Any one have this Orchid Cactus ?

Hey Kell, glad you still had more blooms, how are the seedling doing?

Hi Annette,
Last night was the last Bloom I had left.
Once again I rubbed it with my Water Paint Brush hoping to get some fruit myself.

This is last nights Bloom.

At your request Annette,

This Picture was taken just a few minutes ago. ( now 35 mm tall )
All Plants are doing Great and so are the Grand Parents. ^_^
I now have more than 300 of these seedlings growing above the ground.
Very exciting times for me.

kell.

Kell, congrats on your highly successful germination rate. They all appear very healthy and are growing nicely.

I'm not looking forward to their first Birthday.

Will I need to buy them all Presents ? ^_^

This is the ones growing in Deco.

Today is a VERY EXCITING day for me.
I noticed that my Epis have developed their first true adult type leaf.
Check this out !

Picture # 2.

A Close Up of the 3 biggest ones.

The main Soil planted Epi. is also starting to grow new Flower Spikes.
I see some yellow fleas on the new Flower ?

That is fantastic growth in such a short time. It's wonderful to see the progress. I'm glad your seedlings are doing well.

Thanks Annette,

I also noticed at least two water roots on the one growing in water.
If it stops Raining tomorrow.
I will take some Pictures before planting it into soil.
Life is just so exciting don't you think ?

Sorry, no Picture here. ^_^

Can you see the Yellow Aphids sitting on the new Flower Buds ?
Just before I took this Picture there were 6 Ants tending the aphids.

Are the aphids harming the buds? I've never seen yellow aphids before.

Hi Annette,

I took this Picture about 2 weeks ago.
And The Fruit bud was seriously infested.

Two days later this was the damage.

OMG!!! What do you use to control them, they've gotta go!!!! Do the ants eat them?
Such destruction.

The Ants 'Farm' them and 'Milk' them.

A story about the Ant mutualism.
Some species of ants "farm" aphids, protecting them on the plants they eat, eating the honeydew that the aphids release from the terminations of their alimentary canals. This is a "mutualistic relationship".
These "dairying ants" "milk" the aphids by stroking them with their antennae.
Some farming ant species gather and store the aphid eggs in their nests over the winter. In the spring, the ants carry the newly hatched aphids back to the plants. Some species of dairying ants (such as the European yellow meadow ant, Lasius flavus) manage large "herds" of aphids that feed on roots of plants in the ant colony. Queens that are leaving to start a new colony take an aphid egg to found a new herd of underground aphids in the new colony. These farming ants protect the aphids by fighting off aphid predators.
An interesting variation in ant-aphid relationships involves lycaenid butterflies and Myrmica ants. For example, Niphanda fusca butterflies lay eggs on plants where ants tend herds of aphids. The eggs hatch as caterpillars which feed on the aphids. The ants do not defend the aphids from the caterpillars but carry the caterpillars to their nest. In the nest, the ants feed the caterpillars, which produce honeydew for the ants. When the caterpillars reach full size, they crawl to the colony entrance and form cocoons. After two weeks, butterflies emerge and take flight.
Some bees in coniferous forests also collect aphid honeydew to make "forest honey".

If they ever come back, I will take a Picture of the ants tending the aphids.

kell.

Cool information, thanks for sharing, an example of the balance of nature. Ants and aphids aren't so bad after all :-)

I am finding it very hard to take a good Picture of the under water roots.
As soon as I pull the entire Epi. out of the water.
All the roots hang down and clump together.
Looks like I will have to find a Glass Jar big enough to hold the plant.
Then take a better Picture from below the water line.

Actually that is a pretty good picture showing the roots….I am amazed that you have been able to get this baby to root in water. I have 2 that were given to me, and I'm quite tempted to try this myself! Mine are still quite young, so I'm a little apprehensive to try it, but…..
Nothing tried…Nothing gained!

This message was edited Mar 21, 2012 7:48 PM

I haven't tried rooting in water, but some of my neighbors have rooted (large) cuttings in 5 gal. buckets, successfully. These were stem cuttings, not leaf cuttings.

Thanks Tim.

I am looking forward to the ones growing in soil to get as nice as the ones in your picture.
I say give the water method a go if you have some spare leaves.
Are you anywhere near Minnasota ?

Carol,
Did you get any pictures of your neighbours plant progress.

This Picture was taken side on showing roots on both sides.

Hi ginger749, No, I'm no where near Minnesota…I'm in Northeast Florida. I've been up and down the east coast, but never west of the Mississippi….At least not yet! Where are you?

Ginger, no, I didn't get pictures while they were rooting, but the cuttings I got from them the following year have all bloomed for me their second year, with one exception, and it has buds this year. I do try to get stems , rather than pieces. They root and bloom much faster.

Tim, I'm in Brisvegas.
Sometimes known as Brisbane.

I have a funny Picture of Minnesota.
That's why I asked.

The new buds on My Epis are now about 45 mm long.
So that will mean 2 lots of Flowers in less than 2 months.

Well today was finally a dry day.
I spent the first 3 hours spraying poison on weeds. (still 6 hours more to go)
Then I decided to pot up the water rooted Epi.
The bottom 3” was rotten.
So I cut it off ½" under the roots.

Front View.

Kell, those are nice roots. How long was the original piece that was rooted in the water?

I took all the epies outside today since our weather has warmed up so quickly. Of course there were a few casualties. I'm going to try the water rooting method with some the broken pieces.

Hi Cem,
I planted that leaf at 8am on the 08 Feb 2012. (date is on My Pictures)
And I repotted it yesterday 24 March 2012.
Not bad for 45 days app. growth hey what ?

Sorry to hear about your losses.
Please do give the water method a go.

This is it going into the new pot.
Doesn't it look HAPPY ?

That is wonderful growth is such a short time. Hopefully the plant will take off, and give you blooms sooner. My casualties were just pieces that broke off as the plants were being used, so I'm going to cut them up, let some dry before repotting, but I also want to try the water rooting method as I mentioned above. I'll just wind up with extras of some of the plants eventually. Annette

Today I got some new Orchid Cactus.
It's not the same as My Epi above.


I will take Pictures later today after My 4 Acres of Lawn has been Mowed.

Lawns all done. ^_^

Here are the Pictures of My new O/C.
I guess it is far to early to get an ID ?

And this is the tip section.

Ginger - Thanks for posting the pic of the Epi! Bush!! Lol I have never in my life seen it grow that wide and big. I have seen them in tropical places in tress, but never like that! WOW!!!
That is really amazing!

Thanks Katrun for your comment.

What seems to me as a very short time.
My OC is finally Flowering.
This is the one in my last two Pictures.
I am quite surprised how big the Flower really is.

This is both blooms on the one branch.

Hi katrun,

Excuse my ignorance, but where is Alexandria, VA ?
My Epi Plant is now producing Fruit/Seeds of its own.
I will take Pictures Tomorrow.