The growing season amazes me. The Dendrobium aggregatum I'm babysitting for my mother seems to be putting out something. I hope they're roots. But the plant is comprised of half-rotten and shriveled pseudobulbs and absolutely no roots whatsoever; I'm frankly quite surprised at what some heat and fertilizer and water can do.

The nobile NoID Dendrobium I have is shooting out keikis like crazy. The first and largest grew to a comfortable size (probably 7-9 inches), with a plethora of 3 inch roots. I plucked that off and put it in its own cozy plastic Starbucks-cup-turned-orchid-pot. The medium is fine bark, something I've had a modicum of success with in the one year of owning orchids.

The keikis indicate--most likely, but please don't quote me on it--that the plant is under extreme duress and looking for ways to continue its genetic lifespan. I guessed this was the case when it spiked and my hypothesis still seems valid. The initial canes are rather shriveled, further supporting this theory. Once the parent plant gives its last reserves to its asexual clones, I will probably throw it out, unfortunately. The way the keikis are situated make it way too hard to simply keep them on the parent plant; with limited space something so top-heavy would be a hassle to keep still.

The Miltonia I keep talking about is spike-happy. Last year when I bought it, the flowers were almost all dead, and they looked sort of torn up. I'm not sure if the difference in flower coloring, as minor as it is (more white, very limited purple coloring) is due to culture or simply because the flower was tattered at purchase.

Rebloom on a Paph NoID I have. At purchase there were 2 flowers on the spike...but I don't think that will happen this time around. Bad culture or a result of the forced flowering big box companies do?

And to end on a silly note, why do Oncidiums insist on growing so strangely? Silly thing, you are taking up a lot of room by growing at a 90 degree angle.

Plantgasm is always awesome

http://plantgasm.com/archives/4753

Jetlagged

I disappeared off for a trip for 3 or so weeks, and asked my family to water my plants. Prior to that I had been out and about for a week, and told them to not water anything, thinking that would be fine. I'm now short a Phalaenopsis and my Darwinara Charm. Whoops.

On the plus side, it IS the growing season, and I see something growing off the Epi and Bulbophyllum I have. Everything else seems to be doing reasonably well, and new spikes have formed on my Miltonia. My mother brought home a bunch of new orchids. Restrepia elegans and Isochilus linearis both seem to be Central American species, and her new Milt and Masd have confirmed crosses/lineages.

It's always a pleasure to find abundant amounts of new growth on a plant, especially plants with slow flowering and growing conditions. It's not as fulfilling when you realize that under someone else's care, your babies have sprung up vigorously, but if you're watching something daily, you won't see that drastic change anyway.

Go to sleep.

These look delicious. Looking at food at 1AM is ever a good idea.

Bulbs

I'm playing a game with myself, involving a list of common bulbed plants, their scientific name, and Google Images. So far I'm in the Bs. While I like them all fairly equally (and found out that the lilies I see so often are Alstroemeria), here's a few others I'm enjoying:

Babiana spp. (especially B. framesii)

Bessera spp.

Gladiolus spp. (of course :))

Eucomis! Really pretty, small clusters of flowers and all...

Not on the list per say, but Brodiaea californica is a nice native species.

Fun fact: the Canna plants you grow? Apparently the rhizome is rich in starch, and the seeds are a tortilla supplement.

Those silly irises you see planted in bunches in California area called Japanese/Butterfly irises.

Orchids for everyone!

Tonight I scored an Oncidium species from the raffle at the Malihini Orchid Society meeting. I seem to have already lost the tag in the span of 5 minutes, but I do believe it's an Onc. sphacelatum. Hopefully the tag turns up in the car. Or in my lap. That would be nice.

Anyway, the plant is HUGE. The pseudobulbs are oblong, about 4 inches high, and the leaves are blade-like, about a foot or more long. The inflorescences themselves (there are 2 of them) are branched and are sporting at least 50 blooms. The plant is tall, so tall in fact that it might have to live outside or on a plant stand on my floor, as it cannot live perched on a dresser like the other orchids.

Tonight's speaker was David Sorokowsky, speaking on the delightful little things that are Sarcochilus. Predominantly white, red, or white with red splotches, there are attempts to bring out browns, blues, and yellows. They're quite adorable! Sarcochilus species themselves are native to Australia and are cool/cold growing orchids, tolerating lows to 30F and wilting in anything above 80F. Hybrid vigor allows for a wider tolerance range, but I would still not want to chance these picky fellers in anywhere but San Francisco, or a heavily controlled greenhouse setting.

Watering

This will be the first summer my plants will experience with an educated me. I know that this is the growing season for all/most of my plants and have been heavily fertilizing them. I use a 20-10-20 orchid fertilizer, diluted from anywhere to 1/10th - 1/2 of the concentration (1 tablespoon/1 gallon) for daily use. I keep it in a spray bottle for easy surface/foliar application, and just spray until the top bark looks fairly damp. Since it is pretty hot, I do mist and water daily, as the bark medium does not hold as much water as sphagnum moss.

The way I water my plants doesn't require any soaking, as I've seen other people do. Not usually, at least. I just pour the water in, allow it to drain out, and hope the plant stays happy. It's not strictly scientific or even a good judge of wetness, nor an efficient method, but my babies are still alive...