Calvin, my Ghost has been most tolerant of all my latest, greatest ideas about what it needs. :) It's been out in the dry air in the orchid room for months, inside small glass jars & large ones, and most recently, it was in a big glass jar w/ a plastic top on it some of the time. Direct light, indirect light. Spraying every day, spraying every couple of days. Oh, and it's been outside a couple of summers. So far, it keeps growing.

That said, the constants have been the E/SE light, supplemented by T8s in the house and cut 50% outside.

Today:

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Current home:

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October, 2008:

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So, itâÂÂs difficult for me to make suggestions about culture. Greg at Oak Hill told me that, as long as my Ghost had green-tipped roots and put out new roots, itâÂÂd bloom. WouldnâÂÂt that be amazing??

He and the Orchids Ltd. crew thought the big jar/vase was a good idea.

If you havenâÂÂt asked the Oak Hill folks about conditions, theyâÂÂd be a good resource.

Let us know what you decide on.

Whitecat8

hello, Calvin, my ghost is not doing half as well as WC's. it was in small glass "green house" in the main bathroom getting indirect southern exposure. I was watering it once a day. one of the roots dried - the others look OK but have stalled. I have moved it to one of those "light gardens" - still in the same "green house" under 2 full spectrum flourescent tubes. I am spraying twice - sometimes 3 x's a day. the lights are on for 16 hours a day. I have been spraying it with KLN and Pro-teck and superthrive. I am hoping that it will recover. I am not very good with mounts. I should say, I am not at all good with mounts.
sue

[I don't grow these, haven't tried, probably never will, but...]

Sue how often do you spray with the ferts/hormones? From what I remember reading, KLN AND Superthrive seem like a bit much (hopefully not sprayed together?) in that the ghosties aren't very tolerant of chemicals. A little bit now and then, but not too frequently??

Also, to help them get going, have you tried to up your lighting some? I know the wisdom is that they want low/med light, and I don't know how much "indirect southern exposure" is in your case. Since the root tips are the only photosynthetic surface, it would stand to reason that you'd probably want to push that to the upper range of their requirements to ensure continued growth. Its why variegated plants tend to require more light than their nonvariegated counterparts. They don't have as much photosynthetic area, so what they lack in photosynthetic area they must make up for in light intensity on the area they do have...if this is making any sense.

Whatever the problem, I hope you're able to resolve it and get them growing again! These plants are not a challenge for the faint of heart or patience.

hello, terpguy, thanks for your observations. it was getting sunlight from the southern exposure for a couple of hours a day (when there is sun) but at a foot away from the window. I had moved it because i thought that it was getting too much light. from your comments, i think i am overdoing it with the KLN etc. I will stop that and just use RO water for a while and see how it fares. I will put it closer to the florescent lights. thanks again.
sue

WC that looks amazing! I think I might try that jar idea too. I currently have it quite close to the light tubes in the tank, misted every 2 hours 5 times a day (it dries out in between misting though). Humidity is not as high as I'd like it because it's so high up (I have lower humidity near to the bottom of the tank) so I'm thinking I might adopt the jar method. Do you keep your jar covered? There's a huge debate about stagnant vs moving air...what has worked for you?

Sue - From the previous thread it seems like they need a bit of calcium in the water, as well as tannins. I water all my mounts with RO water, and recently I started wondering if it is actually leaching nutrients from the roots (since there isn't much medium to hold in nutrients, compared to potted plants). In your situation though you might want ot water with RO for a bit before switching back to a weak fertilizer every few weeks? Not sure I'm just pulling things out of the air here :)

I talked to another guy on another forum far away who has his in quite a bit of sun...which makes sense considering they don't have any leaves. I think I'll try with a bit more light first

hello, Calvin, thanks for your input. I had only started to use RO water about 3 weeks ago because i noticed alot of mineral deposits on some of the pots. it is strange how some has no deposits at all. i have just washed off the ghost with RO water and lowered the lights on it. in a few days i will move it again closer to the lights and see what happens. how much light are you talking about in footcandles? tia
sue

The photo below was taken two feet from an in-situ ghostie in the Fakahatchee, and within thirty feet of six others. As I recall, it was the first or second week of July. The conditions in the swamp where these plants grow aren't bright, although a stray sunbeam may hit a plant for a few minutes each day.

Terpguy, the root tips aren't the only photosynthetic surface...the entire root can/will perform photosynthesis. The ability to photosynthesize is improved with moisture, as it causes the velamen to become translucent.

-Bruce

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I like the expression on the little face. I would feel that way too with 93% humidity.

Wow, you learn something new...I was under the impression that the velamin would have inhibited any form of photosynthesis, even when wet (much like plant stems/internodes being green but not photosynthesizing). I'll definitely file that one away. Thanks Bruce!

Bruce, no way my Ghost should even be alive, much less growing! And those readings look like Arkansas... in the spring. :) Typical Julys are the 90s for temps and RH.

Sue, I fertilize lightly - currently MiracleGro African Violet Plant Food - 7-7-7. Before that, MSU or Green Jungle. The Ghostie is fertilized every 3rd-4th spraying.

Water  thereÂs a spring kinda in our area. We fill up big water containers for drinking, cooking, & the orchids. Local orchid folks say orchids LOVE it. It may be the reason a lot of media and mounties have moss growing on them now.

I leach w/ our tap water, which supposedly is okay for that but not long-term watering. Before discovering the spring last year, it was RO.

Calvin, I've sworn off the covered jar deal, unless definitive info says it's a good idea. It may be the variable that caused the Ang fastuosa to blast all 4 buds this year. Also, the Lepanthes manabina has blasted a lot of buds lately, after doing fine before.

Bulbo ambrosia - none of the 6 buds opened. (Retail vendors swear by very different cultural conditions, and I switched between drier and wetter, which didnÂt help.) The Taeniophyllum pygmeas lost one of its two "everblooming" spikes. Oh, and the new Chiloschista usneoides lost both spikes, straight from the grower.

FYI - somehow, it didn't occur to me that a spike would die if the tip touched the wet glass inside the jar. That killed off one of the Chilo's spikes.

The jars were covered as long as 48 hours straight, although that was unusual; more likely, a day. After being covered, they were uncovered for several days.

The other variable for me is higher temps inside. For the last few months, it's been right around 80F during the day; ideally, 60 at night, but lately, it's been going down only to the low to mid-60s as the outside temps warm up. The years before, daytime temps were mid-70s; night, upper 50s.

Maybe my Ghost is like the goldfish that got used to increasing amounts of time out of the water and then fell into the tank and drowned. This Ghost might curl up and die if it got sent to FL. :)

WC8

hello, WC thanks for your info. I think I start to fertilize it again next week. I do have msu - I will try that and see what happens. the poor thing has become a test subject.
sue

You know, I've never had any interest in growing these. I absolutely love the plant and flowers, but just thought it was totally beyond me. Now - maybe not. I have a feeling this would (could) do well in my open orchid aquarium. Then I took a look at Oak Hill's prices and these are unbelievably cheap!

My next order to OH will include one. I promise.

Kevin

Sue, as if mine *hasn't* been a test subject. LOL

Kev, but will you ever order from OH? From what you've said, you haven't ordered orchids for how many years and didn't have any plans to????

WC8

Kevin, those oakhill species are beckoning. I couldn't resist either, for the price. What's interesting is now that I have one, I am finding myself more and more enchanted by it. They are SMALL plants though - what I'm curious about is whether or not it's possible to grow ghosts in flask for a longer period before deflasking. Aaron Hicks mentions in the previous link that ghosts grow like 'weeds' in flask (can you imagine)...what if you kept replating to larger flasks until the plant was larger and theoretically more resilient to the harsh environment outside of flask? The flowers are magnificent, and deliciously angraecoid too.

WC - thanks for sharing your experiences. If yours were the same size as mine are now, they've REALLY grown! How long have you been cultivating this one for?

Bruce - I have the same hygrometer : ) That's an incredible amount of humidity - good to know

WC - I didn't say I never order orchids. It just takes me a long time to do the deed. I think the last order from Oak Hill was maybe 2 years ago, but I've noticed they always seem to carry these, so I don't think there's any rush.

K

Kevin - Shoot. I was exaggerating for effect and teasing you affectionately. Apologies it didn't come across.

Calvin, I got mine on 3/23/06 and added a small plant w/ 3 roots later. Can you post a shot of yours? How do the 2 compare?

Is it possible to recreate flasking conditions?

4/2/06:

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WC8

Rats, I went looking for that thermometer/hygrometer with the expressive face, and it appears it's discontinued. I would've liked to have one of those.

Reminds me of when I was at Oak Hill's booth at the Orchid show... I was waiting to catch the attention of someone behind the tables, to get an opinion or to pay for my choices, and the guy (who may have been Greg?) was explaining the ghost orchid to a couple who were confused by mounted orchids in general. He was telling them all about it, but I suspect I was more interested than they were. They eventually left, apparently weirded out by the ghost orchid. The husband grumbled about not wanting to pay $15 for a little bunch of roots on a twig and claimed he could just put it in his pocket... meanwhile, here I am excited that all these mounties were so cheap, and even cheaper if you bought 3 or more.

I wish I got to chat with him instead. But the person I went with didn't want to wait and flagged the attention of the woman behind the table who didn't know much... she was agreeing with a customer that she thought one of the orchids for sale was a vanda/phalaenopsis cross...

WC - No offense taken. I know you were teasing.

Quinnfyre -- sorry that it's discontinued! I really love it -- the signal goes through walls and windows, and the remote is way out in my gh in the backyard. There are actually three faces -- the "annoyed" face when humidity is high, a straight-line smile when humidity is medium, and a happy face when it's low.

Not really offering critical info in and of itself, but it's nice to have the little man living inside your thermometer/hygrometer kinda "talk" to you!

-Bruce