any orchid freaks in the lounge?

[Gato Moteado]

i find a lot of orchids on the ground after bad storms when i'm walking on my property. if they're in decent shape i take them home and tie them to a piece of guitite branch or pot them up in coco fiber, charcoal, and moss. i also acquire them from fallen, dead trees.

here's a rescue orchid that just bloomed today. anyone have any idea what it is?

[joneschick]

1. I don't know the varieties. I just love them

--not exactly an orchid nut, but my mom wore one rather than carried a bouquet when she was married, so that's what I got for her when I was married. I saw amazing orchid all over the place when I visited Iguasu Falls. Thanks for the pic and kick!

[Gato Moteado]

2. this one has just a simple flower.....

i have some that are stunning when they flower. you can amass quite a collection very easily in the tropics.

[joneschick]

3. you have a collection???

for goodness sake, start a pic thread! Do share!

[GumboYaYa]

4. My wife is obsessed with orchids.

We have way more than we can handle. Every spare windowsill is packed with orchids. Her ream is to have a greenhouse. I bet she owns 40-50 orchids right now. It yakes more than an hour to water all of them.

That looks like a lady slipper orchid to me.

[Gato Moteado]

9. i don't think it's a lady slipper.....

the flower seems much too simple.

[seemunkee]

5. I have a few

Mostly inherited. I have some Chinese orchids that survive outdoors in DC that are done blooming for the season. They look like this


But my favorites are the paphs.

[joneschick]

6. I had to google paph

OMG! I wish I was jewelry designer!

[Sequoia]

7. That's beautiful.

[Gato Moteado]

8. is that a species or a hybrid?

nt

[joneschick]

10. I have no idea

I googled paph images and picked the prettiest one. could you figure it out from the jpg address in properties?:shrug:

[Gato Moteado]

12. no, i tried that....

....it didn't give a species name.

[slackmaster]

29. Picture looks like Bletilla striata

My first two attempts to grow them - Once in pots and once in the ground - failed miserably.

But three bulbs I planted in 2002 are up to 18 growths with abundant flowers for late April through the middle of May. I put stream pebbles over them to suppress weeds, and teh Bletillas seem to like it (plus a lot of water during warm weather).

[seemunkee]

32. Yep those are the ones

They were growing at my mothers and I dug them up before I sold the house. I have 6 of them now, I probably would have more but my wife got a little too enthusiastic with the weeding this spring.

[Gato Moteado]

43. wow...those are terrestrial orchids?

they are awesome.....i'd love to get some of those.

i have three species of terrestrial orchids right now. one is a common one down here (arundina) and it looks like this:


when i lived in austin i had a terrestrial orchid that survived the winters.

[Gato Moteado]

44. you're in san diego?

i bet you could grow the terrestrial orchids that we grow down here. the most common is the arundina or bamboo orchid which i think is native to parts of asia. it grows like a weed and blooms like crazy. i have two others and when they bloom i'll post photos and maybe you can identify them for me.

[slackmaster]

45. I've seen Arundina bambusafolia grown in pots here

It can get pretty big. There are also a few California native terrestrials that can be grown here.

For a joke I have thought of bringing a pot full of dirt to an orchid society meeting and tell people it's Rhizanthella gardneri. (For non-afficionados, that's an Australian species that grows strictly underground.)

The climate is so mild here you can tweak it into just about any kind of microclimate you want, unless high altitude or real winter cold is required. I've never seen anyone successfully grow a coffee tree or coca plant here. :-)

Go ahead and send photos when you get them and I'll see what I can do.

[undeterred]

11. orchid killer here

It was a great hobby when I wasn't working, but after I went back to work they kinda got neglected.

[Gato Moteado]

13. they grow like weeds here.....

...you can just tie them to your trees and forget about them.

if you have trees.

[undeterred]

14. In Wisconsin its hard to get them thru the winter

without a lot of artificial light and humidity. I bought a lot on EBay, from sellers in Florida and California.

There is a local orchid grower, and I've found that a lot of the ones that failed he didn't have good luck with either. Yellow cattleyas do not bloom in Wisconsin. :shrug: My phals are very forgiving, however!

[Gato Moteado]

15. ah....you need a greenhouse!

a friend of mine in austin built a homemade greenhouse in his yard. it's filled to the brim with bromeliads.

[undeterred]

16. when I retire and can give them the attention they deserve!

[catzies]

17. Sometimes the plant can tell you more than the flower can. I'll guess

that is a cattleya. Google says there are more than 1300 orchid species in Costa Rica, you are one gato afortunado! :hi:

[jpgray]

18. I got my ma one for Mother's Day

[greatauntoftriplets]

19. I have one, purchased a couple years ago at Target....

if you can believe it.

It bloomed almost continuously until I started packing for The Big Move. Even though it sits in a very bright window here...and the exterior walls of my condo is a line of windows that are taller than the bit of wall, it just sits there. I have fed it, but am not sure if the move was not too much for it. All the other plants I moved, plus the two that I have acquired since the move, are flourishing. Guess it is just too sensitive.

:(

[Gato Moteado]

20. that's amazing that it was blooming continuously......

...most of them seem to bloom once a year. i have one species that is blooming now that has had the flowers for about 6 weeks. and they still look strong like they might last another 6 weeks.

[catzies]

21. I have a phalaenopsis that has been blooming since Christmas

two bloom spikes, one after the other. I was very lucky this year; a lot of my babies bloomed.

In Southern California we have to work at orchid growing outside greenhouses; we're not as favorable as the tropics.

[Gato Moteado]

23. you know....i guess there are hybrids that will bloom more than....

...once a year. and they get to blooming age quicker than the species do.

there is one species down here in costa rica that i've seen that will bloom continuously all year. it has small red and orange flowers and i've seen them bloom continuously. other than that, it seems like most of the species will just bloom once a year.

[greatauntoftriplets]

31. Some of my flowers lasted for months....

It's beautiful when it blooms.

[mopinko]

22. orchid killer here, also

have no idea. just wanted to post and say- this is a colleague of mine-http://www.purpleclay-usa.com/
and you are a lucky dog. if i ever make it to costa rica, i'm gonna come by, k?

[Gato Moteado]

24. wow....nice stuff!

most of my orchids are either attached to pieces of wood (mainly guitite branches) or in hanging moss planters, though i do have some in clay pots.

sure, come on down.

how have you been? haven't seen you since the meet up at moody's about 100 years ago!

[mopinko]

25. oh, wow, we met?

boy, i am the worst with names. faces, yeah, names, oy. are you the guy that was visiting from austin? that was a long time ago. my first meetup.

[Gato Moteado]

26. that was me.

the goofy looking guy that was back home for the holidays.

[mopinko]

27. sure, i remember

how are you? aside from up to your navel in orchids?

[Gato Moteado]

35. i'm doing fine at the moment

there's something to be said for living in a country where freeper types are treated like pariahs, as they should be. come on down sometime and join in the festivities where we toss hapless freepers to the crocs.

;)

[mopinko]

36. can you export those orchids?

are you allowed to sell/export them?
i am trying to remember our conversation from that meetup. didn't you go down there for business opportunity? something to do with buying land, and??
yeah, tossing freepers to the crocs sounds great. is this done on a particular holiday, or is it just a common pastime?
i really have been wanting to come to costa rico for quite a while. in fact, i was just daydreaming about it with the hubby a week ago. don't have a pile of dough laying around for that sort of thing. but we are in a position to start saving up to do that kind of travel. maybe next year. probably first up on that list, tho, is that he might be able to take a business trip to india.
nice to have kids big enough to think about trips like this, tho. ah, middle age freedom. better late than never.

[slackmaster]

28. Looks like a Lycaste species

Maybe skinneri. Numerous species are native to or would grow well in your neck of the woods.

Is it fragrant?

[Bear down under]

30. It is a Lycaste

but I don't think it's L. virginalis (aka skinneri). Most likely a hybrid; if it's fragrant it may have L. aromatica in it somewhere. Very pretty -- and congratulations. I've never had success with them.

[Gato Moteado]

33. after looking at lycastes i think you might be right......

...and i would also say it's definitely not skinneri. but i don't think it's a hybrid either.....these are naturally occurring orchids in the rainforest.

[Gato Moteado]

34. i just went outside to check and i noticed no fragrance........

...the blooms are about the size of a nickel at te most. last night i noticed the blooms were closed...i've never seen an orchid that closes at night.

i also just noticed that another identical plant is blooming this morning. must be their time of year.

[Bear down under]

41. This might be of interest

Robert L. Dressler, Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica and Panama,
Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London, ISBN# 0-8014-8139-2

Just out of interest, I did a google search to see what might come up (no picture of yours or anything closely resembling it) and found a mention of that book. I have no idea whether it's still available or how much it would cost, but it looks as though it would be worth having.

[Gato Moteado]

42. sounds cool....i'll look for the book.....

....i really need to get a book like that at some point. i see so many orchids wheni'm out hiking and can rarely identify any of them.

[El Fuego]

37. Alas, I too am an orchid killer.

I buy these gorgeous flowers, and I wind up with a STICK.

Yours is beautiful!

[Gato Moteado]

38. you're in south florida?

are you in the miami area? if so, there used to be an old guy on tamiami trail (41) between everglades national park and the west coast. i think he might have been within big cypress national preserve's boundaries...you could see his little shop on the south side of tamiami trail if you drove by. it was a beat up old white facade of a building. he sold orchids. he also had an impressive botanical collection on his property. one day as i was passing through from miami to go visit my family in the tampa area, i stopped there to buy an orchid for my aunt. the guy took me on a quick tour to see some of the plants and trees he had growing on his property. he was an old guy then and that was over 12 years ago....i doubt he's still around. but if his family has kept the little business running you could be sure to find some species of hot weather orchids suitable for south florida. in the right environment, they are low maintenance plants. here in costa rica, people just tie them to branches in certain types of trees and let nature do the rest.

[El Fuego]

39. You're in Costa Rica?

Wow!! I went to Costa Rica once, it was awesome.

I'm closer to West Palm Beach. I will have to ask my friends in Miami about the shop you are talking about! I'd like to check it out.

[Gato Moteado]

40. it was a beat up old white building......

...if you weren't paying attention you might drive right by it. but when i lived in miami i made the trip across tamiami trail regularly so i was familiar with just about everything on that route.