Acrorchis roseola

Delightful little mini (2 inch) pot that looks like a microscopic Epidendrum. I grow it cool with the Masdvallias, etc., but seems to have fairly wide elevational range in nature. This clone is 'Mountainside' and seems to be an Alba. Sorry, pictures aren't great, tried all kinds of lighting, but the white on the flowers didn't seem to focus well.

 

Thanks all for your comments.

Hi David, I have discussed my growing area in bits, but maybe not generally speaking. First of all, have had many growing areas in different places and conditions since the age of 14. In the latest, for the last 10 years, we have shared a commercial greenhouse that is part of my wife's Nursery business (on the same property as our home). We put a wall up in the greenhouse and have a section for orchids which is 24 ft X 36 ft. At first, we didn't think it would be very conducive to orchids and so tried easy intermediate plants like Cattleya's and Phrags. That seemed to work so then people started getting us to push the envelope and we started with a few Masdevallias...which also seemed to go well. Then we started modifying the environment, switching to triple wall polycarbonate, with a roof vent and side wall vent, adding under bench misting, adding a hydrofogger and recently an evaporative cooler. Not planned at first, but realized there were definite microclimates in the greenhouse and have tried to exaggerate that. The fog, cooling and side vent are all on the north end of the growing area and on a Summer day it might only be 75 F in that area. This is where I grow the New Guinea Dendrobiums and Masdevallias. On the South end, upper 80's to 90's on the same day and the Vanda's, Laelia's etc. are happy. In the middle are many miscellaneous species, with still a fair amount of Phragmipediums as an understory plant. The greenhouse has a high roof and so there are elevational microclimates as well. I can hang intermediate plants 8-10 ft above cool growers. In the winter for night temperatures, the heat distribution (forced hot air) circulates through the middle and South end of the growing area before returning to the furnace air intake and probably averages 55 F in those areas. The North side doesn't get the direct flow of the heat, but obviously gets enough through oscillating fans and natural diffusion and tends to stay in the 52 F range. The furnace and a backup are located in a barn which is attached to the west end of the greenhouse. There are no walls within the Orchid growing area.

Truth be told, we have migrated a few cold orchids like Cymbidiums, Bletilla, etc. into the other half of the greenhouse, where the temperatures get into the mid- 30's F.

As for the collection, once we started to realize that this greenhouse was working, old friends realized it was time to fill the greenhouse. And being a botanist by education, I can't help myself from searching out the unusual new things...what a difference it has been now with Internet, this forum and email. That wasn't there 30 years ago. It was pen and paper, telephone and jump on a plane. I would say though that the personal connections made years ago certainly still open many doors. Hope I wasn't too long winded, been a dark rainy day!

 

Hi David, thank you! Will have to take some pictures of the greenhouse after I tidy things up a bit. Lepanthes do ok for me, but not until the greenhouse was quite full...they didn't seem to like fluctuations in humidity