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| Hi All,
I inherited or acquired a ton (50+ orchids) seven years ago when we purchased a home in Hawaii. As I mature, I slowly have taken a liking to the orchids blooming and have decided perhaps its time to rejuvenate a few of them to their former pristine health. I am enclosing a photo of an orchid that at times used to have 7 or 8 shoots of buds and bloom for a good 1-2 months, they were absolutely beautiful and received tons of compliments. My question is, what do i do with the grey dried shoots and roots that appear next to all the green leaves and shoots. Do I leave them, cut them back, etc? Any tips appreciated, and thank you in advance. Maybe, time permitting, I can lurk on this forum enough and learn a lot of things. Aloha, ardent |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Photo didnt attach, here it is. |
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| better top-down photo |
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- Posted by lisa_z5wmi Z5 (My Page) on Sun, Oct 28, 12 at 12:21
| Is that in a pot? If so, it looks ready to be divided. Then you just cut off all the dead stuff and repot the living. If it is mounted on something then I am not sure what you would do. One benefit to dividing is you can trade for other plants and try new stuff. In your neck of the woods I would think there is lots to chose from. |
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| Yeah its in a cement pot. You are probably right. As for trading, never considered such, as I have 50+ orchids on the property (all potted) plus another 5-10 grown onto trees, etc and this is something 'new' I'm trying to get into. Thanks for telling me to split it, my mother, who is much more of a green thumb than I, can do it when she comes in December. |
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| Wow, dividing that thing will be a challenge! Since you say it's in a cement pot,you REALLY will have to soak it to try and get it out of that pot.Normally it's hard to get the plants out of a terracotta pot without busting it. You might need a hacksaw to get that cut apart too. Maybe you should have some of us from the forum to come out and help your mother, you know, just to advise her. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to the plants! LOL! ginnibug |
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| There's nothing wrong with having large,old plants. Don't feel you have to divide them. These look a bit sunburnt and bug-eaten though. They'll thank you for some neem oil spray and a foliar feed when they get the new growth. - Ian. |
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- Posted by orchidnick z9Ca (orchidnick@yahoo.com) on Thu, Nov 8, 12 at 9:11
| The plant is full of buds. When in bloom it's viewed from the side, not from the top. One option would be to leave it where it is and just enjoy the view from the side. The other thing would be to hang it up so viewed from below, you only see a ring of healthy leaves and flowers. I would also consider digging out the dead stuff from the middle and filling the hole with coconut or whatever. The plant will start to grow into the space. Nothing wrong with dividing it but it took 15 odd years to get to where it is so think twice before dividing it. Bid specimen plants like this, when groomed properly are spectacular and cannot be bought. Nick |
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- Posted by orchidnick z9Ca (orchidnick@yahoo.com) on Thu, Nov 8, 12 at 19:02
| The other thought wold be to dig out the dead stuff from the middle, make a couple of front end divisions and plant them in your favorite medium in the middle. You'll then have new plant growth in the middle again for a well rounded plant a couple of years from now. nick |
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