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Ghost and Coconut orchids

glider14

Always a newbie
i went to my first Orchid show today...and it was AMAZING!! i have never seen so many orchids! i bought two. a coconut orchid(Max. Tenuifolia) and a Ghost Orchid. i was wondering what kind of care these two would require. i have the mounted ghost orchid in a terrarium under growlights. i dont know where to put the Max. though. what kind of light do they need?
thanks
alex
 
the ghost orchid is difficult. they are unusual amoung most orchids as they like high humidity with lil air circulation.

the coconut orchid from my understanding is easy to grow though so it shouldnt give yah much trouble but dont be surprised if the ghost keels over on yah
 
My Max. tenuifolias do well in bright light and warm temperatures. I was talking to a few orchid vendors this weekend and they say that a long photoperiod helps them bloom around this time of year.
 
Rattler-like in a terrarium?
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the baby that i got only has a couple of toothpick thickness roots. what else if difficult about them?
Dave- what window would it do well on? i dont know if it would do well on a window sill that gets sun about 2pm-7pm or so. would it be ok there?
alex
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (glider14 @ April 23 2006,6:28)]Dave- what window would it do well on? i dont know if it would do well on a window sill that gets sun about 2pm-7pm or so. would it be ok there?
All windowsill growing areas are different, but I think you would need to provide a longer photoperiod and a trick to boost the humidity.
 
but can they take full sun? or rather filtered(window) sun?
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (glider14 @ April 23 2006,8:04)]but can they take full sun?
Probably not, but then again I have not tried it.

I would suspect that direct sun through a window may also be too harsh.
 
A Max will tolerate fairly strong light, given time to adjust, and I doubt a window that doesn't get sun until 2 will be too bright.
 
glider, actually i have not worked with ghost orchids, plan on starting this year. they are well known for being difficult to grow for most. some do great with them and maybe you will be one. im thinking of trying one in a dart frog tank as it seems to be close to ideal conditions.
 
  • #10
Cool, a ghost orchid! How about a pic?
 
  • #11
Think of the conditions in the FL, Everglades and that's how a ghost orchid should grow best, would that be "sub tropical"? From sping until fall I'll be growing mine in the hot Lowland terrarium and then put in the cool highland chamber until spring to give it that temp variation. Indeed Polyrhizza is not a petty plant but I like interesting plants more than pretty. A snarl of slivery green roots that blooms a big white flower is interesting! My pals orchid shop has several rarer ghost orchid species than the US one from the Adaption movie but I've yet to see any of them flower to see how they differ.
 
  • #12
this is my little baby
ghostorchid.jpg

swords:what sort of air circulation do they need? how big do the flowers get? and what time of year do they bloom?
alex
 
  • #13
I believe they bloom around August in the highest summer heat. But as I say, mines not here yet either (c'mon mailman) but what I described is how I'll be growing mine: lowland for spring and summer and a dark area of the highland for winter. The blooms are usually 4-5" but I've seen them at orchid shows up to 6".

As far as air circulation goes, as long as water doesn't sit unevaporated on the roots for more than an hour or so it should be fine. If you don't have a very humid place for it to hang (80% RH or higher) your main concern is going to be keeping those roots hydrated enough for it to stay alive as it has no stem, pseudobulbs or leaves to retain any kind of moisture in hard (dry) times. My grow chambers are filled with fog anytime the humidity dips below 80%. I still spray my mounted plants every other morning or two with about 1/2 gallon of water so they don't have a chance to dry out too much. I fertilize the mounted plants at least weekly as they have no soil where nutrients can accumulate and any extra is washed off on the next spraying of pure water.
 
  • #14
I can't tell you when they bloom, and I really can't tell you much from experience because I have never tried one. From what I read they don;t like being blown on dirrectly. They like really high numidity and the able to dry of fast. I know some people who cut a window of sorts in a milk jug and grow them in there ti keep them protected from dirrect air and keep the local humidity up. Another things I heard was to grow them on a kind of wire mesh cages type structure. I will need to find the link from another site about how these folks were growing thiers.

I plan to grow mine in a vive with a pool of water in the bottom. In this pool of water I will as a fish tank air stone that will be bubbleing air through the water. I will mount the ghost orchid above the water where it will get the blast of humidity from the airstones in the bubbling water. That coupled with frequent mistings and long photo periods and hopefully I can get some nice ghosts growing. I just have no room yet, and haven't looked into buying any. Good luck since many say they are an advanced orchid keepers orchid. Then again what is advanced for one may seem like childs play ot others, and for no particular reason either. Go figure.
 
  • #15
The wire mesh is just plastic or metal chicken wire from the hardware store - they only sell it this time of year so if you want some gotta get out there! The reason for using that is you can get a 24" x 48" sheet (or whatever your terrarrium dimensions are) and affix it to the back of your terrarium and hang all your mounted orchids and other plants from their hooks in any place on the grid. higher up means they get more light lower down they get less. I have the lowlight mounted orchids such as phalaenopsis hanging under the bench in my lowland terrarium so they don't burn. Place your Ghost carefully and check it often. If you see reddening root tips or the roots go from plump to shriveled quickly after watering move it to a shadier place and/or water more often.
 
  • #16
alright from what youall have told me...its fine! the roots stay green a while after i water them. i water it in the morning from 6-7am and i look at them after school which is about 3:30pm and they are still green. thatnks for all your help!
Swords: can epiphitatic orchids be grown in pure gravel? it would provide probably the best drainage...but then again it might drain to much
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i got this idea when i was potting two small Phals. in a basket(from easter
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) i just learned how to properly water them...yay! when i dipped them in the water, most of the loose dirt(the soil is bark and i thing some peat moss?) drained right out of the basket! so with the gravel it wont come out! for the water retention i guess i could add some spahgnum moss layers in the mix. any ideas on this?
thanks
alex

PS...i was thinking about using the gravel with all my orchids. Militondium, Phalenopsis,Degamora, Maxirilla, and a Dendroborium. if the gravel will work could i use it with these??
 
  • #17
Some people use lava rock chunks (not gravel) for things like Vandas because they don't really need any soil at all they're just used to hold the plant in place. At Orchids Ltd some of their display Vandas just hang from a wire suspended from the rafters with their roots trailing from above my head to the ground (over 6 feet) but this is a greenhouse that is almost saturated. I'm usually wet as if I'd been standing in a sauna by the time I leave my visits to OL. Most other orchids would do best in orchid bark holding moisture and nutrients at the roots long enough for them to absorb it. Most gravel is smooth and water simply runs/right through with no retention. You can certainly try it but use an expendable plant and see how it goes before redoing your whole collection. You should definately repot the Phalaenopsis if it has peat in the soil. Avoid using peat on any orchids except terrestrials such as Cypripediums, Aplectum, Goodyera, etc. Common tropical orchids need very high air exchange for their roots. Often large market orchids will be grown in peat to bring them into flower faster so they can be up for sale faster but this is often at the expense of the plant who really can not cope with the wrong sort of soil for too long.

For Phalaenopsis, Phragmepedium, Paphiopedilum, Oncidum, Cattleya, and other large rooted epiphytes I use medium grade orchid bark or a mix of medium and fine grade orchid bark.

For things like Miltinopsis, Miltonia, masdevallia, pleurothallis (larger species), equitant Onicidums and other small rooted orchids I use fine grade orchid bark. For some like Dracula and many other Pleurothallids I'll use LFS & fine bark. About 75% bark 25% finely milled spahgnum. Grind it up with your hands before you wet it, this way you get tiny bits that will blend easily with the bark also when you have to unpot them and remove the soil at repotting time you won't destroy too many roots this soil mix should really just fall apart.

Now I can tell you that I've been expeimenting with using cedar mulch for potting my plants instead of the more expensive orchid bark as I use bark in all my soil mixes and it gets very expensive when you have a ton of plants but since I've only begun using it in the past month or two I can't say how the plants like it over the long haul but so far so good. If all works well it'll be a huge savings for all of us.
 
  • #18
cant wait to see how the mulch works out! my dad works at a landscaping buisness so he can get me ceder mulch for SUPER cheap! thanks for your help! BTW i got some excess soil from repotting yesterday and i washed it out in some clear water. the finished product-->mucky dark water. conclusion-->peat or some type of other soil is used in the orchid mixes!
alex
 
  • #19
I can tell you from a friends experience that Cedar mulch works well for most Phals, and they love it. There area few exceptions that she said didn;t care for the cedar, but most did and are thriving. She is going to put one of her cymbiums in it next as we just unpotted and devided a couple a few days ago.

Swords Just FYI, Phrags and Paphs are terestrials and not epiphytes. They grow in leaf litter and things on the forest floor. Ocasionaly being lithopytyes, but certainly not epiphytes. they take more water than epiphytes too.

Glider some Catts and other plants that like to super dry out between watering do good in mixxes that resemble gravel. I can;t remember the stuff right off hand, but there is an orchid mix on the marker that basicly almost like gravel that people use with success on some catts. I would suspect that any plant listed as being lithopytes would do well in a gravel mix. Also some orchid mixxes have gravel mixxed into the mix, so its not a no no. It just wouldn't be good to use on a plant that doesn't have Pbulbs. Phals would not do good in it because they don;t like to dry out totaly. Some species cattleyas though do good in a mix that allows them to super dry out between watering.
 
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