Loot from the Latest Show
 

A friend and I went down to our local annual Orchid show and sale yesterday. I went down with a list and am really happy because I managed to stay on track 2 for 5 haha! But I ended up with 4 orchids :)

These were on my list: the Neof. falcata (white).

I am over the moon with this little plant. There were none of the traditional pots for sale so I am going to either order one off the internet or I will attempt to make my own. It's such a lovely plant! Unfortunately I am very sick at the moment and therefore am unable to smell it :( hopefully it keeps it's blooms till i'm better haha!

And the P. Purple Martin

I was very surprised by the size of this little plant! I thought for sure it was going to be rather large, being a phal. and all but no! A delightful little flowered plant in the prettiest purple! I love the flower so, as they look like little birds to me!

These last two were NOT on the list but were similar to what I was looking for, so I broke down and bought them.

An Angcm. sesquipedale. I had gone in for a Angcm. leonis but couldn't find one anywhere at the show. I was talking to this vendor and he suggested the sesquipedale. It was not very expensive and when he told me it was the Darwin Orchid I admit I was a bit enthralled. This little one's in a bit of a rough shape. It's got a chunk missing from one leaf, a black spot on another and some water/mineral stains on it's leave (does anyone know how to clean that off? Water on a cloth didn't work). It's not terribly tiny but I suspect it's a few years from blooming. He did inform me that it would get much bigger then the leonis but I decided it would be ok to have one orchid in the house that was big, i'll just put it on the top shelf ;)

The last purchase was really a last minute purchase. This one vendor had tons of onc. and I had really wanted a onc. 'Twinkle'. He had some, but had not brought any to the show and he lives in another province. So I've put the onc. twinkle on the back-burner. I will have to find someone to buddy up with on shipping as I still want one. But he had mentioned this little plant and the more I looked at it, the more I fell for it!

Howeara Lava Burst 'Puanani' AM/AOS (no idea what these are abbreviations for). It's a charming little plant. Since I had gone in looking for smaller species I am not at all dissapointed with it's tiny blooms. It's not the same as the onc. twinkle but it's got it's own little character that I fall for every time I see it.


So now that i've shown photos, I did have a couple questions! Mostly about the two plants I had not researched before buying, haha oops.

Questions

Regarding the Angcm. sesquipedale
I know it needs moderate/high light. My main question about this plant is how much water does it like? Does it like to dry out in-between watering or does it want to be moist all the time? Wet?

Also does this plant develop thick roots? I am trying to figure out what grain of substrate will be best.

Regarding the Howeara Lava Burst 'Puanani' AM/AOS
Pretty much the same question,
1. How much water does it like to get? Allowed to dry out in-between?
2. How big do the roots get? Again, trying to pick a future substrate that will be suitable
3. This may seem like a silly question, as the plant is right in-front of me but I'm super sick so I can't actually smell it myself, does it have a scent?
4. How much light does it want?

And my very last question is, does anyone know a Canadian retailer for Neof. falcata traditional pots?

Thanks for looking guys!

Love that Purple Martin, that just went on the "wants list".

It's a really beautiful plant. I was on the fence about whether or not I wanted one, but then I just happened to recognize the shape of the flowers on a plant as I was walking by a vendor and realized it was the purple martin and I was immediately taken by how beautiful and adorable it is. The flowers are just under an inch each and it's very well proportioned. And i've been told by members in the other thread I posted that they are fairly easy to care for, similar to other phals.

Also, those photos are actually very accurate to the actual color of this plant's flowers. They are slightly more of a red purple then a blue purple though, but near identical to the photos.

Please click on this link for the Neofinetia vendor in Canada:

Neofinetia falcata

Thanks! They actually have the pot I wanted for a relatively good price. Now just gotta find out about shipping. That is usually the killer.

did you join the society?
AM/AOS means that the clone has received an award from the AOS ( american orchid society)

I think i got the same neo and another hybrid , but with less growths than yours.

Great picks! Enjoy! Enjoy!

I bought one, but when I looked in the pot I was horrified. The roots were dried and dead looking. He did send me two others as replacements, but they are much the same.
One tho does have a large ariel root, and I think it will be a bit like a vanda in care. As soon as I can safely rely on new roots then it is coming out the pot and into more open cultivation, ie bare root.
I certainly wouldn't pot it in aything small, only the largest bark chunks. I have been told that putting vands in anything less is a slow death sentance, so I am treating this in the same way.

I didn't join because I completely forgot (and ran out of money haha).

You probably did because it seemed like only the one vendor had them. That is also where I got the Purple Martin. So far i'm happy with the health of both plants. How are yours doing? I moved my neo. into one of those tiny plastic orchid pots after I drilled a large hole into the bottom. It seems happy and I look forward to enjoying it's night-time scent as soon as my cold goes away!

I think I know which hybrid you are talking about, it also is similar to the neo. right, but green flowers? There was one there with TONS of leaves and it looked so healthy I was debating whether to get it or not, but then I got the Howeara Lava Burst.

Thanks for clearing up those acronyms for me!

Yes i got the vanda green light,! She let me have that one and the neo for helping her with setup!
I also bought a bunch of others and my got preorder from them. They always have great, healthy plants and they are super nice people! I repotted my neo, and it is doing great along with all the rest of the plants i got from them!

I think i went a little bit overboard and ended up with 27 plants in total from the show :)

If you want to, you can always join at a society meeting.

I find rubbing alcohol on a cotton pad the best way to clean salt build up and hard water stains off leaves.

Thanks Plodde, that seems to be doing the trick!

Does anyone have any advice for my other questions? I'm worried i'm killing these plants (mostly the darwin orchid and the little onc.)

Just wanted to update that the onc. is doing pretty good so far but I did find out what was wrong with the Darwin Orchid.

After it lost a leaf (it went yellow) I thought maybe it wasn't getting enough moisture, so I lifted it out of it's pot with the intention of adding in some more spagnum moss to help up the humidity and what did I find?

Centipede and snail infested soil.

After shaking off the soil from the roots and smashing everything that moves with a small pebble till it moved no more I used water and vinegar to clean the pot and gave the plant a bath in some dawn soap heavily diluted with lots of water. I then replanted it in some clean orchid mix and I just watered it today. Hopefully this little guy perks up now.

Hello, BGL! I'm new here, but haven't yet been lead astray by my books

Angraecum:
they favor higher temperatures and humid air in spring&summer and like drier conditions during their winter period
apparently 70% to 90% humidity is their comfort zone, and its good to grow them in a terrarium/light box
they should be watered or misted almost daily
the book suggests their roots tend to "run free" on a mount or through a basket, and warns that they are especially slow to heal after any sort of trauma

They like coarse and loose mix (coarse bark or bark and charcoal) but miniatures like to be mounted


I don't have anything to offer about your Howeara, I'm sorry!

I bought a neo at our show this weekend! What do i look for when i google a pot for sale? What is it called?

Hey! MattWoelfsen gave a great link on the first page of this thread. You can also just look up Neofinetia pots on like ebay or google, especially if you live in the USA.

Also thank you! That is helpful. I think the centipides and snails had a lot to do with it's declining health but This is good to know that it needs such high humidity. I will be putting it on a water tray then. It currently is on quarantine (incase anything crawls out of the pot...) but soon it will be going back under a strong artificial light I have to meet it's light needs. Thanks for the help!

The Howeara is actually doing pretty good (knock on wood) with how i've been treating it so far, so we will see if that continues.

Too easy. I would never have thought thats what to look for! Ebay is my first go-to! Thank you!

No problem! and I hope they both pull through macro/micro
-bug free!!!:goodluck:

centipedes dont harm the plant but snails do...

it is true that angraecums HATE having their roots messed with. im pretty sure you wont be seeing anymore of those bugs since it sounds like you did quite a bit of cleaning. good luck!

Thanks guys! Good to know the centipedes weren't harming it because there were a LOT of them. There were only a few snails, but I had actually previously removed a bunch of that plant's original substrate and replaced it. I shudder to think how many centipedes and snails I actually handled without knowing it... Plus this little plant doesn't seem to have as many roots as it really should... In any case I was mildly aware that the angcm. were fussy about not being disturbed so I did not insist on taking away this bit of bark it had decided to clutch in it's roots with a death grip haha. So into the dishsoap water it all went.
I did notice some new root growth on it when I was deep cleaning, so I am optimistic it will recover. It already looks happier haha if that is even possible!

Great loot, mysterious as they are!