(Part 2) Best products from r/orchids

I have very little experience with the Nobiles so I'm only passing along what I've culled through my own research. There are at least 3 instances of growers that I came across that took Nobile twins or alliance mates and grew them under 2 regimens.

a) In the greenhouse, under filtered light, and watered throughout the year.

b) full sun starting in march - all the way to November with lots of watering along the way followed by a winter rest where they cut the watering down to some insane frequency like once a month.

a) grew fat bulbs and colored out to dark green but threw keikis

b) turned a sickly yellow but during the wintering phase it threw out a ton of spikes.

go figure - deep green = sick, sickly yellow = happy - who knew?

As for fine fir bark this is what I bought:

Again I have different ratios of sphagmoss to perlite to bark depending on how fast I think the media is drying out, but for the smaller plants in my collection that small fir bark was a key addition to my closet full junk.

I've tried sphagnum moss from chile, from new zealand, from the nursery, and from home depot...the new zealand stuff is far and away the best I've found...it's fluffy, uniform, long, has insane water retention ratios - oh and did I mention it's fluffy? The crap from home depot - all it did was compress under the weight of the water and push out the precious air the roots needed to survive so that home depot bag went in the garbage. I bought bricks from ebay (just search for sphag moss) for like 5 bucks - that one brick expands to like 20 or 30x its packed size (super fun to watch btw). If you're in a pinch they also sell sphag moss at big box pet stores in the reptile section for some insane markup.

As for the PH of my water - there's a couple of things going on there, the alkalinity of my water (as you pointed out) and the PH level of the water. If the AOS guidelines I read are indicative of what's going, the high PH water is a nothing burger, but the alkalinity is a big red flag and one that isn't easily fixed.

My PPM measurements are well within what would be considered acceptable, but alkalinity has caused some weird buildups on a few of my larger plants...they look like salt buildups but I'm convinced it's all the minerals in the water. I haven't gotten around to it, but I'm about to try some AOS guidelines to test the substrate PH and PPM levels because ultimately that's what matters most to the plants so I'll share that info back when I get some time.

As for fertilizer - don't overthink it - just figure out which of your plants likes a little bit many times, and which wants all of it but every so often. I read some AOS literature that convinced me that the concentration matters less than the frequency of application, so in some/many/most cases - it's just safer to feed a little bit just more frequently.

For your last set of questions:

>My biggest question is how long do I maintain the winter rest with these new orchids and when do I change the routine?

nov - mar/april'ish - this only applies to the dendrobium nobile and similar deciduous alliance mates, the other stuff I would continue to water

> Should they be kept in low light and allowed to dry out?

I wouldn't drastically change the amount of available light - it was more the drop in watering and temps that forces the Nobile into dormancy, and don't freak out if it throws leaves - it's a deciduous plant after all.

> If so how dry and should I be watering thoroughly or just misting?

If that were my plant in your conditions - For the Dens and in particular the Nobile, I'd do a quick flush every week and a half to two weeks...watch the pseudo bulbs for shriveling - those will be your indicator as to whether or not you're on point. Just don't overdo it. For everything else wet/dry cycles are fine. You can tune your mix to extend the damp cycle so you're not watering them every other day to counter a low humidity environment.

> Come spring do you gradually start watering more?

I would imagine so - figure starting in March (or April for you) start introducing them to more and more light until it's safe to push the Nobile back into full sun.

> Should they all be given a balanced fertilizer once it's time for the spring growing season?

This is one of the things you end up figuring out for yourself. When starting out - it's better to under fertilize then over fertilize (over fert => deaded orchid) , and that's partly driven by your availability. This is supposed to be fun and engaging for you, and the moment it starts feeling like work, it will cease being fun for you, you'll start neglecting them and they'll die.

It's easy to get excited when you're figuring all this stuff out - but try to imagine how interesting this will be for you 3, 4, 5 months in after dutifully tending to your crop and watching them do absolutely nothing (reality check there).

So short answer is - figure out how much time you want to devote to tending and watering them then tweak your growing parameters to fit that schedule as best you can. I do 1/4 strength solutions weekly for the active growers and that's worked out well for me.

For me - I scan my small collection multiple times a day, which is precisely the wrong to do (orchids benefit more from benign neglect yet suffer under constant tending - go figure), but that's what makes this fun for me. I feel like misting is harmless but so addictive and the Phal I rescued from the onset of bud blasts tells me I'm doing something right with all the misting it gets.

Oh and re: humidity, tons of hygrometers on amazon $8 shipped

Worth its weight in gold just so you have a handle on something that can and often does cause problems. If you can't do the humidifier there are other more localized options that don't involve raising the relative humidity of an entire room but we can jump off that bridge when we get to it...Give your collection a few weeks to stabilize and acclimate and just work on acquiring a few low cost supplies to get you ready for spring.

Oh and this
> 1) When you say peat for the cymbidium, do you mean straight peat moss and not long fiber spaghnum? Should I be letting it dry out in the meantime or keeping it somewhat moist?

Peat moss added to the mix not straight peat moss though I suppose that's entirely possible. Terrestrials don't like going bone dry, you want them moist/damp ideally, not wet all the time.

Again take what I said with a grain of salt and seek a range of opinions, there are people in this forum far more qualified than me to give you targeted advice...it just so happened that I recently went through nearly everything you're going through right now so figured I'd share what worked for me.

Good luck!

Oops sorry I should have explained better. You don't actually pass your biological stuff through / over flame, just use flame to help maintain a clean workspace. Glass, tools, etc. gets flamed though.

TL;DR: Generic microbiology aseptic technique: article and video

Preface: I did NOT invent this. This is just how we microbiologists do our normal lab work, so it's what I tried to do when I started tissue culturing, and it seems to work just as well for TC. But I suspect this might seem like heresy to a real TC person...

Basic process is:

• generously spray workspace (~1.5-2 ft of bench) with 70% ethanol (or 10% bleach if you're into that. I'm an ethanol guy)
  
  
• Turn on your bunsen burner or this kind of thing as soon as possible after ethanol-ing but ONLY after the ethanol has dried sufficiently to not burn your house down.
  
  
• Make sure it's on pretty high (you want a fairly loud, roaring blue flame cone that doesn't flicker). The little ethanol-wick burners that I've seen don't seem to generate enough heat for this. Sure, it's enough to flame-sterilize a tool, but it doesn't put out enough heat fast enough to keep up a solid updraft.
  
  
• Do all your work within a ~6-inch radius around the burner, preferably less. This is the super important part. You want to have your protocorms / the sterile ends of tools / anything sterile to be in that zone. Like, don't burn yourself. But try to live right on the edge. Basically, the flame creates an updraft, keeping things from falling out of the air into your jar, onto your forceps, etc. But the updraft strength falls away fairly fast the further away you get from the flame. Especially since you ethanol'd your bench, there's practically insignificant contaminant contribution from below, so you have a "practically" sterile airspace. Definitely not fully sterile, but practically. And then you basically play the odds game to get your work done.
  
  Tips/techniques for winning the odds game:
  
  
• Always keep things covered when not directly reaching in. E.g., lid of donor vessel off, reach in, pick protocorms, pull out, lid goes back on, lid of receiving vessel off, place protocorms, pull out, lid goes on. This is the most important, I think: chances of contamination are directly proportional to time the lid is uncovered. The flame helps, but it only works if you have flame + quick & precise work. Which is totally feasible since the actual reaching in and collecting only takes ~2 seconds, moving between the two takes ~1 s, placing takes ~1-2 s.
  
  
• Don't open things by completely removing the lid unless absolutely necessary, just barely crack the lid enough to reach your tool inside. Sometimes you need to fully open it and set the lid down (inside up), which is OK. Just be quick and close to the flame!
  
  
• When opening lids, angle lids when open to keep as much of the vessel covered, and have the angle open towards the flame, not you.
  
  
• With jars set up like yours, briefly tilt the jar and flame the mouths of the jars as soon as you open them to create excurrent air. Not enough to get the whole thing so hot it cooks the life, just enough to heat up the glass at the opening a little bit. A good way to minimize open time - open lid and tilt mouth into flame quickly, pass the opening through once or twice. Then set the jar back down, and set the lid on top (don't screw it on, just set it since nothing will get in with the lid resting shut, especially since you flamed the opening). Now you can just crack the lid open with your left hand, don't need to re-flame since the lip should still be hot from before. And just reflame before every transfer (or every other transfer).
  
  
• No air currents
  
  
• Try not to breathe or breathe very softly when you have anything open
  
  
• Flame your forceps/spatula often, and flame it VERY hot. Usually I flame the working end of mine so hot that if the temperature equilibrated on it, I'd have very burned fingertips. But, then I squirt some 70% ethanol on the working end to cool it down. This isn't super safe, and try not to breathe the smoke/fumes that happens, but it saves a ton of time from having to balance the forceps somewhere in the sterile space to cool. And, of course, wait for the EtOH to evaporate before handling the biology.
  
  
• Ethanol gloves before you start.
  
  EDIT: Formatting. And I'm so sorry this got so long... I got carried away

OK - I'm the advance guard who is gonna give you some very basic info before the experts get here ;)

First thing: STOP WATERING WITH ICE CUBES. I hate how this has become a thing, and I hate how companies are saying this is how you should water them. It's a gimmick and a lie. Water it weekly (or so) with distilled or even tap water (well, depending on how good the water quality is in your area).

Second: get some spray fertilizer, like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Gro-Orchid-Plant-Food-Fertilizer/dp/B00GTDG9CA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456863385&sr=8-1&keywords=orchid+spray+fertilizer
That's a nice starter, and what I use. Before you water it, spray about 6 times (on the base, not the leaves) and then give it a drink. It's a nice light fertilizer and shouldn't shock the plant, and give it a good boost to keep growing.

OK, and this is the tricky part - I think you should repot that mamajama, because those roots are BEGGING to get out of that pot. You've got many healthy ones, by the look of it, so you're pretty good. Get a plastic orchid pot of a slightly bigger size (I think you're at 4", so 6" should do - again, can find on Amazon), some orchid bark mix (also a colander, possibly, because trust me, you'll wanna wash off the grit!), a bit of perlite, and (if it's not too pricey - a bag is about 11-14$) some planting charcoal. All of these should be available either online or at garden stores. Make a mix of 1 part charcoal, 1 part perlite, 2 parts orchid bark mix - and fill the new pot about 1/3 the way. Take your orchid GENTLY out of its pot, wash off any old potting mix, and guide it into the new pot, making sure to support underneath it with potting mix. Give it a small drink after you're done, just to help settle it.

NOW. Light issues. Make sure that sucker is in INDIRECT LIGHT - orchids can get sunburned, especially phals. I think the droopy leaves are a thirst issue (ice cubes do NOT give much water, and orchids are tropical plants), not a light one, so I'd recommend this order:

1. change how you water it! No more ice cubes - save those for cooling drinks! :)
   
2. Get that fertilizer and give it a weekly boost!
   
3. when you have the time and materials - repot it! Do some secondary research on this before you do it - never just take one source's advice!
   
4. Get it out of direct sun! I think the light may be OK, but be careful!
   
5. Watch it post-potting for a couple weeks - if it's still being droopy, you may be facing a light issue - ping the expert folks here again and they can give you better advice than I ;)
   
   Best of luck!

Go slowly and gently. Some people like to soak the pot before removing the moss, as it can help make the roots more flexible. Trim any dried out or mushy roots.

My favorite orchid potting medium is made by rePotME: click here for the amazon link. However, consider that your orchid is relatively used to the moss it was originally potted in, so may need some time to adapt. For all of my phalaenopsis rescues, I typically add a little extra new sphagnum moss in each new medium mixture to help with the adjustment.


EDIT: Adding some great advice that was given to me when I first found this sub- Green roots- moist & happy! Silver roots- time to water. Transparent pots are your best friend!

Water your orchid by soaking JUST THE POT in lukewarm or room temp water for about 10 minutes.

> MarsHydro

They are better, but I'd say Crees are a good place to start, as they have 20 years experience and have always had a good reputation.

There is a lot of misc. jargon thrown around in the descriptions of these lights, and even after 20 years dealing with it, I don't understand a lot of it. However, these are two areas you'll need to focus on, to make sure you get the proper lamp.


1: look for this line:

400W HPS replacement with 3ft x 3ft coverage at 16" height

The important point is the coverage area at height. light outside the coverage area is going to drop big time.

2: if they have one, look at the spectral graph. This is the light frequency in nanometer for what plants use for photosynthesis. Generally speaking Blue light between 450nm and 500nm is the light you most need for good plant growth. Light in the red between 650nm to 750nm is good for flowering. I like to see the blue to red ratio to be about 2x (blue) to 1 (red).



Anyways, here is a link to some [more] (https://www.supergrowled.com/orchid-led-grow-lights/) info on indoor growing, including info on lights and light choices. It's a lot of information to absorb, and it still confuses me even after years of learning about it, as well as there is a lot of outdated information floating around.

Northen's Home Orchid Growing is dated, but a very good book on cultivation. Bechtel's Manual of Cultivated Orchid Species is excellent- I think there's a newer edition out, but to heck if I can remember when it was published.

Ortho's orchid book is surprisingly good- mainly on cultivation.

Isobyl's New Encyclopedia of Orchids is excellent.

If she likes specific genera- paphiopedilums, phalaenopsis, cattleyas, dendrobiums, etc.- there are specific texts on each of these, and many more.

For slipper orchids, one of the latest is Slipper Orchids of the Americas, a comprehensive and authoritative review of Phragmipedium, Mexipedium, and Selenepedium. It was released last year, so it's very up to date. It has sections on taxonomy, ecology, and evolution. It takes an in-depth look at each species, has lots of amazing full color photos and while it's very technical at times, it's also very readable and understandable.

The Genus Paphiopedilum is another book by Phillip Cribb, and as the title suggests, it's focused entirely on Paphiopedilums. It's a little dated now, and there are at least a dozen or more species that have been discovered since, but it's still a great resource. There are sections on ecology, evolution, hobby care, etc. Similar to above, there is a lot of technical terminology, but even if you aren't well-versed in the terms, it's still very readable.

Cribb has also produced Genus Cypripedium and Hardy Cypripedium: Species, Hybrids and Cultivation. The former is a monograph similar to The Genus Paphiopedilum and Slipper Orchids of the Americas and a very similar format. I read through the entire book several times back after it was first released, but I do not own it. The newer book was a surprise to me since I wasn't aware of its existence until just a few moments ago, but I can only assume it's a great source of information since Werner Frosch and Cribb are involved.

Tropical Slipper Orchids is a book by Harold Koopowitz (another important name in slipper orchid taxonomy and breeding). I don't own this one and have only seen it in passing, but it's perhaps a little more approachable for hobby growers and breeders. It covers Paphs and Phrags, and it differs from the Cribbs books in that it spends more time on breeding and hybridization (there's a short chapter in the Cribbs books, but nothing particularly exhaustive).

Anyway, many (maybe most) of the common genera of orchids have similar resources.

First, I love your story! That's such a sweet memory.

Second, even though I only just started caring for orchids in the past year, I've always found them fascinating. I love finding lady slippers out in the woods, and after I read The Cloud Garden, I was super intrigued. The book is the story of two Anglo travelers who get kidnapped in the Darién Gap. One of them is a thrill-seeker, and the other is an orchid hunter. Even after they were captured by Colombian guerillas, this guy was collecting orchids, building a little paradise around the hut he slept in. And then his guards would kick the plants apart just to watch him get upset. :( Anyway, it's a really interesting book, check it out!

This is what I did:
1. misting system
2. timer
3. water filter
And if you need it:
4. hose Y connector

I connected the Y connecter to the spigot, connected the timer to that and the water filter to the timer, misting system to the water filter. Spigot->timer->filter->misting system. The trickiest part is setting up the misting heads because they just give you a long length of piping and you have to cut it down and place the misting heads according to your needs. In the pack there are about eleven (don’t remember exactly) misting heads (they look like black plastic T’s) and one piece that looks like a misting spigot that’s actually a three way connector (the other ten are just two way connectors with the third being the misting outlet that you screw the brass misting head into). There’s also only one end cap plug that fits into the connecter hole for one of the misting heads to finish/cap off the line when you get to the end). Because I incorporated the 3 way connecter to have two layers of lines running parallel to each other, I just capped off the end of one of the lines with the end cap plug and the other with hot glue. A little janky but effective! So far, the misting system has been doing a much better job of watering the orchids than I ever was doing it manually. After you set it up you should do a trial run to see if all the heads are misting properly and if the timer works correctly. If you’re having issues with the misting heads not misting, try unscrewing them a little to see if loosening it helps. If not, I think they give you one extra brass misting head so swap it out for the spare and see if that helps. Good luck!

I am concerned that it is not enough. All of my grow lights are 30W+ and they're relatively small. You also need photo cells specifically designed for growing plants (if you're using LED). Regular LED lighting is not sufficient for proper growth because it does not emit the correct light spectrum.

Considering purchasing a clip on 30W grow light from amazon. They're less than $30 and most of them work great. I prefer the natural colors >

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MV2GF84/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_nAjBDbD3QHG2F

Or

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QNHTZ9C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_5AjBDb2J9MJ0B

Also, light meters for artificial lighting will often read much lower than what is recommended for growth, despite the plant growing phenomenally. As an example, I have a dryadella aviceps sitting under light that only reads 110FC, yet it is blooming like a madman. It requires 500FC at least when grown under sun. This is because artificial lighting is constant, both in the amount of light and the duration. Sunlight is less in the morning and less at night, whereas 12 hours of LED lighting is consistent in brightness throughout the entire day. Light meters are only good after you have found the proper growing intensity for plants, so you can replicate it for like species.

Let me tell you how to save your plant.

1. buy orchid bark, just bark, and a terracata pot slightly bigger then your root ball and that you can cover the hole on the bottom easily. (I will cover why in watering)
   
   
2. Take it out of the plastic death trap and remove as much (most likely) sphagnum moss as possible, particularly from the center of the root ball. It traps to much moisture and helps root rot. Do your best to not damage roots and remember that even dead roots (the yellow/brown ones are dead) still take up nutrients forwthe plant. DO NOT CUT ANY ROOTS, ANY OF THEM.
   
   
3. repot Orchid in bark in terracata. Put some bark in the bottom of the pot, then add Orchid and continue adding bark filling in the root ball (tapping the pot down can help).
   
   
4. Place in a brightly lit area that gets cold, but no colder then 50f/11c.
   
   
5. To water, use only flitered water or well water. Cover hole on the bottom of pot and add water to pot to the rim. Hold water it pot for a minute ar two, then drain. Terracata breaths so water every 3-4 days as it gets dry.
   
   
6. buy superthrive (https://superthrive.com/) and add 1/4 Tsp to a gallon of water, safe for every feeding for pretty much all plants.
   
   
7. other additives; nutrients: Jack's classic african viotlet (J R Peters Jacks Classic 12-36-14 Special Fertilizer, 8-Ounce, African Violet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007BVNNI2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_CtSWBbQZGSTE6) and Epson salt. When you use the nutrients, use in conjunction with the epson salt and superthrive; use an 1/8th tsp of each per gallon of filtered water.
   
   
8. win at plants
   
   P. S you can cut the yellow leaf off, or leave it to fall off when ready.

Miracle-Gro Orchid Plant Food Mist