So glad the weather is warming up a bit and staying sunny. I have both anticipation and dread to report today - My wonderful Bl. Renate has at least 9 spikes in the works so should be a great show in the next few weeks. Also C. Tutankhamen 'Pop' that I got from Patty has 4 spikes breaking out of dry, dead looking sheaths, to my great delight. I was unable to resist 'helping' with the dry sheaths, as the buds looked to be stuck on at least one. Managed not to break off any buds in the process so hope they make it now.





Down side is they both are showing an infestation of boisduval scale, not a lot but enough to be a concern. Broke out the spinosad spray today, and will also give them the dormant oil spray, followed by soapy water next week. Guess I need to run the fans more often, they sure seem to help with bugs as well as disease prevention.

Elaine, I honestly don't think it is possible to grow a whole bunch of Cattleyas without not ever seeing Scale! And - if I am looking at spikes with tightly grouped buds, there are the Mealies just waiting to come out of the woodworks. I usually have peace for the months outside in Summer and then to about Christmas. But now, I always find a bug or two somewhere and the Neem oil bottle is always nearby to keep a lid on the population.
Your plants look great, a lovely new anticipation for sure!

Hmmm, yes I do have some Neem around here somewhere. I'll maybe try that instead of the dormant oil, first. We have warm weather returning this week.

Elaine, aren't neem and dormant oils...basically the same? They smother the critters. Neem has REALLY helped with my scale problems and especially with my thrip problem...

Yes, neem is an oil that will smother, but it has chemical components that are also toxic to insects. I generally don't use it in the garden at all since it's toxic to beneficial bugs as well as the bad ones so you have to be really careful where you put it. It's probably ok for me to use in the pool cage.

I'll have to look but I think when you use the dormant oil products, it puts on a lot more oil than when you use neem. I still spray it in the evening so as not to hit bees and other good guys, but I also wash it off early in the morning with soapy water before the sun gets too hot, too. The soap has insecticidal action as well, of course so it's a double whammy with this combo.

I haven't had hardly any problems with thrips this last summer, and I'm sure it's because I had the fan going every afternoon for 3 hours. Since it cooled off and the air is dryer, I haven't run the fan so much, and the insect problems sure are returning with a vengeance.

Neem is only harmful to critters that actually ingest plant material. I don't think orchid foliage is a host to any benficial insects so as long as it was not sprayed on the flowers themselves it should be perfectly safe.

While working in my Paphiopedilum area underlights I found three new buds.



This first one is from Paphiopedilum Voodoo Jewel.



This is on a sibling cross of Paphiopedilum niveum. Niveum is the white flowered member of the Brachypetalum group from SE Asia. The clones are Pinot Blanc X Champagne.



This last on is from Paphiopedilum Delightfully Venus. This bloomed last June I believe and we can all look it up in the data base. Hopefully it will be just as beautiful!!
I have to say that growing Paphiopedilums underlights has been just fantastic to date. I have had 32 slippers bud and bloom underlights in about 18 months. Never have I had this kind of success with Paph's!!! In the case of Delightfully Venus, I am getting re-blooms! SWEET!

I just took my own advice and looked them up since my "brains" are like coffee grounds!
Both are essentially spotted greens with a white dorsal and rose petals apically. I remember thinking that these are both awardable. Now if I can just get them there in good shape!

You will!


Looking up at the top shelf - I saw this on my now bare pseudobulbs of Lycaste Phoebe! Wohoo!

That looks like quite a few buds!
How exciting!!

That's going to be a pretty show.

Letting my Den 'Fire Wings' get the last of the sun this afternoon before I bring it indoors. At least 7 spikes working on this one. I have to be SO careful moving it because the stems are so fragile. A few of them are secondary blooms coming off the stems at right angles so kind of gawky looking, but I'm not complaining.

That is just awesome!

I found another bloom spike underlights. This is Paphiopedilum delenatii var. dunkel.


This is just another wonderful surprise to find underlights. This is a typical delenatii flower but it is engulfed with a rich, rosey pink blush. The pouch is intense rosey red as well. This is another of the Brachypetalum group which often are not easy to bloom but this gives me greater hope going forward. I continue to bloom slipper orchids under my new light setup and the lights, in a cooler environment, are having great results.

The workmen were at my house creating a small addition which I hope I'll be able to enclose with plastic and something called 'wiggle wire' to give me a little bit of greenhouse. The Orchid Shuffle is exhausting.

Looks like this will present wonderful opportunities for you Lindsey!
It will be exciting to plan.
Just keep air movement in mind. I am anxious to see this growing area develope!!

I would love to have a Pergola added to my home... but.. it'd have to be on the North Side.. at present I use a small 7' x 12' covered front porch, that faces South as my Orchid Summer retreat.

After my 2019 "buying spree" I'm now wondering where everything will fit.

That sounds very reasonable! I was wondering why you weren't able to let some plastic roll down when needed.

It looks wonderful, much more room for . . . more plants!! For some reason I thought you already had roll-down plastic sides for your growing area there.

I tried ( and failed) a couple of years ago with expensive super clear, super thick marine grade plastic. I didn't think it would be so cold here and my structure wasn't designed around having to enclose it..so there were too many gaps, the plastic was wanting to be sewn and not taped and ultimately what I had did not work at all with the the 20-30 knot winds out of the north. This little addition SHOULD allow me to put the inexpensive greenhouse grade plastic up using 'wiggle wire' technology that many Florida growers use. It's basically a 'C' shaped aluminum track thats screwed to the wood, you place the edge of the plastic over the track and fit this zig zag wire into the groove, capturing the plastic firmly. Fingers crossed!