In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:


I would say from my experience ('tis a few years since I kept them) it's
more unusual for the spike to die after flowering than stay green and alive.
It will just keep producing more flowering spurs from the nodes so on a big
old plant you will have almost constant flowering as it will have more than
one flower spike. As I said, occasionally it will produce a "Keiki", a new
plant, which will grow roots whilst still attached, which is a bonus. Just
bend the spike over into another pot and the new plant will root itself.
It's the way they take over whole branches in the forest.

Thanks. I will try that, if it happens.

Much easier to grow than they used to be, obviously becoming domesticated.
Years ago it was said they needed constant shade in a specialist orchid hot
house now they appear to be one of the easiest flowering house plants to
grow, well, mature hybrid plants at least.

Was it said or was it true? Some of the things that "everybody says"
are true, many are half-true, and a few are complete codswallop.

A few years back, I got liberally flamed for saying that there was
damn-all evidence that sunscreen potions protected against cancer,
and some reason to believe that the converse might be the case. The
latest research has confirmed ALL of my suspicions - which is NOT
to say that they ARE harmful, merely that it is now admitted to be
unclear whether they do more harm than good.

Similarly, I have never seen any evidence of sun scorch in the UK,
and have seen LOTS of "no direct sunlight" plants that were growing
happily in direct sun. And I have seen "sun scorch" in shade on
sensitive plants, caused purely by drying winds. Similarly, while
I can believe that water droplets OCCASIONALLY focus sunlight enough
to cause damage, I have never seen it happen and it is CERTAINLY
not enough to worry about except in very rare conditions, at least
outside (e.g. there must be NO wind).

My belief is that sun scorch is almost entirely mythical in the UK,
and the damage is caused by some combination of overheating or
drying out. And, as even the direct sun on concrete on a still day
doesn't raise the temperature above 45 Celcius (and rarely that),
tropical plants don't need to do much respiration to reduce their
temperature to a safe 40 Celcius. Now, there doubtless ARE plants
that can't respire at that rate, but I think that they are much
rarer than is believed.

The same is not true in the tropics, or even the Mediterranean,
where the MUCH stronger sun requires a much greater cooling from
respiration.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.