Orchids

Name: Orchid
Family: Orchidaceae

Soil: Either Gubler Orchid Grown Mix (Coarse Orchid Grow Mix) or Schultz Potting Bark.
Sun: Very Bright, but not under the direct sun. Mine are doing very well on east facing windows, south facing windows and the west facing windows with blinds partially closed.
Water: Water thoroughly about two times a week during the summer. Due to the dry climate here, I often spray them with mist during hot days, and I let each pot stand on trays filled with pebbles to maintain the moisture. My large fish tank in the area also helps contribute to the moisture in the air.
Fertilizer: I add highly diluted Schultz Expert Orchid Food almost every time I water my orchids. Once a while I will add some diluted Ironite Plus as well as Miracid. I believe it is better to feed it less yet more often.
Care: Water residue tend to built up on those big leaves. Wash it often to avoid dust built up. Also, because the high concentrate of alkaline here, it is highly recommended to leach the flower pot once a while, as well as wash off the pebbles to get ride of any mineral build up.
Tips: try not to repot orchid in larger pot unless they are completely pot bound. They tend to flower more if the plant is a little pot bound. In the larger pot, they tend to grown more leaves and roots.

Description:

1) Cattleya:

Cattleyas are known to have large, sometime fragrant flowers. Their leaves are usually thick and shiny.

I recently acquired a few cattleyas from both online stores and Rowland’s Nursery in Albuquerque. The ones from online store are still in their infancy, I don’t expect to see them flowering any time soon. They reside happily in 5” pots. Considering they were originally grown in and shipped from Maui, they are doing very well adapting to the desert environment. The are hybrid cattleyas and these are their names:
1. C. gaskelliana ‘Pauwela Perfection’ x ‘Proflific’
2. Blc. Ann Cleo ‘Stars and Stripes’ AM/AOS
3. Pokai Tangerine x Chocolate Sun
4. Blc. Varut Roongkamul
5. Nestrasiri beauty x Varut Roongkamol

The one I got from Rowland’s is already fully grown and I am expecting to see it flower sometime this year. It is a Lc. Roseette Warland x C. Chocolate Drop “A Cluster of Red”. Its leaves are thick and shining. With my window blinds 1/5 open, I think they are rather happy in front of the west facing window.

2) Cymbidium

Cymbidiums are best suited for cut flowers. They have long elongated leaves and large branches of flower stems. Some of them are known for their strong frangrance. I currently have a Golden Elves, a miniature cymbidium, and a very large size cymbidium I don’t really know its name yet. So far, the Golden Elves is still a bit small to flower, but the other one has already grown about four or five new nodes since I repotted it. Even without flowers, cymbidiums’ elegant leaves make them a very attractive houseplant. My large one has leaves at length of 2 feet or more. It dominates my living room. I hope to see its flower soon.

3) Dendrobium

This type of orchid somehow reminds me of lucky bamboo. They grow long and flowers usually emerge from the top of the branch. I have several of them. One of them just flowered. One of them is very large in size, with a main branch is over three feet tall.

4) Oncidium

I have several oncidiums. One of them, which just recently flowered belongs to a hybrid group called Wildcat, it is called “Jaguar”. The flowers are very unique in both shapes and colors. It often enchanted my visitors with its bizarre and long-lasting flowers. I have several that I don’t yet know their names. Once they flower, I should be able to correctly catalog them. One of them is about to flower soon.

5) Phalaenopsis (Moth Orchid)

This is an orchid for beginners. The only thing to remember is that phalaenopsis can have flowers on the same stem, so after flowering, cut only parts of stem off (i.e. right after the flowering part). New stems can emerged out of the same stem. I believe anybody can grow this type of orchid if they only remember to water them. So far I have several of the hybrids in various colors. Their flowers last for months without showing any sign of deteriorating as well as being large and colorful.

6) Veda

The two Vedas I have are Mokara Chark Kuan and Renanthopsis Ng Chong Teng. Veda are usually put in baskets and live in air that has high moisture content. I put both of mine in potting mix and they both look healthy and the Mokara Chark Kuan should flower on the next flowering cycle