I thought I would start a thread where people can post pictures of their plants and flowers to share. I took these a little while ago of a couple of my Phalaenopsis Orchids.
Beautiful orchids. I'm subbed. Don't have anything to show, yet, but I'll be planting a bee-attracting flowerbed this year, so stay tuned.
Thanks guys. If I had more south facing window space I would have 20 more Orchids. I love those things. I need to find out an organic means of fertilizing them though as I have no idea what to give an epiphyte.
I'd have to imagine some soaked kelp meal tea, some fish hydrolysate, or chicken manure pellets soaked would work just fine. They also don't look like they even need much right now though but I'm not an orchid guy either. I'm guessing they are in some kind of organic soil now? A simple top dress of compost or vermicompost might just be perfect too. Maybe a few tablespoons of kelp mixed in with compost/vermicompost top dress would be nice and gentle enough yet just what they'd love. There's not too many plants that don't like that. J
Orchids don't grow in soil Jerry they have pieces of wood chips as their soil medium. They will die if soil is used as they are epiphytes and in the wild they grow on another organism such as a tree or on rocks. Teas may work and I will have to look into that. I have orchid fertilizer that I have used but its not organic.
Very nice! I've tried orchids a couple times and haven't had much long term luck. Everything is getting ready to go around here. Daffodils are coming up and I'm getting excited for spring.
So I bought 9 coconut fiber baskets at Home Depot yesterday and planted my Tuberous Begonias in them in the same soil I use for my Cannabis, peppers, etc. Now I find out that people recommend you put a plastic sheet in the pot first with some holes in it to allow for draining. Apparently without the plastic sheet in the bottom the water just rolls out and the soil dries out too quickly. Makes sense I guess. So now I have to remove the bulb and soil from each one, line the bottom of the basket and re-pot them again but I think I am going to do as many recommend and start them in small 4" pots until they have some growth coming up and then put them into these coco fiber baskets. I was wondering if I could just dip them in a water barrel and soak them from the bottom up when watering to help with the water runoff in these types of baskets? Here's a photo of the baskets:
We used the coco baskets alot at a nursery I used to work at, mostly in designs around the grounds. We simply watered them by hand till run off, in full swing they were watered every other day. I don't recall the plastic, but it only makes sense unless you had them all on a drip
How far south are you? I had a hobby rare fern and orchid nurserrry back in SoFl. Had several K plants at one point, but got bored with the shade house only rareies and got into full sun orchids. Not as showy, but almost constantly in bloom and you could landscape with them. Do need a pretty much frost free winter though, Just thinking.out loud. Wet
We are zone 9B Wet (25F to 30F seldom). It's mild here but we do get frost in the winter, although not a lot.
Hmmmm I was in zone 10, but some of those plants would shrug off a frost, especially the ones from just south of you in Mexico and CA. I'll get some names to check out. Wet
Starting some flower seeds inside today, cracked open the pack of Purple Lupine seeds and boy was I surprised, they look like dark cannabis seeds. Also starting: Fritillaria Imperialis (orange/yellow) Digitalis (Foxglove) Lucifer Plant (crocosmia) Pink Gladiolus Himalayan blue poppys
I have Digitalis as well. One of the deadliest plants if ingested. It is still used in heart surgery.
Beautiful plants, good to know they're poisonous. Seeds are like half the size of carrot seeds, lol. The poppies I'll have to wait on, because after reading it seems they need about a month to stratify in the fridge to mimic the cold himalayan temps. Either way, I'd like to start my flower gardening experiences this year and these plants were selected to (hopefully) attract pollinators, so I'm gonna try to plant them around/in my garden to help draw in those bees, butterflies, etc...
Yeah if you eat Digitalis leaves or the flower you may have a heart attack. Oleander, Castor Bean, and many others are also very poisonous.
Beautiful Mike. I'll share some flower photos - in May or June - when "Spring" finally arrives.... Kewl!