# orchid advice



## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

hi all. i finally decided it was time to get an orchid. i have been lurking around J&L's site for over a year, but the price always held me back. anyway i got a Barbosella cogniauxiana because i thought due to its requirements and size that it would be a good terrarium specimen. i mounted it, as well as a small division that fell out, and have been misting once the leaves dry. the thing that kind of concerns me is that some of the leaves have a pinkish hue to them. is this normal? the plant is about 7-8 inches from a single t5 10,000 k fixture, with temps in the mid 70s. the humidity is high, but the plants do dry between mistings (6-12 hrs).

any tips or advice is greatly appreciated.

james


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

the pinkish hue is because the plant is in high light. Very typical of the pleurothallids.

Your care seems fine, I find that most pleurothallids do great in vivs, and as long as the viv is getting misted 3 x a week, no special care is needed


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## inktomi (Nov 17, 2007)

I have several of the "miniature" orchids from J&L Orchids in frog tanks under power compact florescent lighting. They all have done wonderfully so far! 

I wouldn't be afraid to order any of the miniature orchids from J&L - they all seem to do wonderfully with just simple misting in tanks.


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## Bob S (Mar 5, 2008)

cfl does well with orchids and getting them to flower. IMO 10000k is way too bright and will start to burn the plant if kept too close.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Im a big fan of the 6500 or 6700k myself


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## iljjlm (Mar 5, 2006)

I thought that the Kelvin scale (as used in lighting) was having to do with the temperature of color and not how bright something was. 

Wiki
"Higher color temperatures (5000 K or more) are "cool" (green–blue) colors, and lower color temperatures (2700–3000 K) "warm" (yellow–red) colors."

Dave


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## RarePlantBroker (Aug 3, 2008)

The 5500k to 6700k lights are best for most orchids. You shouldn't need any 10000k temp lights unless you are trying to bloom Cattleyas, or keep some nice red-tinted bromeliads "in color".


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

well thats what i have. will 10000k temp hurt the plant? id really like to not spend another $25 on a new bulb

james


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## RarePlantBroker (Aug 3, 2008)

I've not seen any problems with damage from a 10000k temp light. (I have one over my large display vivarium, and it hasn't caused any problems for my orchids--although I do have one or two with some red in the foliage--which isn't a big deal). I only meant to say that you didn't need anything over 6700k....


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

i didnt really see how it could hurt, but orchids are something ive always been somewhat intimidated by, since they have a reputation of being difficult to cultivate. anything i might be missing? any more advice on orchid care? id like to start getting some other orchids but i want to wait and make sure i dont kill this one first. 

thanks
james


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## rollinkansas (Jun 9, 2008)

I was intimidated by them until about 2 months ago. Now I have about 20 species and growing...I dont keep them special, just a 10 gallon tank with eggcrate misted with regular sink water. All are healthy and growing.

A orchid keeper on here sent this to me, which makes a lot of sense: "I'd have to say that the rumors of orchid pickiness are greatly exaggerated. Think how hard it is to grow sitting on a tree branch with wind and rain and god knows what else getting thrown at you. For most of the miniatures, the real key is good humidity and a bit of air movement. If you can do that you'll be able to grow most everything. Oh, and really good water helps too."


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

I totally agree with that. 
But, if your goal is consistent flowering, you gotta be nice to them as they can skip a bloom cycle or 2 recovering from harsh treatment. 
Luckily they die slowly nd are easily saved most f the time


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## RarePlantBroker (Aug 3, 2008)

The last two posts have been great advice. Orchids usually prefer to be ignored rather than "babied"--which is how most plants meet their demise. 

I had forgotten to mention air circulation. There are very few orchids that don't want at least some air movement. High humidity is great--but they do need some air movement (small PC fans are the best solution). 

The other advice that I can give is to pay attention to the plant. If it isn't getting enough water, the leaves and/or pseudobulbs on an orchid will usually start to "pucker" or wrinkle a bit--if this happens just mist a little more frequently.

To bloom orchids, there is usually an environmental trigger. In subtropical species, blooming is usually triggered by the change in photoperiod (length of day), and in many tropical species it is triggered by a change in rainfall/humidity. Don't worry to much about getting an orchid to bloom in the first few months in the vivarium--let it concentrate on rooting first. This species of Barbosella usually flowers in late spring to summer (corresponding with the end of the "dry season" in the new world tropics). In other words, if you're misting one or two times in the day now--increase your watering by 50% or more to help trigger the bloom cycle.

Finally, if you DON'T have frogs in the enclosure, you will want to apply some fertilizer periodically (1-2x per month is ideal). I would recommend a weak dilution of an organic guano (bat and/or seabird guano mix), sprayed by hand on the plant. This product is similar to things a frog would come in contact with in nature, and I've never had a problem adding frogs later after its use (I still use this fertilizer in one of my larger tanks even with the frogs--with no problems.

Feel free to PM me if you need any help.


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## dirtmonkey (Feb 10, 2007)

10000K is about the spectrum, it doesn't have anything to do with how bright the lamp is. A 6700K tube the same size will probably look even brighter because we see the yellow and green in it better than the blue in the 10000K. I also have 10000K tubes left over from marine aquariums, and the plants are fine with them.

Edit: Sorry, somehow I skipped over where this was already answered above...


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