Wasn't sure what to title this thread.
So, some of you know I suffer from a condition that, while can at times be controlled, will never go away. It makes my skin dry, makes wearing my contacts difficult and sometimes it causes me to wake up with a serious dry mouth if I fall asleep with my big mouth open.
I suffer from ultra low humidity. I'm not ashamed of this condition any more because I know its not my fault.
However, since I'm addicted to orchids, which love humidity and air, I have a really problem on my hands! So yes, I have to come up with crazy ways to make my orchids not only survive but thrive, because in the end I want them to bloom and be awesome.
In a recent thread titled "orchid fatigue" I admitted the exhaustion I've been feeling with my collection. While I love most all orchids, I'm finding them tiresome because I need to water or debug or whatever the issue. During this time, however, I've grown fond of vandaceous type orchids, from Vandas to hybrids to neos. It's the neos, however, that I've grown very fond of. I have a tiny bean leaf type that is a cool plant even out of bloom. I decided I would pot it the tradition Japanese way and so far, it is working out great! However, I need to extend the time between watering as I don't want to feel orchid fatigue again and I do travel a few days at a time. I the end, if I come home from work, which I work at night, and I'm exhausted I want to be able to go to bed without worrying if the pants need my attention or not.
The neos are small and so are their pots so I came up with a new purpose for an old wine bottle. At first, I went small...
Turned out to be too small to take the plant in and out without the risk of injury for both the pant and my fingers. I also needed to repot the thing because it was staying too wet for too long.
Then I planted it traditional Japanese style and upped the bottle size. CAUTION: you must be prepared to polish of wine in order to use these bottles for orchids. Do not use wine bottles for orchids if they still have wine in them. It's not good for the plant and its a travesty against the wine.
So I repotted the plant and then cut a bigger bottle to fit it. However, doing that meant I was also exposing the plant to more air, this drying it out too fast. I had to come up with a way to balance ventilation, the ease of removing the plant for periodic checks and for watering but also keep it moist enough to not have to water every single day, but not too dank that it doesn't get air.
And so when I cut the bottle, I saved the piece I cut out.... Added hinges and now I have a neo house.
A thermometer probe inside suggests the plant enjoys 70 to 75 degrees during the day with some exposure to sun and 60s at night. I limit the amount of water if its pretty cold out and thus my sun room is cold too. I'm actually experiencing the plant growing new root tips on existing roots. No new roots yet!
It's been in this a week and I can go three days if I water it moderately. I imagine I can go four if I add a bit more and that gives me another day or two of it being dry that will allow me to complete most trips I take. Woo! Testing continues.
Orchid Keeping Innovations
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