Orchid blog
This blog is dormant at the moment, but it is still getting a lot of visitis so I will keep it up for you guys as a resource. My future adventures will be published on my new blog, hope to see you there!
My focus… if pressed to name favorites it would have to be orchids of the Pleurothallid Alliance. But a Paphiopedilum was the first orchid I ever fell in love with so slipper orchids will always be close to my heart, and while we are on the subject I might as well disclose a love affair with Neofinetia as well.
Bulbophyllum pulchellum
This is a small to medium sized epiphyte from Asia. It is a pretty fast grower and produces 4-5 new bulbs per growing season for me. But supposedly it really prefers much warmer temperatures and higher humidity than what I offer it in my intermediary growing window. So although it blooms for me every year, it probably would do better cultivated in a warm vivarium or greenhouse. That's ok by me, it is too large [...]
New baby arrivals… Dendrobium cyanocentrum f. blue
This is so exciting... and I just have to give a hug and a huge plug to a very nice orchid grower for this one. I very recently (and suddenly) lost both of my Dendrobium cyanocentrum orchids and it really, really sucks! A heartbreaking experience since I raised both plants from flask to flower and they were absolutely perfect and thriving until the quick and brutal end - just look at the last two photos [...]
Masdevallia ayabacana
Masdevallia ayabacana was named after the Ayabaca Province in northwestern Peru. Its is a medium to large size epiphyte where it grows in the cloud forests at altitudes of 1200-1800 meters. I grow mine potted in EpiWeb substrate on the bottom of the cool vivarium, but it is quite tolerant to warmer temperatures as well. It boasts a very long inflorescence of about about 35cm and it keeps growing longer with the succession of each new flower, usually 2-3 per spike. The impressive [...]
Dracula chimaera – the giant fire-breathing monster
Dracula chimaera is a small sized cold grower from the cloud forests of Colombia. I have always admired this very large Dracula species and I have anxiously followed the development of the bud all summer. Today the flower has opened up and it is amazing!! It can carriy up to 6 single flowers in succession so I am looking forward to many more hairy wonders though this fall. The flowers grow pretty much straight down [...]
Time to reconfigure the cool vivarium for winter
So the weather prognosis is predicting a lot cooler temperatures from now on, down below 10 C at night and below 20 C during the day. So I thought is was time to pack up the air conditioning unit for this season and reconfigure the cool vivarium for winter. A fairly easy job actually, I just unhooked the AC and replaced it with the cool air intake hose connected to the fan pulling air from [...]
Phragmipedium besseae
I have been looking forward to this one all summer, it is such a strikingly beautiful flower and the first time it blooms for me. I bought it last fall and I think I actually stalled it a little bit by repotting it, but now it is fianlly blooming and it is also coming with three new shoots at the same time! Phragmipedium besseae is a warm growing litophyte/terrestrial species come from the wet montane forests [...]