Not A Rose Topic .. Orchids!

Not sure if I can post this here so feel free to delete if need be

I noticed some of you grow orchids as well as roses on here, can anyone give me any advice for our beautiful HOT QLD weather? My orchids hate it.

I know over watering can cause 'wrinkled' leaves. Should I mist them? Put them inside?

Please help!

Rosy, this is the correct thread for it as it is called "Mixing and Matching. Our Iris's are starting to bloom, watch this space as they say

Great thanks roseman Can't wait till you post photos, they have some beautiful flowers.

If you go back and search "bearded iris and rose" you should be able to find some beauties. They are from before

Can anyone help on this subject? I have Googled a fair bit and it says to 'mist' them with water when it's hot. But nothing on if I should bring them inside during this extreme heat?

a friend of mine grows them and they are under green shade cloth, summer and winter and they are misted water like in the tropics...

Mine are under shade cloth, and I have been misting them but they are still not happy

Are they close to a wall?
If so the reflective heat could be a bit too much for them. Mine are in a relatively shaded area not too much sun at all and they seem to be happy enough. I only water once a week at the most sometimes longer between waterings

Yes they were! Thank you I have moved them near the fence under shade cloth. I wonder if I should move them back under the pergola?

I have had an awful year with ours. Lots of leaves NO flowers and yes I do feed them.

Do you think it's the heat Carole? I have had 1 flower in a year and we have 10 plants.

I dont know Rosy.
Here we are still getting frosts.
I have friends in Melbourne near the coast & on the penensular and they have had heaps of flowers on thier Orchids. So cooler than you & no frosts.
We had no roses or Irises till this week and they are now flowering.
The Irises more than the roses.
So I am not much help.

Bugger, thanks anyway Carole. It is so humid here, like a sauna most of the time, then today it was windy and cold! The weather just can't make up its mind. I will keep moving them around and misting them and hopefully something works.

Windy and cold here to, hopfully tomorrow will be better.
You can only do your best with the plants and keep your fingers crossed.

Hi Rosy I was wondering what sort of orchids they were. Cymbidiums won't grow up here in Brisbane, much prefer Adelaide climate. Others more tropical will. We have 'dancing ladies' (oncidium's) which grow in the garden and then some in baskets that hang under a tree. They grow in bark and just need feeding and misting. I don't know anything about this really they just grow, I am hoping I have the same touch with roses! If I knew how to put a photo up I have one of the orchids flowering in the garden now, but I'm new to this.

I have tried hosting an image so don't know whether I've stuffed the whole site up. Sorry if I have David!

Lindsey

Not 100% sure what they are. We don't have any trees they could hang under unfortunately. I have 3 left - 1 is in a hanging pot and doing really well. 1 is in a tree and 1 is under some shade. Hope I can keep them all alive!

They should be planted in bark, no soil otherwise they get waterlogged. Apparently they have aerial roots that get their water and nutrient from the air. You probably know all this so sorry if I'm being obvious. Also some orchids have shriveled bulbs which is quite normal but how much shrivel is normal I don't know. Good luck.

I dont know what went wrong with mine but they didn't flower at all this year. I suspect neglect .

Maybe the heat?

More likely to be that I forget to water and feed them as they are in pots Rosy.
That is why I never grow roses in pots

Oh sorry I thought you meant orchids haha :-) I find that my potted roses do much better than my garden roses as long as I feed them :-)

I did mean orchids Rosy.
It is just that any plant I try to grow in a pot turns its toes up as I forget to water them.

Oh bugger :-( Try the upside down soft drink bottle in the pots

RosyTeesh wrote:Oh bugger :-( Try the upside down soft drink bottle in the pots

Rosy...I have been trying and experimenting with this, but can't seem to master it.
I have tried several methods using 2ltr plastic bottles,.... such as.......
bottle without cap
bottle with cap and pin prick hole
ebay bottle spikes(cheap)
bottle spikes from ebay with control drip release
bottle spikes from hugall and hoile with control release spikes
I find that once there is about 2inches of water out of the bottle and this takes a few day, then after that it empties very quickly. Even with the control release ones that drip very slowly, they lose it after some water comes out

If anyone knows a full proof method, I am all ears...[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Hmmm interesting! Ive never tried it myself. I just water the pots every day after work just as a habit I guess.