Whats happening here - orchids

Hello I bought 20 white orchid bulbs and put 10 each in 2 large pots about 2 months ago. Now I have 10 1 foot long leaves coming up from each and many are snapping under their own weight, they are nice and green so don't seem to be dying. I was expecting a long thin stalk with the flowers on top. I keep them watered but away from direct sunlight. Should I stake these leaves or is something else gonna hapen? As you can guess I am very new to this. Heres the pic. Thanks. PS should I put them in the sun?

 

Hi bill and welcome to the forum.

Are you sure they are orchids. I have never grown orchids so know nothing about them. But the central veins on those leaves make me think of Crocosmia. Crocosmia grows from a corm, which is effectively a small bulb.

If they are kept in the shed the light level will be pretty low. Under those conditions plants often grow tall and lanky, and may not bear their own weight. The way the leaves have bent over is typical of crocosmia, but that is not proof of anything as I am sure other things do it as well.

They probably do want more light than they appear to be getting there. I am not sure that orchids like full sun, but Crocosmia will.

 

Hello peter the packet definitely said white orchids thats what attracted me. They were a small bulb. I will put them in the sun now. Thank you.

 

They look to me like the leaves of Acindanthera {Peacock Orchid}The scent of them when in flower is fantastic but I have found that where I live here in the Midlands they are not hardy.

Bill you should be safe to put the pots outside now that frosts have now gone unless you live right up in the North of Scotland.You can stake them so that the flowers when they come don't flop all over the place and a feed with some tomato fertiliser when in flower will help them.

Don't forget to put the pots somewhere frost free for the winter before the frosts come or you might end up losing them...Good Luck

 

Kandy - That sounds right. I have never thought of Acidanthera as an orchid. And I see the name has now changed to Gladiolus callianthus. I found this :-

The leaves of acidanthera are straight and sword-like, resembling those of a distant relation, crocosmia. They emerge from corms the size of large hazelnuts so late in the summer that it is easy to give them up for lost. In September, lofty flower stalks follow and finally bear a succession of pure-white, hooded, slightly tubular and drooping blooms, each with a startling maroon throat, on a spike 2.5ft tall.

It has given me hope. I have just looked at my pot of them, which I have not grown before, and it is just brown compost. Not a sign of a leaf. Perhaps it will show later. Bill's look to be very forward on that basis.

I have just had another Google and found this :-

Tip: Acidantheras need a long growing season, and in zones north of 6 it's a good idea to plant the corms indoors in pots about a month before last frost to give them a head start. Transfer the plants to the garden without breaking the soil balls, or plant pot and all in the garden. Cover plants if fall frosts arrive before flowering stops.

So Bill, it looks as though you have done the right thing planting them inside. But I am sure they would like to see the sun now.

 

Thank you very much everybody I shall look after them as explained and post another pic when they flower

 

Pete,when I bought some a few years ago they were known as Acidanthera Muriale{not sure of the spelling off the top of my head}and now having bought some more this year the name I see has changed:p

I sent some down to Shiney for his open day but made sure I sent instructions about them not being hardy so that anyone who bought them would know to take them indoors for the winter.I believe they are a South African bulb and as you have found a form of Gladioli.When I tried Googling this morning for conformation of what they were I seemed to just get American sites come up which doesn't help us here in the British Isles:D

Looking forward to the photo's Bill:gnthb:

 

Thanks Bill, Marley and Kandy. I love threads like this. You learn from others and it makes you go and Google the subject and learn even more.

I don't know how Marley and Bill have done so well with their well established leaves. Your comments have just made me go and dig around in my apparently empty pot. And sure enough the corms are sprouting - but they are still below the surface level.

Kandy that was a nice way to support Shiney - what a good way for someone who can't get there in person.

 

Pete,I am a lot further south than you and the shoots on mine are only a couple of inches high in their pots so yours will probably be a bit further behind than mine.

Yes,I think the internet is a fantastic piece of technology because I have learnt far more in Googling subjects that we never learnt about at school.I only wish I had been taught about gardening as a subject when I was a kid as I might have tried for it as a career,but in my day there didn't seem much encouragement by the teachers in those sorts of subjects or much else for that matter:p

I dug up a few plants from the garden that I sent down to Mrs Shiney,one of which I can't remember the name of but it begins with the letter H and has chocolate spotted leaves,yellow flowers and seeds like mad:D,Oh and I also sent down some Anemone corms as well:p

 

This thread seems to have a lot of info. on Callianthus. Earlier this week, when I spent just over £1 on some seed potatoes to grow in bags, I was (as a discount card holder) given a free (my favourite price) pack of 20 Gladiolus Callianthus Acidanthera corms.

I was thinking of putting them in pots, but it states "Height 75cm/30" on the packet so I'm wondering what size pot and how many corms in it.

Some of them will go in large pots/tubs in the garden, but I'm wondering if it's feasible to grow in a pot size capable of being brought indoors whilst flowering. If that's possible can successional planting be employed to stagger the time they're in bloom?

 

Just to say, it's a member of the Iris family, not an Orchid (I hate common names as they're so misleading).

They're perfectly hardy, but as Marley points out growing them in pots allows them to get going earlier. The flipside is that in the ground you'll end up with huge corms that will almost certainly catch up.