Previous thread with great pictures and links: Ghost orchid idea...

Hi Joe, if you do a search on this forum you will find at least 3 posts that have come up in the last 3 or 4 months about growing this plant. Each one has really great information given by the growers on this forum. I think there is someone growing it in Chicago (or somewhere in the Midwest), which is closer to your zone, so they would have a better technique than I would have for you. So, that said, here are some tips for growing them that I have found useful.

#1 When buying the plants, it is a good idea to start out with a couple young seedlings (like from Oakhill Gardens). They are relatively inexpensive so when you kill them (which everyone does on their first or second go around) it will not be massive monetary loss. But from that loss you will figure out how to best keep humidity levels up, how to water & fertilize, & how much light to provide.

#2 Lots of people have had success with placing the sticks under a plastic dome (like a coke bottle with the bottom cut off). This will keep the breeze off the plants & humidity levels up (when plants become lager after a year or two, they should be able to handle more air movement).

#3 When watering your plant, use distilled (or R.O.) water. Make sure that the sphagnum moss that they plant is growing on dries out well between watering (otherwise they will start rotting). I, like many other ghost growers, dunk the mount into a bucket a few times a week. You can make up a batch of water containing super thrive & mychorrizal fungi. Dunk the plant into this solution once or twice a week to give it an extra boost. Also remember, like vandas (which do not have pseudo bulbs to store water), when the roots are bright green, its not going to absorb anymore water. Let it dry out for a bit & then re-soak it. I used to get out of bed, spray it down; go back inside, shower, shave, make my lunch & an hour later as I was leaving, I would give it another good soaking.

#4 Besides rot, the second biggest danger to your young ghost orchids is root desiccation (where they begin to shrivel & dry up). If this happens, you are getting too much air movement & loosing too much humidity (correcting the humidity problem will not fix the dried root, but it will stop other from drying out). You can try placing a wet paper towel or wash cloth into the enclosure to keep ambient humidity up. For me living in such a hot, humid zone, I use Spanish moss lightly draped across the mount. Initially when I got my ghosts, I pulled them off the mount with the sphagnum moss (because I had already killed one batch that I left on the sphag. moss) & placed it directly onto grape vine. They were doing okay, occasionally a root would start to shrivel & I would increase misting during the day. When I added the Spanish moss, I no longer had to do the extra misting; the daily watering was enough to keep desiccating roots at bay.

#5 These young plants grow in moderately bright light. I'm not sure of your location or growing conditions, but medium Cattleya light would be good for young plants. I am sure older, established plants will take higher light levels to flower.

#6 The young plants that you buy for $12 or $14 will take 4 or 5 (or maybe more) years to reach blooming size. After you have kept the little guys alive for a year or so & feel confident that you have gotten the living conditions just right then you might spring for a lager specimen. Established plants are not always easy to find on the web, but often at large orchid shows you can find plants 2-3 years away from blooming for sale for $35-$50.

#7 The ghost orchid goes by 3 different names, when searching for information or growers who are selling plants, be sure to try all three names in your search terms for optimum results: Dendrophylax Lindenii, Polyradicion Lindenii, & Polyrrhiza Lindenii. Also, there are two different varieties of ghost orchids, one that grows in Florida & another that grows in Cuba. It is said that the one from Cuba is much more tolerant to air movement than the plants from Florida. I personally have no idea which version I have, or who sells the different versions. I do know that until the young plants became larger, they had to stay out of heavy air flows.

#8 Dont give up if you kill a couple batches, these little guys can be very VERY tough to get established. A good tip for getting a lager sized seedling would be to call the vendor you decide to order from & ask for the largest sized plants they have available. I know it sounds stupid, but when I did this with Oak Hill, my 3rd order of ghost were much lager then my 1st. & 2nd. Orders. Good luck!

-Ray-