One day, IF I can hang on to one, I hope to see it bloom!

How about a Bulbophyllum Jersey bloom on this chilly November day ( while I am waiting on my last tray of Geman Elisen kuchen to come out of the oven. )


Although one of the parents of this Bulbo is the stinky echinolabium, this one is scent less.

Sure wouldn't want it battling with the wonderful smell of your cookies, Ursula. It's really cute.

We have a little sun and a warm breeze back here this afternoon. Most of the 'chids are outside again now, enjoying some good light. Keeping the Vandas and other warmth lovers in for one more night, but the weekend looks wonderful for sunny 80's and nights in the 60's.

I can finally ship out all my orchid orders, a total of 42 plants. For me, that is a lot of plants! When they have been shipped that will create a little space in my "Orchid" GH. I just hate having unused space in my GH's. Did someone say "Orchids for sale"?

Your temperatures to come sound lovely, Elaine!!
Sometimes I wonder what we are doing up here in the chilly climate!

That's what I would call a brisk business, Ken!! You are doing well!
I really need to move some large Orchids out, before I look at anything new!! Many of those innocent little plants turned into monsters by now , which are loved, but do take a lot of room.

I know what you mean. I know Jim seems to hate the thought of dividing large (specimen?) orchids and perhaps you feel the same. To a point I will let my orchids get fairly large, but other than a couple of large Vandas and one Dendrobium, I simply have to divide them when they reach a certain size. It's not just because I then have divided plants to sell, I just don't have the room for really large plants. I assume that when someone asks me for a "specimen" size orchid, they just mean a large plant, right?

Hm, don't know if there is a definition of 'specimen' size plant, but in my mind, it's what your blooming size plant wants to be when it grows up. It would be a lot bigger than just a "blooming size" plant. To me a specimen plant is either in bloom or will bloom on multiple stems within the year I bought it. (not that I buy them)

If you go to buy a real 'specimen' at a show, (and they won't often sell them) you pay big bucks! Last one I recall seeing for sale was at the Fender's going out of business sale. They had regular blooming size plants for $20 to $30 bucks but this big specimen was $250. It was also "Sold".



If you figure they'd have to sell 10 divisions at $25 each to get that much out of this plant, they did ok and saved themselves all that pesky dividing, too.

You see fabulous specimen plants at botanical gardens too, of course. Here's Jim standing beside what we called "that little Bulbo" at Selby Gardens.


I think my noid Catt is now big enough to call a specimen plant, since it blooms on 3 or 4 stems at once. But when I first got it, it was in bloom but by no means a specimen.

OK, I see now the "specimen-size" is kind of in the eye of the beholder. My 'Emerald Isle' had 34 blooms three years ago, so I guess she would have been a "Specimen". I think she was divided into 8 plants.

This isn't a very good picture (low pixels) but I did not have much of a camera. This was taken when she just started blooming.

Wonderful specimen pics!!
I love the one with Jim next to the Bulbo phalaenopsis (most likely)
My problem is perhaps a bit different, yes, I do love a good size plants with lots of blooms for sure. But, in addition, I find it many times very difficult to divide a Cattleya, when it had walked out of the pot and adhered totally to the edge of it. I placed years ago many small smaller Catt. into wooden baskets. To split one of those plants now some at least 10 years later, I would cut so many roots that I will half kill that plant. I lost my Copper Queen that way, that one had roots like a Vanda and really disliked being chopped up. All pieces kicked the bucket.

I hated to slice off a piece of Big George but it had to be done. It had totally consumed an 8 inch pot which looked as if it was about to explode. I broke that pot into several pieces with precise blows from a hammer. It wouldn't pull apart so I got a hand saw and cut off about a third of it. That third was so big it filled up another 8 inch pot and it took some effort to repot the larger piece. Interesting to note that once I had access to the roots, I found lots of scale that I had not seen before. I guess it was all for the best because the big piece has bloomed for me and Elaine says her plant is putting on new growth.

Jim

May I add that I think Big George is a specimen plant, even after having Little George amputated with a hand saw. again for such a great plant division.

The way it's going, if Little George can keep adjusting to living outdoors, after living the soft life in Jim's OC it will be blooming by next fall. See the new growth just left of center?

I guess I have just been lucky then. I have had to cut baskets into pieces (almost every single orchid I grow is in some type of basket or mesh-pot) and occasionally a pot, but, "knock-on-wood", I don't know that I have ever lost a divided plant. Also, I won't even post a divided plant or at least won't ship one until I see stability of the plant for 4-6 weeks. If I have any doubt of the health of a plant, I just keep it as long as necessary. Also, I learned long ago to soak the entire root system under water for 10-15 minutes before dividing my plants.

There are many ATP folks out there that have my divisions. Perhaps they will tell us how these plants have done.

Wow. Are you saying that monstrous thing is an orchid Jim is standing next to? I looks like one of Mortisha's plants in the Adams Family.

It sure does!

Elaine, the new growth on Little George looks really nice.
But, I am not sure if I see treated or alive critters in some crevices? I might do a spray with All Seasons Horticultural Spray oil, which works well on small Scale infections (and is really cheap), or the bug killer of your choice. Then I would remove that stuff with a gently tooth brush action and wash the whole mess off.

Treated already, I believe. They are dry and flaky and just fall off when I rub them with my finger.

Jim said he "sprayed the heck out of it" before he gave it to me, and I definitely am not seeing any further scale developing. Thanks, though. I certainly will get out my little toothbrush (leftover little round ones from an electric toothbrush are awesome) and clean it up some more. I've been picking away at it but didn't want to wash it too vigorously until it had recovered a little from being amputated.

Once it's warm on the weekend, will let the hose water warm up and give it a good brisk spray.

Sounds good, Elaine! Looks like you guys had it under control!

Here is a good example of what I mean by not liking to split a Cattleya.
My second plant of Blc Goldenzelle 'Lemon Chiffon' is now fully open. ( to the right my second Goldenzelle) The plant was placed years ago into a square Epiweb basket and grows now vertically with lots of roots hanging down. I would hesitate to chop a plant like that into pieces, unless I absolutely have to.

The pink Cattleya labiata x has a similar problem. It outgrew the wooden basket a long time ago and the whole clump basically also grows mounted.
Needless to say, these Orchids stay in the greenhouse, I just rotate them to the front so we can enjoy them easier, at least I try!

Stunning, Ursula! You wouldn't have near the impact if split into more numerous plants....Sure does look happy! Definitely has the WOW factor going on!

Beautiful plants, Ursula. You and Jim (and others) are lucky to have such grand spaces to grow these large plants, particularly since so many have to hang.