Moth Orchids

Moth orchids give great value and each flower lasts for months. Supermarkets sell them, but have no idea how to look after them. I look out for the sad ones going cheap. A little TLC and they are fine again. They require very little compost, not too much water and good light, but not direct sunlight.

 

Hornbeam.Your Moth Orchid ..Phalaenopsis photo's are fantastic.We have some,which we find easier to keep nowadays,than when we brought them over 20 odd years ago.
The range of colours is a lot better now.
When I go round to visit my friends I always end up watering theirs or checking to make sure they are ok.

We also grow Sipper Orchids...Paphiopedilum Hybrids and also Cybidium Hybrids in a range of colours

You are right when you say thatb supermarkets don't know how to grow them. I agree with you entirely

Kandy

 

Supermarkets (and a lot of so called garden centres) aren't interested in looking after plants. They are only interested in sales so they put plants in the worst possible places subject to draughts, poor light, blasting heaters and are either unwatered or drowned (ususually on a rotating basis) at supermaket entrances. As long as they live long enough to get through the checkout that's all that matters.

Always worth checking end of line reduced items though. Occasionally you get a real gem that just needs a bit of TLC but buyer beware!

Off topic: a real garden centre horror story (Dobbies - Kinross) was when I was looking at small trees. I found a lovely looking ornamental malus, nice shape, good blossom that was reduced by 50%. Too good to miss or too good to be true?

As I circled and hovered over this 'bargain' my eyes went downward to check the graft - looked sound and OK but lower down just above pot level the whole rootstock trunk had been ringbarked by either squirrels or rabbits! A dead stick waiting to happen. Others in the same bargain area had plastic 'protection' collars slapped on to disguise it. Nobody can tell me this sharp practice wasn't instigated at manager level.

Moral: Always double check your plants and be suspicious of anything that stops you viewing the whole thing.

 

Another orchid rescued from supermarket negligence for a fiver. Not a moth orchid but the last name in the A-Z: Zygopetalum mackaii from Brazil

 

I HATE supermarket shopping, but this photo has suddenly added a great deal of interest in the job!

Must go on a bargain hunt.

 

I bought 2 phalaenopsis from the garden centre yesterday for �£5- nothing wrong except they've just about finished flowering. Quite nice size plants as well.

 

What is the best way to care for them after flowering, Liz? Do they need a rest?

 

My experience is that they don't need to rest. I cut the flower spikes back to 2-3 nodes after flowering and continue as normal. [With a small plant, best to cut the spike off to give it time to grow and not expend all its' energy on flowers]. My house is slightly too cold (usually!) so they grow more slowly but my daughters' are often developing one spike as soon as one is finished, and bigger ones will have more than one spike at a time. I don't move them, find a level of light they like and then pretend they're not there! If they're growing OK they probably need repotting or composting every year after which they take a few months to start up again.
I have much more difficulty with ones like yours and the odontoglossums.[Pl?]
Sometimes a spike will not result in a flower but a new little plant called a 'keiki'.

 

Thanks Liz. Yes, I understand that the terrestial orchids are more difficult than the epiphytes.

 

Not a good picture, but you can see I got a bargain!

Will try again later.

 

I had quite a surprise on Monday when I walked past my local greengrocer and say a tray of really healthy and sturdy yellow Phalaenopsis just at their peak. He was asking �£4.99 !!! so I decided it would be rude not to. There were also some exceptionally fine Dipladenias on cane trellises looking bigger and better than I've ever seen in garden centre or nursery for just �£6.99. I'm kicking myself for not taking up some Disas that he had about 6 weeks ago. They were �£6.99 and in very fine fettle. He only has 6 and they were all gone in just a couple of hours :(
For a greengrocer, the man certainly has a 'good eye'.

 

Are you sure he's a greengrocer Dave?
I wouldn't mind having a go at a Disa, dont think I've ever seen them for sale.
He's prices seem pretty good aswell.

 

Certainly is Pete - took over from his dad when he died. He's improved the shop and started selling plants and cut flowers about 2 years ago. There's usually something interesting there - back in April, I bought a pair of Limequats for just under a fiver each and they are as good as any I've seen in garden centres and nurseries for 5 times the price. He's got some exceptionally nice plants of Dipladenia rosea that are big and massed with flower for just 6.99 but they would have to come in for winter and space is too limited.

Disas are definitely worth a try. I grew them a long time ago and they were amongst the most rewarding of orchids. I've even grown them from seed and got them to flower in just over 3 years, which sets them apart from almost every terrestrial orchid I can think of. I bought a small pot of Disa tripetaloides from a local nursery a few months back and that promises to be a good garden plant for here at least. It's a parent of several hybrids, which gives them greater cold tolerance over D. uniflora. I want to 'play' with it more and try to develop a range of near hardy, large flowered reds etc. I live in hope Well, it keeps me out of the pub!

 

Well I would be happy to have a good disa in a pot. Growing them outdoors is something else.
I tried once from seed,but had no sucsess, must have another go sometime.

 

I was in that awful huge garden centre Bybrook Barn in Ashford and they had a load of dendrobiums that had finished flowering for �£2 each, and a good sized clivia for �£3.

Don't ask me why I didn't buy one.