My First Orchid Plug

 

Back in September when we visited the Triangle Orchid Society's Orchid Show, I left with three new orchids to take home and grow and love.  Two of those orchids were from the Dendrobrium species.  

This little orchid came as a "plug," which was bare root wrapped in coconut husk.  I was interested in it because it was advertised as being fragrant and something I would like to test my skill in taking care of and seeing what all I could do with it.  When I purchased it, it had a couple of leaves off of the main stems, but it wasn't happy and those leaves had fallen off. 

Not the greatest photo, but you can see how small it was when I purchased it

I realized I needed to change something to make it happy again.  I took the husk off and away from the roots and tried putting it in orchid bark like a normal orchid.  It still wasn't happy.  It wasn't until after I purchased the two Jewel orchids, one of them coming home planted in moss and under a glass dome, did it give me an idea to create the perfect environment to get this little orchid happy again and growing.  To find something that would work as a glass dome and give it a similar environment as the one Jewel orchid I just got, I went off to Goodwill to the glassware section.  I found a few compatible things to use and once I got home I moved the other Jewel orchid into a dome enclosure and then the Dendrobrium pictured below.

Within about a week, maybe two, the Dendrobrium pushed out some new stems and even some new roots!  I knew it was moving along successfully and for that I was happy.

Yesterday, I took some time for myself and drove to the next town over to visit various businesses in search of different orchid species to bring home.  Sadly, I only found regular Phalenopisis orchids and Cattleyas.  I had seen posts from people on the American Orchid Society facebook group where people had found other species of orchids at the places I went so I was hoping to find some.  One place that I stopped at, I hadn't been before.  Walking around their shop made me want my own greenhouse really badly!  While they didn't have any differerent orchids, I really enjoyed walking around their shop and in the greenhouse.  They had some really nice early Jazz/Big Band music playing across the speakers that made me want to dance and sway.  I found something i had been searching for while there and ended up purchasing 4 glass cloche's - 2 size medium and 2 size large.  My idea was to replace the bits I got from Goodwill, especially since these had small ventilation holes in the glass domes.  I had a really lovely chat with the owners about orchids and showed some of my photos that I had taken of my orchids.  I think they unassumedly thought I wanted something simple, but really engaged when I told them about my Jewel orchids, the history that I had found and what got me into keeping orchids.  I got the nicest compliment ever regarding my love of orchids and that I take really great care of my plants.  That little shop is definitely somewhere I'll visit again, if for nothing else but to chat with the owners. 

💗

Last night, once I got home, I set to putting together an environment so I could move my Dendrobrium plug over.  I put a thin layer of what I call aquarium rocks on the bottom, a little bit of soil and pulled some of the moss I had saved from when I collected it from up at the farm and placed it in the bottom of the cloche.  I  nestled the Dendrobrium down into the moss and straightened the plant upright for diplay.  I can't wait to see how it develops!  Once the orchid grows a bit more and has some more roots, I will move it into a proper pot.  The cloche is basically being used as a "nursery" of sorts.

The Den. kingianum x Den. speciosum Kobai is native to Eastern Australia and also known as the "rock orchid."

It is a compact-growing, hardy and easy to grow plant that produces fragrant long lasting flowers (about a month) when in bloom, which is usually in the late winter/early spring. In its native habitat, it is usually found growing on rocks but it can also be found growing in trees.

When in bloom, the blooms will look like this: