Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Specific Families and Genera => Pleione and Orchidaceae => Topic started by: DavMac on January 26, 2009, 07:53:54 AM
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If you are in New Zealand in January then New Plymouth is the place to be if you like Disa.
The Taranaki Summer Orchid Show is held on the third weekend in January. It is an opportunity for enthusiasts from around New Zealand and overseas to get together and see plants we don't get to see at the Winter and Spring shows around the country.
Below are a few photos of the Disa Display and a few close-ups.
David
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My goodness, that looks to have been a super show!
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Great display David, thanks for sharing the photos. I have just a dozen or so pots of Disas at home where they provide some welcome colour after the Pleiones have finished flowering.
Paul
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Delightful is right, here's yet another plant I didn't know.
:)
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Great photos David, Helen I am no Disa expert but at the last count I had 130 growing but if you are thinking of growing some remember you will need heating as they say not below zero but mine went down to minus 3c but would not recomend it.
Derek
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Derek, thank you very much for that bit of information, there's no way I could grow them here, but I hope you post some pics of yours. :)
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Now that I have picked myself up off the floor, I can hardly believe these Disas. I think back of the few I grew in live green sphagnum, year two they went into decline but rejuvenated amazingly when the moss was renewed with live . Then they died later.
Sumptuous display.
johnw
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Quite amazing display! The flowers are huge compared to the smallish size of the plants! And those reds are like nothing i've ever seen before! Thanks for the pictures.
the yellow forms are a bit weak :(
It seems that you and Aeropetes tulbaghia have the same tastes, Rob ;D
That's why the yellow form is so rare in Nature. Anyway, i have seen pictures of clones that have the upper sepal tesselated, wich looks rather nice!
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Great treat You gave us all with those photos
Really gives the colour to the Winter here in Northen hemisphere.
Thanks and hope to more
Joakim
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Dave Parkinson plants in east yorkshire http://www.daveparkinsonplants.co.uk/ (http://www.daveparkinsonplants.co.uk/)specialise in Disa'a and had a stunning display at the Tatton Park Flower show a couple of years ago when I was there, they were also really pleasant people to talk to. The colours are just amazing, I bought a couple which I am slowly killing, sad to say.
Sue
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Sue, I have had several plants from Dave and he is good at answering mail, dont forget the original plant dies over winter and should throw up 3 or 4 babies but do not pot them up until they start groing away in the spring.
Derek
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Disa uniflora is certainly an iconic plant. I grow mine as you would a carnivorous plant - in a 50/50 mixture of course sphagnum peat and washed river sand. During the growing season I stand my pots in shallow rain or distilled water. Recently I was fortunate enough to visit the orchid house at Kirstenbosch botanical garden and drooled over their magnificent Disa collection - here are a few of the plants I saw:
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I wish I could have been there, Rogan!
I guess there is another magnificent Disa (Disa graminifolia if i am not in error) that has the most impressive deep blue colour, just like the Australian sun orchids...
I wonder why that blue Disa remains pretty unknown amongst gardeners....
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Sue, I have had several plants from Dave and he is good at answering mail, dont forget the original plant dies over winter and should throw up 3 or 4 babies but do not pot them up until they start groing away in the spring.
Derek
do I reduce the watering in winter when they die down - I've done this anyway due to forgetting to water them so I hope it's OK :-[
Sue
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Sue I leave mine standing in about an inch of water and as that evaporates leave it for a couple of days then refill, NEVER let them dry out.
Michael I should be having the Blue one sent later in the year and my friend says she will tell me how to grow it.
Derek
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Oh CRIKEY!!! Thanks for the link Fermi, I totally missed this one. I'll have to give my "NOTIFY" function a good kick.
Not surprised to see you here Derek. :)
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David, thank for sharing the photos, what a show!
I've heard some NZ nursery use Disa in cutlfower bussiness. Can NZ gower make Disa flower year arround or just in one season?
I live in yunnan province of China which I presume very suitable for Disa growing here.
And would like to have a try of importing some seedlings or blooming size plants.
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Amazing flowers. Not something I've managed to be successful with, despite trying them a couple of times. Great to see the show at the beginning of this thread. What a display!
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My first to flower this year a bit late as they got very cold over winter.
I think these 2 are the best for cut flowers, santa rosa flower stem is 60cm and kewensis 40cm.
Disa santa rosa,
Disa kewensis.
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David,
Rogan,
thanks for showing this fantastic orchids :o 8) 8)
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Really beautiful. I'm impressed by the bud count on these, compared with Disa uniflora.
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Three more from me,
Disa Sids Favourite,
Disa Unifoam,
Disa Rieter Sereen.
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2more from me plus a small section of the plants at the moment I can not get them all together.
Disa uniflora alba,
Disa african star,
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The icy lemon of Disa uniflora alba is gorgeous. now there's a plant to confound the innocent onlooker.... Disa.... yes..... uniflora...not..... alba..... not ;D ;) Ids there any wonder the poor gardener gets confused? ! :-\
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Love the uniflora alba, Derek. Such a clean flower. I so wish I could manage to grow these. ::)
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Thay are scrumptios aren't they? Derek you are surely the master of these beautiful orchids. I once had an African ground orchid called Satyrium? Do you grow that?
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Extremely disaerable! 8)
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Stunners all Derek, I have my first Disas from Lars out in the garden, maybe next year they will be big enought to flower!
P.s... How do you over-winter them? Curious as with lows of -25 in winter here, mine must move indoors!
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Very nice ones Derek well done 8) :o
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Stunners all Derek, I have my first Disas from Lars out in the garden, maybe next year they will be big enought to flower!
P.s... How do you over-winter them? Curious as with lows of -25 in winter here, mine must move indoors!
Hristo they stay in a cold greenhouse but here in Sussex we do not usualy have very cold winters but last winter they went down to minus 8c and one lot in the Alpine house were frozen solid but came through OK I have a friend in South Africa she told me she had seen them growing on a ledge behind a frozen waterfall.
Derek
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So does that mean I could actually grow them outside here? I've only ever tried them inside under lights, and never succeeded. What media do you use for yours..... I've seen them in coir chips, fine bark chips, sphagnum etc. I've tried them here in Sphagnum and coir chips, the former in a self watering pot and the latter not. Neither did at all well for me. :'(
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These postings of Disa really are delightful :) Disa uniflora alba is a lovely colour, thanks for introducing them in this thread, Derek, where do they originate from?
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The yellow/alba Disa uniflora is naturally occuring, but i don't think they are that common. They are quite beautiful. I crossed a clone called 'Christmas Gold' with an ordinary yellow and the first ones are flowering now. The two i've seen sofar is really nice. Here's the first one:
(http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p250/larsdane/Disauniflorayellow.jpg)
Kind regards
Lars
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So does that mean I could actually grow them outside here? I've only ever tried them inside under lights, and never succeeded. What media do you use for yours..... I've seen them in coir chips, fine bark chips, sphagnum etc. I've tried them here in Sphagnum and coir chips, the former in a self watering pot and the latter not. Neither did at all well for me. :'(
Paul how long does it stay below zero(or is that a silly question) I do not think they would take below zero for weeks at a time if it rose above during the day that would be fine, a grower in the USA had them under snow for some time and they survived.
I grow mine in a mixture of chopped Sphagnum and Dyna Rok which is like Seramis.
Robin they come from Table Mountain in South Africa and grow in the side of snow melt streams.
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Derek, thanks for the info, so I am guessing between 0 and +5 might work well! I have just the place.
Lars, that's a stunner!!
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Thanks Hristo. I go some to spare ;D, so just email me if you want one.
Kind regards
Lars
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Derek,
I am not sure we've ever had a day that was below freezing all day, no matter how cold the night was (well not in my time anyway). We might get -8'C overnight and still get 10'C during the day. Snow is a very different thing to heavy frost too. There are a lot of plants that will survive with snow cover but not without it (snow is a wonderful insulator). I'd never even thought of growing them outside. If I can acquire one again I shall attempt it outside and see how it goes. It has to go better than inside, so there is only "up" from here. ;D How much sunshine does everyone give them? I've only heard of them under lights or in glasshouses here, which is why I am asking what others are doing.
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Paul , I only grow the ordinary red Disa uniflora , in spagnum moss and the occasionally
light liquid feed . If you would like to try it again ,Iwould be pleased to send you a plant .
Otto.
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Otto,
The "ordinary red Disa uniflora" (as you call it) is I think what I have tried in the past. Yes, I would love to try it again. Do you grow yours outside? Do you use a self watering pot? One of the attempts I had was in sphagnum moss in a self watering pot and I think that was the one that managed best of the attempts I made. Until now I had never considered they could grow outside though. :-\ Thanks so much, Otto!! :)
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I have just a few Disas. One really good summary on how to grow them can be found at:
http://afrodisa.com/disaculture.aspx (http://afrodisa.com/disaculture.aspx)
I use the 50/50 mix of Supersphag and Perlite to grow them in and this works really well.
Paul
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I have just a few Disas. One really good summary on how to grow them can be found at:
http://afrodisa.com/disaculture.aspx (http://afrodisa.com/disaculture.aspx)
I use the 50/50 mix of Supersphag and Perlite to grow them in and this works really well.
Paul
Paul where do you get the Supersphag from I have been trying but could not find it so have been chopping sphagnum moss.
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Derek,
I got my Supersphag from one of the carnivorous plant nurseries - see http://www.littleshopofhorrors.co.uk/shop/Supersphag-20-Blocks-5-litres.html (http://www.littleshopofhorrors.co.uk/shop/Supersphag-20-Blocks-5-litres.html)
If you put Supersphag into Google it comes up with this and other suppliers too
Cheers
Paul
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Derek,
I got my Supersphag from one of the carnivorous plant nurseries - see http://www.littleshopofhorrors.co.uk/shop/Supersphag-20-Blocks-5-litres.html (http://www.littleshopofhorrors.co.uk/shop/Supersphag-20-Blocks-5-litres.html)
If you put Supersphag into Google it comes up with this and other suppliers too
Cheers
Paul
Paul thanks for that I think it must be my age I never think of the easy ways like Google,
You recomended Walters site have you have you ever signed up to the Disaphiles that he runs you get some interesting info from that.
Derek
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Paul (and others),
What sort of pots do you use for your Disa? I've seen people here use everything frmo self-watering pots to orchid pots (i.e "mesh" style base rather than normal holes, for extra drainage) to normal pots. I've also heard of standing them in water or not, depending on who you talk to etc. I hadn't actually heard of Sphagnum moss and Perlite in a 50/50 before, but it sounds like it should work well. I just want to try to collect some knowledge together so I can work out what should be the right method for me to use.
Thanks all.
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Paul I use normal pot for most of mine but some of the more vigorous plants that maybe I would like more babies from I put them in net pots with half inch holes they then throw out babies through the side I will try to remember to take a photo tomorrow.
Mine stand in water I put about 2 inches in and then let it go down and leave the tray empty for 2 or 3 days and then refill, as they are potted in Dyna Rock and moss they last that long without drying out but other people grow them different ways it is what you get used to, when I first started I was in contact with Wally Orchard one of the experts in the USA he told me to expect losses until you find a way that suits.
Derek
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Derek,
I'm hoping to head off more losses by picking everyone's brains, but I understand what you mean. So much comes down to your own environment and conditions.... regardless of what you're "supposed" to do, some things don't work in your own situation, so trial and error works out what works for you. That is why I grow so many things that shouldn't grow here.... I don't let them read the instruction manuals, so the plants don't know that they're not supposed to grow the way I am growing them. :D
P.S. Hopefully you got my emails yesterday?
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Derek,
I'm hoping to head off more losses by picking everyone's brains, but I understand what you mean. So much comes down to your own environment and conditions.... regardless of what you're "supposed" to do, some things don't work in your own situation, so trial and error works out what works for you. That is why I grow so many things that shouldn't grow here.... I don't let them read the instruction manuals, so the plants don't know that they're not supposed to grow the way I am growing them. :D
P.S. Hopefully you got my emails yesterday?
Paul yes I will answer later, here is the photo of the Disa pot showing growth from the side as I said the brown on the old leaf is fertiliser scorch.
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As the website says, Disas come from Africa. So does this mean that Disa lovers are Afridisiacs? ;D
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::) ::) <groan>
Actually, Lesley, I've got to hand it to you for that one. Well thought out!! I will probably think of Disa now if I ever hear the term aphrodisiac in the future. You've tarnished me for life. :o
Thanks for the chuckle. 8)
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Lesley, you are quick at the draw! That IS a good one. :-* :-*