Repotted

I divided both Chia Lin 'Red Rose' and 'PCT' into a few cuttings and replanted them. I made a mistake cutting 'Red Rose' and ended with a damaged leaf with bud; I put it into a jar with water and rooting hormone hoping to maybe root it. As suspected, the original roots have rotted but the cattleyas are growing new roots to adapt to the moist medium. Probably why they haven't flowered.

I couldn't resist dividing one of my Odom's Sweatheart 'Red Beauty' into two. I hope that the back bulb will bud. The other one looked like it will be okay and I didn't want to gamble dividing both.

Gosh I hope they don't die. I used cinnamon powder for the first time as a anti-fungal agent for the site of the cutting.

Close up of another division of Tolumnia Popoki. So far 7 in total.

I discovered one of the tolumnia's center had rotted and I was able to pull apart the plant into two.

Roots

Roots look good on this guy.

Roots seems to be slower growing than its clone sibling.

Shingfong Beauty 'Water Red' is growing new roots like gang-busters. Unfortunately, I think the flower sheath on this cattleya has died.

Tolumnia flower spike

The flower spike managed to break free from the leaf and I can't wait to see this guy bloom again. This is perhaps the healthiest of my tolumnias and the most moisture tolerant. From my observations; all the Popokis are amazingly moisture tolerant. My other tolumnias are pretty much dead.

Phal unknown name

I got this orangy colored phalaenopsis as a gift (thanks Gloria). It has cute little flowers and seems to be going through another round of blooming. I cross pollinated with one of the larger purples that I got from Half-Moon Bay. It is already forming a seed pod.

Young Reds

Pic of my new Reds

Tolumnia might flower!

This tolumnia I got from ebay looks like it might flower! Cool!

New Cattleyas

My order of 4 Cattleyas arrive yesterday. It was a quick shipment; only two days.

The plants are from Carter & Holmes.

Blc. Rugeley's Mill 'Mendenhall'

Pot. Red Crab 'Uncle Wang' X Blc Oconee 'Mendenhall'

Blc. Fort Watson 'Mendenhall'

Blc. Bouton D'Or 'Orange Glow' x Blc Carolina Orange D'Or 'Lenette'

The first three are reds and the last one is an orange colored cross.

When I found a picture of Rugeley's Mill 'Mendenhall' on the web, I knew I just had to have it.

see here:

I found this pic at this Japanese orchid blog. A cool website.

I loved the red on this cattleya so much, that I searched all over for it. I couldn't find a blooming size so I got a smaller plant that's 2-4 years from flowering. I guess I just have to wait. will upload pics of my new plants soon.

Tolumnia Tan Line

It seems that the LED lights really do work. The above picture shows my Tolumnia Popoki developed a tan-line. Cool. Also, the leaves of my phalaenopsis has been very reddish so they too are doing well under LED lights. I moved the Phals back to my kitchen window to make room for more Cattleyas. My next observation will be to see if the Cattleyas like the LEDs.

December 8th photos of stand

Orchids seem to be okay under LED lights. I am considering expanding the plant stand with wider shelves and getting more powerful LED grow lights.

New roots

Its been a while and I finally see that my compact cattleyas 'Red Beauty' is putting out new roots. I worried that both my plants would die because I haven't seen any roots for a long time. The new shoots are small but I figure once the roots establish the growth will be better.

Red Blush on Cattleya

I was partially re potting some of the Cattleyas that are under the LED grow lights and I was amazed to see the leaves showing a red blush. According to what I've read, this may mean that the catttleyas are at the top end of its light requirements. Wow, and I thought I was gonna have to get more lights. It hasn't been a month yet, so I'll keep watching.
The Chia Lin "New City" has grown new roots and is looking good. I took one of the cuttings and placed it into its own pot. Because my Chia Lin's has had a few set backs, I doubt it will flower any time soon. But hurray for new roots! Both "PCT" and "Red Rose" have sheaths; so I now wonder if they will bloom under the LEDs.
I moved my phalaenopsis "Blushing Bride" to the kitchen sink window
to make room for the newly potted Cattleya.

Added Mylar Back to Plant Stand

I went to TapPlastics and bought some 2mm Mylar and glued it to 1/8" MDF (41" x 19.75") and mounted them using 10-32 screws behind the plant stand. I hope the added reflected light makes the orchids happy.

Moved Orchid Stand

Studying Daylight

Timer & Dimmer

Rewired

Spent most of Sunday rewiring my plant stand. Wanting to simplify the dangling cords and find a way to reduce the noise of the AC fans, I went to Home Depot and bought an inline dimmer, more electrical cable, connector nuts, crimp tool and stuff I didn't need (scissors and ratchet wrench) & went to Minton's Lumber to get more 6-32 nuts.
The dimmer worked like magic. I can now control the speed of the fans and therefore the amount of noise they make. I managed to reduce the amount of cord down to just 3, from 6. IT wasn't easy but I got it done in one day; I nearly damaged one of the lights when trying to clear a solder filled hole from the circuit board, I applied so much heat that the printed circuit came apart. Oops! Thankfully, it didn't completely damage it and it still works. I ordered a 6 outlet power strip from Amazon.com that I now think I don't need. I expect delivery of a digital timer so I can put my plant stand on a schedule.

Here is the nutty diagram I drew the night before.

Keiki

One of my Phalaenopsis (Sun Tye Diamond) put out two Keikis and I repotted them each into their own 4 inch Rand Aircome pot. I have one by a window and one under LED lights. It would be interesting to see how they fair in a few months.
Update 11/14/07: Interestingly, the one I had by a window died but this one is still okay.
Update 11/15/07: Both Keiki are dead. The small roots weren't well developed so it rotted. Me sad.

LED Grow Lights Plant Stand

Got the AC fans and put the whole thing together Nov 6th.
This is where I bought the LED lights: http://www.homegrownlights.com/14wled.html

Made some screw ups assembling the lights but nothing that more time couldn't fix.

The fuse assembly wasn't a tight fit and the lights would go out if the electrical cord got tugged.
Will have to fix that.

Very Magenta isn't it.

View from the floor. Its cool but not sure if the lights are bright enough?

Orchid stand nearly finished

My home built orchid stand is nearly complete. I'm just waiting for delivery of some AC fans and then I can mount the lights.

More pictures of new phalaenopsis

Whoopie!

New Phalaenopsis from Half-Moon Bay

I placed my new Phals in my bedroom.

This purple Phal's blooms are huge.

This white Phal's blooms are also huge.

Sunday September 9th, I drove to Reposito's in Half-Moon Bay and got three orchids. Two Phalaenopsis and another cute Oncidium. When I got these orchids, I didn't know they only accept cash or checks at the store. Luckily, I had $43 bucks on my and the orchids cost $43.30. Must be an omen. Also, went to another florist and got myself a maidenhair fern.

Planted the new oncidium into the same pot with first oncidium. They're the same species.

Two dying phalanopsis

I put another dead phalanopsis (a white one) that I brought home from work. It's dying alongside the purple on I mentioned before. What a shame.

Rearranged my orchids

reorganized my plants

The window over my kitchen sink is pretty full now.

The phals in my bedroom has been replanted and arrranged.

My Cattleya tree looks like its still alive.

Repotted all my orchids.

Spent Friday and Saturday nights repotting all my orchids with Aussie-Gold and reused my Dyna-Rok.
I bought two bags from a place that I think is in Ohio. cost a lot but I wanted to spoil my orchids. At least I hope my orchids will like the new medium. I was happy to see the Dendrobium Thyrsiflorum had healthy roots. I was generally happy to see the roots doing well for the plants except a couple of my phalaenopsis. I'm sad to say the new plant I got from the grocery store is pretty much dead. it had rotted and the roots look like they're dead too. Don't know why the phalaenopsis aren't doing so well in the semi-hydro medium? The cattleya's, dendrobium, oncidium and even the tolumnia seem to like it. Anyway, the phals are in the new stuff now. I'll keep an eye on it.
I also spent much of the day building more acrylic boxes. got some scrap plastic from Tap Plastics and solvent, glue and more. I think I have a total of 10. they take about 20 minutes each to make.
My window sill looks pretty full.

My Dendrobium flowered

I forgot how dark purple this guy is.

Today's purchase

Today I bought a bunch of orchid supplies, Rand Aircone pots, Aussie gold and three new Cattleyas.

Jim Elmore 'Sweetheart'

Edisto 'Newberry'

Lc. Jalapa x Pot. Carolina Splendor
(This picture is not the flower I will be getting, I realized too late; oh well.)
I'll be getting a cross

Links:
http://www.fendersflora.com
http://www.gardeningwarehousedirect.com
http://www.arcadiaglasshouse.com