House orchids 2011

[Maren]

David,
that is a truly inspiring collection of houseplants. Well done, especially with the Kovachii hybrids. They are not the easiest.
Congratulations.

[monocotman]

Maren,

I thought you'd find the information about the cat litter compost interesting after your experience of it with pleiones. Its all an experiment. I know that kovachii grows fairly cool in its native habitat and that the straight species grows well in diatomaceous earth - this is what Jason Fischer uses in the USA. So I thought it was worth a try. The kitchen is not warm in the winter but this doesn't have seemed to have harmed the phrags. It slows down the paphs much more.
They would probably grow much faster if I could give them warmer days coupled with the cool nights. They will get that during the summer.
I do have a four year old straight kovachii that grows very slowly in a bark compost with added limestone. It is only about 9 inches across and has just started a new growth.
It will probably go into the cat litter compost soon, but I thought that I'd try the more robust hybrids first,

Regards,

David

[Maren]

Oh dear, David, I am beginning to wobble on the matter of the cat litter.
Just tell me please exactly which brand it is and where you bought it.

[monocotman]

Maren,

it is the regular Tesco's low dust lightweight cat litter spoken about on this forum.
Sold in pale yellow and pink 10 litre bags with a photo of a pussy on the side!
See first photo. Sorry for the quality of the photos but it is so dull around here today.
I've just repotted the 'straight' kovachii. I've no reason so far to think it isn't correct, but it was an ebay purchase about 4 years ago, soon after they first appeared.
It was a tiny seedling. As you can see, growth is good but so slow! It did improve lot in colour when I added limestone to the bark mix. So maybe it is the true species,

Regards,

David

[Maggi Young]

Forgive my ignorance.... what is NOID, please?  As in NOID cym / NOID cattleya hybrid 

[daveyp1970]

Maggie its a hybrid bought from a garden centre ,supermarket ect and because the don't put the hybrid name tag on them and there is that many hybrids out there its pretty unlikely to pin point a name,they are labeled as noid(no id)

[Maggi Young]

Thanks, Davey.... seems so obvious  now you explain it... there's often a clue. eh?  

[daveyp1970]

Maggie somebody had to explain it to me once as well

[Maggi Young]

Maggie somebody had to explain it to me once as well

Yes, Davey....  I suppose they did... that's what is so fantastic about being able to share and learn here...... so much to find out.... hope my brain cells are keeping hold of at least some of the great info   

[Roma]

This should probably be in the moan-moan thread but talking of brain cells I am going blue in the face trying to explain to my husband how the car registration numbers work.  I think he's got it then he asks again........

[Tony Garthwaite]

Well, they do say that when 'Tropical orchid' growers give up the battle, they become 'Alpine  flower' enthusiasts instead.

However, I remember Ron Dennis at the Harrogate Show stating that he was giving up Alpines and growing Hot House orchids instead because the pots were getting too heavy to lift!

 Personally, I had orchids before Alpines, but now dable in both. Maybe it is 'cyclic' and I'll go back to Orchids only when I reach Ron Dennis's age!!!!

Forrestii is just showing flower buds and the compost is DRY!

[Tony Willis]

David

I have only just seen your posting and the plants are really wonderful.

Here is what I think is an Oncidium but it may be a hybrid. It was given as a piece from a friend and grows on the windowsill with a selection of rejects from B&Q's almost dead bargain trolley.

[daveyp1970]

Tony could be a wilsonara or Odontocidium more than straight oncidium

[Tony Willis]

David as I indicated in my post I thought it might be a hybrid but no way of knowing what as it is one of those plants that bits have been passed on as it has been divided and it is now nameless and a long way from its original owner. I thought the flowers are too large to be a pure oncidium.

[ThomasB]

Tony,

I think your orchid is quite similar (if not identical) to pictures of Odontocidium "Russiker Goldbaum" (a swiss cross) I found.

Regards
Thomas