2015 Orchid Collection

Recently I've been going on an orchid rampage and been collecting them like crazy this year. Why did I get into Orchids? I love the way their flowers bloom and how one plant each are individually unique from one another as they bloom. Here is a growlist of orchids I've collected so far in alphabetical order.

GrowList:

• No Fragrance
• Suppose to have Fragrance - Not Yet Observed
• Light Fragrance
• Mild Fagrance
• High Fragrance

Banfieldara Guilded Tower "Thai Gold"

Beallara (Aliceara)  Pacific McCully "Pacific Matriarch"

Cattleya (NoID)
Catasetum "Wine Delight"

Dendrobium Antennatum
Dendrobium Frosty Dawn
Dendrobium Discolor
Dendrobium Nobile (NoID)

Adenium Seedlings

The seedlings were growing faster than the first week, I notice the saran wrap was starting to drip onto the first set of leaves of some of the seedlings so I  took it off. It caused a bit of damage on the leaves when I got back home from work, I suspect water damage.

 Top right seedling got water damaged

Adenium Germination

Around 3-4 days seedlings would start to sprout through the light layer of the soil. I want to introduce them to the sun already but of course through many research, a lot of people has suggested that it  wasn't good to idea give them direct/full sun. So as precaution I am using the mesh curtain more often when I put them out and double layer the curtain some more for safety when the sun gets real high. I wouldn't want to burn or stress out the seedlings. They are still undergoing artificial light during the nights.  Not sure if they should get 24/7 hours of light now they are seedlings due to the consideration on the amount of energy they are using to grow. I have lost 2 seeds...due to irresponsible reasons.

May 8, 2014 (Click to Enlarge to view Seedlings)

Sowing Adenium Seeds

Some of you may be interested in sowing adenium seeds and the best time to do it is in the summer. This is my second time in doing so, the first time was not a success either because I over watered and caused the seed to rot or because it's been baked in the sun. Either way, we all learn from our mistakes. On May 5, 2014 I sowed in sixteen adenium seeds, each four pairs are different species that I've gotten online. I do not know if they will all sprout like their parent plants, but that's what I'm going to find out when they start to bloom in the future (if they survive). From what I've researched, good seeds should be able to germinate from 4-7 days if not 10. Usually seeds that do not sprout within the range of days will not germinate into a seedling. If they do, they will likely be weak plants.

Sowed Adenium seeds, labeled and wrapped in saran wrap.

My Miniature Greenhouse (Experimental)

It wasn't until recently I had an idea to convert one of my old fish tank into a miniature green house. For the top to keep in the humidity I thought of cutting up some large plastic that I had laying around to the size of the opening of the tank. Few holes poked in for ventilation. However, it didn't really work as well as saran wrap (plastic/clear wrap) does. For the light fixture I use a 15 watt 18 inch grow light. I feel it isn't strong enough to bring the heat into the tank, but I'm not going to try and make the satisfy the seeds so much as long as there's still sun during the day to keep them warm enough and bring in plenty of light and humidity.

Here are the seeds I'll be experimenting within this mini greenhouse: