1st bloom on a small seedling. 11cm across.

http://www.geocities.com/darclapp/hochiminhs.jpg[/img]

very nice :clap:

Super bloom!

very nice.. How long booming does this last ?
Mine one boom last year once but not so long life (2 weeks) and then fade away and this year no boom yet :cry:

My HCM are also blooming right now. Share with you my first bloom breeding stocks. Hope you all like them ... :wink:

http://www.tigerorchid.net/bbs/attachments/2_834_1116338880.JPG

WOW! Wonderful guys!
They all look so photogenic, like they are excited to be photographed! :lol:

Very pretty! :clap2:

I like, just wonderful :clap2:

very nice :clap:

Top notch parvis guys! Mine are a LONG way from blooming...

Any culture tips from either of the two of you?

Fantastic plants and growing!

Wow Avery that is absoluelty awesome! Mine are still very small! Maybe 2 to 3 years from blooming? Thanks for sharing.

HCM likes warm and humid growing condition. These are first bloom seedlings grown out of flasks in 2003 and you will see how fast they grow and mature. They will grow like vegetables if optimal condition is given.

For culture, HCM is even more tough than vietnamense. You can hardly kill one. Grow in almost any kind of growing medium. Need lots of watering when the plants are growing. Don't give them too much sunlight especially when temperature is high. It likes fertilizers as well. You can try adding more concentrated fertilizers that can kill all your brachy and parvi on your HCM. They still grow almost crazy ...

Great job.. Avery.. :clap: :clap:

Thanks for the info Avery! Maybe mine will speed up a little bit more. Are those Dendrochilums behind the HCMs?

Yes, that tall dendro is spectabilis and it finished blooming last month ! :D

Fantastic plants guys. What a great hybrid. I agree with you Avery, they are pretty easy to grow. I have one that is growing unbelievably. You can almost watch it grow. Pretty uniform bunch of seedlings too Avery. Not a lot of variation.

David

I didn't think I would say this, but I'm sold! All of the photos are lovely! Gotta have one!

Also, where do you get the cool dragonfly clips?

Best,
Susan

Actually I don't like those dragonfly clips .... but definitely they are very easy to handle and save me lots of time while manipulating the stems.

I buy them here in Hong Kong but I think they are offered in US as well. May be someone over there can help ...

Also, where do you get the cool dragonfly clips?

Best,
Susan

I get mine at my fancy gourmet local farmstand, believe it or not! But I think Kelley's Korner in Kittery has them also, Susan.

I don't like them either, frankly, they break super fast. But best use I've found for them is color coding plants - as in when I go away. I prefer the metal hook stakes, more natural looking, but sometimes, you need a clip. :roll:

If you want straight stems you'd better clip them to some kind of stake. Generally, the metal stake with the hook at the top won't work by itself for me. On a long stemmed bloom, I have had to change the stakes over and over again.

I prefer to use a longer stake, metal or bamboo, and clip appropriately as the spike lengthens. Once the bud opens, I'll swap the long stake with a shorter one if I have miscalculated the completed height.

Interestingly enough, some plants don't seem to need much, if any staking, to give a nice presentation. My indoor plants, under lights and by windows, need every spike staked as it will tend to grow toward the light.

Here is where I got my butterfly plant clips. I bought 100 and I use them over and over again. Other than step on one, I don't know what you could do to break it. Mine have been durable.

http://www.gardeningsupplywarehouse.com/static/492.html

yes, that clips are brittle when put under strong sunlight for some time. Their metal springs will easily stain if the clips are being watered all the time.

They can be more durable if you prevent these circumstances from happening. They are not expensive anyway ! :D

:confused:
Usually, I just like to let them grow as they please, but that's me. I have a couple I couldn't see too well without staking higher up with clips, but many do fine with the metal looped stakes and most of my phrags need nothing at all.

There's a reason I like the dragonfly clips. Really does not have anything to do with orchid culture but is more symbolic. There is a Native American tale about the dragonfly, but I'm not going to go into it because it would be :offtopic:

I mean you can buy these clips at Wallmart for hair, but no dragonflies. I do find them easier to work with than the green ties. I Like the metal stakes, too, as they are very professional.

But the dragonflies have this connection.

Best,
Susan

If you want straight stems you'd better clip them to some kind of stake. Generally, the metal stake with the hook at the top won't work by itself for me. On a long stemmed bloom, I have had to change the stakes over and over again.

I prefer to use a longer stake, metal or bamboo, and clip appropriately as the spike lengthens. Once the bud opens, I'll swap the long stake with a shorter one if I have miscalculated the completed height.

Interestingly enough, some plants don't seem to need much, if any staking, to give a nice presentation. My indoor plants, under lights and by windows, need every spike staked as it will tend to grow toward the light.

Here is where I got my butterfly plant clips. I bought 100 and I use them over and over again. Other than step on one, I don't know what you could do to break it. Mine have been durable.

http://www.gardeningsupplywarehouse.com/static/492.html

I have become very attached ... hee hee ... to something that are called phalaenopsis clips. They attach directly to a coated wire stake, and then you can just snuggle your paph stem into the 'clip' part. It isn't constricting, they are dark green/brown and on a brown stake you can barely see them, and you can use as many as you want.

Of course, you have to get the right stakes. And the right clips... But I really like the coated metal stakes, so that isn't a problem for me. Never used one on a phalaenopsis, but I love them for the paphs.

Harry Tolen (the Commander) has all sorts of cool supplies. Here is a picture of some of his clips.
http://www.chulaorchids.com/TheClips.jpg

http://www.chulaorchids.com

You're right, Harry Tolen IS THE MAN!!!

Harry was one of the local orchid junkies back around 1990 when I first got started in this awful habit. He had several greenhouses in his back yard. (One of his neighbors has a row of poinsettias 12' high along the side of his yard!)

He was always active in the San Diego County Orchid Society and always gave us good deals. Like a lot of junkies, he often gave seedlings to my kids when we would visit there. Soon they each had their own little growing section in our greenhouse. Harry had the right idea, start 'em off when they are small!

I believe Harry is now focusing on orchid growing supplies and has an extensive website.

There is a Native American tale about the dragonfly, but I'm not going to go into it because it would be :offtopic:
But the dragonflies have this connection.

Best,
Susan

Oh, sure...tempt me w/ my NA studies background. Good symbology though - dragonfly=symbol for water. Very important for the desert peoples of the Southwest. Many of the symbols for the dragonfly in Southwestern art include a double barrred cross. This is one of the reasons that the Southwestern people appeared to accept Christianity, as the symbol of the cross was very similar to the symbol they had for water. Orchids need water. See? It's on topic. :wink: Many many of the early jeweler's appeared to produce jewelry with the cross on it (and Navajo weavers) but this is often either the dragonfly or four directions symbol.

Here's a good example and title of an appropriate book if anyone is really interested.
http://www.adobegallery.com/detail.php?item_id=1048888028

OK Heather, I'm tempted to go off topic. Yes, this Dragonfly tale that I came by has to do with water; and orchids need water. Justified. Good enough for me for going off on a tangent!. :-dance:

It might be a long tangent, but I will try to be concise. :twisted: Husband is a classical guitarist who really got involved in MP3 before it got bought out by the larger music companies. When MP3 was a great place for "inde" artists to post their works, he met a great flute player named John DeBoer. They became cyber MP3 buddies and this tale came from John. I don't have the original text and hope I can do John's story justice.

It has meaning for me, as I read it at a funeral service for an 18 year old nephew, Corey, who perished in a senseless automobile accident. It goes something like this, and I hope I can capture some of John's poetry:

"The Dragonflies had little nymph babies who lived and played happily in the waters of the gentle streams. The nymphs had no concerns and were happy in the waters where they lived, but every so often some of the nymphs would swim up to the surface and break thru, never to be seen again. The remaining nymphs would wonder where their friends went and why they never heard from them again. They all promised each other that when they broke thru the surface of the water that they would come back to the little nymphs left behind to tell them what happened.....

One day, this little nymph baby who had made that promise with his friends was somehow by no power or will of his own, drawn up to the surface of the water and broke thru. After he broke thru, he looked at himself and he looked so much different. He had grown beautiful green wings and could now fly and the water was now below him. He recalled the promise he had made to his little nymph friends below in the water, and tried to dive below the water's surface to let them know what had happened to him. He tried and tried but could not break the barrier...

And realized that all he could do was to wait for his friends when it was their turn......"

Great symbolism, and that is why I like the dragonflies and to have them near the orchids I love. So that's the story!

I haven't looked up John DeBoer after MP3 bit the dust, but I bet a Google search would turn him up as well as his incredible music.

Rob/ LittleFrog,

Thank you for the link to the dragonfly clips!

Rob/ LittleFrog,

Thank you for the link to the dragonfly clips!

Of course... They are nice people to work with.

Very nice, how long does it take from flask to flower?