Orchid ID?

[Nhala]

Hi everyone, I recently rescued two orchid plants from my Aunts house the other day. She swears I cannot do anything worse to them than what she has done. I know one of them is a cattelaya, and the other I am unsure of what it is. I was wondering if anyone can tell me its type.

Facebook

I'm having trouble uploading photos using the forum uploader, I tried different internet browsers and connections but nothing has worked, I think it is a compatibility issue with my computer. So instead above ^^^ I included a facebook link to an album of the new orchids.

I know they are not in the best of condition, and I am seeking help out to divide and repot both of them, but any other advice for care will also be greatly appreciated.

[BGGraham1]

Hi! I saw your post about these the other day and went to take a look, but you actually have to log on to FB to see the pics. Perhaps some of the more knowledgeable geeks don't have FB, so they won't be able to see the plants.

Would it be possible for you to load your pics somewhere else, like Photobucket, then copy them here?

[Nhala]

Hmmm, ok. I'll have to create a photobucket first. I have to leave for work soon, but will make one as soon as I get home.

[dounoharm]

they both needs repotting, so get a wheelbarrow and dump em out in it...be ready for a scramble as they are probably hosting several colonies of varieous insect life....get some new media,( bark, charcoal, and perlite mix) and prepare yourself for surgery....on the cattleya, cut all the yellow, brown, or yucky stuff off....you may end up with several plants instead of one....place each piece into its own pot, as small a pot as you can reasonably fit the roots into...its ok to trim the roots a little to remove dead ones....pack the media around the roots, 'floating' the rhyzome of the plant on the surface of the media...now, the other plant is an epidendrum, of the reed stem type....dump it out, there will be several plants but they can all get jammed together back in the same pot it comes out of...it will need some support, like a little trellis....use baggie ties and tie the stems to the trellis...replant at the same depth the stems are presently....any rooted keikis can be planted in the mass also....dont water for about a week after potting, but make sure you wet the potting mix before planting....gl and enjoy!

[pikkumyy]

they are a cattleya and a type of reed-stemmed epidendrum,
here is what i posted about my reed-stemmed (also known as crucifix orchid) on another thread:
i have mine out in full sun in the middle of our front yard,
ive now moved it cloer to the house to see what watering it might do, so far ive lost the flower heads off 3 spikes but im hoping it was bugs

but back to how it was,
Mine was in full sun, which made it turn bright red, but the leaves looked healthy, it would have flowers on it all year round, the stems grow and grow until the grow a (i think this is right) terminal spike, that then flowers continuously for about 2-3 months in my case, then the flowers all drop off, then either a keiki or another spike will form on the old one spike.
mine got watered whenever it rained and it is in potting mix, with a layer of small bark (not the orchid kind of stuff but tiny potting mulch), probably to help hold in the water, the plant seems as happy as larry and keiki's like mad. oh and the crucifix's can grow happyly in potting mix or any soil really, but from my experience the prefer a lighter soil, oh and they can be mounted.


oh and if your thinking of putting it in fulll sun, don't forget to do it gradually, but apart from that in Aus these things are as tough as old boots

goodluck



and i agree with dounoharm

So wheres the pictures? I dont want to publish a book about my face to see it, LOL

[Mira-Claude]

Good luck with those!
They look like they've been threw Hell!

[pikkumyy]

ok so seeing as how a heap of people dont have a facebook, and Nhala really needs to look at his privacy settings, i downloaded the images so here they are:

Thanks Mikey !

WOW! Dounoharm is right...thats quite a big project to tackle !
I dont know how to ID the cattleya because it has no flowers...and even then it might be a hybrid of some sort mimicking the mother cattleya...

but I am taking a guess on the plant with flower.

Looking at the picture of your flower and the plant itself, I am guessing its an Epidendrum radicans. I have that orchid with same color and shape flowers and its becoming a huge jungle like growth on my window.
Epi. radicans (and some reed stem epidendrums) are known to sprout keikis from the top of the cut spikes.
I remove the keikis growing from the top since they produce small and less healthy looking flowers compared to new basal baby canes.
Keikis that grow from the top of the plant are like a floral arrangement gone berserk that is a not so neat deshabille appearance. Those keikis also suck more energy from the plant and will not produce as healthy basal growth compared to a plant with no keikis.
But, you can cut and plant the keikis as seedlings and it can grow as magnificent as the mother plant.
What you have can grow into a large clump of plants that will succeed as a jungle of Epi. radicans that you will wanna throw the keikis away because they are becoming just much too much.
Or better yet, make seedling small pots of the keikis and sell them to make profit off your orchid.
This is easy to grow and cheap. Its called the "poor man's orchid" by some

[Nhala]

Thanks everyone! Big thanks to Pikkumyy for posting the pictures for me!

I knew the first one was a Catt. Had no idea about the other, glad to know it is a reed type epidendrum.

Yea, I knew this was going to be a super big project for me, that is why in another thread I sought out where I can get some outside help. I'm going to go to the San Francisco Orchid Society meeting next month. i'll see if anyone there can help me divide and repot. According to my Aunt she has had both these plants for 10 plus years, and has pretty much neglected them the entire time, so I figure they can wait a little while longer for surgery. She told me when the catt. outgrew it's first pot she just stuck the whole thing in a larger one. And they both seem to be potted in just regular dirt. It's a wonder they continue to grow and flower today.

Dounoharm is also right, there is a ton of ants and spiders in both of them. Sometimes it almost makes me scared to touch them.

[Nhala]

Another question. For the epi when repotting it, I realize it has roots growing out of all of it's stems, and it looks like it has quite a few kiki's with roots that were never removed. When repotting it, do i just stick part of the stem into the medium and let the rest of the stem and roots hang out? Or when i remove it from it's pot will I find a root ball and just repot that?

[kmarch]

As others have said, the first is a cattleya of some sort. It is enough to know that it is a cattleya. That will be enough to tell you how to care for it. It is very over grown and very dehydrated. Take the advice others have given and give it good culture and I expect oyu have a good chance of bringing it back.

Originally Posted by Anky

I dont know how to ID the cattleya because it has no flowers...

If it turns out to be a hybrid it will not be possible to ID it even if we do see the flowers.

As others have said the other one is a reed-stemmed epidendrum of some sort. They should do well under cattleya conditions.

Originally Posted by Anky

I am guessing its an Epidendrum radicans.

These noid reed-stemmed epis are impossible to ID. For a long time they have been hybridized without any records having been kept. In warmer climates they're grown as garden plants. It could possibly be radicans but it's impossible to tell just by looking at a picture. If you're really interested in seeing if it is that species you'd have to have it looked at by a taxonomist.

Originally Posted by Nhala

When repotting it, do i just stick part of the stem into the medium and let the rest of the stem and roots hang out? Or when i remove it from it's pot will I find a root ball and just repot that?

I'd try to remove the old mix as much as is possible.