Leafless Orchid Progress

An article in 'Orchids' magazine encouraged me to put my old, almost dead piece of Dendrophyllax funalis on wood instead of leaving it in a black plastic basket.

What a difference!

I put it on wood - just an old stick left over from an Andy's Orchids plant I'd killed - and I think you can see I just used old phone wire to tie it in place.

That was in either September '09 or October '09. The picture at the left was taken 12/1/09 Wow! I guess the article was right, these really do like to be on wood.

Now if it'll just flower for me....

Learning Curve

There's a bit of a learning curve with the Adgia Test strips. I thought I had some sort of rudimentary lab skills left over from my college days, but I guess not. Nevertheless I've managed to test some of my suspicious orchids as well as the non-suspicious ones I'm giving away. Only one 'suspect' showing color break was infected. Remember there are a myriad of viruses out there, these strips only check for two, Cymbidium Mosaic Virus (CymMV) and Odontoglossum Ring Spot Virus (ORSV).

I blew through 3-4 tests before I got the knack of not vigourously crushing the sample in the meshed reagent bag such that a frothy liquid was the result. It was almost impossible to dip the immunostrip to the proper depth amongst the froth. Waiting for the froth to clear didn't help as the sample oxidizes quickly. Neither the Adgia web page nor the 'Orchids' article on these tests mention either the froth or the oxidation. So I'm mentioning it here. If you rub the tissue sample as vigourously as is shown in the Adgia training video you'll get a sample that resembles beer and is hard to dip the immunostrip into - yeilding an improper test result and wasting a test kit. Don't make my same mistake.

For future reference the article in 'Orchids' magazine is in the May 2008 edition, written by Loren Batchman on page 343. Nice article.

Jodi Hirt mentioned that Bruggsmansia (I know I spelled that wrong) can be used as an indicator plant. Cheaper than strips takes a few days for the Bruggs to react, but hey, it works for her. The idea is to abrade a leaf of the Bruggsma-er-whatever plant with sandpaper then rub a cut piece from the suspicious orchid on it, getting the 'juice' onto the leaf. Wait a few days and the leaf will change if its virused. I have no idea why this doesn't also infect the whole Bruggs plant. But there you go.

Pancakes

Just made pancakes for breakfast. I can't believe people used to eat this way. There are better ways to consume thousands of calories. [Example: anything and Vodka.]

Both Harry Bosch and Terry McCaleb love Dupar's pancakes in LA. They go on and on about the fluffy pancakes and whether they should be eaten with maple syrup or blackberry. (I'm a maple person myself)

Or maybe the shake and pour Bisquick pancakes just can't compare.

What? You *don't* know who Bosch and McCaleb are? Why, fictional detectives written by Michael Connelly, of course! Have you been living under a rock and not keeping up with your crime fiction?

I guess I'm just too suggestable. I started craving yogurt after watching a 'Burn Notice' marathon on TV.

Temperature

I'm cursed by living in a temperate climate.

Dry, but temperate. Its the dryness that makes me keep my orchids in a greenhouse.

I don't know what happened this year but my greenhouse hasn't been getting much lower than 61-62F at night. I have a Radio Shack thermometer that reads an indoor/outdoor temps. The outdoor sensor is in the center of the greenhouse (GH).

My first thought was that the GH sensor had gone bad after years of accidentally getting watered on, so I replaced it. While that did make a slight difference it wasn't one that was outside the accuracy range for the instrument (I think most of these have a degree of accuracy to within 3-4 degrees). Additionally, the min/max mercury thermometer gives the same readings: no more than 60-61F at night. And this has been going on all 2009; winter, spring and summer.

I'm triplely cursed by being a bookish sort of person, having a decent library and by reading too much. Back in the 1950s Gavino Rotor did a study on daylength and blooming but also on *temperatures* and blooming. He used cattleyas, and since that's mostly what I grow I take this study to heart. In it not only does daylength affect bloom time, but night time temps did too. Anything around 62-63F delayed blooming.

ACK! That's right where my GH is.

In our county (Eastern San Francisco Bay Area) many people can grow orchids very well outside. Except for the ambient humidity. Which is why I have a GH - to trap the humidity. But now I'm beginning to wonder.

Rebecca Northen had great photos of her lathe house in her book Home Orchid Growing. Maybe that's all I really need. Replace the side panels with screening so the air comes through, removing heat, (also removing humidity) but put in a sprinkler system similar to Marilyn Mirro's method for growing Vandas outside in Massachusettes. Better air flow, better air quality, better diurnal temp variation.

Granted the humidity would be very close to ambient, but ?????

Idunno. I'm stymied by my choices. Like a deer in the headlights. [sigh] But I'm getting tired of failures to bloom. I guess I have to get up the energy to address this.

Just another opportunity for personal growth.

Empty Now

My friend Barbara passed away in March 2008. I took over her orchid collection, many of which were orchids I had no idea how to grow. I've written elsewhere of my trials learning how to intertwine them into my collection. Most challenging has been her taste for dendrobiums, a genus I intentionally decided never to learn anything about, much less how to grow. They've been delightful surprises when they bloom.


In addition to her collection I've slowly been transferring supplies from her place to mine. Who knew there were so many supplies! I thought I collected pots, heck Barbara had pots aplenty, as well as baskets and wire hangers, so I'm set for life. As her house slowly becomes empty, my back yard is slowly becoming an eyesore, LOL! So I need to build some sort of a shed to house this collection of pots and assorted orchid paraphenalia.


I snapped this shot of Barbara's GH after we'd removed the pots. So sad to see it empty. Somewhere around here I have one of it filled to the brim. If I find it I'll post it.

Waiting

How many songs can you think of that deal with waiting? For another lover, in vain, whatever.

That's nothing compared with waiting for an orchid to bloom. Dave Altman once showed an orchid he owned for 20 yrs waiting for the dang thing to bloom. Now that's patience.

After 6 years I finally got this Stanhopea to bloom.
I looked up its name, only to find it was never registered under the name I purchased it as. Stan. jenishiana x Stan. tigrina was registered in 2008 by David Hunt as Stanhopea Nina Rach. When I purchased mine in 2003 (or maybe even earlier) it was sold as Stan. Opera Date. I'm not sure which name I like better, *G*! I think Nina deserves a better looking Stanhopea.

Viruses

Ken Slump's article in the July 2009 'Orchids' magazine finished just as it got interesting.

Like Ken I don't harbor any delusions that my collection is important, however I'm starting to virus test my collection for a few reasons.

1) I share my orchids. I give away back divisions, put plants on the plant table or in my society's annual BBQ and auction. I'd like to be sure I don't give away a bum plant. *Granted* the tests are only for CymMV and ORSV but at least I'm making that effort.

2) I don't need to tarnish my reputation by giving away back divisions of virused plants. That's all I need, to have someone get all happy that they got a plant from me, then have that happiness turn to ash. Nope. Not worth it. Not a way to win friends and influence people.

3) To cull the collection. Let's face it. Bench space is at a premium. Why invest time trouble and bench space on a virused plant? It can infect the rest of your collection. Nothing's worse than waiting all year for an orchid to bloom then pfft! Color break. Is it virus? Is it poor culture? Is it a result of a pesticide? Now I can test and make an informed decision about whether to toss the plant or not.

Yes, the strips cost a freaking arm and a leg.

Yes, they only test for 2 of the myriad of viruses that infect orchids.

Yes, I'm kidding myself, but I can sleep at night.

Ken's article goes on to list the whole range of virus rumors, among them: Paphs don't get viruses; ants, thrips, & scale can bring in viruses; water dripping from one virused plant onto another can pass virus along.

That last one is what keeps me up at night, LOL! I've seen plenty of hobby greenhouses, mine included, with plants hanging on top of others. There's no way not to splash water from one plant to the next. Again, IMHO get the virused plants out of the collection before they can cause trouble. [Speaking of which, Carl Jukkola did a study of his cymbidiums and virus spread within his collection... he found the leaves whipping in the breeze can cause cuts and transmit viruses.....well I really shouldn't quote him since I never read his study. Maybe Carl will get it printed in a magazine one of these days.]

True, when you start thinking about this stuff it can drive you crazy. But I go back to my 3 reasons for testing, and it makes sense to me.