Disa vendors in US?
 

I highly recommend Wally Orchard of Afrodisa. Nice plants for amazingly cheap price. He is also helpful if you have questions.

Hey Paul, would your friend be Johnny?

Why yes, John, it would. :biggrin:

:biggrin:Thought so! He just brought up the subject over on TerraForums this morning.

hmm your wally orchard hasnt updated his site since 2009....I wouldnt expect anything from one who doesnt update their site and it leads me to think its a dead zone...

I've joined the party guys. Thanks for asking around for me !

Johnny

Welcome, Johnny. Which species (or hybrid) of Disa are you looking for? I assumed that you are looking for stream-side Disa (like D. uniflora, D. tripetaloides). Wally is one of the major Disa grower/hybridizer, and he has lots of hybrids as well as the stream-side Disa species. I'm interested in only species, so I got D. uniflola, D. tripetaloides, and D. aurata from Wally in spring 2014 (I'm pretty new to Disa). I posted a photo of D. aurata in another forum. D. uniflora flowered, but it didn't make the next tuber. So this summer, I got 6 or 7 additional D. uniflora seedlings (about $10 for a seedling). I haven't figured out how to grow them, and it is pretty challenging for me. Wally has several articles published about Disa culture (I think it's in Orchids magazine).

Tenman's web site if pretty fun to read:
disaculture

This ebook is a good deal:
A Disa Companion: The Art and Science of Disa Cultivation - Eric Harley, Sid Cywes, Peter Linder - Google Books

I'm only interested in species as well and yes, the streamside growing species are the ones I'm looking for specifically. Thanks for the info and who is Wally ?

Beautiful D.aurata by the way.

---------- Post added at 06:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:30 PM ----------

Sorry, didn't see your post above. I was actually checking that site out the other day but, it hasn't been updated since 2009. Maybe I should just shoot him an email ?

Yep, you just email what you are interested in, and he will get back to you with what he can sell.

I can't seem to get his email from his page. It keeps coming up with an error. Could you either pm or email it to me please ?

Hmmm, the link at the bottom of the page is the email contact I use. I contacted him in Sept 2014, and the email address worked. But I sent you an email.

I'm ordering from Dr. Heinrich Beyrle in Germany. He has Disa sagittalis and Disa bracteata available.

Be forewarned that Disa bracteata can naturalize in a semi-arid desert type habitat, so do not let them set seed. This is by far the easiest Disa you can ever grow. It is the one and only Disa I've been able to successfully grow through dormancy without a problem, and I am currently waiting for it to sprout.

Disa sagittalis is not nearly as difficult to grow as either Disa tripetaloides, Disa aurata, or Disa uniflora, but they are not as easy to grow as Disa bracteata would be.

Out of Disa tripetaloides, Disa aurata, and Disa uniflora, I've found Disa uniflora to be far easier to bloom.

Disa tripetaloides is easier to grow than Disa aurata is, and both grow better vegetatively than Disa uniflora does.

All other Disas are extremely tricky to grow.

These have been my experiences, if you have any questions, you can ask.

If any of you guys are interested in ordering either Disa bracteata or Disa sagittalis, pm me.

Please be committed if and when you order your plants.

Phillip do you have any experience with D. fragrans or thodei?

Disa thodei, yes, but very limited.

Disa fragrans, no.

Disa thodei I haven't figured out yet, but I imagine they are not terribly difficult. They don't like it wet, but they don't like it dry, it's somewhere in between. The bulb is rather large, and they sprout all over the bulb. The bulb is more like a potato than any of the other Disas, just because of the multiple shoots that can come out of just 1 good sized bulb. They have a tendency to be strongly deciduous by nature, in other words, their seasonal cyclical clock is spot on, there is no ambiguity about it. If you're getting some from the southern hemisphere, you will have an incredibly difficult time trying to acclimate these to a northern hemisphere seasonal cycle. These are purely summer growing.

How are you getting a hold of Disa thodei? This isn't even out on the market yet. I grew them from seed. Only the strong seedlings with good roots and a big bulb can survive, all others are shaky. Like many other terrestrial orchids, roots are not plentiful. I've only seen no more than 3 roots per bulb and that is a pretty generous number.

Disa fragrans I imagine would be similar to Disa thodei. Again, these are not really out on the market, the only way to do this is from seed. I haven't had the opportunity to even get seedlings yet.

For now, if you're out for a sure fire success, I wouldn't really try these out yet, a lot of this is uncharted territory. There is a lot of room for failure, so if you don't mind having to rack your brain to find a viable long-term solution to grow these beauties, then the only way to reliably source tons of these is through seeds. And trust me, you will be going through tons of these to figure it out.

---------- Post added at 06:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:51 AM ----------

Btw, Disa cardinalis is growable, but they are a bit touchy. You see, they like it a bit warmer than Disa tripetaloides, Disa aurata, and Disa uniflora do. But they don't like to dry out, just as the other streamsides don't like to dry out.

I would actually grow Disa cardinalis indoors rather than outdoors.

I'm getting seed myself. I plan on an outdoor set up where I can control moisture completely, and which will provide a bit of thermal protection from my zone 6 winters.

From what I understand, they can handle a light frost, I wouldn't subject them to that though. So, yeah, a protected site is not a bad idea.

Just a fyi, they need to be flasked, do not just sprinkle seeds on soil hoping that it'll work, because I guarantee it won't.

Grow in moderately bright indirect light. Do not grow in full sun, they will burn. They are not subjected to that in the wild.

---------- Post added at 06:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:10 AM ----------

If you're either a pro or enlisting a pro to help you flask, then they shouldn't be as difficult to flask as some of the other deciduous Disas are. They are still extremely difficult to flask, but they aren't nearly as tough to sow as some of the more exotic ones are. Keep in mind, I'm speaking in relative terms here - again, I'm by no means saying they're easy to sow.

I was debating whether to send them out for flasking. Guess this settles it.

Subrosa, may I ask your seed source for the Disas? I am finding D. thodei so far evergreen and very easy, like the streamside disa (unless the seed I got was not what it was stated as). you can see a picture of the D. thodei on the deflasking Disa thread.

Silverhill

Good evening, just ordered my first Disa, a uniflora, am looking for blue ones, a supplier of Disas. thanks

I don't have any blue Disas at this moment. I only have Disa marlothii available to sell, which is a miniature evergreen species with small pink flowers. The safest upper limit in temperature is 75 F and the safest lower limit in temperature is 40 F.

If you're interested and you can accommodate the plant's requirements let me know.

If you're set on the blue ones, you've gotta wait until I get some in or produce more.

In the meantime, I recommend learning how to grow Habenarias first to get the hang of growing stuff like the deciduous Disas.

Mine are seed grown in the US.

The seedlings of Disa marlothii are pretty rarely sold as live plants and this is my only batch.

Disa
 

Good morning,am searching for a supplier of Disa orchids, blue flowers in picticularaly a blue species. thanks

---------- Post added at 08:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:24 AM ----------

Well I was going togrow them with Masdevillias, should cover temperature range, more light. I've never tried Habenarias, have grown European terestials.

I would gladly grow one, johnlapointe8@gmail.com, price? many thanks

I am currently sold out for the time being. Please check back in a few months.

Rod and Rachel Saunders, founders of Silverhill Seeds in Cape Town, were kidnapped in February of this year while conducting field studies of Gladiolus species. They were then murdered. They had just been interviewed for a BBC show. They left the seed business to their employees, who are still running it.

Most of the community growing the wide range of South African plants they supplied are still very upset over this.