Carolyn

We must have a psychic connection. I did the same thing last night 'cause my four also had the first showing of tiny sprouts. Yippers!!

I stored mine in damp peat over winter and this year decided to try my own mix of peat and perlite for growing. Hope it works. From what I've been reading about these, it should.

Kev

I was thinking of you Kev :) Lets hope that they grow big and tall this year! I think I'm going to try a different mix too, maybe a really open soil-y mix.

Carolyn

OK, it's both of your faults I have these now so....what do I do next? You say pot in damp sphag for now? Do they stay in that all season? *gulp*

You sucker you. You took the bait.

I'm sure Carolyn will chime in since I got mine from her and she's the expert with these. I think she has a whole flock of 'em now.

Last year, I planted mine directly in sphag and just let them grow that way all season. They did fine, but I wasn't happy with how damp the sphag stayed all the time. Even outside, it just wouldn't dry out. That caused many a sleepless night. Hence my switch to the peat and perlite mix this year. I'm not starting them out in sphag this year either. I just planted them directly in their pot, but will keep the mix on the dry side until I see them poke through.

K

Welcome to the club Shady!

You're gonna love 'em! Actually, from all that I have read about them they really appreciate the wetness, but no, you don't have to keep them in sphag. I can't remember exactly how I grew them 2 yrs ago, but it was a cross between soil and orchid bark - very open if I remember, with a sphag cover to add extra moisture retention. Last year I tried mostly sphag with something (lava rock? bark? tree fern?) to open it up. I had no problem with the wetness (neither did they), but this year I'm going to try my homemade terrestrial mix which is a little of almost everything - soil, small lava rock, perlite, ground cork, crushed tree fern - lots of stuff to open up the soil.

So I filled the pot (relatively small, because they don't spread all that much) with the mix, leaving about 1.5 in open on top. I put a layer of sphag, placed the bulbs, and then added another thinner layer of sphag. I remember reading that they like to be kept wetter rather than drier. Then I really soaked the whole thing, which drains very freely. I'll keep the sphag damp/ lightly wet until they're established, and ultimately they'll move outside for the summer, in very nearly full NYC sun all day. I'll keep the pot in a tray of water all the time. Once they're established, I'm sure they'll tolerate a little dryness better.

They are considered to be terrestrials, but I was a little afraid of solid soil, but straight bark seemed as if it would be too dry.

(Oh and Kev- I have 10 now. I traded a few last year and lost a few over the winter).

I can still recall the fragrance, mmmm,
Carolyn

Geez, thanks for the post, Carolyn. I hadn't checked my H. radiata bulbs in a couple of months, but after reading your post - indeed, some are sprouting! It must be a timing thing, since mine were in a freezer baggie, in a styrofoam container, in the dark, in a climate-controlled 4 C room. No external stimuli at all.

Last year I potted in 1:1 peat:sand, with a little perlite thrown in to help with compaction. Full sun, always sitting in a dish of water. I like your sphag layer cake idea, and think I'll try something similar this year over the peat:sand mix.

Any fertilizer experiences to share? I really did minimal fertilizing last year, which may account for my less-than-luxuriant plants. Good tuber production, though.

Thanks for the info. I'll probably try a mix incorporating some Turface as I've got tons of the stuff on hand for my Cypripediums.

How soon can I put them outside? I ask because I won't be able to provide much in the way of light except windowsill or fluorescents until that time. I'm presuming they'll have leaves before it's actually time to boot them out to the deck.

Shady - I booted mine outside around mid-April, when night temps were reliably above 35 F. I think windowsill/fluors are fine for the first couple of weeks, as the tubers begin to send up a shoot. You'll want more sun eventually, but these things are s-l-o-w and my feeling is the warmer temps indoors are more beneficial than tons of light when they're just sprouting.

I agree with tee530 about light and warmth. I think you'll have better luck getting them established with a little warmth. All mine have are fluorescents until they go outside, which for me is not until I can count on about 45-50 min temp. I get too nervous at 40-45, and take them back in. But for me, that means walking out of the kitchen slider onto the back deck (I can do that when I let the dogs out). So some April/May days them come in and out.

Carolyn

I agree. Just one suggestion when you put them outside:

Protect them from Squirrels

They will dig and eat in a flash. Someone on the other forum lost a bunch of these to the fuzzy monsters.

K

Cats and dogs. There's not a squirrel in the neighborhood that will venture into my yard. We have 2 of each (canines and felines). No squirrels.

Although I do pay more for vet bills than I'm sure anyone pays for squirrel repellent.

Carolyn

Mine don't seem to be awake yet so they went back in the crisper.

Squirrels? Don't say squirrels. I've got so many of the gray terrors I can hop from the head of one to another and make it all the way to my compost bin. They're the embodiment of evil.

Shady,

Don't take that as a 'keep them asleep' message. Feel free to wake them up. Decide how you'd like to pot them, and once potted up (remember, the warmth idea?), they'll wake up. And warmth does not mean extra applied warmth - it just means not cold.

Take 'em out and pot 'em up! That's what I did last year to get a head start on spring.

Carolyn

Mine went into a pot today (5 tubers in a 6.5" azalea pot).

I checked the notes from last year: potted Apr 14, established sprouts by Apr 27, outdoors May 1, first flowers opened Sept 8, dug up Oct 26.

Starting a month earlier this year, I'm interested to see if the progression is any different.

any idea where i can find a habenaria radiata in south africa?

I don't actually have any H. radiata, but yse, squirrels are evil. Handily, with five cats, they don't come out of the trees in my yard. They just sit up there and yell at the cats, occasionally throwing nuts or pinecones.

-Cj