Phalaenopsis mannii

Phal. mannii dark, a photo by rdlsreno on Flickr.

Phalaenopsis stuartiana comparison

Phal. stuartiana comaprison, a photo by rdlsreno on Flickr.

Leptotes bicolor

Leptotes bicolor, a photo by Frank Siebach on Flickr.

Cattleya labiata

Cattleya labiata, a photo by Mauro Rosim on Flickr.

Laelia purpurata estriata

Laelia purpurata estriata, a photo by voorchid on Flickr.

Cattleya lueddemanniana "rubra"

Cattleya lueddemanniana "rubra", a photo by Eliane G. de Paiva on Flickr.

Cattleya intermedia

From Aranda Orchids via James Rose (Cal-Orchid).

Phalaenopsis stuartiana

This is the first species Phal I've bloomed. I like it.

Dendrobium papilio 'Rosminah' AM/AOS

Dendrobium papilio 'Rosminah' AM/AOS, a photo by cieneguitan on Flickr.

Cattleya elongata

Cattleya elongata, a photo by Mauro Rosim on Flickr.

A rarely grown species.

Laelia perrini semi-alba

Laelia perrini semi-alba, a photo by Martônio Littig on Flickr.

C. Brian Carwile

20133345-Brian-Carwile-AM-WEB, a photo by monkdvm on Flickr.

A C. lueddemanniana needing attention

This is a big lueddemanniana semi-alba I acquired from Fred Clarke in the Winter for a reasonable price. It is big and unwieldy with the most recent growths at the edge of the pot or hanging over the edge. I thought there was a good chance it was in this pot for a long time and had marginal roots, though you can tell it is a strong plant. 

A few leads had broken

One lead had growing root tips

New root growth initiating on one of the long roots outside the pot

Side view showing a growth breaking two leads. Also long living roots.

View from top

After soaking for a while got it out of the pot. Most of the roots inside the pot were dead. The live roots inside the pot were tangled up in dead roots and packed very tightly. After wrestling with it for a while I decided the only sensible thing to do was cut it up into pieces and clean it up.

Here is the result. I have five divisions. Three have nice leads and good roots. One has no active lead as I broke it off during the process. However, this division has a live eye which hopefully will activate shortly. The fifth division was the internal one and has some good roots but no active lead. I am letting these divisions dry for a day or two before getting them potted.

Dockrillia linguiforme

Dockrillia linguiforme, a photo by salabat on Flickr.

Cattleya jenmanii

Two Dendrobium speciosum

Laelia bahiensis

Cattleya labiata

Laelia anceps var. disciplinata (lineata striata)

Laelia anceps var. disciplinata (lineata striata), a photo by KevinMIAfuego on Flickr.

Cattleya labiata semi-alba

Cattleya labiata f. semi-alba, a photo by Mauro Rosim on Flickr.

Thoughts during re-potting and a Dendrobium

This weekend I took on a task I'd been dreading. I had a few plants in 6" wood baskets that had been there for a while. In some situations one can simply "pot on" by placing the old basket in a larger basket without disturbing the plants. But in these cases (and in my growing conditions) I decided against this course of action. For one plant, a C. maxima, I suspected the roots were in bad shape at least partly because of poor treatment it received this winter - but it was growing over the basket. A second plant, a C. labiata was also growing over the basket and the new growth was heading down instead of across. I carefully took apart the baskets using wire cutters (and a screwdriver for a wedge). The C. maxima basket had coconut husk chips and sphagnum and just got too wet during the winter. What I found was that the C. maxima had relatively few roots, but enough remained to get a good start for this year's growth. I put it into a 6" Aircone pot (after cutting off a few old pseudobulbs) with large orchiata, which should be good for a few years. My current thinking it that I will use pots up to 6" and only then, if I decide not to divide, go into an 8" or 10" basket with large orchiata (plus some charcoal) - basically from now on I'm only going to be using baskets for big plants. The story was different for the C. labiata. The roots were pretty good. It too had CHC + sphagnum but had some charcoal thrown in too. The CHC was mush, the charcoal was rock hard, the sphagnum was marginal. The roots were very tightly packed - they were seeking to stay in the moist environment of the basket. In fact, they were extra densely packed over the broader bottom slats, which were probably the wettest parts of the basket. I cleaned up the plant as much as possible (it was pretty tough given how dense the roots were). I thought about dividing and getting it into a pot but it would have meant mangling the plant. I put it into a large basket with large orchiata. It will be interesting to see how this works out. Sorry, no pics!

Here is a Dendrobium delicatum, a cross of speciosum and kingianum. Great fragrance!

Cattleya schilleriana coerulea

Cattleya schilleriana cerulea, a photo by Dalton BR on Flickr.

Sophronitella violacea

Sophronitella violacea, a photo by Mikaels orchids on Flickr.

Cattleya lueddemanniana

Picture 471, a photo by cattleyas1123 on Flickr.

Cattleya mossiae alba

C. Mossae Alba, a photo by Martônio Littig on Flickr.

One approach to heating a small greenhouse

http://youtu.be/oVRK-qTtMHE

Cattleya trianae 'Highjack' AM/AOS

C trianae 'Highjack' AM/AOS LUR_3778, a photo by kentucky4 on Flickr.

Cattleya Brabantiae 'El Toro', AM/AOS

C. Brabantiae 'El Toro', AM/AOS, a photo by Fender's Flora on Flickr.

Dendrobium speciosum update

Since I took this photo the buds have turned from green to yellow - they should be opening very soon.

Cattleya purpurata from POE

I bought this seedling from H & R at the show. It is a striata cross, supposedly tetraploid. It sure is robust for a young plant. You can see in a 2" pot the newest growth is almost 12" tall!

Interview with Sergio Englert

Brazilian Orchids - Orchid News 33