Quote:
Originally Posted by Dollythehun
Forgive me for asking, what is wrong with your growing sarea to give so much trouble?
|
[You made me feel like the pope...] Anyway to answer your question: My living space is a one-room studio with a balcony facing northeast (the sun starts to fill in around noon). The orchid/plant-growing area is the balcony which in this part of the world doubles as a clothes drying area. For some reasons, dryers (as in washers and dryers) haven't taken on with the general populace - I put this in the same "unknown mysteries" category as other culture shock phenomenoms such as un-heated swimming pools, freezing one's a## off air-conditioned buses, and pizzas smothered in ketchup, among others. Members on this board have one time or another given helpful hints such as, netting to avert the blunt of direct sunlight, birdbath to dampen the air, etc. However, on laundry day, wet laundry takes center stage. The more stuff I had to move around, the more roots, leaves, spikes got snapped off as collateral damage. In my wildest dream, a dryer would fix the problem, but the problem is where to put it? on the balcony?
I guess my predicamment is on par with those in the states who live in apartments with just one big window and have to grow plants on windowsill (and huff and puff dealing with the consequences accordingly). Regarding the plant itself, case in point the rhy gigantea I'm having, it needs lots of moisture and subdued sunlight, to which condition my balcony is anathema (no moisture with baking sun). I have to constanly dunk the rhy in water bucket whenever I'm at home. Still that's not enough, the vendor at the market said it needed to be sprayed several times a day, which I'm not keen (read too lazy) to do. It feels like you live in a small apartment and you're raising a doberman pinscher, lots of work and never enough. All the rhys that I have had, my being a slave to them was never enough. All it took is one forgetful afternoon and they're cooked!
Common words of wisdow on this board say that you plant whatever your planting condition can handle (or should it be the other way round, you plant whatever can handle your planting condition?) Thus I was happy to discover the digbyana that one member kindly pointed out from the show which seems to be balcony-tolerant... Also I have had some luck with the mokara that seems to continue to thrive (and even re-bloom during my absence.)
However in the course of a year I will still manage to have another one - or two - rhys when their blooming season comes (around our year-end holiday), simply because oh lord, I can't (or can?) help myself!
Hybrid Mode
