Bulbophyllum echinolabium

[swords]

I finally got hold of this massive Bulbophyllum!

I decided that since it makes such large leaves, and flowers that I should mount it on a sturdy piece of freestanding driftwood that I've had laying around for a while but have had nothing to do with it. I plan on drilling some downward pointing holes in the wood here and there (as water absorb/reserve spots) and making a thin lawn of sphagnum for the bulbo to get settled in.
I grow most all my orchids mounted but I've only used cork and hydrologs in the past, is there anything I should know about using driftwood?
Does it do anything funny for the first few months of being used as a mount (i.e grow fungus)?
I did not find this wood outside myself, I bought it at  the reptile shop some time ago so I assume it's good for terrarium culture (as the woman who owns the shop uses it in her reptile & amp. tanks).

 

[Khai]

Well I dont think youll have much luck with what your doing I never have.
B. echinolabium really likes a lot of water, I think the wood would have to be partially decomposed inorder to hold water sufficiently. Ever try soaking up water with a 2x4?

Id say go with a hydrolog, i bet if you pestered enough at OL they might be willing to custom make you an extra large one,
Talk to Boyd.
At the least Id stick with cork mainly just cause it lasts so long, and a generous amount of sphagnum.

So I think you main concern will be providing sufficient water,
during active growth these plants can be saturated every other day.

Id assume the wood is fine if shes using it in amphibias terraria

 

[swords]

I can make a large size hydrolog, that's no problem, hanging it is the problem as the 9" size are d*mn heavy when they're full of water!

I can just see all the mounted bulbos starting to flower and the mounting screen detaches and they all come tumbling down! ha ha!

If it's only the watering aspect which will cause problems all my orchids get saturated (to dripping) with either 1/4 dose Grow More or pure R/O every day as well as stay in their 80-90% humid terrarium (except for a R/O soak every week or so). The sphagnum on my cork panels almost never gets dry unless I'm intentionally letting it get dry (seems like allowing slight cycles of wet & dry (only for a day or two) at the roots speeds up the rooting process when I first mount an orchid). After they take hold I water daily. At OL they don't keep their mounted plants nearly as wet as I think they should. Unless they've recently watered em they're usually dry when I look at them and mine never are unless it's intentional. I think a simple humidifier next to their mounts would really help a lot.

 

[Khai]

Yeah I suppose it wouldnt be to feasable to work with a large hydrolog unless you had the space and hardware.
I would agree with you that the slabs at OL get neglected(I assume your speaking specifically about the norhtwestern corner of the retail house?)
but I wouldnt say its healthy practice to keep epiphytes permanently wet, not even in nature do they encouter such conditions. One must not forget considerations of specific culture. In other words of course your Pleurothallis likes it wet but my Catsetum likes to dry out completly between waterings

So did you buy your B. echinolabium from Jerry?
I havent been out to OL in a long time I hear they are selling classes on how to grow orchids and such. I find that humorous. Id be interested to hear how the B. beccarii are doing.

 

[swords]

Yes, the slabs that are in the retail section hanging on what looks like a giant black refrigerator are always bone dry.

I got the B. echinolabum from OL but I'm curious if it really is or if it's just a large size B. carunculata, they look rather similer when not in flower. I was planning to order the echino. in spring by mail but since I saw it I'm hoping it truly is the right one. It had a flower ring on it so hopefully it's verified as ecino is easily distinguishable.

The beccarii's are doing ok but they don't have any onsale yet, the young brown haired guy said they have them in TC but not for sale. I found some online in larger sizes which I will get when spring arrives, I'm positive they'll be cheaper online than at OL! It's just that I can walk in and get something that day instead of waiting around for the mailman...

I can let the mounts dry out (within 2-3 days of no watering they dry out) or water them but since I keep a mister by each enclosure I mist the mounts daily. I keep the air boyant - filled with fog but not to the point of saturation. With a humidistat I have fine tuned it so the air is just about perfect for the lowlanders; hot, steamy and stagnant, the lowland jungles can't be too much different than this!

 

[Khai]

Yeah they can fool you sometimes, the main differences that i can recall at this moment are that B. echinolabium possesses a slightly wider leaf, overall a slightly larger plant in stature when compared with B. carunculata. B. echinolabium is also slightly darker in shade than B. carunculata.
I dont know if you own B. carunculata or not but if you do ever grow it you will see its a much faster growing and more floriferous plant when compared with B. echinolabium.

In regards to stagnation, stagnant air contained in an enclosed box inside a home is something far removed frim stagnant air in a lowland jungle, outside, not to mention most of these plants are growing 50 ft (or more) in the air, while it may be 90 degrees and 80% humidity at shoulder hieght 45 ft above that it can be 15-20 degrees cooler and a full 10-15 point reduction in relative humidty can be observed. This would certainley suggest an active air environment.

Oh by the way the big black refrigerators are cisterns for rain and or R/O water, a very handy thing to have when growing orchids on a large scale, or any plant sensitive to mineral content for that matter.

 

[swords]

I don't care too much for B. carunculata so I'm hoping it isn't gonna turn out to be that one. I couldn't tell shades (those bulbophyllym shelves at OL are so dim in comparison to my terrarium-even the darkest spot under the bench in my terrarium is about 3 times brighter) but the one labeled B. echinolabium was definately a larger plant. But as we all know the proof will be to get it to flower and see for myself.

I do have some small unused fans which could be used for airflow in the lowland terrarium but so far I haven't noticed a need for it (no rot or fungus attacks). My opening the enclosure (one or both of the sliding 3 ft x 5 foot glass doors)once a day for insepection/misting must be enough air exchange.

My cisterns are white 5 gallon pails, sure is nice owning a R/O unit so I don't have to carry jugs of water to and from the store every couple days!

 

[Khai]

Yes I agree that southside with the double benchs has always been too dark on the bottom.

You may not be seeing fungus or rot but I can assure you, you would definatley see a marked increase in growth with the addition of nothing more that a small 120mm computer fan, even better one of the little 8" clip on oscilating fans you can get at target for like 12 bucks or so. Air movement plays a key role in the vitality and growth of plants. With out it many plants would just bend and break under the weight of their own flowers-fruit-branches-fronds.

Yeah I have 32gal garbage can set up as my storage device.
Buying water is a joke, i always hated it.

 

[Tim]

Good info. Khai, my orchid is doing better since you pointed out to me that I don't know much about orchids

I did get ahold of a half dozen types of real epiphytes, though, and I think it would be neat to start trading them on this board. The cost of a priority mail parcel would be the same for 12 cuttings as for one, and maybe we should look into this.