What's going on in your garden (2024)?

TastyReuben said:
Remember when I said grown men around here get a rash of shit for wearing “girly” shorts?

My brother asked me about some oregano he bought, and I mentioned how easy it is to grow, so I sent him a pic of my oregano, with my foot in it for scale, just like I did with that thyme above, and it had some of my shirttail in it as well.

Here was his single response:

View attachment 112858

:laugh:
Click to expand...

:laugh:
 
karadekoolaid said:
I finally got to spend a whole morning in the garden and it was time to pay a little attention to the orchids. These particular orchids (Cymbidium) grow forwards; when you pot them, you put them near the back of the pot and measure about 3 fingers width to the front, which means they've got room to grow.
These poor blighters hadn't been touched in 3 or 4 years, so they were growing outside the pots, as you can see in the following pictures:
View attachment 112878View attachment 112879
So the first move is to remove them all from the pots and get rid of the "medium" - they don't need earth, since they're epiphytes (ie. they'll grow with their roots in the air and they derive nutrients from air, water or any plant/medium around them) . The medium, in this case, was coconut shells, dried fern roots, corks and broken bricks. Once the plants are removed, you can see three things: a vast amount of roots, dead pseudobulbs (where the leaves are attached) and possibly two or even three plants in one:
View attachment 112880
First order of the day; remove the excess roots. This is pretty drastic, but they soon grow back again, and too many roots means the plant gets stressed, producing more leaves and roots rather than flowers. Once the roots are gone, then the dead pseudobulbs get removed. Then it's easy to see if there's one, or maybe even two or three new plants. From the 6 plants I repotted, I got 12 plants.
Final step was to repot them with space to breathe and grow, and securing them with a metal brace so the plant doesn't move. If the plant is well-secured, it will soon grow healthily; if the plant is unstable (ie., if it moves when you gently shake the pot) then it will not grow.
The two final pictures show the newly potted plants (which then got soaked with water and vitamins) and the flowers.
Unfortunately for me, most of the plants flowered while I was in the UK. The perfume is glorious, but the flower only lasts about 7-10 days, once a year!
View attachment 112881View attachment 112882
Click to expand...

Would you say you are an orchid guru? I need some advice.
 
karadekoolaid said:
How can I help? I'm guessing you might have some phanaelopsia, because they sell them in all the UK supermarkets!
Click to expand...

Well, we bought these babies from Thailand a good few years ago, they did absolutely nothing for a few years, even now, as you can see they are tiny. They occasionally have a dead leaf but very little else. I have ignored them, let them dry out, apparently you are supposed to shock them into growing, have watered them thoroughly, ok going from 1 to the other probably doesn't help. Bigger pot fresh growing matter, partial shade, but still next to nothing. I am at a loss :scratchhead:


20240428_162016.jpg
 
They look like a phalaenopsia variant, in which case, no direct sunlight, but plenty of daylight. Any idea of what the flowers look like? The plants are currently perched on top of the medium (bits of bark, etc.) - the medium looks fine - but I'd actually put them IN the medium. Three smaller pots needed here. Make sure the roots are "underground" and make sure the plant doesn't move too much. Put them in a nice sunny spot ( but not direct sunlight) and spray them with rainwater every day or so. Tap water doesn't help them at all. You might want to get some orchid fertiliser, and spray them with that every week or so.
If you can remember the flowers , perhaps this image will help and then I can see more or less what variety they are.
My brother had a dozen plants in the bay window of his house and they flourished beautifully. Mind you, he worked at Sissinghurst Castle and the gardeners gave him loads of wonderful advice.
Phalaenopsia variants.jpg
 
Lullabelle said:
Well, we bought these babies from Thailand a good few years ago, they did absolutely nothing for a few years, even now, as you can see they are tiny. They occasionally have a dead leaf but very little else. I have ignored them, let them dry out, apparently you are supposed to shock them into growing, have watered them thoroughly, ok going from 1 to the other probably doesn't help. Bigger pot fresh growing matter, partial shade, but still next to nothing. I am at a loss :scratchhead:


View attachment 112899
Click to expand...
Make sure you're not using UK tap water to water them. Chloride and fluoride in the water isn't good for them at all. Ideally use rain water, otherwise buy one of those 5L or 10L mineral water boxes and use that. The box will last a decent period of time.
 
I've got a number of orchids growing in the house. All but 1 (pot) are happy as can be.

20240429_104343.jpg
20240429_104255.jpg
20240429_104212.jpg
20240429_104119.jpg


20240429_104203.jpg


So the first 5 pots are loving life and growing fast. All of these were AU$9.99 plants, so £5, and as small as the 2 that haven't grown.

These 2 however, are not happy and I I've yet to work out the ideal growing conditions for them. Clearly where they are now, isn't what they want.

20240429_103607.jpg
 
20240429_103431.jpg


My vanilla orchids are loving life in their new location. And they are much happier planted together than in separate pots. It is easier to maintain constant and consistent conditions in the larger pots.

These 2 however prefer life in the dining room.

20240429_103158.jpg
20240429_103233.jpg

I just moved them to get better photos.

I've got another that's needing repotting which I'll be doing soon.
 
The first five are perfectly potted ! Have they flowered yet? (can't see what they are)
The vandas like sunshine, so if you've got them inside, they'll probably sulk. My local orchid expert has all his vandas attached to sticks,with the roots hanging down, rather than in pots. Sometimes you'll find them in open baskets as well, something like this:
1714354957503.png

Your vanilla orchid likes to climb, so the taller the trellis, the happier it will be. Originally, in Mexico and Central South America, they were found climbing trees, at an altitude of about 900 mts. Your plant looks very healthy.
In general terms, tropical orchids like plenty of humidity.
 
karadekoolaid said:
The first five are perfectly potted ! Have they flowered yet? (can't see what they are)
The vandas like sunshine, so if you've got them inside, they'll probably sulk. My local orchid expert has all his vandas attached to sticks,with the roots hanging down, rather than in pots. Sometimes you'll find them in open baskets as well, something like this:
View attachment 112957
Your vanilla orchid likes to climb, so the taller the trellis, the happier it will be. Originally, in Mexico and Central South America, they were found climbing trees, at an altitude of about 900 mts. Your plant looks very healthy.
In general terms, tropical orchids like plenty of humidity.
Click to expand...
No they haven't flowered yet, but they are not even 1 year old yet and we're heading into winter here, and lower light conditions. I bought them just before I flew to the UK (October), so i guess they were bought around September 2023. All of the top 5 were planted the way the 6th is. That had 2 plants die for whatever reason and the other 2 haven't really done anything. Even orchids need protecting from Australian summer sunshine. Conditions and water/watering, "compost" etc are exactly the same for all of them. I just grouped like with like in the pots where I could, except for 1 oddity.

I suspect the vandas will have to stay inside now we're heading into winter. I can't even keep leaves on sweet potatoes over winter on the sheltered verandah, so I doubt they would survive the freezing conditions winter brings here. Frosts are routine with occasional snow and we're also just below 900m. My only location with more daylight, is unheated in winter. What sort of temperature range do you think they'd manage? Inside the house can drop to 8°C and lower unless I keep them in the sitting room which through winter can drop to 14°C even with the stove lit 24/7. The sitting room only sees early morning sunshine though which is where all my plants tend to live unless they are hardy enough to survive the mud room (unheated) which faces west. Right now the orchids have 2 windows at 90° to each other which is about the lightest position in the house where there is a warmer temperature (aka no frost!l

The vanilla orchids are an interesting one because here, the professionals here say to put the pot up high and allow it to hang! That goes against what my instinct says. I do have a plant they could climb though... and it needs to be moved from its summer location by the stove when we light the stove. That's an Australian native palm of some type... the leaf damage happened when it was in the corner the orchids now occupy. It wasn't happy there for some reason I couldn't establish, so it might not be a good climbing frame after all.
17143567995124149525498368067367.jpg


These are what they are...

20240429_120152.jpg
20240429_120251.jpg
20240429_120222.jpg


20240429_120126.jpg

This last pot is the one that's really taken off. I may actually have to rescue the cascading white orchids (left hand label) from that pot and give them one of their own, but I'll need to buy another pot that size first.

I moved over to larger pots because it gave the orchids now consistent conditions. The small pots were drying out way too quickly in the summer months and we didn't even have a particularly hot summer this year.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Make sure you're not using UK tap water to water them. Chloride and fluoride in the water isn't good for them at all. Ideally use rain water, otherwise buy one of those 5L or 10L mineral water boxes and use that. The box will last a decent period of time.
Click to expand...

I do use tap water, will stop that and use rain water from now on also for my others, may perk them up a bit.
 
karadekoolaid said:
The first five are perfectly potted ! Have they flowered yet? (can't see what they are)
The vandas like sunshine, so if you've got them inside, they'll probably sulk. My local orchid expert has all his vandas attached to sticks,with the roots hanging down, rather than in pots. Sometimes you'll find them in open baskets as well, something like this:
View attachment 112957
Your vanilla orchid likes to climb, so the taller the trellis, the happier it will be. Originally, in Mexico and Central South America, they were found climbing trees, at an altitude of about 900 mts. Your plant looks very healthy.
In general terms, tropical orchids like plenty of humidity.
Click to expand...

Gorgeous colours.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom