Phal. Brother Gelblienosa II

With all my phals moved into terrarium, I am seeing lots of root growth.
All the stalled or blackened roots are now activating growing points. Stems get little bumps all over the plants.

Now, this is pretty weird place to grow a root(notice one on the small left spike):



It is Phal. Brother Gelblienosa II who is confused so much that it started the root on its spike. This spike is not new, it had a flower last summer. I never saw the roots appearing on the spikes before...

Phalaenopsis gigantea

Here is someone who definitely likes being in the orchid tank.

After doing nothing except rotting some old roots, Phalaenopsis gigantea seedling now in the tank is growing two new roots (second one is on the other side):



And I just noticed the start of the new leaf:



Hopefully this growth continues...

Second "level" on the windowsill

Since most of my phals went into orchid tank, I decided to retire the plantstand with phals and vandas and moved the rest of the plants to a south-east window. Of course my windowsill became crowded and I decided to create a second level there using wire shelves from the shoe rack. Here is what came out of it:




The window gets a lot of direct sun during noon hours and plants were burning there a lot, so I put some "frosted glass" window film to protect them.



These measures are temporary because I got an approval on getting one more tank for "all the rest plants", so the window will be unloaded some...

Phal. Kuntrarti Rarashati

Phalaenopsis Kuntrarti Rarashati was the only pant that showed definite signs of the stress from the bright light in my orchid tank. I put it on the middle shelf which was getting the most light before I lowered the levels and removed one tube from the fixture.

Other plants were there too but none of them looked any different.
Kuntrarti Rarashati did. Leaves became dark with purple veining and not fresh and crisp as they were before:



I moved it to the front, to the lowest place - farthest from the lights. Hope it will be ok.

Fan is installed.

Installed is probably too strong a word. All I did - just hung it on the s-hooks in the top left corner:



I didn't really have any problems with mold yet since I don't keep any water at the bottom of the tank and usually open front doors and top lid for the night when the lights are off. Air flows through the tank and brings down temps from 25C to about 20 and humidity from 85% to about 70.

Also I re-built the levels to make them a bit lower because light was too strong for the middle shelf. Here is how it looks now:



I put masdies in the corner with fan:



Seedlings in compots are hiding under the larger plants:

Phalaenopsis lueddemanniana again

The cute keiki on Phalaenopsis lueddemanniana actually started to grow its own root:



Also please notice the active growing point at the end of the spike and something green coming out of the lower node.
But that's not all!
The second spike activated its growing point too:



I really hope that at least one of these growths will end up being a flower...

Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi

I had Phalaenopsis cornu-cervi regular form for really long time.

I did fuss with it a lot at the beginning, rotted a lot of its roots, tried to mount it, dried some more roots, took it off the mount, potted into moss and clay and let it be. It lost some leaves, then grew some new ones, grew some new roots. Now it looks a bit on a smaller side, but still alive and healthy.




Two spikes didn't do much all this time.
Now both of them activated, but they are not growing the buds, both of them started a keiki:



One already unwrapped the leaf, another one just started at the bottom node.

Since plant just grew a new leaf and the roots seem ok, I checked recently, I refuse to beleive that it is going to die soon and now desperately growing those keikis to save its genetic material.

What would be the other explanation? I didn't even know cornu-cervi liked to grow keikis, I thought it was equestris or pulchra and lueddemanniana thing.
Now, it is fourth plant that started to grow keiki instead of blooms on the existing spikes. Is it something I do wrong? I fertilize with dilluted solution of balanced 20-20-20 all purpose fertilizer, maybe that's a problem and I should switch to specialized orchid fert with higher middle number?
Any ideas?

Fan for the orchid tank

External computer fan with usb connector arrived yesterday. Usb can be connected to the iPhone charger transformer and plugged into wall outlet.





Cute little shiny device, it has pretty long retractable cord which is still too short to reach my plug outlet. Very quiet. On the left there is a knob that allows you to control the speed.

I am not sure where I am going to put it yet. Should it stand on the floor of the tank, or hang closer to the ceiling? In the middle or on one side? Maybe I should have bought two of them?

I am leaving all these questions to be solved next weekend...

On the light topic - I removed one tube from the light fixture. 4 tubes appeared too strong for my phals that have tall leaves. Cornu-cervi red and pulchra got too much of purple freckles that don't look very healthy. Since I hanged lots of seedlings on the back wall and they don't want too bright light, I moved fixture a bit forward and removed front tube. Will see how it goes.

Pink noId

Old phalaenopsis from the grocery store is getting ready to bloom. Last winter it had two buds. I always cut the spike after blooming is done.
This year again - two buds developed on a new spike:



It is probably low light that keeps the flower count down.

I don't fuss much with this phal, it lives in the same plastic pot that it came in and I probably repotted it just once back then into Shultz bark mix. The roots look good through the pot, so I am not touching it.

The flowers are pretty pink and every winter I wait for them to open...

Orchid tank: exploring hanging space

Walls of the orchid tank is an additional place to squeeze some more orchids.
To use all that space I bought some s-hooks and galvanized steel wire from Home Depot:





I twisted piece of wire, tied it to a plastic net pot and voila - it has cute but strong hanger.
S-hooks fit perfectly into the cells of the egg-crate, they are steel to match the hangers.
Here is my phalaenopsis seedling enjoying the view hanging above all other 'chids:




Twisting the wire is a pain and it is easier to do with plier.

Vanda coerulea

While happily growing a new leaf Vanda coerulea decided to get couple new fat roots going above the moss too:



I have noticed before that vandas start new leaves, but the old ones still continue to grow. It really shows on this picture - all the fresh green part is a newly grown foliage.

This vanda coerulea is mature enough to bloom. I am planning to take my vandaceous and cattleyas out to the backyard this summer. Will see if it helps with blooming and growth.

Phalaenopsis fasciata 'Shaffers'

Yesterday I discovered a new spike start on Phalaenopsis fasciata 'Shaffers'. It is quite small still but definitely looks like a spike, not root, right?




This plant just bloomed in September and already has bunch of spikes that span into three different directions making it very hard to find suitable space for it, so I don't know what is the point in growing yet one more, but it probably knows the reason.

I like fasciata flowers with their wild striped patterns. Looking forward to more blooms...

Phal. violacea var. alba

Violacea alba was producing long and narrow leaves. I think it was an issue with cultivation, either not enough light or moisture or something else maybe...

Now it is in the orchid tank with quite bright light and pretty moist air. New leaf just started and I am wondering if it will come out long and narrow too.



Also I am hoping that it will activate the spike and bloom sometime soon...

Masdies in orchid tank

My masdies and draculas got their last chance.
Even though space in my orchid tank is very limited and should be used very wise - I put them into the far left corner at the bottom.
That place is very humid and doesn't get much of direct light:



The temperature might be a problem since during the day it raises up to 25C, but probably 25C in 80% humidity is still better than 22C in 35% humidity, so I think they should be greatful.

Actually now I have this frustrating puzzle-sort of a game - "how to fit more orchids in a tank", and I can never win this game.

Yesterday I decided to put one vandaceous in there too, just to see if my lights will be enough to bloom vanda. Lucky plant is Vandachostylis Sri-Siam, it is blooming sized, has lots of roots and not too large. I raised it a bit above phals, so it could get more light:



Another observation - I noticed that my phals leaf color becomes lighter and lighter every day, it is especially light on bellinas. I am wondering if they are burning under these lights or is it a good sign of sufficient lighting.

Selling some phals

Well, as my orchid tank filled up with all the phals plus some of them didn't even fit inside, I decided to get rid of some phals. Mostly they are duplicates or not the "absolutely must haves" for me.
I bought too many of them and now would like to concentrate on quality more than on quantity, trying to provide better conditions to those who stays.
I have created the "For sale " page on this blog.
Also for fun I created an account on eBay, just to see how this thing works for sellers, before I was only buying stuff from ebay :).
It is probably unfortunate that I started it in winter with dead shipping season here in Canada, but I chose "Express Post" as only available shipping option and mentioned the local pick up, so maybe there is somebody in an area who would like my phals.
These guys are available now:

Phalaenopsis Brother Gelblienosa (venosa x Gelblieber) - blooming size with spike - $25
Phalaenopsis Tsay's Evergreen - blooming size - $25
Phalaenopsis Lyndon Equator Jewel - blooming size - $25
Phalaenopsis Lyndon Red Sun (Sogo Lawrence x Kung's Red Cherry) - blooming size - $25
Dtps. Freed's Beautiful Girl 'Blue' X Phal Equestris 'Alba' - blooming size - $25

Phalaenopsis lueddemanniana keiki update

Strange looking growth on the spike of Phalaenopsis lueddemanniana looks more like a real keiki now:



It unwrapped small and very cute leaf:



Plant lives in the orchid tank and today it looked like another spike is becoming active too. I will check again in couple days to make sure it is really happening and not just me seeing things...

Cattleya tigrina

I got this seedling over a year ago from Clouds.



Since fall 2011 it has been growing nicely even though I managed to burn some of it on the full sun right at the beginning, so couple of leaves on the old pseudobulbs were discarded. Plant forgivingly one-by-one grew couple of new ones.

This time around - it started two new growths at the same time:



I am not sure how big plant has to be to flower, hoping that when these new growths mature, maybe I will get some blooms...

Orchid tank update

I got clear acrylic sheets from Home Depot and covered the top opening of the tank.
Now humidity is between 75 and 80% when doors are closed and lights are on.



When light are turned off at night, humidity climbs up to 85-90%, so I started leaving small openings in doors and top for the night.
To increase air movement I have ordered computer fan, this one:
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002OJN250/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00 .
I choose it because it works from usb, so I don't need to do any wire cuttings and other electrical stuff.

I also re-arranged the plants in the tank. Took out vandas and cattleyas back onto their windowsill and replaced them with my phalaenopsis seedlings, so I could turn off two heat mats that were working 24/7. There they are on the back shelf, I moved the light fixture a bit forward, so no direct light gets on them:



The lights are so strong that large amount of them gets reflected on the area in front of the tank. I put small coffee table there with some other plants:



I also bought one more sheet of egg-crate to cover the left side of the tank, it was missing there.

I am closely monitoring the plants to see any sign of uncomfortable light intensity, but so far none of them displayed any purple color on the leaves, maybe it is to early yet, I don't know...

Orchid tank: lights are here.

Hydrofarm light fixture with four T5 HO bulbs arrived today with UPS. Everything was in place and everything was working. Now plants have lights:



My initial idea of placing the fixture right on the top of lid didn't really work out because plants appeared too close to the light and I could feel the leaves literally getting too warm. So pieces of wood were urgently cut to put between the light box and the tank:



As I suspected - temps in the tank raised to 25C - which is good, but humidity dropped down to 60% - not so good:



I misted the plants pretty heavy with sprayer hoping to raise humidity up a bit, ut don't know if it was such a good idea for phals and if it even is going to help.



Now I need to buy a small humidifier that would fit the tank and keep some moisture in.
Are there any other options?

Orchid tank with plants now

The lighting fixture was shipped on Monday and is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow.
All the plants were re-potted into fresh moss, took me two evenings to complete this task.
They filled up the tank pretty fast:



And I realized that I need couple more such terrariums to fit all my plants in.
Tank keeps 70% humidity and 20C temps without doors, when lights arrive I am hoping the temps will increase from bulbs heat, but humidity might drop, so I will put on the doors then.

I wanted to get the light measuring device too, but was unpleasantly surprised by their prices. I guess my plants would need to go through experimental process of light adjustment.

For air movement I am planning to buy a small desktop fan, but didn't find one that I liked yet.

Orchid tank

I spent almost whole day today creating the layout of my new orchid tank and here is what came out of it:



I used egg crate sheets to make shelves on different levels. Shelves are resting on the glass vases of different height - I have whole bunch of them since I moved my vandas to clay pots. Vases are not as noticeable in real life as came out on pictures.

On the top back shelf I plan to put small cattleyas and vanda seedlings. Rest will be taken by phals. Compots with seedlings can go on the bottom.

My plants can't wait to get into their new home, but we have to wait for lights.

Since this was made originally as a reptile tank - top lid has large 36 inch long cut out filled with steel mesh:



I have ordered 4 ft Hydrofarm designer light fixture that looks like a brown thin box, so I am going to put that box right on the top of my lid.

DIY alternative to Orchidarium

I have ordered Grand Cayman orchidarium in August 2012, now it is January 2013 and I still didn't get it nor have I an idea of possible approximate shipping date.
So I got tired of waiting, cancelled the order and decided to try and do it myself.

First I searched local web for a suitable terrarium and found this glass reptile tank with front sliding doors, sized 60 X 22 X 22 inches.
It is actually one foot wider than orchidarium but almost a foot shorter too. It is not as sleek and professional looking (and judging by picture - needs some cleaning from dust), but might do the job for the price that I paid for it.

It filled the space I intended for orchidarium quite nicely too:



So, this is a start...
And here is the whole process.

Ambonosa - beginning of an end?

Phalaenopsis Ambonosa looked just fine, grew a new leaf and two new roots since I got it totally rootless. Started second new leaf.
Suddenly in one day three old leaves got yellow and dropped:



Probably because those two small roots cannot handle that many leaves, but why would it start new leaves then?



Maybe it is just a start of its death. I re-potted it into smallest net pot, but even the newest leaf start has some black patch, so overall it doesn't look good at all...

Weird growth on Coral Isles x corningiana

There was a spike from the beginning on my Phalaenopsis Coral Isles x corningiana. Spike was small and not active.
Recently it activated and here is what came out of it:



View from the other side:



What does it try to grow? I am clueless.
Picture of the whole plant: