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Surprised owner of an orchid
Hello --- I am the surprised owner of a Mother's Day orchid that has
flourished for five years, and I'm beginning to wonder what to do next. It is one of those beautiful white ones that we see in the grocery stores, perhaps a "cat"? It has happily and sweetly bloomed every late winter. It lives under a 100-watt table lamp in front of a west window in the living room. It grows a new pair of big green leathery leaves each year, and the leaves have brown seed-like bumps on the bottom, and a few brown bumps on the top of the leaves (and I wonder if those are seeds). It summers on the morning side of my screened porch. When I bring it inside, I first treat it gingerly for ants. I feed it just the common liquid plant food (a cap added to the watering pot) that I use for my Chinese Evergreens and snake plants and ivy (my house is on the dark side for most plants). The plant scared me and I expected it to die within several months, but instead, here it is, ready to go to kindergarten. @@@ I have a couple questions, if I might impose: (1) The orchid is in the same pot it arrived here in. Should I repot it, and if so, what season, and what type of pot? (2) What do you call those long, velvety, mint-green .... stems .... tendrils ..... branches .... stamens ... feelers? ... that grow long in the spring. They reach up and out and tap everyone nearby on the shoulder in the most socialized way. I have looked at a lot of orchid pages on the net, but none ID the long trailers --- and the sites all seem to be for professional orchid folks, rather than orchid foster parents. As we speak, the orchid is busy starting to grow a new leaf, although winter doesn't start until Dec. 21. However, here in the D.C. area, our autumns are quite Indian Summer-ish. (In the winter, I keep my old radiator heat system set at 62 degrees. In the summer, my two old window AC units do not keep the house really cold. These factors apparently are satisfactory to this orchid ----- or would it be twice or thrice larger than it is now if it lived in a really warm house? The leaves' span is about 18 inches wide. @@@ thanks for any tips, and any referral to a website for really novice orchid babysitters. Sue |
#2
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Surprised owner of an orchid
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#3
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Surprised owner of an orchid
Sounds more like a Phalaenopsis. The brown bumps are NOT seeds, and sound
potentially troubling to me -- could be harmful insects [brown scale]. Have they been there long? If they've been there for 5 years, they must not be doing much if any harm, but if they appeared recently ... How big are they, and have you ever tried to scrape one off? Scale are usually small [less than 1/8"] and will scrape off easily with a light touch of a fingernail [light enough not to damage the leaf tissue]. If they fall off VERY easily, they might already be dead, but I think I'd wipe them off with alcohol just in case. Five years is a VERY long time to go without repotting, but that does depend somewhat on what's in the pot, and if you've gone this long without a problem, it might be better not to disturb the plant. If the medium isn't decomposed [or if it's all completely decomposed away], there's no need to mess with it. If the plant was in, say, lava rock or charcoal, there would be no decomposition; if it was in sphagnum moss, there might be none left by now. If it was in bark, I'd think you'd have had a soggy, stinky mess on your hands long before now. If it was in coconut chips, they'd probably be just about starting to go bad by now, and a change would be advisable. So, my suggestion would be to take a close look and a sniff at the potting medium; if it looks and smells nice and "fresh" rather than musty or rotten, I'd probably leave it alone, but if there is any doubt, I would repot into fresh medium upon the next appearance of new roots. Good growing, -- Kenni Judd Juno Beach Orchids http://www.jborchids.com "Sue Mack" wrote in message ... Hello --- I am the surprised owner of a Mother's Day orchid that has flourished for five years, and I'm beginning to wonder what to do next. It is one of those beautiful white ones that we see in the grocery stores, perhaps a "cat"? It has happily and sweetly bloomed every late winter. It lives under a 100-watt table lamp in front of a west window in the living room. It grows a new pair of big green leathery leaves each year, and the leaves have brown seed-like bumps on the bottom, and a few brown bumps on the top of the leaves (and I wonder if those are seeds). It summers on the morning side of my screened porch. When I bring it inside, I first treat it gingerly for ants. I feed it just the common liquid plant food (a cap added to the watering pot) that I use for my Chinese Evergreens and snake plants and ivy (my house is on the dark side for most plants). The plant scared me and I expected it to die within several months, but instead, here it is, ready to go to kindergarten. @@@ I have a couple questions, if I might impose: (1) The orchid is in the same pot it arrived here in. Should I repot it, and if so, what season, and what type of pot? (2) What do you call those long, velvety, mint-green .... stems .... tendrils ..... branches ... stamens ... feelers? ... that grow long in the spring. They reach up and out and tap everyone nearby on the shoulder in the most socialized way. I have looked at a lot of orchid pages on the net, but none ID the long trailers --- and the sites all seem to be for professional orchid folks, rather than orchid foster parents. As we speak, the orchid is busy starting to grow a new leaf, although winter doesn't start until Dec. 21. However, here in the D.C. area, our autumns are quite Indian Summer-ish. (In the winter, I keep my old radiator heat system set at 62 degrees. In the summer, my two old window AC units do not keep the house really cold. These factors apparently are satisfactory to this orchid ----- or would it be twice or thrice larger than it is now if it lived in a really warm house? The leaves' span is about 18 inches wide. @@@ thanks for any tips, and any referral to a website for really novice orchid babysitters. Sue |
#4
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Surprised owner of an orchid
Sue, I agree with Kenni that your plant definitely sounds like a Phalenopsis. When you say that the "brown bumps" are at the bottom and at the top of the leaves, do you mean on the leaves themselves or on the stem close to the leaves? If the bumps are on the stem, they could be small roots. My grandma in Poland was telling me about "white bumps" that her orchid had developped, and after further description, we established that those were roots as well. Roots can be brown -- brown is not as good as white or green, but as long as there are plenty of white or green ones, that's ok if they are a bit brown, I think. And if they are small they look like bumps and if they are long and reach out of the pot they look like feelers. One of my Phals has this delightful big fat root that grew out of the stem right above a leaf and it followed that leaf, just kind of resting on it -- looks a bit like a fat slug, but a nice one :-) Joanna "Kenni Judd" wrote in message .. . Sounds more like a Phalaenopsis. The brown bumps are NOT seeds, and sound potentially troubling to me -- could be harmful insects [brown scale]. Have they been there long? If they've been there for 5 years, they must not be doing much if any harm, but if they appeared recently ... How big are they, and have you ever tried to scrape one off? Scale are usually small [less than 1/8"] and will scrape off easily with a light touch of a fingernail [light enough not to damage the leaf tissue]. If they fall off VERY easily, they might already be dead, but I think I'd wipe them off with alcohol just in case. Five years is a VERY long time to go without repotting, but that does depend somewhat on what's in the pot, and if you've gone this long without a problem, it might be better not to disturb the plant. If the medium isn't decomposed [or if it's all completely decomposed away], there's no need to mess with it. If the plant was in, say, lava rock or charcoal, there would be no decomposition; if it was in sphagnum moss, there might be none left by now. If it was in bark, I'd think you'd have had a soggy, stinky mess on your hands long before now. If it was in coconut chips, they'd probably be just about starting to go bad by now, and a change would be advisable. So, my suggestion would be to take a close look and a sniff at the potting medium; if it looks and smells nice and "fresh" rather than musty or rotten, I'd probably leave it alone, but if there is any doubt, I would repot into fresh medium upon the next appearance of new roots. Good growing, -- Kenni Judd Juno Beach Orchids http://www.jborchids.com "Sue Mack" wrote in message ... Hello --- I am the surprised owner of a Mother's Day orchid that has flourished for five years, and I'm beginning to wonder what to do next. It is one of those beautiful white ones that we see in the grocery stores, perhaps a "cat"? It has happily and sweetly bloomed every late winter. It lives under a 100-watt table lamp in front of a west window in the living room. It grows a new pair of big green leathery leaves each year, and the leaves have brown seed-like bumps on the bottom, and a few brown bumps on the top of the leaves (and I wonder if those are seeds). It summers on the morning side of my screened porch. When I bring it inside, I first treat it gingerly for ants. I feed it just the common liquid plant food (a cap added to the watering pot) that I use for my Chinese Evergreens and snake plants and ivy (my house is on the dark side for most plants). The plant scared me and I expected it to die within several months, but instead, here it is, ready to go to kindergarten. @@@ I have a couple questions, if I might impose: (1) The orchid is in the same pot it arrived here in. Should I repot it, and if so, what season, and what type of pot? (2) What do you call those long, velvety, mint-green .... stems .... tendrils ..... branches ... stamens ... feelers? ... that grow long in the spring. They reach up and out and tap everyone nearby on the shoulder in the most socialized way. I have looked at a lot of orchid pages on the net, but none ID the long trailers --- and the sites all seem to be for professional orchid folks, rather than orchid foster parents. As we speak, the orchid is busy starting to grow a new leaf, although winter doesn't start until Dec. 21. However, here in the D.C. area, our autumns are quite Indian Summer-ish. (In the winter, I keep my old radiator heat system set at 62 degrees. In the summer, my two old window AC units do not keep the house really cold. These factors apparently are satisfactory to this orchid ----- or would it be twice or thrice larger than it is now if it lived in a really warm house? The leaves' span is about 18 inches wide. @@@ thanks for any tips, and any referral to a website for really novice orchid babysitters. Sue |
#5
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Surprised owner of an orchid
When the ancient war dogs did battle on 17 Nov 2003 21:03:42 +0100,
Geir Harris Hedemark did speak the following bit of wisdom: (Sue Mack) writes: in the living room. It grows a new pair of big green leathery leaves each year, and the leaves have brown seed-like bumps on the bottom, and a few brown bumps on the top of the leaves (and I wonder if those are seeds). It summers on the morning side of my screened porch. When I Sounds strange to me. Flowers are usually where you will find seeds. That is more or less what they are for. I agree with Geir here. Something sounds strange. Does your plant ever flower or does it just grow new leaves every year? The way you talked about leaves having "brown seed-like bumps" on them almost make me want to think of the fern family. Or possibly some type of Cycad? At any rate, no matter what it is, I'd think that after 5 years, it might appreciate being repotted into some fresh medium. HTH... * * * * * Karen C. Southern CT / USDA Zone 6 Spammers be damned! I can't be emailed from this account... "Gardeners know all the best dirt!" |
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