My Other Hobby

[jonbar1]

Well, here's the main money pit I have and have had for over 10 years. They aren't hard to grow, you just need to understand their needs.

Phragmipedium besseae from Peru/Ecuador

A truely Black flower, Monnierara Millenium Magic 'Witchcraft'

Psychopsis versteegianum from Ecuador

Dendrobium macrophyllum from New Guinea

 

[jonbar1]

Paphiopedilum micranthum from Vietnam/Yunnan China

Paphiopedilum sanderianum from Borneo (petals get over 3 feet long!)

Cypripedium pubescens from here in Ohio, USA

Paphiopedilum bellatulum from Thailand/Burma

 

[jonbar1]

And my favorite, Paphiopedilum rothschildianum from Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo

Jon

 

[flytrap]

Just got to love those slippers

 

[JGoslee]

Wow! Those are really nice. Are they orchids?

 

[jonbar1]

Yup, all orchids.

 

[Stixbaraca]

Amazing! In keeping with the topic...I snapped these cool shots in Bermuda this past spring! Not sure what they are, but I am sure they aren't as rare as yours!

 

[jonbar1]

Stix, the top one is an Ipomoea, but too many species to be sure which one. They are the same genera as the Morning Glory. The bottom one is Setcreasea pallida, commonly known as Purple Heart Wandering Jew.

Most of my collection is in the basement under a 400w high pressure sodium and a 400w metal halide. It's an all concrete basement, and the humidity stays above 70%. Multiple fans constantly blow over the plants keeping the air very buoyant, a key factor to good culture just like good flow in a tank. There are so many similarities between keeping orchids and coral that I can't believe it took me as long as it did to start a tank up.

 

[surfn]

i thought you were supposed to keep orchids out of direct light, or in indirect light.

my mom keeps buying some and cant keep them alive for that long. she says if she puts them near a window they will take a turn for the worse.


i have a wicked hibiscus plant/tree from hawaii for about 5 years now. it called the "fith demension". it starts out orange and lavender when it first opens, and fades to lavender and yellow by the end of the day. i'll get some pics up when i get back to my computer. i'm out of town for the weekend.

 

[jonbar1]

Lighting depends on the orchid, some grow in full sun and some grow in the dark depths of the jungle floor. There are more species of orchids than any other type of plant, and they grow on every corner of the earth except Antartica. But for the most part bright indirect light will allow you to grow 90% of them.

I am guessing she's trying Phalaenopis orchids, as they are readily available, and they do like indirect light. If they live for a few months and then get wilty until they die, it's a common problem. They grow on trees in the wild, and require a lot of air around their roots. If they are not allowed to completely dry out for a day or two between waterings their roots quickly rot and the plant slowly dies. They also require being repotted into fresh new media every year, or again, the roots will suffer and in turn the plant will as well.

Looking forward to the Fifth Dimension pics, googled it and WOW!

Jon

 

[Azurel]

Awsome flowers Jon.....That last one looks like 2 birds about to land....

 

[flytrap]

Here are some pics of the plants I keep.

Nepenthes aristolochioides from Central-Sumatra
/Users/stevebaker/Desktop/cpn plants/v27n3fc.jpg

Drosera spatulata 'Ruby Slippers
/Users/stevebaker/Desktop/cpn plants/v33n2FC.jpg

Nepenthes truncata from Philippines
/Users/stevebaker/Desktop/cpn plants/n.truncata.jpg

 

[gflat65]

Nice stuff, Jon. I posted about 50 pics of mine about a year ago in the MTRC forum on RC, but I don't have anything as ncie as you do. Paphio's, Phala's, Dendro's, Oncidium's, Cattlyea's, Vanad'a, and closely related genera/species. Some are pretty cool, but none of my 50 or so match the quality of yours. Nice stuff...

 

[da6d2003]

EEEKKKK!!!! Stix, I've been fighting Morning glory for over 10 years at my house. It's pretty but worse than caleurpa.

Beautiful photos everyone.

 

[JnS]

nice!

 

[surfn]

well, heres some recent pics. i had to give the plant to my mom b/c my apartment doesn't have enough light on the porch to keep it flourishing. so these are her pics of a single bloom.

its even cooler looking when there are multiple blooms that are at different stages and thus different colors. i have some of those pics on my home computer.

the size of the flower is a little larger than your largest sized dinner plate. some almost 12" across.

if you catch it within several hours of it opening fully, there is absolutely no yellow, just all an orange/peachish color. sometimes it almost looks like a color of pink/orange mix. very hard to describe the color. which is why i like it so much.

also, i've noticed the colors vary depending on the light, how much water it gets, type of soil, and fertilizer. not sure what the best combination is though.

heres what it looks like by the end of the day, or by the morning of day #2

 

[surfn]

whoa, sorry about the picture size, let me see if i can fix that

 

[surfn]

our university has 2 of these corpse flowers. the largest flower in the world.

 

[da6d2003]

Do they really stink? That thing is huge!

 

[surfn]

it did stink, but not near as bad as what i thought. but i think thats b/c i didnt see it until about day 2. apparently the stench is gut wrenching when it first opens.

it attracts dun beatles into the flower (b/c they think something dead is rotting). the beatles pick up the pollen on the way down the flower petal, which will hopefully fertilize another corpse plant i'm guessing.

it was kinda cool b/c on the bench near it they showed pictures of wild ones in a rain forest. of course they werent bloomed, but they actually look like a very green tree about 6feet tall after it blooms (or something like that).