I'm sending healing thoughts your way, Melissa.

Jim

Good morning everyone. I need some information on these four new varieties I now have. My question is whether they are suitable to mount, and I would probably use cork as the mounts. The orchids are:

1. B. nodosa v. grandiflora 'Josephine' x B. nodosa v. grandiflora 'Pauwela'
2. B. nodosa 'Exotic Orchids' x B. nodosa 'Palmer'
3. Phal. belina
4. Den. Aphrodite x Den. Golden Aya

I also have my first Rhy. gigantea 'Ruby Red'. Is this plant grown like a typical Vanda, best grown in a wooden basket?

Ken, all my Brassavola types love it on their cork mounts. The ones in baskets suffer much more from black spot because the pb's are crowded together more. On the mounts the leaves grow outwards in all directions. they aren't quite so 'neat' looking but are much healthier.

That is best for my conditions, of course. You really can't overwater a plant on a mount, and here, when it rains every day through the summer that air and drainage are the keys to keeping the plants healthy.

If you are selling these plants for indoor use, be sure to give instructions to mist daily, and douse the plants often!

Thanks all. It is a common impact fracture from running. I have 2 bilateral tibial plateau fractures. One in each leg, but the left one is worse. The only repair for my type is non-weight bearing to allow time for the bone to re-lay. I've upped my Calcium to help a little bit and lots of raw veggies.

I am very optimistic about my Dendrobiums this year. I see lots of nodes.

Ah, another reason I don't run/jog. Primarily it is because of ruptured and compressed discs in my lumbar spine. Even a "gentle" treadmill "kills" my back. I also have a theory about raising my heartbeat rate. I theorize that God gave each of us so many heartbeats and when we raise that number, we shorten our lifespan. I just joke with folks about that..........but it could be true.

Good luck with your healing, Melissa.

Thanks, Elaine. OK, I have two of those four covered. Anyone else?

I'm with you on growing orchids on mounts. It is almost impossible to over-water (which kills probably more orchids than all other reasons combined). But I do try to mist/spray/water every other day in the cold months (unless it is very cloudy for several days). When everything finally goes outside in the spring, Mother Nature and my hose do the watering.

These are two noid rescues given to me by my hubby October last year, he does not know a good orchid from none..but since he tried his best, that's okay . There is a good potential, just severely dehydrated from the grocery...my guess of the Oncidium alliance. Thankfully it is doing good. Right now very far from blooming, just glad it is fighting to live! It is allowing me to learn more about the 'chids. I was also testing which media is better..so far both seems okay with it.

New roots forming on this one:


This one really doing good, I see a new and better pb is forming near the front side, another one formed nicely at the back:

You are a good momma, Tarev.

Thanks Ken..just sometimes though...

I agree! Tarev, you take such good care of your plants!!

Thanks Ursula..it is a challenge here to grow them but glad there are some 'chids that tolerate me , otherwise my hubby won't take me to orchid shows and so I can do more shopping there

Ken, all of my Brassavolas are mounted and they seem to love it. Mounting them is a great idea. Phal. bellina (note the double l) is one of those mini-Phals that do so well for me. It comes from Borneo so it likes constant warm temps and a constant water supply. I grow all of my Phals in clear plastic pots with orchid bark and that is what I would do with this one. I'm afraid it would dry too quickly on a mount. Lovely flower, are you selling this one?

(Den. aphrodite x Den. Golden Aya) ( note the small "a" on Aphrodite as it is a species) is still not registered. Looking at the flower, it is a nobile type Dendrobium and I grow most of mine in baskets. That doesn't mean you can't mount it but they can get huge so I would go with a basket. The Rhynchostylis [Rhy.] gigantean is another warm grower from SE Asia. You can grow it like a Vanda but I would back off of any direct sun. I couldn't find mention of this cultivar name but the cultivars I could find had very nice flowers. This is another one I may be interested in.

Good progress there, Tarev.

A couple of years ago my knees told me to stop running and I listened. I now put the treadmill on maximum slant and walk rapidly uphill. I've found that trick burns almost as many calories as running with much less strain on my joints and back.

Jim

Hopefully Melissa heals well!! Melissa, having the greenhouse will take your mind of your trouble.

I have never been a good runner, but regular daily exercise has always been part of my regimen. Nowadays it is rowing, using my WII fit plus board, ( the boxing routine is fun), lots of walking, Hula hoop with a three pound hoop, I have the Winter routine pretty well in hand. I got one of those small Fitbit zips, it tells you how many miles you walked, how many steps you took, calories used,, it is a good way to track your activities for the day.

I use Striiv to track my walking, calories burned etc....and the app comes with a virtual garden heheh. so it motivates mo to walk more otherwise no energy to give my plants in the virtual garden

I like that!

I'm more to working out in my Lazy Boy, with my remote in hand! But that's only from 6:00'ish till bedtime. The other hand has my glass of wine.

Jim I have them both but I have not listed them yet. My routine is that once I get new plants in, and they are generally in 4", solid plastic, air-cone-like pots, I will quarantine them for two weeks. I will then re-pot them all in mesh-pots, 3.75" pots if small plants and/or few roots, or in 5" ones for larger plants/lots of roots (unless I am mounting them). I then like to wait 1-4 weeks to allow them to acclimate/rest. IF everything looks good then, I will post them on my website and show the month that the plants were received. I generally won't post them on eBay for another month. I like to give my "regular" customers first dibs on the best of the lot. I know you are very experienced and perhaps don't care that I like to "baby" new plants for awhile, but I just feel better when I do it this way.

:thankyou: Jim for all that information. Your knowledge and ability to correct my genera, spelling, and capitalization is a treasure to me. Actually I had the lower case "a" on "aphrodite" and the two "l's" on the "bellina". ATP must have some sort of "spell-check", because though I typed in the lower case "a", it was changed when I typed it. It happened again just now and I went back and changed it to lower case. I simply mistyped the "bellina". I also got in Blc. Mem. Joe Lopez 'Pauwela' and I assume that has been changed to "Rlc." and Pot. Exotic Ruby x Blc. Mem. Mary Anderson, and I assume that "Pot." is "Rth." and the "Blc." is "Rlc." now. None of my commercial growers/hybridizers will ever change a name on their labels.

Here are the correct names of the new ones:
Rlc. Memoria Joe Lopez (Rlc. Erin Kobayashi x C. Stono River
Rlc. Exotic Ruby (Rlc. Toshie Aoki x Rlc. Burgundy Splendor)
Rlc. Memoria Mary Anderson (Rlc. Oconee x Rlc. Eve Marie Barnett)

The cross is still not registered.

No hurry on my part for those orchids. When you feel they are ready, give me a heads up.

Jim

I will do my best to remind you, Jim. With this cold weather, my shipping is at a stand-still anyway.

Thanks for the names update. I wonder if that Pot. one was an "error" name? I thought the Pot. went to Rhyncattleanthe.

Potinara is a term called a nothogenus. It comprises those intergeneric hybrids of orchids which have Brassavola, Cattleya, Laelia and Sophronitis as parent genera. So, all of the changes that have occurred in those genera may well affect which way your Potinara will go. There are so many orchids of different genera that make up the family tree of any Potinara that tracing it back would take days if not weeks. That's why the orchids boffins have such good job security.

Jim