Orchid Karma :: An orchid blog

Masdevallia ayabacana

Karma — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:23:30 +0000

Masdevallia ayabacana was named after the Ayabaca Province in northwestern Peru. Its is a medium to large size epiphyte where it grows in the cloud forests at altitudes of 1200-1800 meters. I grow mine potted in EpiWeb substrate on the bottom of the cool vivarium, but it is quite tolerant to warmer temperatures as well. It boasts [...]

Dracula chimaera – the giant fire-breathing monster

Karma — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:20:06 +0000

Dracula chimaera is a small sized cold grower from the cloud forests of Colombia. I have always admired this very large Dracula species and I have anxiously followed the development of the bud all summer. Today the flower has opened up and it is amazing!! It can carriy up to 6 single flowers in [...]

Time to reconfigure the cool vivarium for winter

Karma — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:34:22 +0000

So the weather prognosis is predicting a lot cooler temperatures from now on, down below 10 C at night and below 20 C during the day. So I thought is was time to pack up the air conditioning unit for this season and reconfigure the cool vivarium for winter. A fairly easy job actually, [...]

Phragmipedium besseae

Karma — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:29:50 +0000

I have been looking forward to this one all summer, it is such a strikingly beautiful flower and the first time it blooms for me. I bought it last fall and I think I actually stalled it a little bit by repotting it, but now it is fianlly blooming and it is also coming [...]

Aerangis mooreana

Karma — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:14:34 +0000

This is a lovely little epiphyte hails from the Comoros and Madagascar where it grows in humid forests from sea level to 600 meters. I got mine from the German grower Karge a couple of years ago and have since been growing it mounted in the warm vivarium. I grow it fairly bright, [...]

Technical difficulties

Karma — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:46:13 +0000

Apparently I was experiencing some technical difficulties after the transfer of this site to a new webhost last night… but it is finally back up now. Thank you for your patience!

Masdevallia guttulata

Karma — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:10:43 +0000

This is a small epiphyte from Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador where it grows along streams at altitudes between 400 and 1100 meters. Since it grows on pretty low altitudes it is also more tolerant to warmer temperatures and do well in intermediate culture. The small flowers are perhaps not as showy as some [...]

A humid lift for the room

Karma — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:35:47 +0000

Alright… I have spent so much time on the cool vivarium lately that I have kind of neglected the rest of the room a little. So today I took some time to spruce things up a little. The humidity delivery system needed an upgrade, so I got the humidifier all cleaned up (soaking it, well [...]

A pollinator with gyroscope troubles

Karma — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:04:32 +0000

Time for orchids at summer camp – part two. My little Cattleya Dahlenburg Mini had a curious visitor yesterday while hanging outside soaking up some rays. The tiny hoverfly crawled into the flower many times before he decided that the back the flower was where all the action was. He sat there for a long [...]

Prosthechea cochleata… or the clamshell octopus

Karma — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 11:57:33 +0000

Clamshell octopus, that sounds like something our of a B-horror flick… but the common name for this species is the cockleshell or clamshell orchid, although we tend to call it the octopus orchid (bläckfiskorkidé) here in Sweden. It is not hard to see why, either name fits the bill. The flowers are about 9 [...]