brooklynorchids | Brooklyn Orchids

ROTK: Return of the Klutz

April 7, 2011 7 Comments

So, I am a gigantic klutz. It’s like my body has no sense of where it is in relation to other objects. I am constantly running into things, even in my own apartment: stubbing my toes, slamming my shins into the coffee table, banging my elbows into the bathroom walls. I’ve been known to walk into walls. Recently I chipped a tooth slightly by banging it with a glass when I went to take a drink of water. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that last night when I went into my Orchid Room to get something off of my vanity table, my hand hit the top of the orchid spike that I’m experimenting on with Keiki Grow Paste. Yeah…the one that I updated you on yesterday. Apparently those new growths are pretty delicate, because I knocked part of the growth clear off. DAMMIT!!

I wasn’t really sure what to do, so I slathered some more KGP on the broken end in the hope that it will just sort of regenerate…like when a lizard’s tail is cut off and it grows a new one.

Broken growth — Sorry for the crappy iPhone pic!

I have no idea what will happen to the growth now. It’s too bad, because that’s the one that was farthest along in its development. So…we’ll see.

Klutziness FTL!

My Orchid Garden

Keiki Grow Experiment Update

April 6, 2011 2 Comments

A few weeks ago I posted about my first experiment with trying to propagate my Phals using Keiki Grow Paste. As I mentioned, I originally applied the paste to two of my out-of-blooms Phals; the first application was on March 17 and then I applied the paste a second time on March 30. The two nodes on the mini Phal are not showing any growth, but three of the four nodes on my big white Phal are showing definite growth! Check out pics of the three developing nodes, from the top of the spike to the bottom:

The growth appears to be more than just a side shoot, but time will tell. It’s fun to watch these grow—hopefully they will turn into actual keikis that I can eventually detach and pot on their own!

Also, I just now applied Keiki Grow Paste to three nodes of a Phal’s spike that just finished blooming (this cute orchid from Trader Joe’s). Stay tuned for updates on that one as well.

Events, Orchid Shows

The Orchid Show: On Broadway, Part Deux!

April 1, 2011 5 Comments

My parents were in town from St. Louis this past weekend and early this week. My mom is a fan of orchids, so I thought it would be a fun activity for us to go to the Orchid Show at NYBG. So on Tuesday morning we met at my parents’ hotel in Brooklyn Heights and my mom and I subwayed it to Grand Central, then took the Metro North train up to the Botanical Garden. It was only a 20 minute ride from Grand Central—and so much cheaper than renting a Zipcar and faster than taking the subway the whole way!

Most of the flowers on display were the same as my first time around, but there were a few new ones here and there. This show just never gets old!

So, here they are: my favorite photos from my second visit to The Orchid Show….

Orchid of the Week

Orchid of the Week: Diuris pedunculata (or, Snakes on a Blog)

April 1, 2011 1 Comment

If you live in the New York area (and maybe even if you don’t), you probably know about the Egyptian cobra that went missing from the Bronx Zoo a week ago. Well, she has since been found, but not before going out on the town and hilariously Twittering about her “adventures.”

Bronx Zoo Cobra — Photo credit: NY TImes

So in honor of this lovely snake-with-no-name (seriously, Bronx Zoo, name this lady!!), this week I’m featuring the Diuris pedunculata, whose nickname is the small snake orchid. I think I can see why—look at that little “fang” in the center of the bloom!

Orchid of the Week

Orchid of the Week: Aeranthes grandiflora

March 25, 2011 11 Comments

One thing you don’t see very often in orchids is a nice green-colored bloom. I was flipping through one of my books for ideas this morning (Orchids by Thomas J. Sheehan) and found this lovely green orchid called Aeranthes grandiflora:

Aeranthes grandiflora — Photo credit: streetmorrisart, slippertalk.com

As part of the Angraecinae subtribe, it’s related to Angraecum sesquipedale, the “Darwin’s Orchid” that I featured awhile back. This baby is a Madigascar native with a butterscotch-like fragrance. Its blooms open at night and usually in succession over a long period of time. Apparently this orchid is easy to grow in the home, needing low light and medium to warm temperature.

Here’s what the actual plant looks like in bloom—long spikes with spidery-looking, small flowers:

Have a great weekend, everyone! My parents are arriving in NYC this evening so I’ll be off visiting with them.

Events, My Orchid Garden

Keiki Grow Paste Experiment + More

March 24, 2011 8 Comments

Updated October 23, 2019

I’ve read about this Keiki Grow Plus paste that you can use to try and propagate Phalaenopsis orchids, and I wanted to give it a whirl for myself. Basically, it’s a paste consisting of hormones that, if applied correctly, can encourage the growth of a keiki—a baby plant—off the spike of the original plant. Orchid propagation is not for beginners or the faint of heart (propagation involves a sterile environment…and that’s about all I know about it), so this paste provides a way for us “regular folk” to clone our own plants.

I recently traded in some MyPoints for an Amazon.com gift card, so I used that money to buy Keiki Grow Paste from the Carter & Holmes Orchids store on Amazon. It cost $27.95 for a very small (15 ml) container, but as I am finding out, a little goes a long way with the stuff. Side note: Carter & Holmes shipped my order very quickly…two thumbs up!! [Side side note: C&H no longer carries this paste on Amazon, but it can be found at the Amazon Repotme store…paid link.]