Polyrhizia lindenii (ghost orchid)

[littlefrog]

I have mostly killed several, and picked up some new ones at Oak Hill last month. These are mounted on grape vine, and i have them hanging about 3 inches above a pond in the greenhouse. They look great, actually. But it hasn't been very long.

[Gold3nku5h]

how large were they when you got them from oak hills?

[gmdiaz]

OK, I've gone and done it! I ordered a ghost orchid from Oak Hills Gardens.

This will be my "winter" project plant.

flhiker: What kind of trees do they grow on in Florida? Apple something or other? Not sure what kind of wood it will come mounted on but I might need for you to pick me up a good stick on one of your trudges through the wetlands. . .if you don't mind too much.

I have a big glass jar that I was thinking to make into it's home. . .oh boy this is gonna be fun!

I hope I don't kill it.

[gixrj18]

If it lives in the wetlands, it probably grows on cypress, or cedar. Mine is on a cedar log with the "Project 4 Aerangis", and Enc. cochleata. It seems very happy ,so far. When I took it off the cedar shim that it came on, it fell all apart.....but it is still doing great!

[gmdiaz]

Hiya Jasen,

I've been researching on the web this evening. . .they grow probably on other trees as well, but they specifically mention Pond Apple trees.

I've also read that they do well on stainless wire mesh.

What conditions are you growing yours in?

[flhiker]

Hi Gwen, Some how I missed this thread Sorry, The ones I have found in the wild are mostly on Pop Ash, but I have seen them on Bald Cypress and Pond apple. I have located more the a dozen. Good luck and I also have ordered a couple from Oak hill 1 for me and the other for my hiking buddy. The discouraging thing is, out of say 15 plants I have found on 1 flowered.

[gixrj18]

Well, luckily, my back porch isn't a far cry from it's natural habitat. I live just north of where it grows, so it gets just about the same weather as it would in it's habitat. I also have misters set up on a humidistat, and a little bit of plastic around the porch, which helps with the humidity.

[gmdiaz]

I am really excited to try growing a ghost orchid and a little bit encouraged because I just found this interesting bit by a guy named Andy, that had fantastic success. Beyond all hope, he managed to grow one so well, that it produced nine blooms over a period of 81 days!

Here's a cut, copy and paste of what he said in a post at gardenweb.com forum back in October 2006:

"Learn as much as you can by reading about and researching the Ghost Orchid and its culture requirements. You "arm" yourself with the best information you can find, and then you have a "head-start" at growing the orchid. I have done the best job I could at trying my luck with the Ghost Orchid, but I am of the opinion that if a plant dies because "conditions" inside my greenhouse weren’t right, then I don’t try growing it. Changing the conditions in a greenhouse is just too much work for me, so I attempt to fit the plant to the environment that I already have.

My Ghost Orchid is kept in a 17’x30’ polycarbonate exterior greenhouse (along with my cattleya and vanda orchids) with a 63% shade cloth. Although I have a 63% shade cloth, my greenhouse is very bright. I imagine that the Ghost Orchid growing in the Fakahatchee Strand State Game Preserve gets "plenty" of light and high temperatures in atmosphere heavy with moisture, but my mounts here in SW Georgia do dry out between watering. The greenhouse has a concrete floor that I water down on the very hot days to increase the humidity and lower the temperature.

There are two fans on the floor at the west end of the greenhouse that run 24/7, so the air circulation is very good. I try not to let the lowest winter night-time temperature get below 55degF, but it has dropped to 50 on occasion. I mist spray the entire greenhouse in the Smmer when the Smmer day-time temperature inside reaches 108degF. I would like to keep the Smmer daytime temperatures lower here, but again it would just be too much work for me to do more than I am now doing. In South Florida I know that the temperatures get pretty high, but as long as there is a high humidity, they seem to do pretty good. I know that if they stay wet, the roots will rot.

When I first got the plants I also bought 'Plant Success' Fantastic Fungi micorrhizae tablets from Charley’s Greenhouse to spray and dip the plant in occasionally (product #7170 - 75 tablets for $19.95). Also, when I first got the plants I kept them hanging beneath a plastic bell. The plastic vented plant protector (product #1747 - Solar Bell - 3 per pak, 13" diam. x 10" high for $19.95) is from Charley’s Greenhouse too. When the plants started to really grow, I removed them from under the plastic bell. The clear plastic bell didn’t provide any shade but was used to keep any drafts off the young tender plantlets and to hold the humidity around them. The mature plant hangs in the center of the greenhouse on the east end facing south and are out of the direct flow of air which would dry them out too quickly here where I live.

I do fertilize it with Better-Gro fertilizer, and I also use Superthrive. I dip the entire mount into a large pail of the fertilizer - Superthrive - water, sometimes several times a day. (I use 1/2 tsp fertilizer and 2 or 3 drops of the Superthrive per gallon of water.) With my environment during the Summer, with the air flow I have and the high temperatures, the mounts dry out within an hour or two. I fertilized the Ghost Orchid pretty often from last September to March, but I slacked off when it actually started blooming. During that period from September to March, I was also using Superthrive in the fertilizing solution.

I use "Orthene" as a systemic pesticide. It works good for me, and I have used it on the Ghost Orchid to get rid of wooly scale.
Years ago, when I first got the Ghost Orchids, I mounted them on a larger mount, but I didn't remove them from the mount they came on. I just attached that mount to the larger one that I had."

Think I'll see about those tablets and a plastic bell of some sort. . .probably just get a big clear plastic pot. lol He has some great ideas.

[Ghostorchid77]

My terrarium,

With Ghost:




Mist system and fogger:

[Neverend]

Wow, that's really cool!