I hope it helps, nice to talk back and forth with an orchid nut like I
that is so far away!! 'G'. Give the Phals as much warmth as you can
cause they really don't like going dormant. I think your Milt. is one
of the cool growers (the pansey type). 'Dancing Ladies' is not a real
name, just a generic commercial type name. But I would think you would
be offered the more cool growers over there and not our warm lovers.
There are both in Onc. genus. Also there are warm growing Milts. As
you surf around the net about orchids (try google.com) you can find
information about all of them.
Now I need to go mix up my fert. - my shadehouse needs food!!
Best, Mary Lou
"White Monkey" wrote in message om...
My goodness KATRINA!! I live in Florida and I can't imagine living in
the Netherlands with NO HEAT!! How cold does it get in your home?
Oh, we do have heat, just not steady, centralized heat of any kind. The
apartment is leaky and drafty, too, as are most of them in this part of the
city. We have a large gas-burning stove thing, as are common here. We turn
it off at night to prevent carbon monoxide accidents, and get under the down
comforter, with the electric mattrass pad in winter. Throughout the day,
except in any room we close off to conserve heat, it stays in the 60's or
70's, your temps, for the day, so doesn't have a chance to get TOO cold
overnight--even in the kitchen, which is unheated and curtained off from the
rest of the house, we usually don't get a skin of ice on a glass of water
overnight, while just out on the balcony one may be frozen solid at the
right time of year.
Some
of your plants prefer it a little cooler than I have in Miami,
Wildcatts and your Cambria dont' like our summers, the nights are too
high in temp.
Oh, good! They do seem to be doing just fine--the wildcat is getting a lower
nighttime temp than the cambria, and isn't doing too much, but since I
rescued it from its styrofoam hell, all the leaves are standing up prouder
and don't feel vaguely papery like they did when I bought it. The cambria
came with a lot of un-opened flowers, which are popping open about one a
day, and showing no signs of falling off. Nice deep red with a yellow and
orange lip.
Do you have names for the Onc. and Milt?
The Onc. is one of the larger varieties of the yellow one commonly called
"Dancing Ladies". The Miltonia looks like a big, showy purple-red pansy when
it's blooming, and that's all I know about it. It was labeled Cymbidium.
But the Phals
need to be above 65F to keep growing.
OK... that explains why the two in the bedroom are acting sort of dormant
right now--how bad is this for them until spring? They get the best (i.e.,
not real good) light in there, and once a couple more months have gone by,
that room will start heating naturally again, and some of the
likes-it-cooler's will have to be pulled out. Should I bring the phal.'s to
the low-light but yes-daytime-heat living room for the winter? And, I just
put a flowering one in there--if I want the already-there second spike to
flower, should I haul it back out here?
Usually it is recommended not to
keep the plants too wet in cooler darker weather. Is your light good??
Light bad. Me overwater. Crisis over... mostly... still thinking I may have
to repot one, but the roots are still white and green through the plastic
pot it came in. And fleshy. I think it'll be OK!
Thank you so much! This is all very useful information.
Thanks,
Katrina
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