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Highland orchids...

ludwig777

Neps, Neps, Neps.........
Hello everyone, I know NOTHING about orchids!!! I just completed a highland Nepenthes greenhouse and was wondering which orchids you experts recommend would do well in there. Here are my conditions which remain steady every day:

Temps:
nighttime: 48-58F
daytime: 80 max

Humidity:
nighttime: 98%
daytime: 65% lowest, 90% highest, usually right in the middle of these 2

Light:
mostly in full sun but can accomodate with shade cloth if needed.

I am sure there are some orchids that would do well in these conditions but not all I am sure. If you have any suggestions, I would even appreciate any info as to where they can be bought/traded.

Thanks to all of you!
Ludwig
 
Look at the cold-cool growing species.  If I could provide those conditions, I'd be loading up on a lot of Draculas, Masdies, and Pleuros I can only dream about.  I'd also get me a Dendrobium victoria-reginae (I think is the spelling) and there are many, many others.  Especially the genera of the Pleurothallid Family.  But none of them will tolerate the highland Nep lighting.  Either put them under shade cloth or under the shade of Neps.  A lot of these are understory plants in cloud forests, so cool at night, never hot, and lots of humidity are the conditions they want.
 
New Guinea Dendrobiums are amazing plants.  Dend. cuthbertsonii.. the victoria-reginae Bruce suggested also.  Not the easiest but fantastic plants.  Lots of stuff from the cloud forests of South America.  Odontoglossum, Miltonopsis, Dracula, Masdevalia, Resterpia, Pleurothallis etc.  Many of these things grow mounted too.  The gals from J & L Orchids in Easton CT are good, Darrin from Mountain Orchids in VT has excellent stuff.  You might try Andy's Orchids in South. Cal.  Not sure how much highland stuff he has but everything is artificially propagated and reasonable priced.  William from Hoosier Orchids has a nice selection.. unusual things all artificially propagated.  James Rose from Cal-Orchids has very nice plants also.  Carries Lycaste and other things which are also cool growing if you stay away from the Mexican species and stick with the South American ones from Peru, Columbia etc.

Tell em Tony Paroubek says HI
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Thank you both of you!!!!!!!!!
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That is a wealth of information there!
 
personally Dracula and Masdevalia would be highest on my list with those conditions, actually i do have those conditions, why in the heck dont i have more? some are quite stunning species and generally not very big. Pleuros are really neat if you like odd ball species, its a genus full of oddballs
 
Many Coelogynes or "necklace orchids" grow in the same environments as many highland Nepenthes. In fact Coelogyne papillosa grows on Mt. Kinabalu alongside ultra highland Nepenthes villosa. I am surprised that Coelogynes are not more popular as many of them have large showy white flowers, bloom regularly and are not unusually demanding. Coelogyne cristata, Coelogyne flaccida and Coelogyne pandurata are popular in cultivation but there are many others as well.
 
I have just one word to say to you: Miltoniopsis.
 
Yeah Go with Miltonopsis if your into that sort of thing. Not my fav. I also recomend Dracs and Masdis. Here is the link to the orchid photo encyclopedia. http://www.orchidspecies.com/ You can look through it to see things you like. Ohhh Almost forgot Phrag Besseae grows well in those conditions and also Paph delenatii grow in highland conditions. ABG has then in their highland area blooming profusely. Also from what I have heard the new Phrag Kovatchii is a cool to cold grower. http://www.orchidspecies.com/phragkovatchii.htm It was just discovered in 2002 in peru. Flasks are just now being sold to the US because of CITES and all that jazz. She is still rather expencive though. $500 for a flask of like 25 plants from what I hear. Do not let the picture seen on that link fool you. That is a SMALL flower. I have seen insitu pictures of this plant and those flowers get HUGE!!!!! It dwarfs rothchildianum. The plant still needs to be cultivated to get the rizomes shorted because as of now it spreads out ALOT from what I understand. sending off long rizomes before sending up a new fan. Needs to be bred to shorten the rizome by selective breeding, but its going to open up a new world of phrag crosses once it gets established and easily grown. Just a little teaser. LOL I looked for the post on another board that had pictures of a member in the wild with these flowers, and they were larger than a softball. Really HUGE flowers.
 
Like Nepenthes, many for the coolest looking orchids grow in the highlands!
In my highland chamber I have pleurothallids, draculas and my cattleya in my highland chamber. I suggest mounting your orchids to sheets of cork bark and hanging by an "S" hook you'll be able to save your bench space and the plants grow great this way (naturally).Soak them every day or two with a garden sprayer to simulate a daily rain but avoid soaking the growing tips of your Neps that often as they can rot.

You can get a single P. kovachii for $200 or so here in MN.
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Someday I'll have one...
 
  • #10
One day I would like to own one too Josh! LOL The 500 a flask is what I heard about 6 months ago. At the moment they haven't cultivated them enough to get the rizomes shorter so they are grown in trays because they spread. They would do great in a highland tank though. I also heard the flowers are short lived too, but I don;t think as bad as a stanhopia. ONE DAY Maybe two at best. LOL

What Catt are you growing cool in your highland tank? I agree mounting catts and lelias are the way to go if you have the head room, but some like the pots and they make it look nicer at times too. I hang alot of my pots. The only ones I mount are the ones I know like to dry out. THat includes alot of the lealia hybred that have ancepts in them, and catts that have wilkinsonia (sp) in them. Niofanetia falcata I hear like it cool too and would do good in a highland tank and are kinda small. They like high light too. They do not need to be grown cool, but do good that way I hear. Some Dens grow cool too.
 
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