Noid phal slows down, shows sign of dehydration

Noid phal

     I haven't posted much recently, because not much has happened recently.  Most of my orchids are currently growing new roots and leaves.  

     My smaller noid, on the other hand, seems to have gone into a rather pronounced rest period.  Its water consumption has declined (as seen by the time it takes for the media to dry out), but at the same time many of its oldest leaves are wrinkling and preparing to shed. It still has a new leaf growing, but the rate of growth is significantly slower than it was for the previous leaf.  I'm trying to navigate a rather confusing line between under- and over-watering.

Moss on an former orchid mount

     In fact the greatest amount of activity I've had has been from my moss, which has produced a fresh layer of new growth.  It looks bright green and fluffy.  At some time in the future I may use this mount for one of my orchids.

Moss looks pretty cool from up close

Name change: Wilsonara Pacific Perspective = Oncostele Pacific Perspective

Oncostele (Wilsonara) Pacific Perspective

     I was searching around on the International Orchid Register today, when I noticed that my oncidium intergenic has been reclassified into a new genus.  My wilsonara is now officially an oncostele. The change doesn't really mean much to me, but I generally try to stick with the most recent official classifications of my hybrids.

     I had the oncidium growing on a sunny bathroom windowsill over the summer, and the bright light resulted in quite a bit of leaf damage on this oncidium.  I'm switching this orchid's placement with my cymbidium, which should be better able to to handle the hours of direct sunlight on the windowsill.  The oncostele is going to my orchid shelves to grow under the lights, and I'm putting the Cym. (Gordon Gibbs x Billion Dollar Baby) on the windowsill instead.

Tolumnia Genting Orange bloomed continuously for 3 months

Decapitated orchid blooms

     I was really excited about posting today that the third round of blooms on my Tolumnia Genting Orange were finally open.  But the cat got to them before I did.  I set the orchid to soak in the watering basin, went to make my breakfast coffee, and came back to find all the flowers floating in the water.

     As it stand, my Tolumnia Genting Orange bloomed continuously since May 29--almost 3 months of blooming.  If these flowers had survived, they would have lasted at least a month more.

Noid paph grows new leaves, but I wanted flowers

A noid paphiopedilum

     My noid paph is big, healthy, with many roots (for a paph) and many leaves.  But a year has passed since I purchased it in bloom, and it hasn't reflowered for me.  For a while I had been excited about its newest growth, but that turned out to be just another leaf.  That brings the leaf total up to 8.

Yet another new leaf

     When a mature and healthy orchid fails to bloom, the culprit is likely to be insufficient lighting.  Getting my noid paph to a spot where it can get more light turned out to be a tricky issue, however.  My lower shelf is set up to accommodate my 2-foot tall oncidium.  This leaves a smaller orchid like the paph too far away from the light source.  On the other hand, my upper shelf is too close to the lamp.  If I were to move my paph to the top shelf, its tallest leaves would be in contact with the lights (sure to guarantee burn damage).

Rearranged orchids

     I ended up rearranging most of my orchids, and repurposing an unused knife rack to prop up my paph by 8 or so inches.  Hopefully that will help.  At the very least, my orchids are now more efficiently arranged.

Added supports to paph seedlings

Paph. Adam Hausermann 'York' X Duncan York 'Good Show' seedlings

     My paph seedlings seem to be doing well.  They are both busily growing new roots and leaves.  Their tiny pots dry out quickly, so that I am able to water every 1-2 days, giving the little orchids plenty of water without risking rotting the roots.

     However, because they don't have many mature roots, these orchids are very unstable in their pots.  Every time I move the pots for watering, the paphs are liable to flop over at an alarming angle.  In an attempt to add some stability to the orchids, I added wire supports to the pots.  These are similar to what I used to prop up my vertically inclined paph noid, with good success.

     Also noticeable in the picture is the yellowing on the bottom leaf of seedling #2 (on right).  I expect the orchid to shed that leaf soon. 

Giving my angraecum leonis a monsoon season

Angraecum leonis getting watered in a vase

     I've had my angraecum leonis for a year now, and it really hasn't done much in that time.  It dropped a leaf soon after I bought it, and then grew a new one.  Most of its activity over the past year involved root growth.  The orchid arrived with a rather poor root system, and most of the roots it has now are newly grown.

     Overall, the orchid has been doing well in vase culture.  While the old leaves are wrinkled from dehydration, the newest leaf is unwrinkled. Its root system now seems fairly substantial. 

     However, I want my orchid to thrive and to flower.  Looking around for tips on how to grow it better, I was reminded that in nature these orchids from Madagascar experience a summer monsoon season.  In response, I've started watering the angraecum twice daily.  Once the weather cools off in the Fall, I'll scale back again to once daily watering (and maybe less for the duration of the winter).

Signs of life on Psychopsis Mariposa 'Mountain'

A sad looking Psychopsis Mariposa 'Mountain'

     My Psychp Mariposa arrived to me in a sad shape.  Its roots were mostly rotten, and the few that remained died soon after.  The orchid then lost its spike, and lost some leaves.  Now its leaves are wrinkled and leathery, its pseudobulbs are flattened, and its roots all gone.

Signs of new growth on Psychopsis Mariposa

     In an effort to revive the orchid, I've had it 'potted' in a 2 inch pot on a bed of sphagnum moss that I keep moist.  Today, after accidentally knocking the little orchid out of its pot, I noticed the first signs of life.  The little root nub (on left) stands out as a bright green spot against the dark background.  Meanwhile, less visible, is what looks like the start of a new growth (on right). 

     While survival is still less than certain (my den victoria reginae had also produced a futile new growth before finally giving up) I choose to be optimistic for my orchid's survival.