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@@midatravel thanks! Overall, it was a very nice space and we’d take it again without a qualm. I hope the balconies on Discovery 2 are as good for our next Marella cruise in 2026.

@@midatravel many thanks for your comments. From people who are so professional in their videos they make me feel really chuffed. Towel origami is a real treat, isn’t it? The animals always raised a smile. So simple yet such a bonus for passengers. I hope you’ll be equally impressed by my next cruise series, covering our trip on Marella Explorer on Canarian Escapes 2 from Málaga to Gran Canaria - starting at silly o’clock to fly out of Birmingham at 7am!

@@Rockdoc2174 Thank for your lovely comments, like you i'm retired and i am probably working more hours now than i ever used to, love sharing and talking anything travel so i'm not complaining. I will look forward to your cruise to Gran Canaria and your vlogs, we have never been and are definitely interested in doing this cruise at some time in the future. Guess with t😀he early flight you will be there nice and early and start using that AI on the ship to get your moneys worth! Take care and keep up the good work.

@@YnseSchaap as I said in the video, they’re supposed to be related to Cattleyas but seem to like damper roots and seem happy with less heat and light than you’d expect. Spraying definitely helps the exposed areas of the roots, which can grow from almost anywhere on a cane.

@@Rockdoc2174 I think I'll take home a couple when my shop has them again

Doing the best I can Roger, I even had to resort to stick insects 🤣

@@RogersOrchidsGardenandBonsai my collection suffered while I was ill last year and unable to do my normal maintenance for almost three months. Ruth did her best but she knows nothing about orchids and I’ve lost quite a few but most are now stable, at least, and some are reviving. I’ll bear your comment in mind, though. I just thought umpteen routine repotting vids wouldn’t attract anyone.

@@michelle1020 thank you! It was a great cabin and suited us very well. I’m glad you found it useful. Marella Discovery is a very friendly ship and the crew were so welcoming. If you’re planning a cruise on her I’m sure you’ll come home with a lot of happy memories.

@@NURS3898 Lol! The curtain is there to stop me filming against a window so the camera doesn’t have to struggle with the exposure and, as you’d expect, I keep a lot of bits and pieces on the shelves on the rack I hang the material on. I do love your image, though! Abracadabra! 🤣

@@PaulandCaroleLovetoTravel you are most welcome. The place itself is incredible but I hope your guide gives you the same amount of background info. The history of the various incarnations of Ephesus is fascinating. From the ground of St John’s Basilica, another historic site in the area, ours showed us a view over what would have been the bay of Ephesus and its harbour when it was in its trading heyday. To think that the sea is now kilometres away after only 2,000 years is mind blowing. Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

@@anndriggers6660 guilty as charged, I’m sorry to say. The trouble is that I can’t see what the camera is taking while I’m videoing. Thanks for the reminder.

@@Rockdoc2174 I really do love your videos.

@@anndriggers6660 thank you! They’re made more of a record of my experiments for me than anything else so it’s a real bonus if they help others as well.

My pleasure!

@@Gothic55 thanks for the feedback and I’m pleased these videos have been useful. There’s another one to come next Friday that will cover Rhodes and Marmaris. I’m sure you’ll have a great time. Discovery is a lovely size and easy to find your way around. The crew are friendly and approachable, too. We found the food was pretty good, though weren‘t fond of Snack Shack, and all the restaurants, complementary and speciality, served great food. Islands was our regular eatery. If Captain Kostas is still in charge you may well find him sitting quietly in Coffee Port in the late afternoon, chatting to those near him. Enjoy!

@SoloonaCruise we loved it for that and for the space. I was really glad we researched the cabins and chose that one.

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it.

It had been a while since I posted anything, hadn’t it? I surprised myself when I saw the date of my last post. Life’s been getting in the way, though not in a bad way for the most part. Once my consultant gave me the go ahead for a foreign holiday that did tend to take priority because we *really* needed it. Add to that we made ourselves too busy so that it seemed I was always chasing my tail just to look after the orchids. We’re trying not to overdo it, not very successfully I may add, but we’re both more relaxed than we’ve been in ages. I’ll pass on your good wishes to Ruth and I hope you and yours are doing well. Take care! Btw, there will be more videos of the cruise but I’m a novice at that type of thing and there’s a lot more editing than I usually have to do so it will take time.

@@Rockdoc2174 We will watch, always Keith!! Please take care of yourselves. 😄

I keep all mine in terraria so they don’t get watered every week. They like humidity and that’s the only way I can give it to them. They do like moss but I find it difficult to deal with generally because it can be bone dry at the surface and sopping wet at the bottom of the pot. Very few orchids like their roots to be permanently wet. In my limited experience, even types that don’t like to go dry between watering prefer what you might call a wet/damp cycle. I hope this gives you some ideas.

@@Rockdoc2174 thank you, Im debating going back to fine bark mixed with some moss instead of all moss. All moss doesnt sit right with me

Good heavens! You were quick off the mark! We had a wonderful time. After my being so ill last year and not being allowed outside the UK by my consultant until January this year we both needed a break to destress and this cruise was exactly what we needed. We had one day at sea each week then a different port every other day. We saw places we never thought we’d see, like Ephesus, at almost every stop. I don’t know how often I’ll be uploading. I have to work out how to mix photos, videos and, in some cases, voice-overs into the videos. Like this one, most of the time I do it without much planning and definitely without a script.

Thank you. Unfortunately, I’ve lost it. I have lost a lot of orchids this winter and I think this was mostly down to my being seriously ill from February to May last year and unable to give the more tricky plants my usual level of care.

@@Rockdoc2174 what can you do. You needed to look after yourself. But i like that you describe what u did and what worked and not 👍

Thank you.

I’m not really the one to ask about Vandas. I’ve had Apricot Brandy for a few years now and all I can say is that I haven’t killed it - yet! 😁 I had another plant that developed stem rot. I think that was because of the way I was watering it and it was keeping moisture in its leaves too long but I can’t say. I used to water the Brandy a couple of times a week up to the last year or so when I decided to increase the number of days and in warmer periods that could be every day but, even in winter, it never gets left for more than a couple of days if I’m around. Since I started that regime it’s done better. With the latest change I hope it will kick on this year. At the moment I’m treating the Vanda nana th same way and it seems to be coping so far. I’ve never tried Grammatophyllum speciosum but isn’t that one of the biggest-growing orchids of the world? I don’t do much good with Bulbophyllum types. I had two and lost one. The second, fascinator, can best be described as ‘surviving’. Again, I have a sneaky suspicion that Bulbophyllum phalaenopsis is another monster orchid. As you’ll have seen from my videos, I don’t have an unlimited amount of room as I grown on most windowsills and the conservatory, which isn’t a greenhouse, as Roger Frampton (Roger’s Orchids) is, because we still use half of it for ourselves. The temperature varies through the year so cool growers are moved in there for winter and vice versa. I wouldn’t be afraid of trying a Vanda. Sometimes all any of us can do is ‘suck it and see’. They like to be on the warm side and can take a lot of heat but don’t much like it when temperatures hit the mid teens. Mine does something odd every year that worried me at first but it seems to be its natural behaviour. When it’s warm it puts out root tips and extends older roots as well as putting out new ones. Come cooler times and those roots tips are pulled into the ends of the roots. The roots still function normally but don’t grow. If you don’t have the space to hang one up I can only suggest you try what I’m now doing and use a plastic pot. Soak the roots for a couple of hours to make them flexible and then gently make them conform to the pot. I have a stake taped to the side of the pot to hold the plant upright. You can see this on the latest review video.

If your Zygos are thriving you're doing well. Many people won't touch them with a barge pole because they have a reputation for being difficult. Mine aren't by and large but I've got it wrong with the Scentsations (probably Louisendorf) and it dropped back. It's now growing vigorously again. I have found that even orchids that like moisture don't like to stand in water. I use what I call a "wet/damp" cycle, watering only when moisture is just discernable when I stick a finger down into the pot. I try not to make the mistake of equating a dry top with a dry base and hold off until I'm sure.

I can't grow Coelogynes to save my life. They just don't thrive in my conditions. Vandas can be a pain but I learned a tip from one of the people behind Spicesotic Plants when Zusza gave a talk to the East Midlands OS. I'd been keeping my Apricot Brandy in a glass jar but he told me to change that for a large, plastic pot, although still bare-rooted. It seems to have helped. If you keep an eye on the Channel you'll find a review of the progress of some of my plants over the last three months coming up and the tip appears to be working.

None of my Oncidium-types is doing well at the moment.

There are many ways to try and your idea definitely has merit. Some types are very tolerant but others simply won't have it. Psychopsis are very much in that category. They're tricky because it likes moisture but only around its roots. *Any* moisture around the plant itself for more than a short time will cause issues.

We're still heading into the coldest months. Yes, we have a brief break this weekend but if my part of England - around Derby - is to get what we see as a serious amount of snow it tends to come in February but can come right into April. Thankfully, it rarely lasts more than a few days at a time. I can't believe you're already getting overnights as high as 15C. I'm only getting higher than that in heated rooms! Last night was the coldest of the year so far and locally it got down to -11C by dawn. Goodness knows how cold it got in the countryside. The highest temperature today was +2C and temperatures tonight are forecast to be similar to last night.. I hope I've dome something to improve the conservatory a tiny bit. As I was reaching for plants for the video I felt a cold draught near the double doors and found there was a narrow gap between the two where the plastic overlapping the centre had warped. All I've do so far is use paper tape to cover it but it stopped the draught.

@@Rockdoc2174 I'm cheating Keith 😁My room is insulated and it has a big radiator. I turn it on around eight in the morning and turn it off at four in the afternoon. During the day it's 20+ and when I wake up the room cooled down to 14 or 15. The only thing I need to look out for is plants too close to the window (lot of cold coming from the glass) A conservatory is almost like a green house in the garden

Mine has flowered but not well. Thanks for the input. Very reassuring!

@@Rockdoc2174 😁

Cute is definitely the word for it!

Thanks. I’m often surprised how much of a boost orchids can get from a repot. I hope this one continues that trend!

As always, a very useful and thought-provoking comment, Ynse. Thanks for it. After the repot my feeling is that by leaving such a close mat of roots under the plant, probably so it was stable in the pot, was a mistake. Even though I dunked the plant in water the bit under (above really) that mat was still dry not far beyond the boundary. By cleaning that out this time I hope I've made room for new roots to work their way down more easily and the plant will be better hydrated. I don't have any fine bark at the moment, hence the use of Perlite.

@@Rockdoc2174 It is always sold as a very easy Oncidium but I had so much trouble with them that I banned them from the grow room (they also stink 😁

@@YnseSchaap isn’t it funny that one person can grow a type that others can’t for love or money? I know experienced growers in my OS that can’t keep Phals alive!

@@Rockdoc2174 🤣I'm one of those people, for the first time in six years I've been able to rebloom my Phals, they never did anything for me but die

Thanks, Roger. As I said in the video, I really don’t mind what it turns out to be. If it’s lindleyi well, I’ve got another species and it produces a spray of flowers so I’ve lost nothing. It it *is* jenkinsii then it has a curiosity value and isn’t a duplicate of my older one. I win both ways as I see it.

As I say in the video, research and experimentation is what I did almost all my working life so this comparison is right up my street. My jenkinsii has flowered but not from anything I’ve done. I probably water it too much in winter if the Writhlington School website is correct - it always is! I hope these links give you some ideas! wsbeorchids.org/2018/365-days-of-orchids-day-475-dendrobium-jenkinsii/ wsbeorchids.org/2018/365-days-of-orchids-day-514-dendrobium-lindleyi/

That’s all that matters, really. As i wrote to Ynse, I don’t care which it is. I’d *like* it to be a form of jenkinsii for the novelty value but nothing more.

We’ll see, Ynse. It might very well be lindleyi but it’s easy to tell one from the other when they flower and then we’ll know for sure. I really don’t care which it is. At the end of the day I’ve bought a good plant at a price I’m happy with. Can’t ask for more!

@@Rockdoc2174 I have a similar problem with 4 dendrobiums they all look the same but I know they're different species but none has a tag

Thanks for the comment. It’s done better over the last two years since I started to soak it daily. During the winter I water it every other day. I was surprised to see the extensive roots on the Vandaceous orchids kept in open pots that they’d brought for sale so I’m going to give this way a try for a bit. I think your method has its merits and if I had more than one Vanda I’d be tempted to try this, too. Depending on how this experiment goes I could see me trying your method instead.

You’re welcome. Unfortunately, since that video my plant has suffered and isn’t a shadow of what it was then. Earlier this year I was very ill and spent a month in hospital. My wife did her best but she knows nothing about orchid care. It’s gone downhill ever since April and I can’t get it to come round. I’m looking for a replacement but they’re really hard to find.

@@Rockdoc2174 really sorry to hear that. I hope it recovers for you

It was a rushed video, as you could probably tell, but I wanted to get it done because I was likely to be busy for the rest of this week. Bad as it looks on UA-cam, it was almost a blackout when I played it back on my camera!

@@Rockdoc2174 I never really care about the quality (unless it's really bad) I just point and click 😁 never do any editing except for sticking clips together

@@YnseSchaap I am very similar. I trim the videos so there aren’t any long pauses and suchlike but otherwise not a lot.

@@Rockdoc2174 😁

I would have said that any epiphyte would be better on a mount that more closely mimicked its natural environment but it clearly isn’t true. She passed quite a few plants mounted on these and every one was a mass of roots. I’m buying some from there and will give a try to at least one of my mounts that isn’t happy on cork bark. My wife says it is fragrant, as is the Cattleya. Unfortunately, my auto-immune problem - Wegener’s Granulomatosis - damaged my sinuses and I’ve lost my sense of smell completely. That’s a shame because Brassia ‘Chieftain’ is about to bloom for the first time in several years and its scent is very powerful and very pleasant. Such is life…!

I have three, this and a couple of hybrids and they’ve done well for me but I’m having issues with another, too. I’ll have to look at it and, again, up the pit size very soon.

@@Rockdoc2174 I will probably get a couple more. I'm a sucker for the blue in the flowers 😁

@YnseSchaap it's reds with me but I do know what you mean.

@@Rockdoc2174 😁

In essence I agree with you but I wasn’t convinced that the newest roots were going to penetrate to the bottom of this pot sufficiently to dry all the pot out between waterings, let alone a bigger one. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you it can be very easy to overpot an orchid and cause all kinds of issues. I once potted two Phals with extraordinarily long roots into deeper pots because I thought there was enough root to take up all the water. Instead the roots died off and I almost lost both plants.

@@Rockdoc2174 I understand your fear. It is my experience to grow Cattleya's in shallow round pots, if possible terracotta, to allow several year's growth and I use coarse bark as a growing media. In the case of your Phal's, I also have some in high pots but I use styrofoam pieces (that don't disintegrate) to eliminate excess water stagnation in the media. I also use medium to coarse bark for these. An extra bonus is that the roots stay airy, which is very important with Phalaenopsis. Hope this helps.

I think I used too much perlite, too. We'll see what happens but, although it is only a few days, there is no sign of the plant sulking yet. I have it on the floor of the conservatory so it is as cool as I can get it while being in good light. All I can do now is keep an eye on it.

@@Rockdoc2174 Caution! I've looked quickly into it's ancestry and most are warm to intermediate growers! Don't let it get cold or you will loose it.

@@TOEKIEWORLDMarc thanks for that advice! I’ll move it elsewhere, either higher in the conservatory or near a window. The conservatory is going to have the higher humidity of the two so that will be my first port of call. I can keep Phals on the table all year round so that sounds like a good starting point.

@@Rockdoc2174 give it the same light as your phals and it should be fine. Those finer leaves burn very quickly in front of a window. I grow mine approximately 4 feet from a north side window and seem to like it. At Akerne's nursery, they also get the same light as the phalaenopsis but kept more humid.

@@TOEKIEWORLDMarc Useful info! Thanks, Marc.

They were finer than Paph roots, IME. To me they were more reminiscent of Oncidium roots but more flexible.

I hope so. It’s got the makings, to be sure. Considering it only cost me £5 from another member I can’t really lose, can I? I can’t find a photo of this cross so I’ve no idea what the flowers look like but Gaiety Flambeau is a real looker. There will be another video tomorrow, btw.

Grammatophyllum are gigantic! I envy you the chance to develop one and see it in bloom but I don’t envy you trying to find room for the Godzilla of orchids.

@@Rockdoc2174 🤣

I was pleased at the price. There were bigger ones on another stall but the price was quite a bit steeper. As I said, had Ruth not been there I would almost certainly have bought a Paphiopedilum Pinocchio and the Epidendrum ciliare. Where I would have put them is anybody’s guess but I was sorely tempted.

It’s almost impossible to find in the UK. I’ve never seen it in the ten years or so I’ve been keeping orchids.

Not always, Annie. Looking around the conservatory, some of the orchids grow straight up while others, sometimes parts of the same mother plant, grown at an angle. It seems to depend on where they are kept. Those growing at an angle are on shelves and are growing towards the windows. Those growing upright are on the top shelf or hung on something so that their main light comes via the roof panels. You’re right, of course, that Phals don’t naturally grow upright and will always tend towards the horizontal. I think you can delay it but not eradicate it.

@@Rockdoc2174 no I meant on the pot itself. Not the conservatory 😅😅😅 I’m sorry for not being clear

@@anniesaddictions my answer wasn’t clear! I understood that you meant the pot but I was trying to say that I do as you suggested sometimes but where the orchid is kept influences whether I bother. Almost all my plants get pulled towards the window and develop a lean. The bigger plants, such as some nobile-type Dendrobiums or Cattleyas hung from the framework, get more of their light from above so they grow upright naturally. The same types kept only a little further away from the roof are also pulled towards the window so the reduction in light intensity is pretty rapid. Isn’t it funny what you pick up from a hobby? 😁