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#1
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First bloom of first orchid
My son's gf gave me my first orchid, a paph, over 2 1/2 years ago. She
works in a nursery and had been giving me all kinds of plants. I should explain, I'm not much of a plant guy. I've had plants over the years, killed more than I've kep alive. Just don't give them the attention they need to flourish. The paph was in bloom, and I fell in love with it. Was deathly afraid I'd kill it, knowing that orchids are considered difficult to grow. I bought a couple of beginner books and did some research. She gave me more orchids as time passed. At one point, I had 12, since then, 2 have died. But over the 2.5 years, none had blossomed. Searched for ideas in different places, for some reason never thought about a ng. Finally, after changing the food, watering different ways, moving them to get less light and then to get more, my first paph is spiking! I noticed it on Jan 1! It had been spiking for a while, I just was so busy I hadn't even noticed. I started jumping around the kitchen, I was so excited. I had stopped feeding and watering it and 2 others a few months ago, having read that this would make it bloom. It worked. Have been watching it spike nearly every day since. It's really amazing! I've never gotten this attached or excited by a plant in my life. I've stopped feeding 2 others, in addition to the 2 I haven't been feeding for a while, hoping to get some more to spike and flower. Now that I've finally had one success after 2.5 years, I'm really hooked. These damn orchids are like kids! Ok, so they don't talk back at least! |
#2
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davegb,
Congratulations! Yup, reflowering orchids have a tendency to do this to us. I remember that the first time my orchids reflowered for me, I went berserk, and I have been acquiring more and more orchids ever since. So be careful, it's a very addictive hobby. Oh oh, it sound like this advice comes to late for you. :-) Welcome to rgo, btw. Joanna "davegb" wrote in message oups.com... My son's gf gave me my first orchid, a paph, over 2 1/2 years ago. She works in a nursery and had been giving me all kinds of plants. I should explain, I'm not much of a plant guy. I've had plants over the years, killed more than I've kep alive. Just don't give them the attention they need to flourish. The paph was in bloom, and I fell in love with it. Was deathly afraid I'd kill it, knowing that orchids are considered difficult to grow. I bought a couple of beginner books and did some research. She gave me more orchids as time passed. At one point, I had 12, since then, 2 have died. But over the 2.5 years, none had blossomed. Searched for ideas in different places, for some reason never thought about a ng. Finally, after changing the food, watering different ways, moving them to get less light and then to get more, my first paph is spiking! I noticed it on Jan 1! It had been spiking for a while, I just was so busy I hadn't even noticed. I started jumping around the kitchen, I was so excited. I had stopped feeding and watering it and 2 others a few months ago, having read that this would make it bloom. It worked. Have been watching it spike nearly every day since. It's really amazing! I've never gotten this attached or excited by a plant in my life. I've stopped feeding 2 others, in addition to the 2 I haven't been feeding for a while, hoping to get some more to spike and flower. Now that I've finally had one success after 2.5 years, I'm really hooked. These damn orchids are like kids! Ok, so they don't talk back at least! |
#3
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Thanks, Joanna, but like you said, "too late"!
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#4
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Thanks, Joanna, but like you said, "too late"!
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#5
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Growing orchids is like acquiring Psoriasis, once infected it's impossabvle to
get rid of it. I speak fom experience orchids. drbob |
#6
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Growing orchids is like acquiring Psoriasis, once infected it's impossabvle to
get rid of it. I speak fom experience orchids. drbob |
#7
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Now that my paph is blooming, I need some advice. One of my orchid
books says they should be fed from Feb through Oct. This makes some sense to me because up until this past fall, I fed and watered them year round. I had read that one way to get orchids to bloom was to stop feeding them, so I stopped feeding the 3 healthiest looking ones, including the paph, a few months ago. But what should I do with the spiking paph? Should I start to feed it now, since it's spiking, or wait until Feb? Or until it's done flowering? The book says to feed it while it's flowering, but not between the end of Oct and the beginning of Feb? So what am I supposed to do? In this general vein, does anyone know of a table, or at least some good reference, listing when to feed and water the different major categories of orchids, and when not to? Now that stopping watering and feeding has worked with one, I want to try it with the others to see if I can get more to flower. Geez, at this rate, I'm quickly moving toward being one of those old orchid people, like the cat people who own 43 cats. At least the orchids will smell better! But it seems my life is becoming more and more centered around my orchids! |
#8
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Now that my paph is blooming, I need some advice. One of my orchid
books says they should be fed from Feb through Oct. This makes some sense to me because up until this past fall, I fed and watered them year round. I had read that one way to get orchids to bloom was to stop feeding them, so I stopped feeding the 3 healthiest looking ones, including the paph, a few months ago. But what should I do with the spiking paph? Should I start to feed it now, since it's spiking, or wait until Feb? Or until it's done flowering? The book says to feed it while it's flowering, but not between the end of Oct and the beginning of Feb? So what am I supposed to do? In this general vein, does anyone know of a table, or at least some good reference, listing when to feed and water the different major categories of orchids, and when not to? Now that stopping watering and feeding has worked with one, I want to try it with the others to see if I can get more to flower. Geez, at this rate, I'm quickly moving toward being one of those old orchid people, like the cat people who own 43 cats. At least the orchids will smell better! But it seems my life is becoming more and more centered around my orchids! |
#9
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My own experience says that most orchids do not need to have nutrition
withheld in order to induce blooming, but for those that do, I resume feeding as soon as I see the emergence of an inflorescence. Some plants, phals for example, respond instead to a sharp day-night temperature drop, while some catts look for changes in day length. Others seem to respond better to constant feeding. My vandaceous plants (mostly ascocendas) used to bloom once or twice a year, but since switching to a year-round application of a stronger fertilizer dose at every watering, they tend to do so more often, sometimes growing a new spike as the old one fades. I don't know if anyone has compiled a reference about those factors, but it's an interesting idea. -- Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info! .. "salgud" wrote in message oups.com... Now that my paph is blooming, I need some advice. One of my orchid books says they should be fed from Feb through Oct. This makes some sense to me because up until this past fall, I fed and watered them year round. I had read that one way to get orchids to bloom was to stop feeding them, so I stopped feeding the 3 healthiest looking ones, including the paph, a few months ago. But what should I do with the spiking paph? Should I start to feed it now, since it's spiking, or wait until Feb? Or until it's done flowering? The book says to feed it while it's flowering, but not between the end of Oct and the beginning of Feb? So what am I supposed to do? In this general vein, does anyone know of a table, or at least some good reference, listing when to feed and water the different major categories of orchids, and when not to? Now that stopping watering and feeding has worked with one, I want to try it with the others to see if I can get more to flower. Geez, at this rate, I'm quickly moving toward being one of those old orchid people, like the cat people who own 43 cats. At least the orchids will smell better! But it seems my life is becoming more and more centered around my orchids! |
#10
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My own experience says that most orchids do not need to have nutrition
withheld in order to induce blooming, but for those that do, I resume feeding as soon as I see the emergence of an inflorescence. Some plants, phals for example, respond instead to a sharp day-night temperature drop, while some catts look for changes in day length. Others seem to respond better to constant feeding. My vandaceous plants (mostly ascocendas) used to bloom once or twice a year, but since switching to a year-round application of a stronger fertilizer dose at every watering, they tend to do so more often, sometimes growing a new spike as the old one fades. I don't know if anyone has compiled a reference about those factors, but it's an interesting idea. -- Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info! .. "salgud" wrote in message oups.com... Now that my paph is blooming, I need some advice. One of my orchid books says they should be fed from Feb through Oct. This makes some sense to me because up until this past fall, I fed and watered them year round. I had read that one way to get orchids to bloom was to stop feeding them, so I stopped feeding the 3 healthiest looking ones, including the paph, a few months ago. But what should I do with the spiking paph? Should I start to feed it now, since it's spiking, or wait until Feb? Or until it's done flowering? The book says to feed it while it's flowering, but not between the end of Oct and the beginning of Feb? So what am I supposed to do? In this general vein, does anyone know of a table, or at least some good reference, listing when to feed and water the different major categories of orchids, and when not to? Now that stopping watering and feeding has worked with one, I want to try it with the others to see if I can get more to flower. Geez, at this rate, I'm quickly moving toward being one of those old orchid people, like the cat people who own 43 cats. At least the orchids will smell better! But it seems my life is becoming more and more centered around my orchids! |
#11
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On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 05:47:31 -0500, "Ray"
wrote: My own experience says that most orchids do not need to have nutrition withheld in order to induce blooming, but for those that do, I resume feeding as soon as I see the emergence of an inflorescence. Some plants, phals for example, respond instead to a sharp day-night temperature drop, while some catts look for changes in day length. Others seem to respond better to constant feeding. My vandaceous plants (mostly ascocendas) used to bloom once or twice a year, but since switching to a year-round application of a stronger fertilizer dose at every watering, they tend to do so more often, sometimes growing a new spike as the old one fades. I don't know if anyone has compiled a reference about those factors, but it's an interesting idea. For a gh grower I would say the balance is easy. You have the light you can feed better. But many windowsill or underlight growers need to be careful of too much fertilizer. I am still one that suggests the balance is more important than the timing. The balance between light and food. So I would think you might have had a limited light problem and the plants grew to the food rather than balancing their growth and bloom. When they no longer had excess food they settled into a more normal pattern of growth and bloom. This is generally just a case of too much nitrogen. Before - were you getting very dark green lush growths? This is also a sign of too much nitrogen. A little less food or a little more light, probably either would have produced the blooms. We too fertilize year around. The only plants I withhold anything on is the ones that rot if wet in the winter. And I am not always successful in drying them... ya, some die, then I don't have to worry about next year. Some just don't bloom as they should because they do not get dry enough. SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php |
#12
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I'm just a visitor here, but I'm pretty interested in paphs and they are
rapidly taking over my collection. The short answer to one of your questions is that you should never withhold fertilizer from a spiking/budding plant. It's doing a lot of work and needs the support, regardless of what time of the year it is. The reason books say to withhold fertilizer during the cooler months is because many paphs, especially species, naturally rest during these months. They naturally slow down in nature because the habitat becomes dryer (and brighter), hence less need for fertilizer. Having said this, many hybrids are not particularly dependent on a rest, and they grow and bloom all year 'round provided the light, warmth and moisture is supportive of this. And even among the species, some are more demanding of a cool, dry rest than others. Since plants vary in their requirements according to species, a generalized table for genera wouldn't be very accurate or helpful. In general, and if you are dealing with paph hybrids, I would venture to say that it is safe to continue with feeding year round. However, if, as another respondant suggested, your plants go into semi-dormancy because of reduced seasonal light, then, naturally, feeding should be suspended and watering reduced. HTH. John :) "salgud" wrote in message oups.com... Now that my paph is blooming, I need some advice. One of my orchid books says they should be fed from Feb through Oct. This makes some sense to me because up until this past fall, I fed and watered them year round. I had read that one way to get orchids to bloom was to stop feeding them, so I stopped feeding the 3 healthiest looking ones, including the paph, a few months ago. But what should I do with the spiking paph? Should I start to feed it now, since it's spiking, or wait until Feb? Or until it's done flowering? The book says to feed it while it's flowering, but not between the end of Oct and the beginning of Feb? So what am I supposed to do? In this general vein, does anyone know of a table, or at least some good reference, listing when to feed and water the different major categories of orchids, and when not to? Now that stopping watering and feeding has worked with one, I want to try it with the others to see if I can get more to flower. Geez, at this rate, I'm quickly moving toward being one of those old orchid people, like the cat people who own 43 cats. At least the orchids will smell better! But it seems my life is becoming more and more centered around my orchids! |
#13
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Thanks for all the great feedback. This is definitely one of the most
"beginner friendly" NG's I've encountered. It's nice not to get flamed for not knowing much yet. "Before - were you getting very dark green lush growths? This is also a sign of too much nitrogen. A little less food or a little more light, probably either would have produced the blooms" Since I'm not yet familiar with normal growth vs abnormal growth, I'm not sure what I'm seeing. The blooming paph has grown from 2 leaves, when I first got it, to 7 now, as it is spiking. They are mottled light and dark green. So the plant has been growing well. Perhaps too well?. I will certainly withold food from it next winter, if it hasn't bloomed again in the interim. I did significantly increase the light last year, having been told originally not to put any of my orchids in direct southern light. I did some reading, and found that if they aren't blooming, they need more light. So I moved them all to my south windows, of which I have a bunch. But that alone didn't cause any of them to bloom. So should I now adjust their fertilizer to lower nitrogen? "In general, and if you are dealing with paph hybrids, I would venture to say that it is safe to continue with feeding year round. However, if, as another respondant suggested, your plants go into semi-dormancy because of reduced seasonal light, then, naturally, feeding should be suspended and watering reduced" How do I know they have gone into semi-dormancy? Just look for slower growth? Are their any other more obvious signs? In terms of oveall health, I know to look for growth, nice green-ness, full pseudo-bulbs on those that have them. What else do you look for? In particular, I have a catalaya that is very pretty and I'd like to see bloom. Any ideas on what to do with it? I've already tried polite complements and cursing! jk! |
#14
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On 23 Jan 2005 11:10:07 -0800, "salgud"
wrote: Thanks for all the great feedback. This is definitely one of the most "beginner friendly" NG's I've encountered. It's nice not to get flamed for not knowing much yet. We try. Sometimes we are silent -- because it is the same question asked yesterday. G even we have a limit. very dark green lush growths? This is generally a problem with Catts and a sign they are not receiving enough light for the amount of fertilizer they are getting. More light requires more food __ BUT__ it is a balancing act. And as a generality - less food will not kill a plant. I will certainly withold food from it next winter, if it hasn't bloomed again in the interim. Most orchids only bloom once a year. Their season depends on the maturity of the new growths. Some will grow enough to mature to this point several times a year. A Catt must grow a new pseudobulb in order to bloom again. A Paph must grow a new 'fan.' not to put any of my orchids in direct southern light. It is more a case of too much direct light will cause them to sunburn. Just like you must slowly adjust to more light in the summer or you burn, your plants can burn. Some will never be happy with full light. Phal's do not like direct sun. Catts after being acclimated, will generally take full or close to full sun. So should I now adjust their fertilizer to lower nitrogen? It is a balance act. If you have adjusted the "light" side of the equation up and the Catts and Oncid or inter-generic are not giving you dark forest green leaves don't reduce the fertilizer. If they are headed toward grass or yellow greens keep the food coming. You have increased the need for food with the increase of light. "In general, and if you are dealing with paph hybrids, I would venture to say that it is safe to continue with feeding year round. We never reduce our feeding schedule unless life gets in the way of our getting out to do the fertilizing. In terms of oveall health, I know to look for growth, nice green-ness, full pseudo-bulbs on those that have them. Be careful of that "nice green-ness" that generally tends to too much fertilizer and too little light. They should generally be growing strongly - not weak and spindly. Each growth should equal or be slightly longer, larger than the prior ones. No drastic changes and definitely not shorter. In particular, I have a cattleya that is very pretty and I'd like to see bloom. Any ideas on what to do with it? I've already tried polite complements and cursing! jk! TIME. Hardest thing to supply. Sometimes it takes a plant a second year to adjust to your growing conditions. Sometimes it just needs to be more mature to bloom well. Continue caring and you will continue working to make them more healthy. But on the other hand, Orchids thrive on neglect. These are not delicate creatures by and large, there are some exceptions, mostly the exceptions just need a specific style of care (temp or humidity) that they are not getting when they don't thrive. Most orchids want, demand air movement. Stagnant air does more harm than low humidity. SuE http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php |
#15
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Sue,
Thanks for all the info. I'm going to copy it and put it in a file I keep on orchids. Now if I could just find a way to extract the juice from inside and inject it directly into my vein... Dave |
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