i've always grown some tropical fruit trees, but recently i've become a "bit" more interested in them. the following post is for the tropical fruit forum...optimal pot riddle.
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"if you really want to give something a head start, put it in a deep, deep ass pot." - flyingfoxfruits
when i 1st moved into my place i dug a bunch of holes to plant trees. if i was lucky i would find a marble. i'd tell my girlfriend at the time that i had a valuable surprise for her and she was nice enough to pretend to be happy to receive a random marble. she ended up filling half a jar with them.
when i 1st joined this forum a little over a year ago i have to admit that i didn't do much digging to find old but valuable threads. the other day though, when i decided to share some of my thoughts on pots, i figured it would be a good idea to 1st dig to try and find some buried treasure.
here are some of the more or less relevant things i unearthed...
did i overlook the most useful content about pots? if so, please share it. overlooking the best things in life is one of the worst things in life. like the time i went to puerto vallarta 25 years ago and overlooked luc's garcinia.
if we could use our donations (to the tff) to determine the creation and order of forum categories, how much would we donate for the topic of pots? in my previous thread i didn't include the topic of pots among the top three topics that i'd be willing to donate for. maybe that was a mistake.
prior to digging for pot threads, i had never heard of microkote before, which was curious since it seemed quite useful, but i don't remember it being mentioned in any relatively recent threads. so i googled within this site and found 1 microkote search result since 2018.
which is more useful... semi-hydro or microkote or...?
naturally we all have different conditions, so something that is useful in wet conditions, for example, might be useless in dry conditions. optimal is relative, kinda.
a year ago i visited the salton sea for the 1st time and was intrigued that the shore consisted of a very loose mix of barnacle shells, fish bones and sand. i asked my friend whether it might make a good medium and she replied something like, no way, it's toxic! i replied, hold my beer. i found a random empty 5 gallon pot, filled it with the seashore medium, took it home and rinsed it several times. then i stuck two well callused aloe cuttings (tenuior and my tenuior hybrid) into the medium in a 1 gallon pot. for the sake of comparison i stuck two more cuttings in pure pumice and two more cuttings in cat liter (my ex left it)...
the cat liter was an obvious fail, guess it was the wrong kind. but surprisingly the salton sea medium seemed to work. here's a recent pic...
the roots...
the left two aloes were in the salton seashore medium, the two on the right were in pure pumice. the roots that were in pumice look a bit better so it seems reasonable to say that with these two aloes, and in my relatively drier conditions, pumice is a bit more optimal than the salton seashore. but perhaps in wetter conditions the seashore medium would be a bit more optimal.
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, so far it hasn't produced any seed pods. Same thing last year, which was the first year it bloomed. I'm guessing that it is sterile.
What about the pollen? So far I haven't seen any. But maybe that's because the hummingbirds seem to visit this Aloe every 5 minutes.
This Aloe sure does produce a lot of offshoots though. Right now the main branch is around 4' tall and its one head is just starting to become two. The branch still needs to be propped up but I'm hoping that it will thicken with age and then small orchids and Tillandsias can be attached to it.
Here's a pic of Myrmecophila tibicinis attached to my Aloe thraskii...
Erik and I are also friends on Facebook but it's been a while since I've checked out his personal page. Recently I did so and found this pic...
Here's what he wrote...
Rainy day image. Rarely do I grow a single plant in a pot. Companion planting holds secrets. As I observe these species in habitat, it’s evident evolution is not about the individual, rather responses to relationship. Bromeliads collect water that overflows to their root base, where mosses and hepatics grow, further stimulating seed germination and eventually the influx of vascular plants.
The community of species is more resilient than the individual. - Erik Van Zuilekom
Exactly!
Thanks to this thread in the forum for Epiphytic Myrmecophytes, I learned that Stone Jaguar created a website... Exotica Esoterica, which contains many treasures such as this Bonsai Diorama. I first learned about his exquisite companion planting when he shared it in this thread of mine in the Agaveville forum.
What's the difference between grouping people and grouping plants? In both cases, some combinations are certainly better than others.
Here's a pic of my tree in 2011...
The tripod is there because I was trying to take a picture of the orchid seeds that germinated on the bark. You can see that the rabbit's foot fern (Davallia) was making its way to the sunny side of the tree. At that point I think it had already smothered, and killed, a couple of orchids so I ended up removing it completely. The variegated Monstera hadn't killed any of the other plants... yet... but it was quickly taking up more and more space that could be used by a wider variety of plants. I didn't remove it entirely but I did remove the portion of the stem that was in the ground. This slowed it down... and it survived for several years... until the drought caused me to reduce summer watering of the tree from 3x to 2x a week at night. This was the last straw for the Monstera.
In this short-time lapse video, you can see Jerry, Gene, Fernando and I removing a Monstera from the base of Jerry's big Catalpa tree. This freed up a lot of space that could be used to grow a wide variety of other plants. The same thought came to mind when this past weekend I saw Gary's Jacaranda tree covered in monstera...
It's a matter of getting the balance right.
One of the most important parts to get right for companion planting is the host. Pretty early on in my epiphyte experimentation I cut some large branches which I suspended and attached numerous orchids to. The branches lasted for several years but eventually they deteriorated and the orchids had to be removed and remounted. It's convenient to be able to use large hanging branches... so what's the solution? What about Ficus?
Here's a companion planting that I created on Aug 16 this year...
It's a largish branch from my Cedar tree that has the following plants attached to it...
The Ficus was a well-rooted cutting that had been happily growing in a pot. I removed it from the pot and washed off the dirt from its roots. Next I tightly attached it to the Cedar branch and added quite a bit of New Zealand Sphagnum moss around its roots which I covered with shade cloth. I stapled the shade cloth closed and cut a square on one side where I placed the Platycerium. Not sure if it was necessary to remove a portion of the shade cloth... I'm guessing that the Platycerium would have rooted through it. Before using fishing line to attach the Platycerium, I placed the Kalanchoe, Microgramma and Worsleya partially behind it.
I suspended the branch in the small area that I water most frequently and the Ficus pretty quickly started growing new roots. Here, if you look closely, you can see one just starting to poke through the shade cloth...
The Kalanchoe roots, on the other hand, are going in the opposite direction.
So far the exposed Ficus roots have been "air-pruned"... but more and more of them keep poking through the shade cloth. How much progress will they make over time? Will they be the root equivalent of stalactites? For those of you who still haven't seen it, the Ficus thonningii at the LA Arboretum has by far the best aerial roots of any tree in California.
What will happen to the Worsleya procera? It's a super nice, and quite expensive, bulb. Dave was really generous to give me two seedlings that he grew from seed. I put each one in pretty much pure pumice. So far they've both been very slow... but one is faster than the other. Somehow, even though it was on a second shelf, some cats managed to knock over the slower one. I decided to give it more peat... and it seemed to respond to the additional moisture... but then I started getting nervous about it not having enough drainage during the winter. When I unpotted it for inclusion in the companion planting, I noticed that the roots didn't look so great. Now it gets frequent water but the drainage is excellent. Not too long ago a new leaf started to emerge. It might be because of the moist moss... or maybe it's because it now gets a lot more sun... as you can tell from the photo.
One potential problem is that the Ficus roots will quickly "use up" all the moss and not leave any for the Worsleya. The two ferns will slowly make new medium but I think the Ficus will probably compete it away from the bulb. The bulb would have faced even more competition for limited medium if I had included an orchid. But there are some orchids that aren't very vigorous rooters so I might add one or two of those.
The Kalanchoe can get by without much medium. Check out Erik's Kalanchoe uniflora. Wow! I wonder how much medium it has.
By the time the Cedar branch starts to fall apart... will the Ficus branch be developed enough to carry the community?
The next month, on 20 Sept, I created another Ficus-based mount for the piece of Vanilla that Julia shared with me. I met her through the LA/OC trading group on Facebook. She easily has the biggest house-grown Vanilla that I've ever seen. Here it is outside...
Here's the piece that she shared with me...
Here's a context photo...
The branch was freshly cut from my Ficus lutea tree. To get the moss to stay on the branch I covered it with shade cloth which I stapled to the branch. Here's what I included in this planting...
Aloe bellatula hybrid? seeds (from Julia)
Aloe Lavender Star seeds (from Julia)
Aloe tabletop NOID seeds (from Julia)
Ficus rubiginosa (from Julia)
Kalanchoe uniflora (one mine and the other from Sarah)
Microgramma vaccinifolia
Vriesea John Arden hybrid seeds (from Sarah)
Julia has a big beautiful Ficus rubiginosa tree that has aerial roots growing from relatively small branches. She gave me a good-sized branch with lots of aerial roots. I divided the branch so that each stem had aerial roots. Here's one example...
Even though the divisions had plenty of aerial roots which were in plenty of New Zealand Sphagnum moss that I watered every night, the stems lost their leaves and appeared to desiccate. My guess is that I cut the rooted portions of the branch too short. : ( However, Julia also gave me plenty of seeds from her Ficus so I can sow those on the mounts.
Which Ficus would result in a better balance... thonningii or rubiginosa? Chances are good that some other Ficus would be a better companion/host. Recently Gene gave me some cuttings from three of his Ficus. Hopefully they will root and I can experiment with them.
The Ficus lutea branch is still alive so there's a chance that it will root into the moss. So far the Vanilla hasn't started to grow but it's perfectly turgid, thanks to the few aerial roots that it has in the moss. Now really isn't the best time of year to try and get a Vanilla established outdoors. Plus, the commercial varieties aren't big fans of our winters. Back in Dec 2014 I was pretty surprised to see this Vanilla happily growing on some wood in Dave's patio (he lives in Eagle Rock)...
You can see in the foreground the main plant that was potted. Dave wasn't exactly thrilled with having the Vanilla climbing where it was... so maybe he tried moving it? Or maybe the cold deterred it. In any case it is no longer there.
So far it seems like the best Vanilla for growing outside in SoCal is Vanilla chamissonis. Here it is growing on Jeff's house in Echo Park...
I have no idea how many different "clones" there are of the commercial variety of Vanilla... but there's going to be some variation in cold tolerance. Maybe Julia's Vanilla is more cold tolerant than most? Maybe it isn't. Then again, maybe a mounted Vanilla would do better over winter than a potted one. I might bring the mount inside or give it to somebody with a greenhouse.
The day after creating the Vanilla/Ficus mount I created an Aloe/Ficus mount...
On a freshly cut branch of Evergreen Pear (Pyrus kawakamii) I added the following plants...
Agave - very sad plain green miniature
Aloe bakeri
Aloe bellatula hybrid? seeds (from Julia)
Aloe ‘Carmine’
Aloe - hanging (from Geoff)
Aloe Lavender Star seeds (from Julia)
Aloe - miniature green lineata
Aloe - miniature green rounded
Aloe - semi-pendulous (from Elmer)
Aloe - tabletop colorful
Aloe - tabletop NOID seeds (from Julia)
Aloe - tabletop white (x 2)
Gasteraloe? - slender leaves (x 2)
Ficus rubiginosa
Ficus thonningii
Pyrrosia - nice one from tree fern
The Pyrus might root into the moss... but I doubt it. The Ficus rubiginosa hasn't fared so well but the thonningii quickly established, even though it only had a few short roots on it.
For some reason the Aloe seeds haven't germinated yet. Or maybe they have... but they are still inside the shade cloth?
Usually I sow different seeds together. For example...
There are seedlings of Bletilla striata and Begonia thiemei/carolineifolia from seeds that I received from Fernando. I sowed them in July of this year. If anybody local is interested in having one of the nine pots with these seedlings, I can bring them to the upcoming plant swap at Village Green.
Right now the Village Green Thumbs group on Facebook has 7 members. It has the potential to grow and produce some very exciting companion plantings.
Ever wonder why humans are exceptionally intelligent? My theory is that it's because walking upright gave us the ability to simultaneously carry many things, and deciding what to carry is cognitively challenging. Correctly discerning what to keep, and what to discard, depends on using more brainpower to process more information. I collect relevant passages... jettison... here's one that I found on this forum...
Also, I recall reading a post somewhere a few years back written by someone who said he knew DW, and went on to describe how DW had thousands of hybrids, and saved the best, and discarded (believe it or not!) MANY of his "rejects" into a canyon off his property. The story goes, he did this until he caught wind that others were scrounging his castoffs in that canyon, after which he started destroying them instead. - Spination, A couple more new to me hybrids
Recently I separated a bunch of Echeveria rosea seedlings...
I'm pretty sure that most of the larger seedlings have Echeveria gibbiflora as their father. It was blooming at the same time in the same area as rosea. Am I going to destroy any of these seedlings? Nooooooo. Echeveria rosea is my very favorite Echeveria, so I really want everybody to grow it and/or its hybrids. I'm going to give all the seedlings away next month at the Village Green Thumbs plant trade. My friend Scadoxus and I recently created that Facebook group for plant enthusiasts in her area (Culver City) to trade/share/sell plants. One person's trash is another person's treasure.
Echeveria rosea is primarily an epiphyte, but I've found that it isn't a drier grower. It slowly declined on my tree when I reduced watering from 3x to 2x a week at night during summer. Echeveria gibbiflora, on the other hand, is not an epiphyte but it is a drier grower, so the seedlings on my tree had no problem with less frequent watering. Unfortunately they tended to slowly break their own necks. Here are a couple exceptions that are starting to spike...
These are more compact than the typical form, all of which broke their necks. In the photo you can also see an orchid blooming and a dragon fruit blooming. The dragon fruit is actually growing on the fence. Here's a pic of the orchid...
Rhynchovola Jimminey Cricket (Brassavola nodosa × Rhyncholaelia digbyana) is a strong grower that blooms more often as it gets more pseudobulbs. The flowers are pretty big, but they aren't very long-lived... and the color white really doesn't stand out on the tree. Ideally when an orchid blooms on a tree every hummingbird in the neighborhood should be drawn to it.
This orchid is definitely a relatively succulent orchid. But I'd prefer if this thread was primarily about growing non-epiphytic succulents epiphytically. For example...
Plectranthus spicatus has succulent leaves and does quite well on the tree. You can see another Plectranthus that's thriving... but it isn't nearly as succulent... I don't know the name of it.
In Feb 2016 I sowed a bunch of Golden Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus grusonii) seeds together with seeds from Reed Stem Epidendrums. It turned out that birds really like to eat the cactus seeds. Fortunately I didn't keep all my eggs in the same basket. I put a few pots in buckets covered in clear plastic, here's one of them...
If you look closely you can see one reed-stem seedling... it's the only green thing in the pic. The cactus won this round, maybe because the medium was too big for the tiny orchid seeds.
I also sowed some of both seeds behind a mounted Platycerium, here's a recent pic...
There are actually quite a few seedlings competing for very limited resources. Here's another mount that I sowed some of the seeds on....
In this case I think most of the cactus seeds, or seedlings, fell off. Neither of these mounts were watered frequently enough for the reed-stem seeds to germinate and/or grow.
Some of the cactus seedlings in pots are much bigger than the mounted seedlings. But it's not like I really have the space for a mature Golden Barrel cactus. The mounted seedlings won't get very large.... they will essentially be bonsai'd. Well, in theory!
On Flickr I created a gallery of accidentally epiphytic cactus and here's a gallery of accidentally epiphytic succulents. Anybody recognize this Aloe? I'd love to know what it is because it's sure thriving on that tree. Some of the stems of this Aloe are much longer and thicker than I realized when I first saw the pic. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I only just recently mounted my first Aloe... Aloe bakeri.
Three years ago at the Huntington I took this pic of an Aloe accidentally growing on a big cactus...
Anybody recognize the Aloe?
Daniel Gledhill, who is very knowledgeable about tree Aloes and runs the Tree Aloe group on Facebook, said that he's seen Aloe thraskii growing epiphytically before. He also informed me that Thomas Cole's Aloes of Uganda mentions that Aloe lukeana can be found growing on trees.
Why aren't there already the Aloe equivalents of epiphytic cactus? Maybe it's because Aloe seeds are less likely to end up on trees than cactus seeds.
A few years back, in the XericWorld forum, I created a thread for the same topic of growing succulents epiphytically. I, and others, added quite a few pictures and links to the thread... it was really great! But then one day the entire website was gone. Evidently the owner decided that it was no longer worth carrying. It was obviously his prerogative to make that decision, but his decision certainly wasn't informed by my valuation of my threads and other people's threads. He knew the cost and benefit of the website for himself, but he didn't know the benefit of the website to others. As a result, his cost/benefit analysis wasn't correct.
Whether we're talking about a plant forum or an Aloe hybrid, correctly determining the actual worth of something depends on giving everybody the opportunity to share their valuations of it.
I really love plants. The first thing that I did when I moved into my house was replace the front lawn with a wide variety of super interesting drought tolerant plants. Why should that space only have one plant when it can have many plants?! In economic terms, the opportunity cost of the lawn was way too high.
The awesomeness of having more interesting plants in any given space is the basic premise of "phorobana". A phorobana is any potted plant (ie bonsai) that has epiphytes growing on it. For the sake of facilitating communication I took the liberty of creating the word "phorobana" (phorophyte + ikebana). Plus, having a unique word for the idea makes it easier to search for and find relevant material.
It's a basic fact of life that space is always limited. A larger house means a smaller garden. More lawn means less biodiversity. The beauty of phorobanas is that they facilitate biodiversity. They put more treasure on a map.
There's usually quite a bit of treasure at plant shows. However, just like gardens, shows have a limited amount of space. Check out this photo that I took at a plant show...
As you can see, the orchid is suspended in mid-air. Taking advantage of vertical space frees up horizontal space for more treasure.
The Uncarina has vertical space that could be occupied by the Dockrillia. If the same person already owned both plants, then adorning the Uncarina with the orchid would create room on the map for more treasure. If, on the other hand, the orchid was purchased for this purpose, then more treasure would be added to the map without sacrificing any horizontal space.
The Uncarina and the Dockrillia are both great ideas. Would combining these two great ideas result in an even greater idea?
Peanut butter is a great idea... so is jelly... and so is bread. Most people would agree that the combination of these three ideas is greater than any of these ideas on their own. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
With all the different ingredients in the world... the possibilities are endless. This is just as true for phorobanas as it is for dishes. The orchid family alone has more than 20,000 really diverse epiphytic species. Not to mention all the hybrids.
How long will it take to find the phorobana equivalent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? It's a numbers game. Finding the lovely outliers in less time depends on more people creating more combinations of epiphytes and potted plants. Progress depends on difference. More difference means more progress.
Right now plant shows are the equivalent of eating peanut butter, jelly and bread separately. These ingredients are good... but they are so much better together! Yes, at ikebana shows there are arrangements that people can "taste". Even though the arrangements can be aesthetically pleasing, they aren't sustainable or informative. But imagine that you are at a phorobana show and you see a Dockrillia happily growing on an Uncarina. If you're familiar with the orchid but unfamiliar with its host, then you can reasonably guess that their requirements are somewhat similar. In this case the association would be informative.
Phorobana shows will be far more informative and interesting than regular plant shows. To help support this conclusion I'll show you some of my epiphytically enhanced potted plants...
Phorobanas should be on everybody's treasure map! Nobody should overlook this valuable idea! The question is... just how valuable is it? Does it matter?
In this video a street vendor is selling artwork by Banksy. The artwork is priced far below market value... but the vendor doesn't inform anybody that it's original art by Banksy. It's the closest thing you'll see to people walking past $100 dollars bills just sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.
Imagine the equivalent scenario with some hunters and gatherers. Of course they are hungry... yet they simply walk past some plants that are loaded with perfectly ripe squash.
In some of the older orchid articles there are accounts of workers in tropical orchards regularly removing the "parasites" growing on the trees. They would rake the precious plants into huge piles and burn them.
Our behavior is far less beneficial when we don't know how valuable things are to other people. In order to maximize beneficial behavior it's necessary to share and learn the value of things.
When we go to a plant show/sale we might find numerous plants that we'd be really happy to have. We can tell a vendor... "I really love that plant!" But usually the vendor doesn't just give it to us. This is because talk is cheap. It doesn't cost us anything to simply say that we really love something. In order to prove that we truly love something, we have to be willing to spend our money on it. If we are willing to pay the price for the plant then the vendor will be happy to give it to us.
Spending our money helps to improve the treasure maps of vendors. The accuracy of their maps determines our benefit! We sure don't benefit if vendors overlook plants that we value. So we use our money to inform vendors which plants are more valuable/needed/wanted/important/relevant. Plant sales give us the immensely wonderful opportunity to superficially ("I love that plant!") and substantially ("I'll buy that plant") participate in the prioritization process. Because everyone is allowed to participate in this process, it makes it far more likely that any given shopper will be as happy as a kid in a candy store.
Perhaps this might seem pretty obvious... yet plant shows don't give everyone the opportunity to substantially participate in the prioritization process. And neither do plant forums! This forum is packed with products but we really don't substantially participate in the prioritization process. Same thing on Flickr... and Youtube... and Netflix. We're allowed to superficially participate in the prioritization process by commenting on and/or rating the different products... but we don't substantially participate. In the absence of substantial participation... the true value of the products is unknown... which means...
1. we overlook valuable products
2. less valuable products are supplied
3. we're less happy in the candy store than we should be
For Netflix the solution is simple. Subscribers should be given the option to earmark their fees to their favorite content. They'd still have complete access to all the content but they'd also have the opportunity to substantially participate in the prioritization process.
A while back on Netflix I watched BBC's documentary "Wild Arabia". In one episode I was quite surprised to see a branch that was covered in epiphytes...
The tree is in the Dhofar mountains in the country of Oman. I really didn't know that Oman has epiphytes! Did you?
Unfortunately, the scene was way too short. I wanted to see and learn so much more about these epiphytes. If Netflix had given me the opportunity to earmark my subscription dollars to specific scenes, then I definitely would have earmarked quite a few to this one. I'm guessing that there wouldn't be too many other people in the same boat as me. But how many subscription dollars would subscribers earmark to shows about plants? I don't know. Neither does Netflix. It's easy enough to find out though.
This system of substantial and specific feedback is applicable to all organizations that have subscribers. But the same system can also work with donors.
When the students in my friend's 4th grade class donate their pennies to their Book Dept, they can use them to help determine the order (relative importance) of their favorite books. When they donate their pennies to their Communication Dept, they can use them to determine the order of their favorite blog entries. This same system could be used for forum threads.
We'd all have the option to donate money to the forum in order to help determine the order of our favorite threads. Not only would our donations support the forum, but they'd also bring the most valuable threads to each other's attention... "Hey! Here's some treasure! Please don't overlook it!"
For all intents and purposes... each member of this forum is in the same tribe! :) We probably don't have to worry about any of our members overlooking squash... but how many new books, articles, blog entries, threads, videos and events are there every day? None of us has the time to read, watch and attend everything. So it's way too easy to miss many valuable things. This is why it's so important to appreciate that our tribe, as a group, can read, watch and attend far more things than any single member of the tribe can. Our tribe, as a group, has far more eyeballs, ears, hands and feet than any single member of the tribe has. Most importantly... our tribe, as a group, has far more brains than any single member of the tribe has. As a group, our tribe can cover far more ground and gather/process far more information than any single member of the tribe can. But in order to realize the incredible potential of our collective body and brain... we need to use our money to improve each other's treasure maps. When each member of our tribe has a far better treasure map, then every single one of us will make far more informed decisions which will improve our treasure maps even more. Our tribe will be the smartest and most powerful and most influential tribe on the internet. We will win the internet. At least until other tribes figure out the secret to our success.
Think about it though... if it's beneficial for each and every member of our tribe to use our money to improve each other's treasure maps... then imagine how beneficial it will be when each and every member of the human race uses their money to improve each other's treasure maps. Then we will be the smartest and most powerful and most influential species in the universe. We will win the universe.
Admittedly, for all I know, some other species has already won the universe. But I do know that phorobanas wonderfully illustrate the idea of a map having more treasure (epiphytic enrichment).
Here's a photo that I took earlier in the year of my very first phorobana...
The Dendrobium x delicatum was blooming.
Does my phorobana look crowded? Well yeah, it's crowded with coolness! This relatively small Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) is carrying way more than its fair share of precious biodiversity. One very tiny passenger is Cleisostoma scolopendrifolium...
Epiphytic enrichment is nicely described in this passage about an aquarium...
The condensed reef's extraordinary hues and alien life forms cast a New Age vibe. To stand in front of this rectangular bottle is to stand on a harmonic node. Here are more varieties of living creatures crammed into a square meter than anywhere else on the planet. Life does not get any denser. The remarkable natural richness of the coral reef has been squeezed further into the hyper-natural richness of a synthetic reef. - Kevin Kelly, Out of Control
Everylittle corner of the world should be packed with treasure. Every space on every person's map should be packed with treasure. Everybody should be surrounded by valuable opportunities. Everybody should clearly recognize all the valuable opportunities that are available to them. Therefore, everybody should use their money to help each other clearly see all the valuable opportunities.
Ok, so we've covered quite a bit of conceptual ground. Next we can consider some of the practical aspects... such as sources for epiphytes/hosts and matching them.
The endlessly fascinating challenge is matching epiphytes and hosts! Logically they should have similar cultural requirements. You probably don't want to attach a Dracula orchid to a Golden Barrel Cactus. Maybe the easiest way to culturally match hosts and epiphytes is to learn which hosts epiphytes naturally grow on in nature.
Here's a photo of a Cabbage tree (Cussonia spicata) in nature with an orchid (Polystachya ottoniana) growing on it...
Her C. spicata is missing a P. ottoniana and my P. ottoniana is missing a C. spicata! Should she give me her Cussonia or should I give her my Polystachya? :D Perhaps the rule is that ornaments are gifted to the owner of the Christmas tree. :)
There are a few relevant cultural details to point out. The bark on a relatively young Cussonia clearly doesn't have nearly as much texture as a mature tree. Also, when the Polystachya grows on the Cussonia in nature, even though they get roughly the same amount of water... I'm guessing that it's a lot more humid there in South Africa than here in Southern California. These two differences (texture, humidity) can be balanced out by giving the orchid some moss and/or more water. If watering frequency is increased then the Cussonia's drainage also needs to be increased (ie more gravel/pumice).
What's rather fascinating about Polystachya ottoniana is its distribution...
This is a map of South Africa. The blue area represents the Mediterranean climate and the black squares represent documented occurrences of Polystachya ottoniana. As far as I know this is the closest that any epiphytic orchid species comes to being Mediterranean. So maybe here in California it might actually take advantage of our winter rain and not be so bothered by somewhat less frequent watering in summer?
It's pretty easy to match hosts and epiphytes based on their natural associations. But you can also match hosts and epiphytes based on their natural habitats. Since California is so dry I'm especially interested in epiphytes that occur in seasonally dry tropical forests. On Flickr I created a gallery of orchids growing on cactus and other succulent plants.
A couple of those photos are of Zelenkoa onusta growing on a cactus in the US Botanic Garden conservatory. How cool is that?! This small orchid naturally grows on cactus in Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Not only does it have nice yellow flowers but it also has really neat pseudobulbs...
Another really nice smaller orchid from a drier habitat is Laelia sincorana...
In bright light this orchid will have roundish pseudobulbs and short succulent leaves. I refer to these type of orchids as teapot orchids (short and stout). In its native country of Brazil, Laelia sincorana naturally grows on Vellozia species. Vellozias are so very awesome! Quite a few different epiphytes grow on arborescent Vellozias in nature because their fibrous branches are especially good at holding moisture. It's a real shame that they are so scarce here in Southern California!
Encyclia pyriformis is another of my favorite teapot orchids...
Nature makes the best ornaments! Here are some pictures of potential hosts...
Not sure which plant this is... Dracaena draco or arborea?
Dracaena marginata is fairly common and can be grown from relatively large cuttings. Here's a relevant passage about growing hosts from substantial cuttings...
In completely tropical climates, where the temperature never falls below 55F., the trees could be placed anywhere in the garden or patio. This assumes that severe winds or very dry desert air are not a factor. In such tropical settings, larger trees could also be used. In temperate climates both the trees and the orchids will require a greenhouse or its equivalent. Anyone with a large greenhouse could plant one or more trees directly in the ground. This can be seen, in a well-done fashion, at The Marie Selby Botanical Garden in Sarasota, Florida. There are several good-sized Crescentia trees covered with orchids in their display house. Most people will probably prefer to maintain semi-dwarf trees in large pots. These might be mounted on dollies for mobility, if desired. It may be necessary from time to time to air layer new trees as the old ones become too root-bound and lanky. Probably all of the trees listed will air layer rather easily. Most will also root easily as cuttings under mist. Some, such as Calliandra, Erythrina, Codiaeum, Acnistus, Tabebuia and Crescentia, will root without mist from large cuttings, even up to fence post size. Many of the trees have showy or fragrant flowers, some have attractive edible fruit and several have unusual foliage colors. Any can be grown from seed if it is available and you have the patience. - John Beckner, Host Trees for Cultivated Orchids
Here are some other plants that can be grown from substantial cuttings...
Aloes
Aralias
Bougainvilleas
Cordylines
Cup of Gold
Ficus
Grapes
Moringa
Pachiras
Plumerias
Pomegranate
Yuccas
My friend sent me a photo of this Ficus rubiginosa growing epiphytically...
Most likely this Ficus is going to be chopped off and thrown away. A much better use for it would be for a phorobana. So I told my friend that he should ask the owner for it.
From my perspective, the one group of plants with the greatest phorobana potential are the Aloes...
This is Aloe Hercules (barberae x dichotoma) in a SoCal nursery. I have no idea how this one ended up with so many low branches. But it would be awesome if all the branches were adorned with teapot orchids.
Hercules doesn't usually branch so frequently at a low height. So it doesn't strike me as a particularly good candidate for phorobanas. A cross with far more potential was made by Karen Zimmerman...
This is a cross between Aloe ramosissima and tongaensis. Aloe ramosissima tends to have numerous low branches that are substantial enough for teapot orchids. Unfortunately... it has a few issues. It's a really slow grower, it doesn't grow so easily from cuttings and is fairly prone to rot. Aloe tongaensis is somewhere in between barberae and ramosissima in terms of branch quantity and height. It doesn't have the same issues as ramosissima and might be one of the best Aloe species for phorobanas.
The question is... is Karen's cross even better for phorobanas than tongaensis? I'd sure love to find out.
One Aloe species that is rather interesting is Aloe tenuior. It's a relatively fast grower that produces several upright stems that are around 2-3' tall. It doesn't seem to have an issue with rot. Plus, it grows easily from cuttings and when a stem is beheaded, it will produce one or more new heads. The only real drawback is that the stems aren't substantial enough for teapot orchids.
A few years ago I pollinated my tenuior with pollen from a bunch of different tree Aloes. I didn't keep track of which pollen went into which flower. But now I have four Aloes from the cross. They aren't quite blooming size but I'm pretty sure that at least three of them are hybrids. At first I guessed that they all had the same father but now I'm guessing otherwise.
Here's a photo that I took in November 2015 of one of the largest seedlings next to Aloe tenuior...
At this stage I started suspecting that this seedling and a few others might be hybrids rather than selfings. Six months later I took this photo...
Aloe tenuior is in the back. The seedlings all got taller and heftier... and then slowly flopped over. It was like watching a slow motion trainwreck! Earlier this year I potted three of them up and staked them...
The Aloe on the far right might be a cross between ramosissima and dichotoma. It's substantial enough for teapot orchids but super slow. Aloe tenuior is on the bottom right.
Here's a recent photo...
I should have used taller stakes! The plant on the left is one of my hybrids. It has a stem that is 2x as thick as tenuior's stem. To the right of it is tenuior. On its right is one of my hybrids that has a stem that is 4x as thick. On the far right is my hybrid with a stem that is 3x as thick. The tops of the stems are thicker than the bases. I'm hoping that the bases will thicken with age and then they'll be able to support the weight of the stems. In any case, the tops of the stems can be cut off and potted. Hopefully the headless stems will produce new heads like tenuior does.
The hybrid on the left is by far the slowest. The hybrid in the middle is by far the largest, which is interesting because it was the runt of the litter. It was so small that I didn't even bother including it in the first two photos. The hybrid on the right is by far the fastest.
What's fascinating is that the middle hybrid only has one basal shoot, the hybrid on the right has a gazillion and the hybrid on the left has several. My tenuior produces a few basal shoots. Here are all the potential fathers...
Aloe africana Aloe arborescens Aloe dichotoma
AloeHercules Aloe tongaensis Aloe thraskii Aloe vaombe
The only potential father that produces numerous basal shoots is arborescens. I've read, and heard, that it tends to be dominant in its hybrids. None of my hybrids resemble arborescens. Honestly I was somewhat surprised that any of the fathers were compatible with tenuior. They are superficially quite different. Aloe tenuior and similar species have recently been moved into their own genus... Aloiampelos. So all my crosses are intergeneric.
The other day I gave my friend Fernando cuttings of my two most prolific tenuior hybrids. It was the first time that I've shared cuttings. The offshoots are only now getting large enough to share. It's interesting to participate in the very first dissemination of a new plant. So far the hybrid with the least offshoots is spreading slower than the hybrids with more offshoots. I'm guessing that this will continue to be the case. It stands to reason that the shareability of a plant will significantly influence its proliferation. Here in Southern California, Aloe arborescens is a contender for the most common Aloe. It's probably not a coincidence that it produces abundant offshoots that can be easily cut and rooted. Aloe vera might be more common and it does produce offshoots, but they have to be dug up. Its prevalence is most likely the result of its medicinal properties.
I'm not sure how long it will take my hybrids to reach blooming size. I'd definitely like to see their flowers... but I'm far more curious to see their mature form. How much phorobana potential will they have? There's always room for improvement. It would be really cool to try and cross my hybrids with Karen's hybrids.
Hopefully more people will hybridize Aloes with the goal of creating varieties that make awesome phorobanas. Kinda like people trying to build better birdhouses.
I'd sure love to see lots of Aloe phorobanas! Wouldn't you? Or would you love to see other things? In all cases it's unfortunate when we overlook valuable things. This is why it's so important for us to easily improve each other's treasure maps.
I... sound... really...... awkward. It's my first time narrating a video. Clearly it's not my forte. If you want more energy and enthusiasm... then... here you go...
She makes it look so easy. For me it's easier to be enthusiastic in my writing...
I LOVE tree Aloes! What's an Aloe good for? Attaching orchids to! If it isn't, then it's good for nothing. I'm kidding... kinda.
Most of my tree Aloes aren't large enough to attach orchids to yet. But, for some reason, most of them bloom at roughly the same time of year. Why is that? Is it a coincidence... or do the bulk of tree Aloes bloom at roughly the same time? Or is it simply that... the bulk of tree Aloes that are commonly available in Southern California bloom at the same time? Or do most Aloes in general bloom during winter?
I read somewhere that pollinating during winter is the best way to select for cold tolerance. Hmmm... so... would this mean that winter bloomers proliferate faster?
As you can see from the video... my front yard, which is in Glendale, is full of drought tolerant and succulent plants. Here's a photo of my front yard that I took 6 years ago...
It was a lot neater back then. Now my front yard is extremely messy with garden debris here, there and everywhere. I prefer it this way! There's nothing orderly about nature. I decided a while back that I don't want a garden... I want a habitat... and the more complexity/biodiversity the better! I want the most niches for my nature! I want the most species for my space! Tiger, the very old neighborhood tomcat, sure loves the yard. You can see him briefly in the video.
Initially the front yard was nothing but grass. That didn't last long! If you're a TRUE nature lover... then the opportunity cost of lawn is infinitely high. Only one of my plant friends still has a lawn... not going to mention any names... Steve... :D Wait a second... Fernando too? Sheesh...
My very first tree Aloe was the Aloe thraskii in the video. It was a gift from a friend in the Orchid Society of Southern California (OSSC). I think it was only around 2 to 3 feet tall... and I distinctly remember my friend telling me that it wasn't going to grow much taller. Hah! I'm happy that he was quite mistaken. His thraskiis are also now quite taller than 2 to 3 feet!
Since then I've been really interested in tree Aloes and have acquired a decent collection of them. None of my tree Aloes are spectacular specimens like the ones you'd see at the Huntington Botanical Garden or the LA Arboretum... but I sure do enjoy them. The hummingbirds and bees are also big fans of the tree Aloes. And I've also seen a few smaller birds awkwardly trying to get to the nectar.
As you might have noticed... I didn't mention the epiphytes in the video. There are actually quite a few of them so it would have taken too long to mention all the plants. Plus, most of the epiphytes are new additions... so they really haven't had a chance to fill in very much. It's only just recently that the potential hosts in the front yard have gotten large enough to start attaching larger epiphytes to.
It might sound strange to grow orchids alongside Aloes and other succulent plants. But the orchid family actually has more species of technically succulent (CAM) plants than any other family. There are thousands of epiphytic orchid species that are found in dry/spiny tropical forests around the world. Many, if not most, of these drought tolerant orchid species are more than happy to grow outdoors year around here in Southern California.
Here's a gallery that I created on flickr to showcase photos of orchids growing on cactus and other succulent plants...
Please let me know if you happen to find any other flickr photos that belong in the gallery!
Epiphytes are wonderful additions to yards in suitable climates because they provide additional color and interest. They also help provide food and shelter for all sorts of creatures.
Ok... so here are some quick notes on the Aloes in this video.... Aloe bainesii: This species is the largest tree Aloe and a relatively fast grower. It's really not "precocious" though. Mine almost bloomed for the first time this year... but then decided to quit.
Aloe africana: A good grower and it has my favorite bloom. Probably. It definitely has the tallest flower spike. Plus, it blooms twice a year. I read somewhere that Aloe hybrids are more likely to bloom twice a year... so maybe my africana isn't the pure species.
Aloe arborescens (variegated): At first I wasn't a fan of variegation... but then it started to grow on me. Maybe someday I'll even catch up to Steve in terms of variegation appreciation. Hah. That would be impossible. But I definitely would love to have a large tree Aloe that's variegated. The problem is that they are not readily available...
So I'm hoping that my variegated arborescens will cross with my other tree Aloes. Unfortunately, for some reason, this year it finished blooming just before the rest of my Aloes started blooming. In a month or two I plan on removing the offshoots, rooting them and planting them around the front yard. Hopefully the disparity in locations will result in a disparity in blooming times. I've noticed that this is generally the case with orchids (more shade = less heat = later blooming).
Aloe dichotoma: The slow grower is actually the slowest grower. I've had mine for years but it still hasn't bloomed. It's a stupendous species though. Here's my friend with his...
Aloe ferox: Not the happiest camper. It bloomed a year or two ago... but then I failed to remove all the flowers that fell into its crown. I guess the rain + detritus proved to be a good combination for some fungus/bacteria... so a bad combination for the Aloe. I thought it was a goner but it seems to be outgrowing the problem. But it's definitely never really thrived.
Aloe Hercules: Is a cross between dichotoma and bainesii. In my opinion it's the fastest grower. You can see some earlier photos of it in this blog entry...
It bloomed for the first time last year. But evidently it decided that blooming was overrated because it didn't bloom again this year.
Aloe marlothii: Not the fastest grower... but definitely a trooper. It was already pretty large when I planted the The Grevillea "Red Hooks" near it. The Grevillea was in a one gallon pot and I guess I failed to read the label. The label probably said something about Jack and the Beanstalk because the Grevillea skyrocketed right after I planted it.
Aloe plicatilis: A very distinct tree Aloe. This species can potentially make a really great phorophyte for smaller epiphytes... but unfortunately it's a slow grower.
Aloe speciosa: I've heard quite a few people say that this species has the best bloom. And I can definitely see why. The form of the plant itself is also quite pleasing. For some reason I'm a bit surprised that mine is splitting. It's a perfect height to split... but I guess that most of the ones that I've seen have only had one head. Well, as the saying goes, two heads are better than one!
Aloe striata: ... I believe. Not a tree Aloe! Still... there's something about the leaves that are definitely appealing (pastel luminescence?). Usually it starts blooming just as the rest of the Aloes finish blooming. This year it's blooming at the same time. It even has 3 spikes on it. Hopefully some bees or hummingbirds will cross pollinate it with the tree Aloes. I'd definitely love to see what the hybrid would look like!
Aloe thraskii: The plant itself has my favorite form. It's very curvy. The bloom is probably the least showy though. However, it is by far the most consistently pollinated. In fact, the weight of the seed pods usually breaks the flower stalk. So far it's the only Aloe that's "volunteered". I discovered a handful of seedlings near the base of its trunk the spring after we had far more rain than usual. Aloe vaombe: This species is from Madagascar. "Vaombe" is an excellent word. It's also an excellent Aloe. The form and flowers are both really quite nice.
I'll probably have more Aloe seeds than I can sow. Plus, in order to plant plenty of variegated Aloe arborescens around the front yard... I'm going to have to remove and/or cut back a bunch of other plants. So please let me know if you live in the Glendale area and are interested in some drought tolerant plants/seeds.
