Colmanara Space Race 'Topaz Gold' checkup

[littlegarden]

Hello everyone

My first real orchid is a beautiful Colmanara called Space Race 'Topaz Gold'. I got it at an orchid show and I just love it. I was just hoping for a bit of a check-up from the experts to check that I'm doing what I should.

This is when it was in its blooming glory! Isn't it gorgeous? It had two flower spikes so there were blossoms for months.





After the flowers finished I put it on the front porch, as per the directions of the grower, to get more sunlight. It's growing several new pseudobulbs. It's the winter in Melbourne now so it gets a decent amount of low winter sunlight. It can get cold at night (occasionally 5C), but it doesn't freeze in my yard and the grower said it can take the cold.



I was just wondering if I was doing everything right? I water it once a week and it gets some orchid fertilizer pellets once a month. It sometimes gets small black spots, mostly on the leaf tips, and I've cut a few tips off just in case it was fungus. It's also lighter green than it used to be but I think that's because it's getting more light? It last had a new flower spike in August last year when I brought it home, does that mean I should anticipate another flower spike soon? Or will it hold off until the new pseudobulbs are full-sized?

[Brutal_Dreamer]

It had beautiful blooms and looks very healthy! The brown leaf tips are most likely being caused by the fertilizer. You probably need to wash the fertilizer residue out of the potting media pretty well. Over time, this fertilizer 'salts' build up will coat the roots and cause root loss. The first signs of this happening are the leaf tips turning brown. Just flush with pure water and it should be fine.

Cheers,
BD

[catttan]

Beautiful blooms and healthy plant.

[espranch]

It certainly likes being on your front porch... Grass green is what orchid leaves are supposed to be! Your plant looks very healthy...You'll probably get more flower spikes when the p-bulbs mature. Betty :-)

[gardenguysorchids]

Beautiful orchid. love the color and the plant looks really healthy. I do have a concern about your pot. Is it a glazed ceramic pot? Is the glazing on the inside? It is best to never plant an orchid in a glazed pot in that the glaze can kill the plant. Thanks for sharing your beautiful orchid.

[Dorsetman]

I have a concern about watering quite so freely when the thermometer is going down to 5 degrees. I'd space the watering out quite a bit with winter temperatures like that ; let the plant dry out between waterings.

[littlegarden]

Thanks everyone. I'll have a look at the type of fertilizer pellets I'm using, I wouldn't mind your opinion whether they're a "good" kind to use. The pot is ceramic BUT the orchid is actually potted in a black plastic pot. I like it that way because I can lift the plastic pot out of the ceramic pot, water it, let it drain, then put it back inside the "pretty" pot. I'll make sure the growing medium isn't wet between waterings in the winter; it can get quite windy in a Melbourne winter which I've found can still dry out the soil even in the cold.

Speaking of the growing medium, it's rather odd. It seems to be made up mostly of polystyrene, some kind of white fibrous stuff, and a bit of bark. And it keeps falling out of the pot because it's so light. Should I be worried about that, should I top it up with something else? It seems the orchid is happy and healthy, so should I just leave it alone?

[littlegarden]

OK I've found my orchid food: it's "Strike Back for Orchids." They're little brown smelly pellets. Description is this:

Pellet Form
Organic Based
Boosted Fertiliser

8:3:10 – The resultant product has an NPK ratio of approx 8:3:10 and has added magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, boron and molybdenum to the existing range of nutrients provided by its organic base.

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It sure seems to have a lot of nutrients, but I don't know what it means to say things like "as organic" and "as sulfate".

I couldn't really figure out the dosing so I just put a pinch (about 4 or 5 pellets) in the pot every 6 or 8 weeks or so.