Both my B. nodosa and B. nodosa 'Big Jim' are blooming generously. They're hidden way at the back of the cage right now because they were turning red from (I think) too much sun, so I didn't seem them until I went looking this morning. Could smell them when I went out last night, though. One of my Night-blooming Jasmine bushes is in bloom too, as are the Brugmansia so it's very perfume-y out there at night right now.

Looks great!
Dumb question, I see this color change on Orchid leaves mentioned someplace else as undesirable. Am I wrong as I don't see anything wrong with it? Quite a few Orchids change their color from dark green to reddish with exposure to stronger light. I would think a dark green lush Orchid has less chance of blooming? Not enough light?
A touch of Magnesium would surely help to restore the center Mg of Chlorophyll?

Well I may have mentioned this before, but within 6 months of me moving to SW Florida, all of my adult Cattleyas, had all turned burgundy! It was remarkable.
I thought about it and realized that it was probably due to too much sunlight. It can be very intense!
This was over the course of Late April 2009 until roughly December of 2009. Leaves were 50-50 between burgundy and green. Pseudobulbs were maybe 80-90% burgundy. It looked like tourists with a bad sunburn. Afterall, I had moved there from Long Island NY. Being new to Florida orchid growing I never even thought about Magnesium, cal.mag, or any disease. I figured that it was just too sudden for that.
Anyway I ordered a piece of 60% shade cloth to cover half of my lanai, roughly 10 x 12 feet. Within a short period of time, maybe two months, the normal color returned.
Now for orchids in general, I have heard it spoken or I read it dozens of times that too much light will not keep and orchid from blooming. Too much light can shorten the length of the spike, reduce color intensity and shorten the life of a flower but the plant still blooms.

BUT if you can not give it the proper light intensity needed to produce buds, then that is a different story. Flowers that do manage to come should be on longer inflorescences, be fewer in number and darker in color.
I have never added magnesium or anything else but maybe that's why I seem to be getting low flower production under lights. I am almost out of Jacks 20-20-20. Maybe I need to try something different?

I do put a spoonful of Epsom Salts in my sprayer every time I fertilize, just because magnesium is so very soluble, and it rains quite often here especially in summer. I figure they need it.

But when the Brassavolas start turning reddish, no amount of magnesium seems to correct the reddish hue, only moving to lower light fixes it. They're ok during the winter, but when spring starts to ramp up the sunlight intensity and day length, they start to turn pink and I push them to the back of the cage for a bit more shade.

Elaine, I've been told not to mix anything with Epsom . It's scientific stuff that's well above my pay grade, but something to do with ,while Epsom is being absorbed the plant is unable to absorb the fertilizer . It won't damage the plant but you are just wasting the food.
Some of my (mostly Brassavolas ..but a few of the Cattleya) stay burgundy despite the application of Epsom or reducing the light. It's crazy.

Bc Binosa 'Tetraploid' has a tendency to turn reddish in bright conditions. This Summer it received a lot of light, we are having a hot and fairly dry Summer. It is flowering out of turn right now!

and the plant, not all growths look like that though.

Ah ha, thanks Lindsey. I'll try leaving the Epsom salts out of my fert spray for a while, and see if it makes a difference. I've heard that about too much phosphorus in the fert, that it blocks the other components, and makes them not available to the plants. But not magnesium, Hmm.

Good thing I didn't fertilize yesterday! I was about to mix up a batch and it started to rain . . . life in Florida in almost-September. Gloomy and drizzly. Let's hope the run of no hurricanes continues, though.

The Spiranthes cernua are starting up in Lackawanna County! We didn't have too much rain this Summer, we are seeing dozens of Spiranthes coming up all within a foot or two along the water-edge of our pond. In wet Summers we see them spread more upwards on the slope.






They should be fully open at our next visit!

The new thread for September is here

The thread "Our Orchid blooms in September 2022 🪴" in Orchids forum

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