Orchids in the Rain 

They are growing so fast with all of this water. But, the fungi love it too 😫!

@@plantpropagator well, you look like a fungi to be around! haha, bad dad puns aside, the one bonus of living where we do with all our rain is that i have never seen mushroom diversity like ive seen here. downside is that the boss has mold spore allergies, which are absolutely raging right now :(

@@elpilarorchids It is interesting that you mentioned mold and fungi - just finished a video on black rot. I lost 4 plants and heard from a local colleague who lost close to 100. I treated last week before the rain but do not think too many people did the same..... Sorry about your allergies - just cats for me.

@@plantpropagator ouch, sorry to hear that. hopefully we haven't sentenced all of our outdoor plants to death, but 8C nights with constant rain all "summer" hasn't been exactly what i was hoping for...oh well, first world problems!

Thanks so much for your comment. If you saw how this plant is attached to the tree, you can see that the only way that this plant will get more sun is to grow higher and seek it out. I am still hopeful that I will see a flower some day.

It is still raining here - I need to make videos inside this week! I did take a look at my orchids this morning and they are just growing like crazy with all of this water. Some of the flower spikes and new pseudobulbs show clearly visible growth overnight. I just have to hope that they do not rot. The most common way that people lose orchids is overwatering and that is happening right now - I just hope that my potting media are still draining well. I did hit them with fungicide last week just for insurance.

Congratulations on your orchid keiki (Hawaiian for "Child")!! Wait for the roots to get an inch or two long before you remove it from the old flower spike and then plant the keiki in sphagnum moss, bark, or your favorite orchid potting mix. Good Luck!

Thanks for your comment - those are Christmas palms but orchid roots will attach to anything, including the white plastic fence in the background! They do seem to do well on these palms....

@@plantpropagator Thank you, those palms look so nice with vandas, phals, attached. Hope in the future watch more videos like this.

@@plantpropagator And I really liked you Encyclia Tampensis and because of that i just purchased an Encyclia Tampensis Alba, so nice.

@@cesarpedroza2047 Some of the orchids on my trees were grown from seed so I will make more videos of them when they bloom, which will hopefully be soon!!

I heat a LOT of people recommending that the orchids be watered first and then fertilized. From my viewpoint and background, this makes no sense at all. I think that you suggest that watered roots already have water in the velamen and the added water with fertilizer will just run off. Maybe, some of it will diffuse in but most will run off as you suggest. I have heard people describe the watered green root as "spongy" but I do not think that those people have actually touched those watered green roots - they are hard and not spongy. People think that spongy means absorbent but I do not think that they are. In the orchid world, people make up stuff and repeat what they hear but with a twist. Things can get very altered by the time that it is repeated for the 10th time. What do you think?

@@plantpropagator I have done it myself... calling velamen a "spongy" textured material... You are right, it is not flexible like most sponges. Yet, it does absorb water like a sponge would. So, for the sake of using more appropriate terms, I maybe should call it just "absorbent" from now on! Thank you, I'm always concerned about improving my precision when using terms! Specially in English, since it is not my first language! As for watering before fertilizing, I am partially in favor of that... so long as you give them at least half an hour between water and fertilizer. My reasoning is as follows: If you ever worked with sphagnum, for example, you realize that a fully dry bunch of sphagnum will not take up water too easily, but if it already is a little damp, then it takes up a whole lot of water in no time at all. Same thing with the orchid roots. If they are too dry, they will not take up water efficiently, but if they are a little humid in advance, then the water and fertilizer absorption is much faster. But you really don't want to fertilize when the roots are still soaking wet, just a little humid.

@@Naturamorpho OK - thanks for your comment but your comparison of orchid roots with sphagnum is not valid. Not all materials absorb water the same way. And, orchid roots tell you when they absorb water by turning green. So, the next time that you water your vandas or any other aerial root, watch the roots turn green. This is a clear indication that water is getting into the velamen - when the velamen has taken water into their cell spaces (they are not living cells in this specialized tissue), they become translucent and you can see the chlorophyll in the interior tissue. This is almost immediate, even with dry roots. It may be that I see this because it is humid most of the time here but I listen to my orchids and they clearly tell me that they are absorbing the water (and nutrients) when the water hits the roots. Please let me know if I have misinterpreted your comment or my observations are not valid in your eyes. And, please do not apologize for your English which is 1 x 10(10) better than my Portuguese. "Eu não falo português " is the only expression that I know....

@@plantpropagator its a great point! I think I must agree! That's why I like talking to the experts! Thank you for replying!

Yes you right there is no scientific basis for these statements by self proclaimed experts. These days I am reading a few old publications on orchids root anatomy slowly understanding a bit. Once water reaches actual root I would expect it to follow the same route as that of terrestrial plants.