Last Sunday I finally managed to get to the Hardy Orchid Society AGM and plant show at Kidlington in Oxfordshire after five years of prevarication, procrastination, being too busy and being in the wrong country.
As I expected it was generally interesting, fun and informative interspersed by some bits which were less interesting to me at least - but the HOS is a broad church (in some respects) and covers quite a range of opinions and passions, at least those relating to orchids!
While I was there I also managed to acquire a few additions:
From Richard Manuel (who supplied the first orchids I purchased about six or seven years ago, and which perished rather quickly in the depths of my meadow...) I bought:
Anacamptis morio (Green winged orchid) - flowering size perhaps?
Epipactis palustris (Marsh Helleborine) - 2 small seedlings.
From Laneside I bought:
1 Dactylorhiza maculata (Heath spotted orchid) quite robust
1 mystery Dactylorhiza (purperella or praetermissa?)
From John Haggar
1 Gymnadenia conopsis (Fragrant orchid) hopefully flowering size
1 Dactylorhiza praetermissa (Southern Marsh orchid) flowering size
1 Dactylorhiza umbrosa - an unusual east Anatolian species so breaking my natives only rule, this way looms trouble...
Posted at 09:21 PM in Orchids | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
My second attempt at recording the flowering of an Anacamptis laxiflora, not really very successful the early part of the video really did not work since the flower stalk grew at such a rate that I had to move the camera to keep it in the frame. The choice of the grey sheet as a background is not ideal but the biggest problem is the variation in light levels - clearly the only way to do this is in a studio where you can control the light levels. I'll wait until I have more orchids to spare, more time to play with and a room I can sacrifice. I guess that'll be when I retire at the age of 85...
Posted at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
My Anacamptis laxiflora is now starting to fade. It has been wonderful having such a gorgeous (nearly) native orchid not just surviving but thriving in my care. I thought that I had lost all my pictures due to a careless bit of disk copying but have just found this little beauty:
Makes it all worthwhile...
I also found a picture showing the weird budding of the Ophrys sphegodes plant which is currently drying out and getting ready for being put to bed for summer. In fact, i think the flower is starting to flower already here.
It did not preceed any further than this. One suggestion from the immensely helpful Terrorchid forum is that I should try planting it more deeply next year, indicated by this year's tuber being significantly lower than the previous one - I will certainly give this a go, but I also think I got the balance of watering wrong, and erred too far on the side of caution in my fear of losing another Ophrys to rot. So tricky...
Posted at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Unfortunately the pictures I took of the single remaining Ophrys sphegodes flowering on a very short flower stalk (so that it did not appear to be flowering at all) were accidentally deleted. I also deleted the decent pictures of the A. laxifolia plant I have, but this is still in bloom - must remember to take some more soon.
The Ophrys has dried up nicely so I uprooted it gently:
It appears to have a good looking tuber, and I will seal it up with the pot in a ziplock bag. I am not sure whether the leaves and stem should be seperated, I assume not, and I am not certain about whether to add water to the pot before sealing it - I will seek some advice before I continue.
Posted at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The Anacamptis laxifolia I purchased last year from Laneside is now starting to flower. I am trying to record this as a time lapse, although I am just recording its development in the greenhouse rather than a studio - I don't want to put the plant at any risk.
I am using a Nikon D200, a plug in intervalometer, a 60mm Macro lens and an AC adaptor wired into the Blagdon switch I ha be for the heater.
Posted at 09:01 PM in Orchids | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I had another orchid seed sowing session today. I sowed the remaining Anacamptis pyramidalis seed in a flask of oats medium (I had to autoclave this twice due to leaving the parafilm on, hopefully this won't have damaged it). I reduced the bleach concentration to 5% (0.5% NaCl) in line with Svante Malmgren's recommendation, both for the A p and for the Himantoglossum hircinum which I sowed in an asymbiotic medium in two pflasks - the large seed allowed a lot of the excess water to be syringed off. I also sowed one flask of Ophrys sphegodes and five of O. apifera, again asymbiotically.
Thr best moment of the day came when I checked the asymbiotic flasks I had sown in early February. In contrast to the Dacts I sowed in 2011, these showed no signs of germinating quickly. This is generally the case when using the asymbiotic method but I was starting to worry that to had not sterilised the seed correctly (too much or too little bleach, for the wrong amount of time and/or not well enough rinsed). This may be the case but one of the Anacamptis laxifolia flasks appears to show signs of germination, which gives me hope for the others!
Posted at 08:56 PM in Orchids | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
This is a wicking raised bed I made yesterday from a recycled plastic worm bin I had made last year from a platerer's bath - it was successful but I think this is a better use. There is a 30mm flexible hose with holes drilled in a 75mm layer of txgravel, on top of which is a 225mm layer of gritty compost. This is separated by a barrier made of a layer of capillary matting and shading fabric. Wicking beds work by surface evaporation drawing up water from the reservoir by capillary action. At the moment I am just using it as a plunge bed since the Dactylorhizas I have are all quite small but I hope to use it as a proper bed as they get larger. I am also hoping to make an acid bed later.
Posted at 07:30 PM in Orchids | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
I have wrecked my back lifting rubble and rubbish soil so I am resigned to virtual gardening. Here is what I have been up to with my orchid seeds so far this year.
Posted at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Last Thursday (1/12/11) I examined the three vessels containing the D. fuchsii protocorms and found some mould growing in two of them. I opened them up carefully In my glove box and carefully cut out the affected areas. Only time will tell if I was careful enough. I put the flasks in the fridge, where they can stay for the next three months. The shoots are about 10mm and seem to be doing quite well, considering.
I also prepared a couple of flasks to pot up the D praetermissa protocorms I have. I will leave these until I am sure they are not infected.
Posted at 10:56 PM in Orchids | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)