Prepare your pointing finger and a portion of free floor ;)

[PetSlayer]

Hello everyone!

Oh well, can't say that I am truly ashamed because this is what I achieved in about 2 months.

I did go from 14 something phals and dendro to about 80 and not all of them small Didn't manage to kill any of them, on the contrary, I seem to be rather successful so far.

But here we go... The pictures are taken a week or so ago, when I had a sun spell going for what was worth. Normally this time of the year there is barely any natural light worth mentioning. This is the area where my phrags and paphs live, and as you can see they share. Please attend and observe the adjacent cat suntanning area with complimentary cushions. I took a pic with the growlights on as well.

And this is how my main windowsill facing south looks. Please observe the high tech usage of space and professional lighting system


Hope I brightened your day and you had a good laugh!


Laura

Ps: observe in the corner a bit of the lovely snow I have

[angela]

Congrats Laura, Good job.
I am always truly amazed at what some of you achieve growing your Orchids indoors.
BTW is that a curly leafed Hoya in the foreground of the last Pic?

[catttan]

Great grow area. Congrats!!!! Your slippers seem to revel in it and your other plants are flourishing as well. Yes you brightened my day - no laugh just a huge smile .

[Orkala]

They all look so healthy. Must be a great growing area. Thanks for the photos. I enjoyed them.

[OrchidAddict]

Wow...14 to 80 in two months!! That's awesome!

You have certainly done an amazing job utilizing your space! I never thought of using those plastic hooks for hanging orchids on the wall. What a great idea! I'm curious about how you water your vandas...I see they have giant root systems hanging down. Do you take them outside for watering a couple of times a day?

I decided on vase culture for my vandas because they hated being in pots with any kind of media, and I just couldn't figure out a practical way to water them in the wintertime if I were to leave the roots hanging. I was also worried about having enough humidity in the air for them...it gets quite dry here in the wintertime, but the vase culture solves all that and conserves space, too.

Of course, I secretly long for the "natural" look of the roots just hanging in the air. What's your secret to doing this indoors?

[PetSlayer]

BTW is that a curly leafed Hoya in the foreground of the last Pic?[/QUOTE]

Thank you Angela!

Yes, it is a Hoya compacta. I had it for soon to be 4 years now, blooms on average every 3:rd month, tighter in summer, slower in winter. And when it does, it throws 10 to 13 clusters at a time. Now she is in a growth period, I have leaves poking out and the shorter leads growing again.

As for my orchids, it remains to be seen how they will survive the winter because despite my natural talent and honestly a ton of info from here all my new additions are...well...new. I care for them with a devotion that is honestly a tad on the obsessive side of things and so far they seem to like it.

And again, it means a lot to me coming from you

Have a great one!
Laura

[stateless]

you really have a gift to keep all that growing inside, 2 green thumbs up

[PetSlayer]

everyone! It means a lot to me, coming from all of you that have done this for so long and have such amazing plants! I wouldn't have done it this well so far without all of you in this forum

As I said before, the slippers/phrags like it and thrive like pigs in the swill I dare say. They have more or less each it's own bleeding pond after all, I wash the main baths about twice a week when I also throw them in the bathtub and give them a 30 minutes shower. I am trying very hard not to overfeed them but then again I use orchid focus grow and the bloom one which are rather weak so with the baths hopefully no harm done.

As for the vandas Jenn... One has been moved after I cut the spike in a long vase and lives with the phrags (she had rather puny roots, bunch of them dried in the shop). When I showered that one last I noticed some little curly funny leaves at the bottom of the basket, so I have a feeling that she actually develops a keiki! That one has a thick layer of Leca and river stones with a ton of water under her, she gets a daily spraying every morning (and when I spray, I use one of those professional pump thingies that makes a solid almost mist that leaves everything dripping wet fast, no half measures here).

The one that you can see in the window gets the same daily shower and the two big baths a week and she lives straight under the grow light. If I don't have the time to shower her, she gets a dip in a bucket every other day at the least. And because all her friends that live under her get a daily powershower from the flask and I have a mix of different composts and baskets (with one exception all the cattleyas I got had some serious root damage, so they are in recovery in tight net plastic baskets with a mix of sphagnum and epiweb cubes and some leca or hygrolon thrown in for good measure) which results in decent humidity levels all around.

I am in full growlights experiment, I have the funny plate thing in the window that has red and blue leds (the "free" vanda has it) and a mix of green, red and blue (which is much more pleasant for the eye)for the phrags. So far, I can honestly say that the red and blue are great, the cattleyas are a lovely fresh
green since they got it and the vanda has changed the position of her leaves in order to suck it all in and I think the growth speed of the new leaf is very good.The phrags are very happy with the other one but the vanda there has changed her leaves orientation more upwards, she has a bit darker leaves and throws a keiki. So I just purchased another experimental red and blue light bulb that will arrive in a week or so and hopefully she'll be happy as well.

And I have to admit that the days I am home I move the cold mist pediatric humidifier on a chair by their sideon full blast for a while. Then I move it by the phrags. But tomorrow I will hopefully have some time to go and get a bigger warm mist humidifier that will take care of my livingroom. The cold mist one lives in my bedroom because I sleep and breathe better since I got it and it's "accidentally" blowing cold mist straight on my draculas. They are not impossible price wise (the humidifiers) and the air quality gets so much better!

So thank you all again, I am honoured!

Wishing you all the best,
Laura

[Brutal_Dreamer]

WOW - impressive orchid collecting!

cheers,
BD

[phraggy]

Very impressive Laura puts my warm greenhouse to shame!!
Well done

Ed