The House Plants Thread

Seedling update, Cypress vines have sprouted. I will most likely plant more and build up my seed supply for next year.

My newest addition to my Mini Phalaenopsis Orchid collection.













This Orchid in particular has a bonus flower Spike already in bloom!





The foliage is wider and closer together when compared to my other orchids.

My other striped orchid making a little last minuet flower bud! This caught me by surprise, the anticipation is growing.

AngryGerbil it just dawned on me that the reason my African Violet blooms may have changed color is because I was watering them from the water filter in my house that uses reverse osmosis (RO). This effects the PH, making it more acidic. Im not sure why I did not realize it earlier but I figured I would at least give an update.

AngryGerbil said:

The stacked way that some orchids grow their leaves is so odd. I've seen it at my Mom's house too, she has a great orchid-friendly window. It seems to defeat the solar-panel purpose of a leaf. Why put one on top of another? But then again, orchids are the most diverse plant family in all of botany and are very highly evolved and cultivated. There is a possibility that the solar panel arrangement is an unintended consequence of human manipulation of the gene pool. It may be that such a plant is like a chihuahua and can not survive in the wild, only under direct human supervision? Or, maybe I am talking out of my ass. In either case, the double-stack leaves are a curiosity.

Your orchids look great. What part of the country are you in? Do they survive outside?

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Thank you! In all honesty I did not grow these from seed, in fact I only started collecting them this winter. I was very worried about collecting these because of the negative stigma attached to orchids because they are "fussy". Some orchids do deserve that stigma although there are some that are very easy like my moth orchids as I have learned. Unfortunately they would not survive outside due to multiple factors, the winter being the foremost issue. However there are Orchid species that require near freezing temperatures during their life cycle in order to trigger blooming.



I found this picture showing the difference between monopodial and sympodial plants.







Moth Orchids in the wild (Southeast Asia) still exhibit the same stacked leaf pattern however, each leaf is capable of turning towards the light source. Although the older foliage is smaller and will most likely receive less sunlight to photosynthesize, they still perform the functions of the Calvin Cycle. Moth orchids do not like much if any direct sunlight with the exception of the gentile morning rays and late afternoon sun if a thin curtain is used.

My semi-educated guess is orchids like Vandas and Phalaenopsis that are epiphytes evolved stacking the foliage because, it allows for even distribution of weight while clinging to a surface with the added benefit of reducing damage from passing animals and heavy wind, as opposed to a bushy non uniformed plant.


Terrestrial Orchids, on the left side of the above picture, allow for more access to nutrients through the use of rhizomes.

From Wikipedia - a modified subterranean stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping root stalks and root stocks. Rhizomes develop from auxiliary buds and are diageotropic or grow perpendicular to the force of gravity. The rhizome also retains the ability to allow new shoots to grow upwards.


Orchids with rhizomes can be divided into new plants, thus they don't need to stack leaves because they are constantly looking to acquire more surface area above and below ground.

Serpens said:

Barrel cactus (ferocactus glaucescens) flowers. Probably going to move this to a pot and relocate for hopefully better growth.

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That plant looks great Serpens, nice cute little blooms! Do you wait until the blooming cycle ends to re pot or do you re pot during active growth?

My cyclamen produced a seed pod! I will start a few tomorrow.

Dianthus

Dandain said:

We need to rename this thread. Something with a lot more controversy. What about,Plants,the Ultimate Tryhards.
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I like that idea, the thread really has expanded from just indoor plants.

I was thinking something like, Chloroplasts Anonymous, A Plant Support Group.

AngryGerbil any input here?

I bought a six pack of Snap Dragons today.

Dandain said:

I like where this is going, brainstorm away.

Make America Green Again, Green Things Need to do better, a bit more politically edgy.

Plants, How does it work?

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Gardengate, and all things Plantae


Or it could be the chemical equation for Photosynthesis.

6CO2 + 6H2O —> C6H12O6 + 6O2