My Orchid Garden

More Orchids Coming My Way!

April 27, 2010 4 Comments

I’ve done it again: I ordered more orchids from Orchids by Hausermann. Awhile back I ordered five orchids from them, each on sale, and I was pleased with my order. So I just placed an order for three more orchids (each of which, by the way, is super affordable). Photos below are from the Hausermann’s website and are images of what each of the plant’s blooms should look like. I picked these three because they have pretty unique-looking blooms; they don’t look like your standard Phals. And the second two shown are supposed to be fragrant, which is fairly uncommon in Phals.

Phal. amboinensis ($8!)

Phal. Cranberry Queen ‘Regal’ ($10!)

Phal. mannii x self ($10!)

Because the weather is much warmer than it was when I placed my first order from Hausermann’s, this order should arrive much faster. None of them will be in bloom, or even, in spike, but regardless I’m totally excited!!

My Orchid Garden

My Updated Orchid Setup

April 9, 2010 3 Comments

Last week I made a few changes to the orchid setup in my apartment. I did some reading up on Phalaenopsis orchids and determined that mine might be getting too much light in my very bright southern-facing windows. A couple of them have a red tinge around the edge of the leaves, which is a sign of too much light. And as I recently posted, a couple of my Phals are in pretty bad shape.

I decided to do a little rearranging and see whether the altered light source helps at all. According to some orchid experts, eastern exposure is acceptable for Phals. I don’t have a straight up eastern-facing window, but the northern-facing window at the front of my apartment is actually a bay window that gets some pretty good light from the east in the morning. So I moved four of my Phals to my desk in the front room:

My Orchid Garden

More Sad Orchids in Need of Help

March 30, 2010 4 Comments

I have a couple more Phals that are not looking very happy, so in another rescue attempt I repotted them this morning.

But before I tell you about those two orchids, I want to show you a photo of the tiny root nubbin that I discovered on my recovering Phal that I wrote about yesterday. I would have posted the photo yesterday, but to be honest I didn’t want to do an import of just one photo to my computer. Anyway, have a look:

I’m not sure what that brown speckling is on the base of the crown but it’s been there for quite awhile and hasn’t spread, so I’m guessing it’s not a problem. But, let’s forget about that and talk about the more important element. Look at the new root growth! I’m excited because this poor orchid has been looking really sad for some time, probably at least three or four months now.

So. Being that this orchid is finally starting to turn around after I repotted it in spaghnum moss (not packed too tightly), I decided it was time to switch out the potting medium for my other two sad orchids.

My Orchid Garden

Update on Phal Rescue Attempt

March 29, 2010 4 Comments

Remember awhile back when I tried the ‘sphag-n-bag’ method of rescuing a Phalaenopsis orchid, but aborted the effort after a couple of days? After I had removed the orchid from the bag, I potted it in a terracotta pot with sphagnum moss. Based on the advice I got on the Orchid Board, I then decided that the orchid would be better off potted in something that would get better air flow, so I bought a black plastic net pot like this:

The pot only cost me $.80 at a local gardening supply store. Win!

I took the risk of repotting the poor plant yet again (I had been effing with it a lot lately) and placed it into the net pot with moist sphagnum moss. It’s been doing ok like this for the past few weeks – at least, no turn for the worse – and just the other day I inspected it to see if there was any new root growth. Lo and behold, I found a tiny green nubbin at the base of the crown, so it appears that a new root is growing! I may have saved this poor sad plant after all.

I hope I haven’t jinxed the orchid’s health by posting about it just now. More updates to come, whether good or bad.

My Orchid Garden

My new orchids. Let me show you them.

March 12, 2010 2 Comments

Yay!! My Hausermann orchids arrived a couple hours ago via UPS. Of course I sat around inside all day waiting for them to show up, but it’s nasty outside so I can’t complain.

I had a mini panic attack this afternoon while waiting for the package (side note: now that I’m watching The Wire, “package” makes me think of heroin) because I suddenly wasn’t sure if the orchids would arrive in pots. I didn’t have five extra pots lying around the house and didn’t want to have to make an emergency run to Home Depot in the rain. Plus, the orchids I’d ordered were on sale so I thought maybe pots wouldn’t be included.

Fortunately all of my new plants came potted. I’ve already repotted each one so that I could check out their roots, and I took lots of pictures to post here. So I guess this is a sort of “orchid unboxing” post…how nerdy am I??

My Orchid Garden

Spring Has Sprung; My Hausermann Orchids Have Shipped

March 10, 2010 1 Comment

Yes!! A sign that spring is on the horizon: I just received an email notification that my o rchids from Orchids by Hausermann have shipped!

I wrote Hausermann’s customer service a few weeks ago to find out when they might ship my orchids. With all the crappy cold weather and snow we’ve had, they said it wasn’t warm enough for them to safely ship my plants. Yet another reason to hate winter.

But now the plants are on their way and I’m excited! I’ll post all about my new orchids as soon as they arrive. I hope they make it to Brooklyn ok—this is my first experience with an online orchid order.