Hi syrinth, I agree with Arthur's post above that you have two challenges on your hands, but as you saw from our show table yesterday afternoon, nothing is impossible! As you've more or less guessed, the Dend. kingianum will need need good light and some water eventually. Take a good look at your plant to see if there are new growths growing. If there are, water and fertilize regularly. If they're all done, don't fertilize at all and start spacing out waterings. Dendrobium kingianum needs a good winter's rest, with cooler temperatures (placing it right by a window, for example, where the temperature will ) and very little water. If you mistreat it enough, it will reward you with blooms in late winter and/or early spring. If you treat it too nicely, it will give you keikis. That's why you'll often notice Dendrobium kingianum on the raffle table... As for the Aeridovanda, both of the parent species (your plant is a cross between Vanda denisoniana and Aerides lawrenciae) require good amounts of light and warm to hot temperatures. They also both enjoy good humidity. I'm enclosing a link to the Canadian Orchid Congress's Vanda culture sheet. Their culture sheets were developed for us "real orchid growers" so they're a great starting point. Hope this all helped. Good luck, and welcome to the Ottawa Orchid Society. Julie Here is a link that might be useful: COC - Vanda Culture Sheet

Hi, Irish. You don't say exactly what your catts do in the AG -- fail to take? rot after getting new roots? etc. Knowing that might make it easier to help you adapt them to the AG. With any medium, you always do have to figure out how best to use it for your own conditions and habits. But in the meantime, here is my experience with AG: I've used Aussie Gold for catts and oncids for two summers and last winter. For me, it was just great for them, a big plus over s/h. Unlike you, I had no luck with it for phals. Also unlike you, I'm not an underwaterer (except for summer of 07) The two summers were quite different for the catts and oncids outside. In 06, they got good sun, regular water and fertilizer, grew nicely and bloomed. In 07, they got a lot more sun (to the sunburn point) and a lot less water in a less-than-primo spot. They also got left out til frost. Grew fine and bloomed beautifully, with more blooms than in 06. So in my experience, the AG worked for both more and less watering. I've given most of them away over the summer and fall. Nearly all of them had roots completely filling the pot when they were unpotted for giving away. The rootball came out of the pot intact, roots holding in every smidge of the AG. They all "needed" bigger pots. I did decide that bulb pans were better (for me) than deep pots, especially in winter, so they were all in bulb pans -- the lesser depth made a big difference for me. I was also religious about planting them with pbs and rhyzomes riding on the AG instead of in it. Especially with oncids, I often tucked a few threads of sphag around the growing points on new pbs to get them started rooting. The only other thing that might have made a difference was that I used about a 1" layer of pure diatomite in the bottom of the pan, on the theory that if they got too dry they could go down to the very bottom and suck some moisture out of the diatomite. There are a couple of underwaterers who have tried AG. They might be able to help more.

AHHHHH Hello Beautiful orchids!!!!!! I grow orchids too! ive been growing for about 3 almost 4 years now. The Phalaenopsis you have looks alot like Baldan's Kelidescope Shanna. You'll be suprised at how easy it can be, and also they like a little bit of a chill to re-spike sometimes. i Grow Cattleyas (Hence My screenname) mostly. They are a ton of fun!!!! Really Do go to the orchid forum in fact i stress it! they will help you!!!!!!!! they really are nice. Id Like to share a pic With you! Here Is My BLC. Campobello 'Mendenhall' HCC/AOS They are all the same flower. The flower was About 4 inches across!!!! they can be bigger though!!!!! You should try Cattleyas. They Have Pseudobulb Which are plant structures that store water and nutrients, So they will forgive you if you forget to water like me (LOL) Enjoy your orchids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Samuel

Stan - Your plant is Billbergia Fantasia not Aechmea Fantasia All the best, Nev