On Sat, 23 Nov 2013 13:51:33 +0000, Spider wrote:

On 21/11/2013 09:42, Pam Moore wrote:
Has anyone used a product called Orchid Myst? I saw it and bought some
yesterday. It is a ready-mixed spray which you spray on leaves, aerial
roots and on the bark/compost, but not on flowers.
www.focus-on-plants.com

Pam in Bristol




Hi Pam,

You don't seem to have any replies, so I thought I'd drop in.
I don't use Orchid Myst, but would be very interested in your impression
of it in due course.

I have about 35 orchids (excluding the hardy ones) and they are kept
close together on two long window cills. I am sure this helps provide
its own local humidity (one of OM's claims). My feeding/watering regime
falls about every ten days. After 3 sessions of feeding, I have a
session of watering only. I don't buy a proprietary leaf shine product;
they're horrendously expensive! Insead, I routine wipe dusty leaves
with a soft tissue. Once in a while, if the leaves are looking really
dull and lack-lustre, I wipe them all (takes ages!) with a weaker than
usual fertiliser solution, which cleans them and gives them a filip, in
much the same way that OM does. When I do this, I miss out a feed to
make sure I'm not inflicting too much chemical brew on them.

All this seems to work and I bring most orchids back in to flower. I'm
dead chuffed this year, as I've managed for the first time to get all
three of my Cymbidiums to flower! :~).

I always fail to get Zygopetalum and Dendrobium to reflower and, indeed,
have lost a few.

If I were to try OM, it would be on the Cambria types whose roots are so
thin they don't hold onto moisture and nutrients as well as
Phaelenopsis, say. I certainly don't want to start spraying in the
living rooms - we've just got rid of a fungal problem in one room due to
a neighbour's garden wall butting up against our party wall, so I'm a
bit paranoid about encouraging fungus again.

Interesting advice, Spider. Thanks.
I only have 5 orchids, 4 phals and 1 cymbidium.
I don't feed much or water enough, I think but this year I got all 4
phals, in my bathroom, to re-flower.
My cymbidium I have written about here before. Bought it in flower for
my Mum for Mothering Sunday about 20 years ago. It never flowered
again for her but got weaker and smaller. I brought it home and
nourished it for 15 years. It never flowered but got bigger and
bigger. I split it and gave 4 pieces away and kept one for myself.
All 4 others, in 4 different houses, flowered last year. Mine NO.
Maybe Orchid Myst will help!

Pam in Bristol