this blog to contain all my previous notes stored on other media.

From now on I will be able to keep a journal of the progress of the orchids in general, as well as the Orchid Detox experiment.

Stay tuned for more updates.

John