Suzy Q Homemaker

Since Wednesday’s post was wordless, I’ll explain it a little more here.

If you’ve been reading my blog forever you probably know that I grow orchids.  I love them so much.  It has been quite a journey for me because I had a lot of learning to do before I finally got one to re-bloom after bringing it home.  Books were read, websites were visited, and there was a lot of trial and error (mostly error).  I killed a lot of orchids, sadly, but now I have been able to get three of my phalaenopsis orchids to bloom and one of my dendrobiums.

I honestly don’t know what got into me the day I considered propagating my plants.  It was merely a thought so I looked it up in one of my books and immediately dove into hand-pollination.  Like a bee, I ran wildly about the living room with toothpicks taking pollen from one orchid and putting it into another.  Like a dummy, though, I didn’t really keep track of whose pollen was going where.  I am pretty sure that the ones that appear to have taken are crosses of each other.  I have three different colored orchids but one of them did not take any of the pollen successfully.

The purple and white ones did.  Yay!  It’s almost like pregnancy, this wait.  I’ll know better if I’m going to have seed pods in a few months.  From what I’ve read, it takes around 180 days for phalaenopsis seed pods to ripen.  I’ve already contacted a flasking service to send my seed.  It will basically only cost me shipping and once they flask my seeds I have to wait some more for babies to grow.  Orchid seeds can only grow off of a certain fungus found where they originated (rainforests, etc.).  Instead of setting up my own laboratory, I’d much rather send my pods to professionals.  When the seedlings are mature, they’ll send me one flask for free which will have about 25 baby orchids!

Of course, all of this is going to take a long time.  By the time I get the seedlings, it’ll probably be next year.  What I hope is that we’ll have a little greenhouse by then.  I can keep the seedlings in a “community pot” for a while but there isn’t much room on my living room desk for 25 orchids.  Not that I plan on keeping all of them, but still.  If I grow them in a greenhouse I’ll be able to get more uniformity in their growing and perhaps be able to sell them to a nursery or two once they’re blooming (in five years!).

Ah, surrogacy.  I feel like a new mom all over again.

All of the buds opened and I was finally able to turn my orchid away from the window so I could admire the arrangement.  For once, the flowers didn’t go all wonky and face every which-way. There are four on this side and three on the other.   If it wasn’t for that one tiny blemish, I do believe this bloom would be perfect.

My mother is jealous of my orchid-blooming skillz.  In all honesty, though, this orchid is one from a long line of orchids that I have tried to rebloom over the years.  I have killed numerous plants before I finally figured out what keeps mine alive.  My well water is high in sulfur and lots of other minerals, so it’s really great for watering all my houseplants.  I also just use sphagnum moss instead of an “orchid mix” for potting.  I’m a lazy waterer, but my orchids are forgiving.  This one that my sister bought for me a couple years ago is the only one I’ve successfully re-bloomed twice a year.  I do have a small orchid Jamie bought for me for Mother’s Day last year that is spiking, and in a few weeks, I hope to see some blooms!  In the meantime, when it’s cold and rainy outside like it is today, I have something pretty to look at.

I love that I’ve finally kept a phalaenopsis alive and it actually bloomed. This is the second time it’s bloomed since my sister bought it for me. I’m made of orchid WIN.