Thx Jane. This time I bought a Kalihi 'Big'. I really wanted another papilio, but a grower talked me into trying this hybrid. Then last summer it kept blasting it's buds. Spring weather got it spiking again. It had three spikes going with buds until a windstorm knocked it over yesterday. Good news is that one of the buds remains. There are two other spikes that should be budding soon and I think the broken ones will branch.

I take it back again. I do have something else blooming besides the Pleuro. alata. Aerangis kirkii sent up another spike underneath the leaves, and I didn't even see it until lo and behold, one bud bloomed. You can't see it from the top, but if you look from the side, suddenly there it is. This kirkii is crazy. Single blooms have been popping up on and off all summer. And now a hidden spike underneath, a more visible spike on the side, and what looks like the beginnings of a spike off the other side. The obvious spike is coming up from the spot where it has been blooming its one flower at a time, previously. I guess we'll have to wait til next year to decide if this is normal behavior for this one. It's rather interesting, keeps you on your toes, and gives me a reason to pay close attention to it (which I obviously haven't been lately, if a spike could start blooming out of nowhere.)

>That imbricata is going to look great mounted. Are you going to enclose it in an orchidarium-like setup, or just hang it like those orchids? Just going to hang it, for now, but if it starts suffering (the humidity has been hanging around 65-70% in the room, consistently), hubby has said he will make an acrylic terrarium. >Cattleyas need high light to bloom, higher than most hoyas. If you can find space for them under the center of the light fixture (perhaps after they acclimate to the mount a bit) rather than by the edge where light is lower, I think they would benefit. They have already bloomed this season, so where they are hanging is temporary. The empty space on the right bottom shelf is where I will be putting them, as soon as we get the other light bars. >Yours seems too small to flower yet (I think), but by the time it's ready, make sure you have it in a basket that allows it to send a flower spike straight down through the mix and out the bottom, without a significant chance of bumping into the basket's parts and stalling. I have two stanhopea. S. nigroviolacea is just a seedling, and I have it in a small orchid pot for now, but when it grows big enough, we have a special slotted basket for it. The larger one in the photo (S. tigrina) is bloom size, and in a 3.5 inch orchid basket with slots, not little squares, but actual slots. >Those two lamps, one shining red, the other white - is the red one LED and the white one fluorescent? It looks like a good setup to run comparative lighting experiments, because they seem to make such clear light circles that it's clear even on the same shelf which plants grow under which light. The red one is LED (blue/white/red) and the white one is a CFL. >Your Paphiopedilums are going crazy with buds and flowers! I am jealous! 2 or 3 times so far that I've brought home a Paph in bud, they blasted each and every single time! In one case, it might have been a reaction to the systemic I treated it with (it had mealies), but what's my excuse for the other times??? I'll get them right, eventually. Maybe. To be honest, I had a ton of bud blast with these as well, in the beginning. I found that both the plain leaf and the speckled leaf ones actually prefer more light than the internet leads you to believe. Also, I keep the media damp, not soggy, at all times. They get misted in the morning, and then again 20 minutes before the lights go off in the room, giving the mist ample time to evaporate. >Maybe you just need a wider reflector, no? If the intensity of that red bulb is large enough to cover the area? I could use a wider reflector, but since I am already planning to add the last 2 T-8 bars, I see no use in upgrading, lol. >We might have talked about fluorescent technology before, I do not remember. T5 is a newer technology than T8. T5s are lower profile, burn cooler, are more energy efficient and produce more light per unit of power consumption. And I think the bulbs are more durable and maintain their intensity for longer than previous fluorescent technologies, where the spectrum shifts (I think) and intensity diminishes (definitely) over time. We have talked fluorescent lighting before, and I do agree with your points. But I am using the retrofit for T-8 LED lights, so all of them are LED, just in T-8 size.

I have a monnierara 'Millenium Magic' that I've had for a few years that has yet to bloom. Every year I hold my breath and wait. It's got three back bulbs and a nice, new, healthy one coming up out of dormancy. I am crossing my fingers and hoping this will be the year XD