Moving my ground orchid

11 years ago

I, clearly, planted my ground orchid in the wrong spot.

Teach me to rely on a big box care tag without verifying, because this plant is a whole lot bigger than the tag said it would grow.

I'm thinking to dig up the crown of thorns that's behind it and move that to another bed entirely and then move the orchid left and forward. Plus build a small cage around it because the chickens keep standing in the middle of it.

Any thoughts on whether this plant is ok to dig up and move? Should I do a root pruning like I do to my moth orchids? And does anyone know its name???

Comments (11)

coffeemom
11 years ago
I'm guessing Epidendrum radicans. Google for culture info. I tried to post a link and was denied
muscledbear
11 years ago
Thanks Coffeemom for the ID. I have two like this I received from a friend, one is definitely the on you named above.

I also did the look up on growing preferences and I totally have both growing in totally the wrong conditions. So, after I finish my current project of putting in a patio, these guys will get moved.
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Hi Alexa, I moved from Portland, OR to Dallas, TX last month and I opted to move my houseplants (succulents) and orchids instead of getting rid of them. It was a 4 day drive by car but a two week drive for the household goods. The vast majority of the orchids went in the car with me. However, the larger plants and all the succulents had to ship with the household goods. The dens, cyms and succulents are tough enough to do a two week move especially in April. Here is what I learned from my move. First off, no standard moving company wants to move plants. They write it into the contract; however, I had one mover tell me that they will move them but they wont take any responsibility for how they arrive. I opted not to tell my mover that 3 boxes contained live plants. I shipped them in their pots but I bubble-wrapped them snugly. Because it was bubble wrap I only wrapped it around their pots and around the lower part of the plants but left the leaves unwrapped so they could breath a bit. I put a ton of "FRAGILE" tape on each box and I labeled them as "floor lamp" for a tall madagascar palm, "microwave" for a box of succulents and "ceramic art" for the third box of orchids. I used enough strapping tape (the stuff with string in it) to make sure nothing came open and then I put a bit of crumpled newspaper to fill larger gaps. Here's the one thing I forgot and I highly recommend that you don't. You need bold type arrows with "THIS SIDE UP" on all plant boxes that you are shipping. Movers need to conserve space when they're packing a trailer so they will tip even "FRAGILE" boxed on their sides and maybe even on their heads to get them to fit. Also, you may watch them load the boxes but they may re-load them down the line so that is no guarantee that they will travel as desired. With the shakeup that mine went through I lost a few leaves on my succulents and a couple were out of their pots all together. One pot was broke. The orchids themselves travelled fine. I lost a spike of flowers on one of my cym and one new bud of growth. But the spike was at least three weeks old and the lost bud of growth has since been replaced with two more so I'm rather pleased that they all arrived in one piece. FYI, I've lost three out of the dozens of orchids that drove with me in the car. I made the mistake of leaving two boxes of orchids in the trunk overnight on the continental divide in WY. I put a blanket over them for additional protection but it dropped below freezing and a couple of the orchids weren't under the blanket. I lost the first orchid I ever purchased, a phal, and three leaves on the second phal that I purchased. It's going to be ok but it's going to be ugly for a while. Also a couple of small dens kicked the bucket. The phal went quick, the dens took about 3 weeks to go.
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I didn't find very much information on the container culture of Bletilla striata, but I did find this: "It is one of the easiest terrestrial orchids to grow. The plants are hardy down to 20Â°F (-7Â°C) in the landscape and will withstand temperatures down to 10Â°F (-12Â°C) if mulched heavily. Bletilla striata 'Alba' need light shade and a moist, rich, well-drained soil mix. In the greenhouse, we use a soil mix consisting of 2 parts peat moss to 1 part loam to 2 parts coarse sand. To this mix we add bone meal at a rate of 1 cup for each 0.01 cu yards of soil mix. During the growing season, the plants are well watered and allowed to dry slightly before watering again. We fertilize the plant in early spring with a 15-30-15 fertilizer on a weekly basis until after flowering. After flowering, the plants are fertilized with a balanced fertilizer monthly until late fall when water is restricted. The plants are moved to the cool rooms for the winter rest period, and the nighttime temperature is never allowed to fall below 48Â°F (9Â°C). During this period, the plants are watered very sparingly. Too much water during this period can cause the tuberous rhizomes to rot." The particular piece above was found at Cal's Plant-Of-The-Week Archive... most of the information on pot culture is rather vague about the cool dormancy required for blooming. I did find this piece of information at another site: "Apply a good organic mulch in the late autumn or lift the bulbs and store them dry in a frost free place. Plant out in spring and only just cover the bulb." So, it appears that they can either be lifted and stored for winter in frigid climates, or given a chill that doesn't go any lower than 48 degrees... how long that chill should be is another question... I'm thinking I might just un-pot and store over winter, along with my Canna rhizomes and Glad corms.
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Tough call in this case. The plant is now large enough to have roots touching the pot surface inside. If the whole soil mass will move as one piece, you could add soil to the bottom, do not add soil to the top. If your in ground soil has warmed up, you can plant it there and lose maybe a week or two to transplant shock. Eggplant needs a very hot location to do its best.
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Tom, I think I live near you and can bring you all you might want...maybe come see them growing? I have a zillion in the sunny areas of my yard. Started with 2 pots getting morning sun, one died. 20 years later, zillions from where I started throwing epi trimmings on the ground or into a very large pot. I think they must have sun to bloom and like the base in shade of some type. I water those in pots regularly, but ignore the rest, and have no in-ground system. My asiatic jasmine ground cover spread (from 2 pots in shade and being watered) thru the contingent shady area and then into the sun. The epis followed them there. Perfect for them! a foot deep ground cover for shade. (Served the same purpose for dwarf azaleas that I thought would die when the trees shading them were removed.) Most of mine are 3-4 feet long, so this year I plan to chop a large area of them down to 1 foot. Only one of my plant-growing neighbors has wanted any of mine of any size, age, shape. Don't know why... cuz I love them! Although, I wish they fed or hosted butterflies! [Correction, April 29,2021: yesterday I say a monarch seemingly sipping nectar on an epi in the shade.]
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morningloree
11 years ago
I have this in my yard, Epidendrum radicans for sure, they like part shade, a full dose of Florida sun will crisp the leaves. I have mine near a tree and it will attach itself. I had to move mine out of the sun.
garyfla_gw
11 years ago
Hi
Epidendrum s are only semi'terrestrial not true ground orchids Though they can be grown by almost any method
I find the best to be in a trough with free draining soil . As they get leggy just snip them off and stick it back into the media.. You can also grow them attached to trees but the first method will give you many more flowers for longer periods . IME the most flowers are produced in full sun
Growing them in the ground is difficult because of their growth habit very leggy lolo
I find the puple ,pinks and whites MUCH more difficult and far less productive than the yellow, oranges.
have seen them grown in bromeliad beds where they add a dash of color but require constant snipping and replanting. gary
User
11 years ago
We plant them in painted bird cages, small crab traps and fish baskets. Put a coco basket liner in the bottom, potting soil and plant. Kind of solves the leggy aspect, they gow up through the openings and are supported by the cage, trap or whatever. Plus you can hang them anywhere, I put most in high light, filtered sun. Blooming like crazy now!
alys_esmond USDA 5b Toronto
Original Author
11 years ago
Ohhh,
Walisadi that sounds amazing.

Any pictures?
User
11 years ago
got inspired after seeing the orchid post. J bought this fountain last year, with the oaks, nothing but leaves and cleaning daily. drilled it today and trasplanted the orchids in it. i like it.
alys_esmond USDA 5b Toronto
Original Author
11 years ago
That looks great!

Went to lowes today to buy the bean poles for mine...

Came home with a foxtail palm and a plan for our easement. So, our usual $5 run that costs $120 and takes up a whole day+

Because, of course, once we planted the tree and its companions, moved three others to be new friends too, we still decided we bought 1 plant too few...

This is officially the tallest tree we've carried in the car (can you see it in the trunk?)! So Epidendrum relocation has been postponed to tomorrow ;-)

This post was edited by alys_esmond on Sat, Mar 30, 13 at 20:37
Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
11 years ago
Alys, I would have given $100 to watch you drive down the road with that palm tree sticking up out of your trunk! That is too great!

(You may be lucky you didn't hit any power lines? A few years ago, I was behind a guy pulling a boat on a trailer. He had forgotten to take the fishing rods out of the holders. I watched and winced as the rods hit every single power line all the way down the two-lane road.

Your palm is going to be beautiful! I adore foxtails. I bought one a few years ago, knowing they are not cold tolerant enough for Jacksonville. I wrapped it up and put heat lamps on it during the cold nights ... but it did not make it. I think foxtails are the prettiest of all the palms.

Carol in Jacksonville
alys_esmond USDA 5b Toronto
Original Author
11 years ago
It is done!

Ah, the joy of digging under my big maple... ROOTS! Roots of the plants I want to move woven thru the tree's roots, tree roots where I want to put the plants!

But it's done, I can see the flowers from the deck again and Chocolate can't stand in the middle of the plant. Victory for the human, for now.

Carol, we'd taken into account clearance. There was a horrible accident with a tv van in Toronto a few years back... The driver drove odd without lowering his antenna tower and drove, fast under a bridge. The tower dragged back, then whipped forward when he cleared the bridge and slammed thru the windshield, killing the driver. And, funnily enough, I too have seen the fishing boat being towed with rods hitting trees, bridges, traffic signals. LOL
Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
10 years ago
Inspired by Walli's orchid cage above, I just bought this cast iron house. This is the photo from when it was listed on Craigslist. I plan to put a plant inside but I'm still trying to decide exactly how to do it. It doesn't have a bottom and I don't want the yard to look junky. I have to figure out where and how to set it up. It is considerably smaller than Walli's so this will be small scale. It's very firm and sturdy and I don't think ever actually used as a bird cage - the door does not open. Anyone have any good ideas?!

Thanks!
Carol in Jacksonville

Moving my ground orchid

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Moving my ground orchid

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