Asctm. miniatum

   And this is the last of the plants I picked up from Forestview. I've always admired this cute and compact plant. Hopefully I can get this to bloom eventually. I also decided to mount it. Even though this is supposed to dry quickly and thoroughly, I feel better using sphagnum in my environment.

Oncidium spikes!

Ugh, once again due to my lazyness, I haven't uploaded photos to my Photobucket in a long time! Anyways, here are updated pics of my spiking Oncs.

Here is my Onc. Gold Dust with its spike just beginning to show buds!

And because I was bored and I could, I unpotted the Gold Dust and mounted it on some Epiweb!

And you can see a new growth starting from last years p'bulb to the right of center.

Here is my Tol. with its spike getting ever longer.

I really don't like this one's NoID status, I think I may sell it at my OS meeting on Sunday.

Cattleya porphyroglossa

This is yet another one I am excited to see blooming, Cattleya porphyroglossa. This 'chid can get p'bulbs a whopping 60 cm (2') tall, with several 7.5 cm (3"), fragrant flowers. Since I had originally bought the larger epiweb slab for the now dead Blc. Yellow Buttons, I decided to mount this little guy on it.

Here is the whole plant, with the largest p'bulb is about 5 cm (2.5") tall. It has two new growths, one that is a good while developed, and another just starting.

Here is the whole mount with plenty of room to grow in the future.

A close-up of the new growth.

And the back of the mount with a thin layer of sphag. This is the keep a little bit of moisture without having it around the roots.

Mounted Encyclia gracilis.

Okay, so among my OS purchases, I bought a small piece of epiweb for my Encyclia gracilis. Upon unpotting it, I found that it was actually two pieces of two p'bulbs. I ended up mounting it upwards, because that is the position it best sat in.

Here is some close-ups of the p'bulbs.

And the whole plant on its' mount.

Mounted C. forbesii

YAY!!! All three pieces of Cattleya forbesii are finally starting to show some growth!

Here is the one piece that started growing as soon as it was mounted, and it has a total of four roots on it that are happily trailing along the cork.

Here is the smaller three p'bulb division that is working on one new root, and I think a new growth too.

And finally, the largest of the three pieces, which took the longest to do anything. There is two roots that I can clearly see in this picture, and there is a total of six new root-tips, and I am hoping for a couple others.

I am excited for the roots to grow and attach themselves everywhere, because I really want to get rid of the dumb looking white thread.

Brassavola Grand Stars '#1'

I hope I hope I hope I hope I SO hope that this is the beginnings of a spike!!! As you've seen in my last post, I unmounted my B. Grand Stars '#1', and this is what I found on the larger division! I will keep you all updated!

So, after unmounting my B. Grand Stars '#1', I knew I would totally be out of room, and have nowhere to put three other pots, so I came up with a brilliant idea. I put a nail into each of the back two legs of my plant stand, and then I took some of that yellow string thread stuff and tied it to each end. I then poked some holes into the pots, and threaded the yellow string through it, and tied it to twist-tie hooks. Now, not only do I have room for these mounted and potted 'chids, but I will also have room for new 'chids I plan on buying at my next OS meeting! Ahh, I love a happy ending.

Dividing, Remounting and Potting, Oh My!

Did you know I just love the look of mounted orchids? The Brassavola Grand Stars '#1' you see mounted was the first orchid I ever mounted, so I didn't really get it on properly. Because of this, each new growth decided to go further and further away from the mount, and they actually started to turn around and send new growths away from the mount. Because of this, I decided to unmount the Brassavola, and divide and pot it up.

I was just going to make it two pieces, as it split way in the back, but because the roots were really tangled, I had to cut the back portion off, which left me with three four p'bulb pieces.

I potted them into CHC, and put a thin layer of sphag on top just to help with new roots. Come spring, I can sell or trade two of the divisions.

Here is my Bulb. Meen Legend Jewel in its' pot beside the mount the Brassavola was on.

Here is a quick shot of the crazy roots that were on this thing, and this was after I trimmed a bunch so I could fit it on the mount.

Here is a piece that wouldn't really fit on to the mount, so I cut it off and potted it separately. I will trade it come spring.

And finally, here is everything afterwards, all nicely mounted and potted up. The Bulbo conformed perfectly to the mount, which made it SO easy to mount!

Two little Backbulbs

   Okay, so this was a little experiment of mine. A little while ago, I divided my Bulb. nymphpolitanum, and a tiny two p'bulb piece fell off. Since I really didn't want to throw it out, and it had a good amount of roots, I decided to mount it to the outside of this little pot. I filled the inside with some sphag to keep it a little more moist. Also, a shorter while back, while I was mounting my C. forbesii, this two p'bulb piece fell off, so I stuck it in the sphag inside the pot. So far, the little Bulbo has actually started a new growth, and the Catt has survived thus far, so I will see if it grows anything.

Cattleya forbesii

   Yet another awesome plant I bought from Cloud's Orchids. This was an incredibly large plant for one listed as a small seedling. Since it was working on a bunch of new roots, I decided to divide it into three pieces. I was going to mount two and pot the smallest piece, but I decided not to at the last minute. Hope to see this baby bloom soon!

Brassavola Grand Stars '#1'

   B. Grand Stars (Little Stars x nodosa 'Remar') I bought this several months ago from a member of my OS, and decided to make it my first mounting attempt. It has two rows of p'bulbs, and each row has made a total of three new leads since I bought it, so I am hoping to see blooms soon.

Phalaenopsis lobbii

Here is my Phal. lobbii in spike. I also bought this from Cloud's Orchids a few months ago, and it has steadily been working on a few roots and a spike.

Angraecum dideri

   Here is my Angraecum dideri that I bought from Cloud's Orchids in Ontario, Canada this last August/September. He just sat there doing nothing until just a week or so ago when I noticed some new growing root tips, and possibly some growth on the newest leaf.