Wednesday, November 23, 2016

When you just HAVE to divide your phal or it's goin gto die!

I thought I'd share this informative post regarding phalaenopsis "division" or in this case, an attempt to save a deteriorating plant.

The following orchid (see pic) is almost 20 years old and before division, spanned about 20" across and a foot high. It was a nice specimen plant often blooming on 5 spikes at once. However, being potted "forever" in the same pot, last summer, I noticed most of the plant leaves becoming limp and "shriveled" or "veined" due to drying out so I knew the roots must be bad (and they were).

Here is what I did to save the plant and produce more clones:

1-I carefully took the plant out of the pot and trimmed all dead/dying roots.

2-With sharp sterilized cutters (using a flame or bleach), I cut the orchid in about 2 equal parts. I really wanted to save the top so I kept as many live roots on the top half as possible when determining where to cut.

3-I dusted with ground cinnamon all open wounds, and re-potted both halves into fresh damp New Zealand sphagnum moss, making sure there is adequate draining (foam packing peanuts).

4-misted the plant on occasions when the moss would start to dry out and left in a warm, brightly lit spot.

It has now been almost 4 months since and you can clearly see new healthy leaves and roots on the top half of the plant (left) as well as 2 keikis (circled in red) on the bottom cut half (right). The bottom half will eventually die off but may end up producing more keikis before doing so. One is a basal keiki coming directly from the cut half and the other is a spike keiki from a healthy dormant spike that happened to originate on the lower half.

So that's it! I'm happy I acted before the plant was too far gone...now I have 3 plants and if all goes well, I will keep them potted together to form a nice specimen clump.

I hope this helps!

Cheers from Canada
 I'm hoping to get her blooming again soon!

Monday, June 27, 2016

Something different from Crystal Star Orchids

Last May I was fortunate to attend the Greater Sudbury Gardening Festival. I was thrilled beyond belief when I learned that Crystal Star Orchids from the Greater Toronto area were going to be selling some of their orchids at the show.
The show was a huge success! I met some wonderful people and had a few plants follow me home...

Check out the pages tab above for more information about each orchid!

Bnfd Gilded Tower "Mystic Maze" (Brassia intergeneric hybrid)


Monday, January 11, 2016

Dendrobium nobile flower bud

Whoa!! After weeks of thinking the new growth on my white/pink Dendrobium nobile were dreaded kikeis (offshoots), I am now pretty certain that these are buds inside the sheath! Have a look ...


Here is what the "mama" plant looks like in bloom:

Pink speckled miniature phalaenopsis in bloom (variegated leaves)

Look what surprised me last weekend! Nothing quite cheers me up faster than a fresh set of blooms during those gloomy winter days. I have many orchids that will be rewarding me with lush blooms in the following months and since Phalaenopsis have some of the most long lasting flowers in the orchid world they have become a huge favorite among indoor plants.

You can below see some of the flowers still have to re-position themselves on the flower stem (a process called resupination).