Ghost orchids!!!

[Theodoreorchidking]

First off I apologize that they are not in flower . However I did want to show them and document there current state so I can look back and or people can give there options. I didn't get the dendrophylax lindenii yet because I heard it is very fussy compared to these two. However I will probably get one do to these ones doing alright for me. As I check right now I got them the 27 of June this year: so a month in my care. The hybrid surprisingly is not as vigorous as the species and seems to have way thinner roots. I know they are still very young. The species is, I assume, loving me sort of. It is putting out new roots that look very promising. I know these plants are fussy so that could change quite quickly. I hung them on my wire shelfs between 2 botanical leds light that are for my paphiopedilums. I have been very lazy for the last 3 months and have not used my humidifier. So they are solely running on the dry mountain July air. I mist them once a day in the morning: about 9 am. Also note those are not all orchid roots and there is Spanish moss on it too. I got these from luisiana orchid collection.

 

[dodidoki]

Very nice plants! Have a good luck with them. I gave up with denrdrophylax....

 

[big923cattleya]

Well, there isn't much that I can say except good luck. If you took a walk in the Everglades where Dendrophylax lindenii makes it's home, you would quickly learn to be much more faithful with maintaining humidity.
You mention 2 ghost orchids. I see Dendrophylax sallei, and you mention a hybrid. What is the hybrid? Is it withing the Genus Dendrophylax?
But I must give you credit. I wouldn't try these with a swamp cooler let alone under lights in Montana.

 

[kc6847]

Good luck with them. I find they want their growth point to face the growing media and they grow much drier than most people expect. This is my 7+ year old lindenii I deflasked during my first year of college. Grows in ambient under grow lights only watered around 2x per week.

 

[big923cattleya]

But how often did you flower lindenii? Growing it is one thing, flowering it might be another.
My research seems to indicate that Dendrophylax funalis is the easiest of the group to grow, all of the others not so much.

I walked, I should say 'waded" in hip waders in the swamps of the Big Panther Refuge in Collier County Florida. WE were about 45 minutes east of Naples, Florida. I was knee deep in water, dark coffee colored, stained with the tanins from the many trees that grow there. Mosquitos thicker then dust particles and the Dendrophylax was in bloom. The little hand held weather gauge that we had read 89% humidity. Moss was dripping off every tree, Spanish moss was everywhere, bromeliads, snakes, (luckily only one Cottonmouth) lizards were every where. The light could be best described as "dappled sunlight". Those are the conditions I found.
The rainy season was from May to September where 40+" of rainfall was common. Burmese Pythons had thankfully not arrived in full force in Big Panther. And yet the half dozen plants we found in bloom were in very similar conditions. WE did note, and jot down the GPS coordinates for a few other, newly found seedlings. But if you were successful using your method, that is wonderful.
As a member of the Naples Orchid Society, it was a great honor to meet and to listen to a presentation by Dr. Ernesto Mujica of Cuba. He was a guest of the club and his talk was on the ghost orchid in Cuba. Very similar lighting and humidity but they were situated in and around brackish pools that formed along the western coast of Cuba by the raging tides. We walked with him to our plants in Big Panther and it was a great honor to speak with him. He got clearance from the Cuban Government to have a small contingent of club members and Florida DNC people to visit his Cuban ghost orchids. I was not picked to go. Aw nuts!!! But for being an American benefactor to him, and his efforts for the Cuban Government, I got a bag of Cuban coffee and a book on Cuban orchids signed for me by Dr. Mujica!

Why did I bother to mention this? To boast? To brag? Certainly not! Just to share information on an experience I was lucky to have.

 

[Theodoreorchidking]

Well, there isn't much that I can say except good luck. If you took a walk in the Everglades where Dendrophylax lindenii makes it's home, you would quickly learn to be much more faithful with maintaining humidity.
You mention 2 ghost orchids. I see Dendrophylax sallei, and you mention a hybrid. What is the hybrid? Is it withing the Genus Dendrophylax?
But I must give you credit. I wouldn't try these with a swamp cooler let alone under lights in Montana.

Dendrophylax sallei x lindenii

 

[Theodoreorchidking]

But how often did you flower lindenii? Growing it is one thing, flowering it might be another.
My research seems to indicate that Dendrophylax funalis is the easiest of the group to grow, all of the others not so much.

I walked, I should say 'waded" in hip waders in the swamps of the Big Panther Refuge in Collier County Florida. WE were about 45 minutes east of Naples, Florida. I was knee deep in water, dark coffee colored, stained with the tanins from the many trees that grow there. Mosquitos thicker then dust particles and the Dendrophylax was in bloom. The little hand held weather gauge that we had read 89% humidity. Moss was dripping off every tree, Spanish moss was everywhere, bromeliads, snakes, (luckily only one Cottonmouth) lizards were every where. The light could be best described as "dappled sunlight". Those are the conditions I found.
The rainy season was from May to September where 40+" of rainfall was common. Burmese Pythons had thankfully not arrived in full force in Big Panther. And yet the half dozen plants we found in bloom were in very similar conditions. WE did note, and jot down the GPS coordinates for a few other, newly found seedlings. But if you were successful using your method, that is wonderful.
As a member of the Naples Orchid Society, it was a great honor to meet and to listen to a presentation by Dr. Ernesto Mujica of Cuba. He was a guest of the club and his talk was on the ghost orchid in Cuba. Very similar lighting and humidity but they were situated in and around brackish pools that formed along the western coast of Cuba by the raging tides. We walked with him to our plants in Big Panther and it was a great honor to speak with him. He got clearance from the Cuban Government to have a small contingent of club members and Florida DNC people to visit his Cuban ghost orchids. I was not picked to go. Aw nuts!!! But for being an American benefactor to him, and his efforts for the Cuban Government, I got a bag of Cuban coffee and a book on Cuban orchids signed for me by Dr. Mujica!

Why did I bother to mention this? To boast? To brag? Certainly not! Just to share information on an experience I was lucky to have.

That's actually a pretty dam good story . That would have been the trip of a life time but I don't know if I could have walked through that water with the thought "what will pop up after me"

 

[Theodoreorchidking]

Good luck with them. I find they want their growth point to face the growing media and they grow much drier than most people expect. This is my 7+ year old lindenii I deflasked during my first year of college. Grows in ambient under grow lights only watered around 2x per week.

Is this the only one you grow? Also I would love to know what you do to keep yours alive for 7 years

 

[kc6847]

But how often did you flower lindenii? Growing it is one thing, flowering it might be another.
My research seems to indicate that Dendrophylax funalis is the easiest of the group to grow, all of the others not so much.

I walked, I should say 'waded" in hip waders in the swamps of the Big Panther Refuge in Collier County Florida. WE were about 45 minutes east of Naples, Florida. I was knee deep in water, dark coffee colored, stained with the tanins from the many trees that grow there. Mosquitos thicker then dust particles and the Dendrophylax was in bloom. The little hand held weather gauge that we had read 89% humidity. Moss was dripping off every tree, Spanish moss was everywhere, bromeliads, snakes, (luckily only one Cottonmouth) lizards were every where. The light could be best described as "dappled sunlight". Those are the conditions I found.
The rainy season was from May to September where 40+" of rainfall was common. Burmese Pythons had thankfully not arrived in full force in Big Panther. And yet the half dozen plants we found in bloom were in very similar conditions. WE did note, and jot down the GPS coordinates for a few other, newly found seedlings. But if you were successful using your method, that is wonderful.
As a member of the Naples Orchid Society, it was a great honor to meet and to listen to a presentation by Dr. Ernesto Mujica of Cuba. He was a guest of the club and his talk was on the ghost orchid in Cuba. Very similar lighting and humidity but they were situated in and around brackish pools that formed along the western coast of Cuba by the raging tides. We walked with him to our plants in Big Panther and it was a great honor to speak with him. He got clearance from the Cuban Government to have a small contingent of club members and Florida DNC people to visit his Cuban ghost orchids. I was not picked to go. Aw nuts!!! But for being an American benefactor to him, and his efforts for the Cuban Government, I got a bag of Cuban coffee and a book on Cuban orchids signed for me by Dr. Mujica!

Why did I bother to mention this? To boast? To brag? Certainly not! Just to share information on an experience I was lucky to have.

I don’t think many have even bloomed true lindenii in the first place. Hopefully mine turns out to be that but just wanted to offer some cultural information that doesn’t seem to be as widely circulated since most people rot them out. I talked to Jason last week and he says they reach blooming size at around 10 or so years of maturity or around 5” in diameter.

 

[kc6847]

Is this the only one you grow? Also I would love to know what you do to keep yours alive for 7 years

Yep, it’s the last survivor out of the flask of about 10 or so. I rotted most of them out using conventional wisdom for growing them (high humidity, stagnant air, high moisture) and the remaining 5 thrived on just Spanish moss in air in a terrarium. I mounted the rest, gave a few to friends and one to my family as a backup (which unfortunately died a year ago from what seems to be dehydration). I don’t do anything special, just make sure the growth point faces down towards the media to ensure secure root attachment and do rapid wet-dry cycles, lean towards the more dry side. 20-40% RH, covered with a bit of Spanish moss, cattleya light or higher, fertilize with the other plants, and watch it crawl to maturity. Consistency, overwatering, and slow growth seems to be what makes this species difficult for most people.

 

[Theodoreorchidking]

Yep, it’s the last survivor out of the flask of about 10 or so. I rotted most of them out using conventional wisdom for growing them (high humidity, stagnant air, high moisture) and the remaining 5 thrived on just Spanish moss in air in a terrarium. I mounted the rest, gave a few to friends and one to my family as a backup (which unfortunately died a year ago from what seems to be dehydration). I don’t do anything special, just make sure the growth point faces down towards the media to ensure secure root attachment and do rapid wet-dry cycles, lean towards the more dry side. 20-40% RH, covered with a bit of Spanish moss, cattleya light or higher, fertilize with the other plants, and watch it crawl to maturity. Consistency, overwatering, and slow growth seems to be what makes this species difficult for most people.

How frequently do you water?

 

[kc6847]

How frequently do you water?

When i remember, about 2x per week through misting. It seems to grow best when watered daily but allowed to dry out rapidly afterwards in my conditions.

 

[Marco]

But how often did you flower lindenii? Growing it is one thing, flowering it might be another.
My research seems to indicate that Dendrophylax funalis is the easiest of the group to grow, all of the others not so much.

I walked, I should say 'waded" in hip waders in the swamps of the Big Panther Refuge in Collier County Florida. WE were about 45 minutes east of Naples, Florida. I was knee deep in water, dark coffee colored, stained with the tanins from the many trees that grow there. Mosquitos thicker then dust particles and the Dendrophylax was in bloom. The little hand held weather gauge that we had read 89% humidity. Moss was dripping off every tree, Spanish moss was everywhere, bromeliads, snakes, (luckily only one Cottonmouth) lizards were every where. The light could be best described as "dappled sunlight". Those are the conditions I found.
The rainy season was from May to September where 40+" of rainfall was common. Burmese Pythons had thankfully not arrived in full force in Big Panther. And yet the half dozen plants we found in bloom were in very similar conditions. WE did note, and jot down the GPS coordinates for a few other, newly found seedlings. But if you were successful using your method, that is wonderful.
As a member of the Naples Orchid Society, it was a great honor to meet and to listen to a presentation by Dr. Ernesto Mujica of Cuba. He was a guest of the club and his talk was on the ghost orchid in Cuba. Very similar lighting and humidity but they were situated in and around brackish pools that formed along the western coast of Cuba by the raging tides. We walked with him to our plants in Big Panther and it was a great honor to speak with him. He got clearance from the Cuban Government to have a small contingent of club members and Florida DNC people to visit his Cuban ghost orchids. I was not picked to go. Aw nuts!!! But for being an American benefactor to him, and his efforts for the Cuban Government, I got a bag of Cuban coffee and a book on Cuban orchids signed for me by Dr. Mujica!

Why did I bother to mention this? To boast? To brag? Certainly not! Just to share information on an experience I was lucky to have.

Fantastic story