Greetings from Louisiana

[LPurpur]

I have 4 orchids now and I am hooked. I bought two phals from Walmart, repotted one in new bark/charcoal/rock mix and have been feeding 1/4 strength orchid fertilizer along with a weekly watering (weekly, weakly) for the last six weeks. Along with beautiful flowers, I have two brand new leaves on each one which only took about a week to grow.

In addition, I bought 2 Cattleyas from Lowe's and repotted them in the same bark mixture in new orchid clay pots and put them where they would get more light. It's too soon to see if they like me -- I'm sure they are still pouting about the repotting.

BTW my screen name comes from Lailia purpurata, the national flower of Brazil and one of the most beautiful orchids I've seen.

[Ellen]

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you're off to a good start with your orchids.

[LPurpur]

Just added 3 more to the group: Phal. Christopher Robin 'Best' X Mount Kaalia 'XX-Large. Phal. Brother Golden Wish X Taida Lawrence. And my favorite of course, Lailia purpurata 'Tipo' X self.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Hi LP. You know the Brazilians use the word Tipo to mean typical. Just thought you would like to know. Cynthia

[greg_s]

LP,

Earlier this year I picked up a Lailia Purpurata var. Carnea and just can't wait for it to bloom. They are one of my favorites too.

Greg

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Laelia purpurata v carnea varies considerably. It can be a soft pint to a dark red. I had one that was sort of medium color and really like it, but it tested positve for virus. So in the process of replacing the plant, I bought two seedlings, and may pick up another one or two when the price is right. There are so many different color forms of purpurata and a lot of variations among them, so I am up to about 20 purpurata seedlings. Fortunately, purpurata seedling take up very little room because their leaves are narrow and stand straight up, not horizontally like many Catts. As soon as these start to bloom I will start down selecting. I certainly don't have room for all of them when the plants all mature. Cynthia

[greg_s]

Cynthia,

Should the leaves be growing vertically? When I first got the plant they were verticle but now they are horizontal. Should I try to stake them back up or doesn't it really matter?

Thanks,

Greg

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

All orchid plants, in my opinion, look best if the pseudobulb stands upright. I train all of my plant to stand up, even tho I have a jampacked greenhouse. If plants are allowed to grow anyway they please, you will soon have trouble finding a place to put the plant, as a plant with its bulbs going out horizontally can take up an enormouse area. I usually can use a twist tie to pull the new growth upward towards the previous growth. A plant that has been left to its own pattern can still be modified, but will take a stake (new only, don't want to spread virus) in the pot and some long twist tie material. You may have to do the bending in stages, but I have found that the worst shaped plants can be brought up to a reasonable shape in time. The picture below shows a plant with verticle bulbs and the flowers nicely displayed on top. If you have a fast connection, you can open this up in original. Cynthia
http://www.pbase.com/schnitz/image/50083630/large

[greg_s]

Thanks, Cynthia. I just picked up some new stakes and some soft cotton twine to see if I can slowly pull it back into shape.

[Ellen]

Upright pseudobulbs are a convenience for those of us who grow orchids in pots, in crowded conditions, not a natural feature of most orchid plants. In nature, many orchids grow somewhat horizontally, or even with their leaves and flowers hanging downward from the trees. If you have the space, there's no harm in letting the pseudobulbs grow any direction they want to. I grow a lot of mounted orchids and sometimes I'll mount one facing one direction, but within a week it's turned around to grow in the opposite direction! Sometimes you've just got to go with the flow.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Lpurpur, did you say that you are using orchid fertilizer at 1/4 strength? I just noticed that in your original post. Sounds lake you may be fertilizing too little. The 1/4 strength is for regular fertilizer, not orchid fetilizer that has already had its label changed to lower strength instructions. Now this is not a big problem. I can truthfully say I have gone for years with fertilizing maybe once every 6 months or so. Plants grew OK. But, who wants all that work for little or no benefit? Cynthia

[LPurpur]

I just looked at the directions on the fertilizer and I am using the standard 1/2 teaspoon per gallon of water (Peters Orchid Food from Lowe's). However I have changed the routine to straight water first, wait 10 minutes or so, and add about 2 cups of the gallon mix to each plant. So far no one is showing any ill effects and there is plenty of new leaf and root growth.

I have also started a 20 gallon aquarium and will use the changed water ( 10% of the aquarium every 2 weeks) on all the household plants (plenty of nitrogen in the waste water). We will see how that works.