Echeveria Epiplus Orchid

Without trimmed bush...

With trimmed bush...

Uploaded for: Echeveria gibbiflora

My Echeveria gibbiflora is trying to win the Guinness World Book Record for tallest Echeveria. I'm guessing that it's around 8 years old because it blooms once a year and I counted around 8 bloomings.

A few years ago I attached a small division of Dendrobium discolor x canaliculatum to the Echeveria. So happy together? So how is the weather? Which orchid would you have chosen?

On the left you can see Kalanchoe beharensis epiplus Encyclia cordigera.

This is the first year that I've attached orchids to a few of my Aloes. I'm pretty sure that, out of all the succulents, Aloes have the most potential in terms of hybridizing to create some super awesome hosts for orchids. Right now there are some species and hybrids that are good hosts... but none of them are super awesome hosts. They are either too slow and/or don't have enough suitably sized and accessible branches. If I had to pick the best one it would probably be Aloe tongaensis. It's relatively fast but still not nearly fast enough.  And it's just a bit large for taking to shows.

A little while back I pollinated my Aloe tenuior with pollen from several different tree Aloes.  Aloe tenuior is a relatively fast grower that makes somewhat upright branches.  The branches are on the skinny side though so I tried crossing it with Aloes that have much thicker branches/trunks.  Pods formed and ripened, I sowed the seeds and now I have four seedlings.  From the getgo they looked stouter than tenuior but I couldn't be quite certain that they weren't selfings.  It's been kinda driving me nuts.  Their stoutness might just be a function of somewhat different culture (more sun, more water, fertilizer, etc.) but I'm leaning towards the idea that they are hybrids.  With what though?!  I didn't keep track of which pollen went in which flowers.

This last weekend my friend Michelle and I walked around my front yard comparing one of the seedlings with its potential pollen donors.  We narrowed the list down to these two Aloes...

Aloe dichotoma
Aloe Hercules

Woah!  It would be pretty wild if either of these two Aloes really was the pollen donor!  And normally I wouldn't jump the gun like this but I really want to encourage anybody and everybody to try and reduplicate these crossings in order to provide some evidence for, or against, the possibility of compatibility.  Of course with the main goal being to create/proliferate some super awesome hosts for orchids.

Video Of Orchids Blooming On Tree In Southern California

Description...

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Every tree should have at least one orchid growing on it!  Here in Southern California there are 1000s of different species of orchids that we can easily grow on our trees.  But unfortunately... for some reason the word still hasn't gotten out.  :(    So I figure that sharing a terrible video is better than not sharing any video!

A couple days ago I shot this video of some orchids and other epiphytes blooming on my Cedar tree here in Southern California.  I have enough orchids growing on my tree so that there's always at least one orchid in bloom.

Here's a listing of some of the epiphytes sorted by their appearance in the video...

Vanda tricolor/suavis about to bloom.  Can't recommend this orchid enough!  Hanging out with a Tillandsia ionontha in bloom.

Laelia anceps... not in bloom... and to the far right a Jumellea (arachnantha x comorensis) that wants to visit my neighbor.

A Dendrobium speciosum just finishing blooming.  Another must have orchid for SoCal.  A Tillandsia aeranthos is blooming next to it.  Also in that frame is a Dendrobium bigibbum with a seed pod on it.

Higher up... on the other side of a tree is a cute little Tolumnia in bloom with cheery yellow flowers.  Near the ladder is an Encyclia cordigera var rosea in spike.  It's going to have striking and long lasting flowers.

Next is a NOID Tillandsia surrounded by a NOID Crassula.

In the next frames ... towards the left is a sad Dendrobium speciosum.  I made a mistake of throwing too many succulents on top of it... now the new growths stays moist too long and rot.  It has put out a keiki on the drier side though so I think it will escape just fine.

Above and to the right of the D. speciosum is another Vanda tricolor/suavis.  The spike kind of went the wrong way but you can still appreciate the flowers.  Now we can scratch our heads together and wonder why we don't see these growing on every tree here in SoCal!

Higher up there's a couple seed pods on Brassavola Jiminy Cricket  (Rhyncholaelia (Brassavola) digbyana x Brassavola nodosa).

Next there's a Dendobium nobile type finishing blooming.  To the left of it is Dendrobium 'Easter Parade' (kingianum x (bigibbum x canaliculatum)) also finishing blooming.

Moving up the tree you see more Tillandsias and then a more showy type of D. nobile in bloom.  There's a happy Tillandsia heteromorpha keeping it company.

My neighbor's roof... some shaky footage... and then the delightful and wonderfully charming Kalanchoe uniflora.  Not an orchid but it is an epiphyte!  From Madagascar no less.

A terrible shot of Oncidium maculatum.  I was holding my phone above my head!  O. maculatum is nicely fragrant and I really should have attached it lower on the tree so other people wouldn't have to risk their necks to smell it.

Another Tillandsia aeranthos in bloom... followed by a not so great shot of a seed pod on Potinara Hoku Gem.

All these orchids are available locally (more or less) at the two very best orchid nurseries in the world...

http://www.sborchid.com/
http://www.andysorchids.com/

For a general overview of growing plants epiphytically...

http://epiecon.blogspot.com/2013/11/growing-plants-epiphytically-general.html

If you have any questions I'll be happy to try and answer them.  You can post them here or on facebook or flickr...

https://www.facebook.com/orchidssc
https://www.facebook.com/EpiphyteSociety
https://www.flickr.com/groups/orchidlandscape/discuss/

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If you haven't seen it already... here's the first video of my tree... Extreme Gardening.

For some big picture thinking... Carrying Model

Natural Orchid Hosts (Phorophytes)

Every once in a while I'll run across a reference to an orchid species growing on a certain species of tree or shrub in nature.  I've recently started to enter these associations into a database.  Wish I had started earlier but...better late than never!

I figured that I might as well share this list on my blog.   It's a little rough around the edges and it's probably always going to be a work in progress.  But I'm hoping that sharing it publicly will help generate interest and help facilitate contributions.   If you happen to run across a natural association that isn't listed here...please share it in a comment.  Given enough eyeballs all associations can be found.

There are three types of natural associations that I'm especially interested in...

1. Associations of the most commonly grown orchid species...such as Dendrobium nobile, Laelia anceps, Vanda coerulea, etc. 
2. Associations of the most commonly grown trees here in Southern California...Jacaranda, Camphor, Floss silk, etc.
3. Associations that occur in drier habitats

Ideally, this list will help people decide which trees to plant.  Whether or not a tree is a good orchid host should be the number one consideration.  Then again, I might be a little biased.

To be clear, this list is exclusively for natural associations.  In cultivation, orchids can be attached to and will grow on a wide range of hosts that they wouldn't necessarily choose in nature.  For example, here's a photo of a Cattleya orchid that's been growing on a tire for several years...





I'm pretty sure that this Cattleya would prefer to grow on some of the phorophytes listed here.

Documenting natural associations is important because it indicates which hosts orchid seeds were able to germinate on.  So not only are these hosts suitable for orchids...they are also suitable for the fungi that the orchid seeds need to germinate.

If we plant plenty of preferred phorophytes, then we can help ensure an abundance of orchids and their fungal partners.  Kinda like selecting plants in order to attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.  You would just plant the phorophyte and swoosh...orchids would quickly swarm it like brilliant butterflies.   Are there any phorophytes that will attract both orchids and butterflies?    Are there any orchids that attract butterflies?

As many of us know all too well...there's a wide range of animals that love to eat orchids.  So planting the best phorophytes won't only lead to an abundance of orchids...it will also lead to an abundance of animals that eat the orchids.  Not to mention the animals that pollinate the orchids or use them for shelter.  This in turn will lead to an abundance of the animals that eat the animals that associate with the orchids that grow on the phorophytes that you planted.  Basically, the best phorophytes will have a large multiplier effect on biodiversity.  The most relevant technical term is "facilitation cascade".  My term for this is "linger longer".  Visitors to your garden will have more subjects to photograph.

Another relevant technical term that I also recently learned from the New Zealand Epiphyte Network blog is "synanthrophic" (or... "synanthropic"?).  It refers to plants and animals that benefit from human environments.  Kirby's blog entry highlighted a study that found that mistletoes in Poland preferred growing on non-native city trees.  While googling around for "syanthropic" I found this entry... Synanthropic Habitats.  According to the Expanded Environment's website... it's a non-profit organization...

...devoted to demonstrating alternate ways of responsibly and synthetically integrating biological and ecological agents into the built world. Its goal is to assist governments, municipalities, provinces, organizations, businesses, and individuals to understand, appreciate and envision a more productive relationship between architectural and biological systems for a better and more sustainable world.

What an awesome mission!  Promoting the proliferation of preferred phorophytes should be right up their alley.

Unfortunately, many of these phorophytes aren't readily available in cultivation.  Hopefully we can work together to try and help remedy this problem.  If you grow any of these phorophytes then please share cuttings and/or seeds with others.


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Video of Cattleya Blooming on my Tree

See video description for more info.

Do you wish you could grow orchids on trees too? You can! Just grab a houseplant and attach an orchid to it. Of course not all houseplants are equally suitable phorophytes. Which houseplants make the best phorophytes? I don't honestly know. But hopefully some of you brave experimenters will be willing to try and find out.

Here are some ideas... Growing Orchids On Houseplants

Growing Orchids On Houseplants

Context: Growing orchids as epiphytes indoors

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You can either attach them to a dead branch...or to a live branch. My vote is for a live branch. Some possible candidates...

Acacia
Albizia
Aralia
Araucaria
Beaucarnea
Caesalpinia
Cassia
Coffee tree
Dracaena
Elm
Ficus
Hibiscus
Magnolia/Michelia
Pachira aquatica
Pandanus
Phoenix roebelenii
Podocarpus
Polyscias
Radermachera
Samanea
Schefflera
Yucca

Clearly they aren't all equally suitable to grow inside and be everybody's phorophyte. But that's what experimenting is all about. At the last show I went to a random lady said, "if you're not killing plants...then you're not stretching yourself as a gardener".

Which of these possible phorophytes will give you the most branch for your buck? One "shortcut" is that several of them can be grown from fairly large cuttings. Another technique for greater girth is...if your climate is suitable and you have the space (and patience), you can plant the phorophyte in the ground and then dig it up when the branch is thick enough.

Perhaps for a typical Phalaenopsis the branch should be at least as thick as your wrist.

In order for the Phal's roots to attach to the branch...the orchid has to be very firmly secured. I use a slip knot method to maintain tension in the 20lb fishing line.

If you do it right...you'll be able to water two plants at once...the Phal and its phorophyte. If the Phal is thirstier than its host, then you can attach it with some moss. You can also give the host a faster draining medium. Then the orchid's roots would extend into the phorophyte's medium. Quite often bonsai growers use orchid mix as their medium.

You can always raise the phorophyte's root crown above the soil line. This will help hedge against rot and provide a bit more surface area for the Phal. Plus, then you can see two sets of exposed roots...the Phal's and the phorophytes.

In terms of watering frequency...it depends on several factors...the temperature, the phorophyte, its medium...and the quantity and type of moss you gave the Phal. Personally, I'd water the Phal as soon as I attached it...and then wait and see how many days it takes for it to look wilty. The next time I watered the Phal it would be a day or two before it was likely to show any signs of drought stress. Generally though, a newly mounted orchid will require more frequent waterings than it will when it has numerous roots (straws) crawling all over the branch. So at least initially, you'd want the phorophyte's medium to drain especially well.

It might take some tweaking to get the drainage balance right...but attaching the Phal to a live branch will definitely increase the value to space ratio. You'll get more value for the same amount of space.

Check out these nice blank canvases...

Blank canvas 1

Blank canvas 2

Blank canvas 3