It sure looks happy, love it!

I would have guessed some Onc. hybrid, but I am really bad at this!! In any way, it is nice!

Definitely Onc alliance hybrid. No question about it.

Starting May with nice blooms! This is the last of Dendrobium thyrsiflorum (1), Phalaenopsis bastianii (hard to photograph), and Oncidium cebolleta (purchased in bloom).



Dendrobium thyrsiflorum (2) is working 7 or 8 spikes right now.

Is the Den. a standard or compact grower, Melissa? I love those flowers. Nothing shabby about the other two either.

drdawg said:Is the Den. a standard or compact grower, Melissa? I love those flowers. Nothing shabby about the other two either.

Ken, Dendrobium thyrsiflorum gets big...eventually. Most growers sell them in 4" pots and that would be years and years from producing major blooms. This plant is in an 8" basket and is about 16"-18" tall and 18" wide (depending on the staking of the canes). I am trying to train it more upright, but they can be difficult. You want the blooms to be pendant gracefully.

My Den. thrysiflorum (2) is much more balanced, but wider in a 12" basket. I have had it longer so I was able to control the growths.

When I am buying these types of Dens, I look for mature plants that folks are wanting to clear out for space. Otherwise I'd probably be close to the grave before I saw substantial blooms.

This is what I am striving for!

Heart be still! with your way of growing, you will be there in no time flat.

Yes, truly magnificent, that one in the image, Melissa. Hope I'm not too old an grey to see a huge specimen plant like that here one day.

dyzzypyxxy said:Yes, truly magnificent, that one in the image, Melissa. Hope I'm not too old an grey to see a huge specimen plant like that here one day.

Me too, Elaine!

I don't think I have the patience and or the standard-of-care know how to be able to even make it bloom the way you have it Melissa.

I got so mad that I forgot to put my Catts back in the shade after I had them out of the shade to drink rain. Now the leaves of my red (possibly Chia Lin) and the Orange (I'll post the tag later) are sun burned. So I decided to attach all of them to my oak tree, where my pink Catt and my white Den look very happy and healthy. They look good now but I accidentally pinch off 2 little babies on each one . I attached my new clearance Catts too from after valentines day. Then I found out my orange has a tag buried in it but could not seem to find it in the database. And. The 2 clearance ($12.98 with 2 nice orchid pots) have tags too.

Oh and I forgot to add, I picked one more yesterday from those Lowes pre packed orchid from Better Grow that is supposed to be orange. It looks like it has 2 maure plants (the old flower spikes had been cut off) and two 3 inches babies. It was $12.98 versus babies prepacked for $5.98. The label said "yamadaara Redland sunset'.

I'm afraid to buy the prepacked baby Catts or other orchids for$5.98 since they may not bloom for years.

You're right about that, Gigi. The babies in a bag may take quite a while to get up to speed.

It really depends upon the variety though, since if a small plant start is a mini or compact type, it may bloom fairly soon. You can tell by the size of the leaves in the bag, sometimes.

I bought a couple of them about a year ago, when HD had them on "buy one get one" and I just couldn't resist. They're both doing really well. My policy is to buy bargain orchids when I can, as I have a fairly high attrition rate growing outdoors. If one doesn't make it, I still feel bad but haven't spent a huge amount of money. (which always makes me feel worse, of course)

Next time we make an Apopka trip, you should really come join us! The prices are fantastic and the company ain't bad either.

Elaine your Orchid looks like one I have blooming now called Oncidium pacific pagan kilauea




Melissa your Dendrobium thyrsiflorum is awesome. I get frustrated with some of the Den's when they get so big it's hard to figure out what to do with them, or where to put them.

Thanks Elaine for the invite. I would love to go but can't make promises because my hubby drives me around. We do everything together on weekends, that's really just the time we are together because we work a lot of hours. So everything has to fit his schedule as well as mine.

MJ that is beautiful! I saw one like this with huge spikes in Lowes the other night but the buds were not open yet. I'm not familiar with this type of orchid if they would survive my care or not so I passed up on it. Maybe I will revisit this Friday night if it is still there then it is meant for me.

Gigi I got that one at the Farmers Market two years ago. Actually got it discounted cause the wind had blown it off the table and two of the four spikes had broken. So I asked if they'd sell it half price and she did. I've never gotten 4 spikes again but it does have a 2nd one coming now.

Mj, your Onc. Pacific Pagan 'Kilauea' is a nice, handsome plant!! So many buds!!

GigiPlumeria said:Oh and I forgot to add, I picked one more yesterday from those Lowes pre packed orchid from Better Grow that is supposed to be orange. It looks like it has 2 maure plants (the old flower spikes had been cut off) and two 3 inches babies. It was $12.98 versus babies prepacked for $5.98. The label said "yamadaara Redland sunset'.

I'm afraid to buy the prepacked baby Catts or other orchids for$5.98 since they may not bloom for years.

Gigi,

The first AOS award I ever received was from a Better Gro baggie from Lowes on the death table! They make really nice orchids.

MJ and Melissa thanks for the info.

Last Wednesday a reporter from a local newspaper was here for the purpose of writing a feature story on the OC. Today she sent me several photos she took of orchids and asked me to correctly identify them. I'm guessing the article will come out a week from tomorrow. I hope I can get a link so you all can read it. Such fun.

Melissa, that is a beautiful Dendrobium thyrsiflorum. You are well on the way to your goal and a worthy goal it is. I also really like the Phalaenopsis bastianii. The flowers really last a long time on those types of Phals.

Speaking of flowers that last, Ursula was right on about my Coryanthes macrantha. The flower lasted four days and began to fade. I cut it off yesterday. Two more blooms to go.

Just for fun I looked up Yamadaara [Yam.] Redland Sunset. It is now called Bullara [Bul.] Redland Sunset and is really a pretty flower.

MJ, nice Onc. Pacific Pagan 'Kilauea'. What medium are you growing it in?

Melissa, that's quite a good job of growing to turn a bag orchid into that beautiful Catt.

We had company all weekend so I'm catching up. Company is a funny thing; you're happy to know they're coming, happy while they're here and even happier when they leave.

Jim

hawkarica said:
We had company all weekend so I'm catching up. Company is a funny thing; you're happy to know they're coming, happy while they're here and even happier when they leave. Jim

So Right..

Jim, I've got that Oncidium in medium Orchiata with some tree fern fiber and sponge rock thrown in. That's what I use for most potted orchids. I use a similar mix with potting soil for my Hoya's.