There's a mouse eating my orchids !!!

Who knew? Mice eat orchids! Except that up until now, I had sort of accepted living with the mouse in the house, as both Sandro and I were against using the glue traps, and the live traps hadn't been working. But now? Definitely closer to war!

It's plant of choice seems to be the Enyclia polybulbon, gnawing off the leaves of the new green shoots. However, it also ate two new green shoots of my Dend. monoliforme, and I am sure it is also responsible for the teeth marks on my Sedirea japonica - little bugger!!

I went to Google when I first suspected, as there were mouse droppings around my plants, and found the following info that led me to confirm my suspicions!

From a Garden Web forum:
http://tinyurl.com/hkjxj

And from a UBC Botanical Garden forum:
http://tinyurl.com/gf97s

We had peanut butter in the live traps, so I am replacing with Dad's Oatmeal Chocolate Chips, and maybe I'll throw in some dog food for good measure. But if that doesn't work in the next few days... that mouse has to be gone before I go away for a week next week!

Jenn's plants in bloom

Another update for Jenn! Hope you get a chance to come and visit your plants (and say goodbye, of course) before heading overseas!!

Here is a picture of the Maxillaria negroides in full bloom:


Here is your ebay Brassidium (shooting star x dark star):


And last but not least, the Phrag. longifolium!!



The flower is a bit different from what I expected. Here is a picture of the listing of the Phrag longifolium. I think the flower looks a lot more like this hybrid ??

Hello all Thank you to Naomi, Sasha and Jenn for inviting me to contribute. I was surprised to find out that Sasha, a fellow co-worker was bit by the orchid growing bug and I think he was equally surprised that I had been a collector. Had been is the best way to describe my involvment since I am now re-establishing a modest collection now that I am somewhat stable. In my early twenties I began my love affair, at one time had 27 varieties and was a member of the local society. Many moves and changing enviroments took its toll and I was forced to give up my plants to one of my relatives that I thought could give them proper care. He had been starting a collection of his own, but when I visited years later I found that he had many pest problems and the plants were suffering. So I have now been energized to bring the survivors back to health! I will be posting the images I have as I find them and hopefully as my plants get established, I will be contributing as they bloom.

enjoy Calanthe Rosea, bloom from last spring

_dan

Green bloomers...

A couple nice green coloured orchids opened up for me over the weekend. Cattleya luteola and Coelogyne fimbriata. Both are small minature type plants that are blooming for the first time.

Maxillaria bloom

Here is a picture of one of Jenn's orchids I am caring for - Maxillaria negroides. I haven't been able to find any references anywhere to this species, so I really wasn't sure what to expect from the flowers. Jenn purchased this plant at the Victoria Orchid Society sale this past spring.

Phillippene order update....

Well I finally had a chance to pot up and mount my plants I got with Naomi from the Phillippenes. This plant is Ascocentrum miniatum and I was really impressed of how mature a plant I got. It is always fun to try to find the right peice of cork bark to start a plant out on. I use sphagnum moss around the roots and use fishing line to attach to the cork bark.







These are the two plants of Dendrobium topaziacum I got. Really healthy plants with great new roots and new shoots. I can't wait till this plant blooms... it is spectacular http://www.orchidspecies.com/denbullenianum.htm I got two, in the hopes of maybe having two different color forms. As you can see from the orchid species site, it also goes under the name of Dendrobium bullenianum.

Update on Jenn's orchids

Jenn, here is a quick update on your plants in spike / bloom. Hope you can come down soon and bring your special orchid fertlizers! It's been such a pleasure to care for your orchids, esp. when they show signs of flowering :)

Here is an update on the Phrag. longifolium. The spike has grown taller, and is changing colour, progressively, to a deep brown / mahogany:


Here are a couple of the 5 flower buds on the Maxillaria negroides:


The spike on your ebay brassidium:


And, last but not least, your new psycopis bloom: