Orchids in Nepenthes shadehouse: will they bloom again?

[TwoTon]

Hi everyone,

I live in the subtropics (Taipei) and grow Nepenthes in a shadehouse where they receive hourly automatic watering (for 1 min. each) from 0900 to 1500 hrs.

I'm wondering whether some of my orchids in that shadehouse might actually mind all that continuous watering.

So far, I have the following orkees mounted on the shadehouse walls a well as potted on the benches, and so far there seems to be no reason to worry, as they're certainly thriving in all that H2O, judging from their roots.

However, I haven't had them long enough to know whether they will actually bloom again under these conditions:

Ascocenda hybrid
Bulbophyllum dearei
Cymbidium "Huang Jin Shen Tong"
Den. moschatum
Den. linawianum
Den. parishii
Den. hercoglossum
Den. "Oriental Smile"
Epidendrum sp.
Phal. equestris
Phal. lueddemanniana var. pulchra
Phal. violacea
Vanda "Sirirat x Thongchai"
plus a whole gaggle of paphs

(for pix see my signature)

Which one will bloom? Thrive? Live? Wither? Merely vegetate? DIE?

cheers and thanks in advance!

Hans

[LJA]

Hans, out of everything on your list, I don't think the Paphs will mind at all; the Phals shouldn't mind as long as the water they're getting is oxygenated and the medium they're in doesn't retain moisture. The Dendrobiums, Ascos, Epi, Cym., and Vandas however really need to dry off between waterings, in other words they should get a definite wet / dry off cycle and I don't know if your system will be able to provide that--if the watering is off long enough in the afternoon and night to allow the roots to dry off. If not, those are the ones that may give you trouble.

[Chian]

Hans,
See you again.
Typhoon is coming, how is your greenhouse?
I think it may be too hot to grow Phal. during summer, but if they are ok for past weeks, mabe they can survive. My friend, LET, the owner of that giant Phal. gigantea, also grow his orchids on the roof. So I think you will success to grow orchids in your greenhouse.

[TwoTon]

Louis:
thank you very much for your tips - I'll do the necessary rearrangements once the typhoon's passed us. I have a section in my shadehouse which doesn't receive auto-watering (for the finicky plants such as sundews and ant plants), and I'll put those orchids in there that need dry periods.

What about the bulbo, by the way?

As to the Ascocenda: it's five feet long, leaf tip to root tip, and I've placed it so that the roots are in the watering zone, but the rest of the plant above it. (see here) Its roots are fat, green, and growing...should I relocate it regardless?


Chian:
hey, fancy to see you here :-) Thanks much for asking, the typhoon is almost gone, and everything's still standing - just like after the last four storms.
The greenhouse has proven to be so sturdy that I don't even bother bringing the plants into the garage anymore - I just put them under the benches.
Three cheers for Taiwanese horticultural engineering!

Sayyy......where exactly in Taiwan have we met before? You wouldn't happen to be the famous Mr. "co co"? :-)

cheers!

Hans

[Chian]

Yes, you are right, I am Mr. Money.......
In bigging, you can grow Doritis pulcherrima(Phalaenopsis pulcherrima), Phal.cornu-cervi, ect., these can tolerate strong sunlight.

[LJA]

Hans, I'm only growing a few bulbos and dearei isn't one of them, but to my knowledge, they also need to dry off to barely damp before you rewater them. They apparently also need cool temperatures, around 60 F, so that's one I'm not going to grow here.

I don't know what kind of seasonality you have there, but here, during the hot, growing season, the vandas can get watered and fertilized twice a day. The roots dry off very fast. If the plant is in active growth and your shadehouse is getting enough light, I think you can keep it where it is without any problem. When it's not in active growth though and temperatures are much cooler, I would definitely cut back on the watering.

[TwoTon]

Thanks a lot for the tip, Louis! Being only about a hundred miles north of the Tropics of Cancer, we basically have two seasons: hot&humid and cool&humid, so it's still quite tropical now.

In light of your explanation, I guess I'll put the Vanda back in the rain zone...

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Hans,

I just viewed your two albums! WOW! What gave you the idea to put your shade house on top of your garage? It looks really great. I love the outside shots of it...esp the night shot. Your orchids are beautiful! The picture plants are amazing. Thanks for sharing!

Cheers!
BD

[TwoTon]

Hi BD,

thanks for your kind words!

I originally wanted to put the shadehouse in the back garden, but that would have left little space for my wife's horticultural ambitions. Putting it on the roof of the house might have caused leaking in said roof - due to the automatic watering eight times a day - and so I decided the garage would be just perfect. If the roof sealing goes kaput, it's no big deal, we never put our cars in the garage anyway, it's basically a storage room for garden stuff :-)

Plus, there's a great ocean AND sunset view from there :-)

[Brutal_Dreamer]

You are welcome! It looks great! Thanks again for the link! I hope everyone will check it out!

Cheers!
BD