Louis's biloba.

[LouisW]

When I saw a little A. biloba sitting on the sale table of my local orchid society show, I thought of all you guys. I thought, for 9$ heck yeah im gonna get in on this challenge! Only I'm cheating because my plant is larger than those offered at Oak Hill (mine is from Hauserman). I think its already blooming size, although it does not have a great root system. They plant is a little raggedy by nature so I think this one looks quite healthy.

Potting-like most of my plants I placed LECA in the bottom 1/3 of the pot to increase aeration. This also allows me to leave the pots sitting in a quarter inch of water or so when I leave town. On top of the LECA is a choir mix composed of 3 parts reconstituted choir, 1 part perlite, 1 part vermiculite, and maybe 1/2 part charcoal. This mix is nice and airy while maintaining moisture for quite a while in the very low humidity I have. I water this along with my phals, when the top looks dry (every 4 or 5 days).

Light-sitting with the Phals which receive bright indirect light all day from a west window, with a little direct light for the last hour or so before sunset. This light is very bright but because its coming nearly horizontally its not hot enough to harm the Phals, and they love it.

Oh and a weak dose of MSU every time I water.

[mayres]

Very good - that looks like a close "relative" of ours! I find your potting situation quite interesting as well - look forward to seeing how it does as time goes on. I have found coir mixes to be great for many genera and am thinking of putting several more in it besides my phals - I'm thinking it will work great as you have noted. Thanks for sharing!

[syndywindy]

Never thought of using LECA in the bottom of the pot. Interesting. Glad you were able to find a challenge orchid and join the fun.