(Part 2) Top products from r/orchids

Northen's Home Orchid Growing is dated, but a very good book on cultivation. Bechtel's Manual of Cultivated Orchid Species is excellent- I think there's a newer edition out, but to heck if I can remember when it was published.

Ortho's orchid book is surprisingly good- mainly on cultivation.

Isobyl's New Encyclopedia of Orchids is excellent.

If she likes specific genera- paphiopedilums, phalaenopsis, cattleyas, dendrobiums, etc.- there are specific texts on each of these, and many more.

For slipper orchids, one of the latest is Slipper Orchids of the Americas, a comprehensive and authoritative review of Phragmipedium, Mexipedium, and Selenepedium. It was released last year, so it's very up to date. It has sections on taxonomy, ecology, and evolution. It takes an in-depth look at each species, has lots of amazing full color photos and while it's very technical at times, it's also very readable and understandable.

The Genus Paphiopedilum is another book by Phillip Cribb, and as the title suggests, it's focused entirely on Paphiopedilums. It's a little dated now, and there are at least a dozen or more species that have been discovered since, but it's still a great resource. There are sections on ecology, evolution, hobby care, etc. Similar to above, there is a lot of technical terminology, but even if you aren't well-versed in the terms, it's still very readable.

Cribb has also produced Genus Cypripedium and Hardy Cypripedium: Species, Hybrids and Cultivation. The former is a monograph similar to The Genus Paphiopedilum and Slipper Orchids of the Americas and a very similar format. I read through the entire book several times back after it was first released, but I do not own it. The newer book was a surprise to me since I wasn't aware of its existence until just a few moments ago, but I can only assume it's a great source of information since Werner Frosch and Cribb are involved.

Tropical Slipper Orchids is a book by Harold Koopowitz (another important name in slipper orchid taxonomy and breeding). I don't own this one and have only seen it in passing, but it's perhaps a little more approachable for hobby growers and breeders. It covers Paphs and Phrags, and it differs from the Cribbs books in that it spends more time on breeding and hybridization (there's a short chapter in the Cribbs books, but nothing particularly exhaustive).

Anyway, many (maybe most) of the common genera of orchids have similar resources.

This is what I did:
1. misting system
2. timer
3. water filter
And if you need it:
4. hose Y connector

I connected the Y connecter to the spigot, connected the timer to that and the water filter to the timer, misting system to the water filter. Spigot->timer->filter->misting system. The trickiest part is setting up the misting heads because they just give you a long length of piping and you have to cut it down and place the misting heads according to your needs. In the pack there are about eleven (don’t remember exactly) misting heads (they look like black plastic T’s) and one piece that looks like a misting spigot that’s actually a three way connector (the other ten are just two way connectors with the third being the misting outlet that you screw the brass misting head into). There’s also only one end cap plug that fits into the connecter hole for one of the misting heads to finish/cap off the line when you get to the end). Because I incorporated the 3 way connecter to have two layers of lines running parallel to each other, I just capped off the end of one of the lines with the end cap plug and the other with hot glue. A little janky but effective! So far, the misting system has been doing a much better job of watering the orchids than I ever was doing it manually. After you set it up you should do a trial run to see if all the heads are misting properly and if the timer works correctly. If you’re having issues with the misting heads not misting, try unscrewing them a little to see if loosening it helps. If not, I think they give you one extra brass misting head so swap it out for the spare and see if that helps. Good luck!

Ok so here's my more detailed post like promised.

Generally I like to keep the grow room around high 70 F - low 80 F during the day and low 60 F at night with humidity around 70-75%. Most orchids and carnivorous plants love this setting.

This is my carnivorous grow area. There used to be a lot more fly traps here but since they are now in the fridge for winter dormancy, this has been turned into a nepenthes and orchids sanctuary. I take most of my pictures here simply because it has the best light. I used a fixture of 4 T5HOs Agrobite with 3 6500k and 1 2700k to cover a wider range of spectrum.

This is my display area. I like to put my blooming orchids on this stand which also is very close to my computer so I could catch the orchids fragrances occasionally. For this I use this stand and a grow light.

This is my regular phal rack. There are 3 like this one, where my non-blooming phals live (and blooming too if I run out of place at my display stand). I use this as my main light and extra supplement grow lights same as above.

I can't see the ingredients on that one, but this is the bottle I got which is a lot more cost effective https://www.amazon.com/Bayer-Advanced-502570-Action-24-Ounce/dp/B000BQR01A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1495394572&sr=8-2&keywords=bayer+rose+and+flower.

I would keep an eye on the other plants, but don't stress too much. I've had the occasional mealy or scale pop up but swift action has kept them at bay. I think there's a good chance you caught this early enough you'll be okay.

Second on superthrive. [Amazon has good prices on the larger bottles] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EJ0PD4/) and it goes a long way. I use 1 mL per gallon in all of my watering and feed solutions with good success.

It is ok to leave any roots growing out of the pot in the air. I wouldn't remove soil for the purpose of exposing roots that are growing down in the media though. They will be fleshier and adapted to the more humid dark environment in the soil. If you've had the plant for two years and haven't repotted it yet you should think about doing that soon. Any organic material in the media, like bark, decomposes and will only last two or three years. Here's a good video on how to repot Phalaenopsis. A good fungicide/viricide to use when repotting is Physan 20

Self watering systems can be a good investment if you travel a lot and have several plants. A good friend to come over to water is another idea.
http://www.amazon.com/Claber-8053-4-Programs-Automatic-Watering/dp/B000U5YFR4

Okay, here's what I did!

First, I actually put no work into picking a piece of wood. I ordered one of these and figured that unless it was awful, I could make it work. Too true!

Then I gathered everything else: plain dried sphagnum moss, live mood moss, and stretchy bead cord.

I fidgeted around with the plant and the bare piece of wood to figure out where it would ultimately sit, then once I had a good spot, I laid the roots across the wood in ways that went with the direction they were growing naturally. Some of the roots I threaded through holes in the wood; others I gently pushed into cracks.

I held the plant in place and started to place small amounts of dried moss over the roots, just enough to cover them. Holding all of that with one hand, I cut a length of cord, about 12" long, and wrapped it around the wood, moss, and roots. Just enough to hold it in place, I tied it off at the bottom and trimmed the ends.

From there, I built up moss around the base of the plant, and then incorporated pieces of live mood moss. I used probably three more feet of cord to secure everything down and make sure every piece was secure.

Next came the tray. I bought one of these and filled it with pebbles. Those serve two purposes: first to hold the wood at an angle I like (pile the rocks up where they're needed) and second to keep the wood from touching the bottom of the tray.

To water, I just fill the tray up. Weekly I add a regular amount of fertilizer (instead of weekly weakly) since it has to leech into the wood. Then to keep bacteria or mildew from accumulating, I occasionally add this stuff to the water. This setup has been here since about June, and I've had no bacteria or mold in the water. Have not had to clean the tray out once!

I have two more orchids on mounts (a neofinetia falcata and a "Charles M. Fitch", whatever it's actually called) in the same tray, but one of them is sort of oddly droopy and hasn't really "settled in" yet. The other one looks nice; maybe I'll post a pic in the morning.

https://www.miraclegro.com/en-us/products/garden-tools/miracle-gro-soft-wire-tie

Not exactly the same, but I’ve used this before

But now I like to just use raffia. Cheap and natural looking

https://www.amazon.com/Yolyoo-Natural-Florist-Bouquets-Decoration/dp/B07YDGTM9C/ref=asc_df_B07YDGTM9C/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=385339537136&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2018842073725668075&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1026278&hvtargid=aud-829758849484:pla-828715835498&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=81510837514&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=385339537136&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2018842073725668075&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1026278&hvtargid=aud-829758849484:pla-828715835498

Here is the orchid specific one that actually has almost same ratio as the “grow” one. But that set is nice if you have more orchids. The “bloom” one has seemed to help mine bloom.

Dyna-Gro ORC-008 Fertilizer, 8-Ounce https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001ARQ0HO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_PKEzCbJ5QTTZW

I bought this a while back for my office - now it does double duty keeping the orchids humidity up.

http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Office-Bedroom-Ultra-sonic-Humidifier/dp/B000UB8358/ref=sr_1_17_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1459015732&sr=8-17&keywords=mini+humidifier

It's a wonderful little unit and if it's being used strictly to keep humidity around a small group of orchids - you should be able to keep it going on a timer for a couple days.

I'd reccomend this book not for nothing, but it taught me how to koke in one day, it explains it extremely well.

That would work, as long as the fertilizer is “urea free.”

Also here are a couple of good orchid fertilizers:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000OWLAJO
Or
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B076HS3SRW (or https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002KFQ8I6 depending on the kind of water you use)

www.amazon.com/Bionaire-Reversible-Airflow-Window-Control/dp/B000065DKJ

When I ordered orchid pots from a store online they gave me some of this stuff for free: Summit 116-12 Quick Kill Mosquito Bits, 8-Ounce https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001LE1VC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_jl3JDb43N6AAF