I grow warm/intermediate orchids. As newbie, I foolishly bought some
Miltonia, Vuylstekeara, and Miltonidium orchids because they were
beautiful and I was hopeful and the vendors told me they were easy to
grow. (There's a lesson here.)

The Miltonia did great over winter then died when the summer heat in
the sunroom became too high. However, the Miltonidium next to her grew
very well and even rebloomed.

The Miltonidium (Rosy Sunset) stayed in the sunroom until July, then I
moved it to the living room, which gets A/C and is cooler in
general--from reading the AOS literature, I knew that the plant
wouldn't like the low humidity, but it was a tradeoff between the plant
cooking in the sunroom and having low humidity in the livingroom.
Suprisingly, it did very well and now has three bloom spikes. It is a
robust plant.

The Vuylstekearas (two of them, both Mary Kavanaugh) looked as if they
were going South and were buggy to boot, so in desperation, I nuked
the insects and then put them in PrimeAgra. (Yes, I know that you're
only supposed to pot plants when they're in active growth, but I was
desperate.) Then I put them outside for the summer. The Vuylstekearas
are still alive, but they are the rattiest looking plants that I've
got--shrivelled pseudobulbs and streaked leaves from various
pest/diseases and a wind storm. The healthier of the two, which I
brought indoors last week, actually has a rather pathetic bud.

Since all these plants are in the Odontogloss/Oncidium alliance, I
would have thought that they would have reacted similarly to my
environment. Guess not. It's probably a miracle that any of them
survived my care.

Has anyone who's an intermediate/warm grower had luck with
Vuylstekearas? I'm at the point of thinking that I should donate them
to person who's a cool grower, rather than continuing to torture these
plants.

If you put the vuylstekaras in a fairly large clay pot of PrimeAgra, then
stand it in a tray to act as the reservoir, you'll have it in S/H culture
with the added advantage of extra evaporation to do some localized cooling.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

.. . . . . . . . . . .
"dd" wrote in message
...
I grow warm/intermediate orchids. As newbie, I foolishly bought some
Miltonia, Vuylstekeara, and Miltonidium orchids because they were
beautiful and I was hopeful and the vendors told me they were easy to
grow. (There's a lesson here.)

The Miltonia did great over winter then died when the summer heat in
the sunroom became too high. However, the Miltonidium next to her grew
very well and even rebloomed.

The Miltonidium (Rosy Sunset) stayed in the sunroom until July, then I
moved it to the living room, which gets A/C and is cooler in
general--from reading the AOS literature, I knew that the plant
wouldn't like the low humidity, but it was a tradeoff between the plant
cooking in the sunroom and having low humidity in the livingroom.
Suprisingly, it did very well and now has three bloom spikes. It is a
robust plant.

The Vuylstekearas (two of them, both Mary Kavanaugh) looked as if they
were going South and were buggy to boot, so in desperation, I nuked
the insects and then put them in PrimeAgra. (Yes, I know that you're
only supposed to pot plants when they're in active growth, but I was
desperate.) Then I put them outside for the summer. The Vuylstekearas
are still alive, but they are the rattiest looking plants that I've
got--shrivelled pseudobulbs and streaked leaves from various
pest/diseases and a wind storm. The healthier of the two, which I
brought indoors last week, actually has a rather pathetic bud.

Since all these plants are in the Odontogloss/Oncidium alliance, I
would have thought that they would have reacted similarly to my
environment. Guess not. It's probably a miracle that any of them
survived my care.

Has anyone who's an intermediate/warm grower had luck with
Vuylstekearas? I'm at the point of thinking that I should donate them
to person who's a cool grower, rather than continuing to torture these
plants.

Hi, It sounds like you have your miltonia and miltoniopsis mixed up.
Miltonias are not as showy as miltoniopsis, but grow like weeds in
warm climates (I'm in east central Florida). I cannot grow
miltoniopsis without a lot of moving around as they do not like too
much heat--I've spent a lot of money on them & eventually lost every
one. Won't have one on the place anymore. Miltonias on the other hand
will go from a 4" pot to an 8" pot in just a few years. I have a bunch
of Miltonia Adelante that have to be repotted often as they grow so
fast. Now to the Vuylstekearas--you said the plants were ratty looking
from the start?? Could be that you just bought bad plants?? If you
started with bad plants (& who knows what's wrong with them) they are
hard to bring back. All Oncidiinae like to be pot bound in a well
drained mix but don't want to dry out!
The rule in breeding is a cool grower crossed with a warm grower will
most likely be a warm grower. We have Vuyl. Aloha Passion that does
fine for us. It's a Mary Cavanaugh hybrid. Back to
Miltonia/Miltoniopsis---lots of growers tag their plants Milt. so &
so--Milt. is proper both for Miltonia & Miltoniopsis. Best way to tell
is: miltoniopsis foliage is usually very light green & the flowers are
"Pansy like" Miltonias are not nearly as showy--but are very heat
tolorant. Hope this helps, Bill

My experience is that none of these plants seem to like windowsills. I have
a few vuylstekeara's and a few miltonia's.
The first ones don't want to grow roots, just pseudobulbs and flowers.
Strange plants, but have found that placing them a bit cooler did help the
rootgrowth a lot. I now keep them cool to intermediate, and can only say
that they are still alive and have rebloomed four years in a row.
The miltonia's are a different isue. Can't keep does darn things in their
pots, and they have more roots in mid air then in the media. So watering is
a real pest. I get harmonica leaves but they bloom every year. Two are
active right now. I keep them very light and intermediate to even warm. They
won't win any prises but they are alive and rebloom every year.
I'm going to try Ray's SH culture for one of my vuylstekeara
Cheers
Peter

"dd" schreef in bericht
...
I grow warm/intermediate orchids. As newbie, I foolishly bought some
Miltonia, Vuylstekeara, and Miltonidium orchids because they were
beautiful and I was hopeful and the vendors told me they were easy to
grow. (There's a lesson here.)

The Miltonia did great over winter then died when the summer heat in
the sunroom became too high. However, the Miltonidium next to her grew
very well and even rebloomed.

The Miltonidium (Rosy Sunset) stayed in the sunroom until July, then I
moved it to the living room, which gets A/C and is cooler in
general--from reading the AOS literature, I knew that the plant
wouldn't like the low humidity, but it was a tradeoff between the plant
cooking in the sunroom and having low humidity in the livingroom.
Suprisingly, it did very well and now has three bloom spikes. It is a
robust plant.

The Vuylstekearas (two of them, both Mary Kavanaugh) looked as if they
were going South and were buggy to boot, so in desperation, I nuked
the insects and then put them in PrimeAgra. (Yes, I know that you're
only supposed to pot plants when they're in active growth, but I was
desperate.) Then I put them outside for the summer. The Vuylstekearas
are still alive, but they are the rattiest looking plants that I've
got--shrivelled pseudobulbs and streaked leaves from various
pest/diseases and a wind storm. The healthier of the two, which I
brought indoors last week, actually has a rather pathetic bud.

Since all these plants are in the Odontogloss/Oncidium alliance, I
would have thought that they would have reacted similarly to my
environment. Guess not. It's probably a miracle that any of them
survived my care.

Has anyone who's an intermediate/warm grower had luck with
Vuylstekearas? I'm at the point of thinking that I should donate them
to person who's a cool grower, rather than continuing to torture these
plants.

I second Bill Hill's comments about Miltonia vs. Miltoniopsis -- although
personally, I have trouble with even the warm-growing Miltonias [warm is one
thing, my place gets HOT -- I am a little south of Bill and I have a plastic
roof, which makes for hotter temps than his shadecloth].

But to expand about the Vuylstekeara -- it depends on the actual ancestry of
the particular plant. There are some Vuyl. hybrids that I can grow without
much trouble, others that just flat refuse to live here. If you have
WildCatt, you can look up a family tree, and even a species percentage
chart, to see how much of the ancestry of a prospect is cool-growing and how
much is warm-growing.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"dd" wrote in message
...
I grow warm/intermediate orchids. As newbie, I foolishly bought some
Miltonia, Vuylstekeara, and Miltonidium orchids because they were
beautiful and I was hopeful and the vendors told me they were easy to
grow. (There's a lesson here.)

The Miltonia did great over winter then died when the summer heat in
the sunroom became too high. However, the Miltonidium next to her grew
very well and even rebloomed.

The Miltonidium (Rosy Sunset) stayed in the sunroom until July, then I
moved it to the living room, which gets A/C and is cooler in
general--from reading the AOS literature, I knew that the plant
wouldn't like the low humidity, but it was a tradeoff between the plant
cooking in the sunroom and having low humidity in the livingroom.
Suprisingly, it did very well and now has three bloom spikes. It is a
robust plant.

The Vuylstekearas (two of them, both Mary Kavanaugh) looked as if they
were going South and were buggy to boot, so in desperation, I nuked
the insects and then put them in PrimeAgra. (Yes, I know that you're
only supposed to pot plants when they're in active growth, but I was
desperate.) Then I put them outside for the summer. The Vuylstekearas
are still alive, but they are the rattiest looking plants that I've
got--shrivelled pseudobulbs and streaked leaves from various
pest/diseases and a wind storm. The healthier of the two, which I
brought indoors last week, actually has a rather pathetic bud.

Since all these plants are in the Odontogloss/Oncidium alliance, I
would have thought that they would have reacted similarly to my
environment. Guess not. It's probably a miracle that any of them
survived my care.

Has anyone who's an intermediate/warm grower had luck with
Vuylstekearas? I'm at the point of thinking that I should donate them
to person who's a cool grower, rather than continuing to torture these
plants.

Thanks--I'll try that next!

In article , Ray
wrote:

If you put the vuylstekaras in a fairly large clay pot of PrimeAgra, then
stand it in a tray to act as the reservoir, you'll have it in S/H culture
with the added advantage of extra evaporation to do some localized cooling.



--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!

. . . . . . . . . . .
"dd" wrote in message
...
I grow warm/intermediate orchids. As newbie, I foolishly bought some
Miltonia, Vuylstekeara, and Miltonidium orchids because they were
beautiful and I was hopeful and the vendors told me they were easy to
grow. (There's a lesson here.)

The Miltonia did great over winter then died when the summer heat in
the sunroom became too high. However, the Miltonidium next to her grew
very well and even rebloomed.

The Miltonidium (Rosy Sunset) stayed in the sunroom until July, then I
moved it to the living room, which gets A/C and is cooler in
general--from reading the AOS literature, I knew that the plant
wouldn't like the low humidity, but it was a tradeoff between the plant
cooking in the sunroom and having low humidity in the livingroom.
Suprisingly, it did very well and now has three bloom spikes. It is a
robust plant.

The Vuylstekearas (two of them, both Mary Kavanaugh) looked as if they
were going South and were buggy to boot, so in desperation, I nuked
the insects and then put them in PrimeAgra. (Yes, I know that you're
only supposed to pot plants when they're in active growth, but I was
desperate.) Then I put them outside for the summer. The Vuylstekearas
are still alive, but they are the rattiest looking plants that I've
got--shrivelled pseudobulbs and streaked leaves from various
pest/diseases and a wind storm. The healthier of the two, which I
brought indoors last week, actually has a rather pathetic bud.

Since all these plants are in the Odontogloss/Oncidium alliance, I
would have thought that they would have reacted similarly to my
environment. Guess not. It's probably a miracle that any of them
survived my care.

Has anyone who's an intermediate/warm grower had luck with
Vuylstekearas? I'm at the point of thinking that I should donate them
to person who's a cool grower, rather than continuing to torture these
plants.

In article , William
Hill wrote:

Hi, It sounds like you have your miltonia and miltoniopsis mixed up.
Miltonias are not as showy as miltoniopsis, but grow like weeds in
warm climates (I'm in east central Florida). I cannot grow
miltoniopsis without a lot of moving around as they do not like too
much heat--I've spent a lot of money on them & eventually lost every
one. Won't have one on the place anymore. Miltonias on the other hand
will go from a 4" pot to an 8" pot in just a few years. I have a bunch
of Miltonia Adelante that have to be repotted often as they grow so
fast.

You're right--it just said "Milt" on the pot. Good advice regarding the
leaves, below. Based on the experience that I've had and your advice,
I'm going to avoid Miltoniopsis in the future. I love the way they
look, but...

Now to the Vuylstekearas--you said the plants were ratty looking
from the start?? Could be that you just bought bad plants?? If you
started with bad plants (& who knows what's wrong with them) they are
hard to bring back.

No, they were lovely when I bought them but started looking bad later,
under my expert care :-)

All Oncidiinae like to be pot bound in a well
drained mix but don't want to dry out!
The rule in breeding is a cool grower crossed with a warm grower will
most likely be a warm grower. We have Vuyl. Aloha Passion that does
fine for us. It's a Mary Cavanaugh hybrid. Back to
Miltonia/Miltoniopsis---lots of growers tag their plants Milt. so &
so--Milt. is proper both for Miltonia & Miltoniopsis. Best way to tell
is: miltoniopsis foliage is usually very light green & the flowers are
"Pansy like" Miltonias are not nearly as showy--but are very heat
tolorant. Hope this helps, Bill

Thanks so much for the advice!!

Well, I think that' I'll try to limp my Vuyls along for the winter,
using the clay pot method, then see how they do. I'm sure not goiing to
buy any more.

Thanks for the advice!


In article , Kenni Judd
wrote:

I second Bill Hill's comments about Miltonia vs. Miltoniopsis -- although
personally, I have trouble with even the warm-growing Miltonias [warm is one
thing, my place gets HOT -- I am a little south of Bill and I have a plastic
roof, which makes for hotter temps than his shadecloth].

But to expand about the Vuylstekeara -- it depends on the actual ancestry of
the particular plant. There are some Vuyl. hybrids that I can grow without
much trouble, others that just flat refuse to live here. If you have
WildCatt, you can look up a family tree, and even a species percentage
chart, to see how much of the ancestry of a prospect is cool-growing and how
much is warm-growing.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"dd" wrote in message
...
I grow warm/intermediate orchids. As newbie, I foolishly bought some
Miltonia, Vuylstekeara, and Miltonidium orchids because they were
beautiful and I was hopeful and the vendors told me they were easy to
grow. (There's a lesson here.)

The Miltonia did great over winter then died when the summer heat in
the sunroom became too high. However, the Miltonidium next to her grew
very well and even rebloomed.

The Miltonidium (Rosy Sunset) stayed in the sunroom until July, then I
moved it to the living room, which gets A/C and is cooler in
general--from reading the AOS literature, I knew that the plant
wouldn't like the low humidity, but it was a tradeoff between the plant
cooking in the sunroom and having low humidity in the livingroom.
Suprisingly, it did very well and now has three bloom spikes. It is a
robust plant.

The Vuylstekearas (two of them, both Mary Kavanaugh) looked as if they
were going South and were buggy to boot, so in desperation, I nuked
the insects and then put them in PrimeAgra. (Yes, I know that you're
only supposed to pot plants when they're in active growth, but I was
desperate.) Then I put them outside for the summer. The Vuylstekearas
are still alive, but they are the rattiest looking plants that I've
got--shrivelled pseudobulbs and streaked leaves from various
pest/diseases and a wind storm. The healthier of the two, which I
brought indoors last week, actually has a rather pathetic bud.

Since all these plants are in the Odontogloss/Oncidium alliance, I
would have thought that they would have reacted similarly to my
environment. Guess not. It's probably a miracle that any of them
survived my care.

Has anyone who's an intermediate/warm grower had luck with
Vuylstekearas? I'm at the point of thinking that I should donate them
to person who's a cool grower, rather than continuing to torture these
plants.

Goodness! There's no reason to swear off all Vuyls, just to be a little
careful -- either buy from a grower with conditions similar to yours, or do
your research. As I mentioned the first time, there are many of them that I
can grow easily, in even warmer conditions than Bill's -- and it is a way to
get that Miltoniopsis "look" in plants with more heat tolerance.

--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids

http://www.jborchids.com
"dd" wrote in message
...
Well, I think that' I'll try to limp my Vuyls along for the winter,
using the clay pot method, then see how they do. I'm sure not goiing to
buy any more.

Thanks for the advice!