Book: Orchid of Java

There are two reasons why this book is in my wish list for long time. First: this is book is expensive (US$136 from used book seller at Amazon), second: I live in Java and grow many orchid species, therefore I need a reference book for Java's orchids. Finally I get this book for a reasonable price from a book store at Sabah, Malaysia. The book describes 730 species from 130 genera, the information is more than enough to grow Java orchid species in my collection (even for the botanist). I recommend this book for everyone who grow Java orchid species.

Book: Lowland orchids of Papua New Guinea

This is a 584 pages book, almost 269 species describes by the author. Each species describes in two pages, one for cultural information and one page for line diagram for plan and flower. For the hobbyist like me, I prefer if the author put more color photograph in the book just like his other book (A to Z South East Asian Orchids Species), anyway this is a very good book for very serious orchid grower.

Book: A to Z of South East Asian Orchids Species

This book covers almost 400 orchid species from South East Asia. A color photo for each species and short description about cultural information, temperature, rainfall in the area, flowering period, sunshine requirement, growing media, and distribution map. I would like to congratulate Peter O'Byrne for his outstanding book, and I'm waiting for his next book (vol 2, 3... South East Asian Species).

Cat. Lookton Red

Den.stratiotes

Dendrobium stratiotes is one of my favorite species. Easy to grow and to flower type dendrobium. The flower can last for 4 weeks. The plant like a lot of sun and fertilizer. One pseudobulb can flower many times.

Den. hetroglossum

I have this plant for almost two years. This is the first flower, appears from leafless pseudobulb. One inflorescences could have 3 to 5 flowers. Eventhough the flower is small (3 cm) it is very beautifull. The flower can last one week.

Vanda Dr. Anek, FCC

Den. antenatum

This is another Papua species in my collection. The Dendrobium antenatum is very easy to grow and grow very fast and flowering arround the year. The flower last very long (2 - 3 weeks)

Thecostelle allata

I put the plant on the fern bark and hang it on the wall with 65% sunlight. The plant like a lot of water but need to dry out quickly. It will flower anytime arround the year. The flower is so small (1.5 cm wide).

Coelogyne massageana

Coelogyne trinervis

This is an easy to grow and easy to flower Coelogyne. The plant like a lot of water, so I put it in a pot with fern and charcoal as media.

Rainy season

Rainy season in Indonesia this year starts at late October and will last by April. The number one enemy in the rainy season for growing orchids is snail and rot disease. Snail will eat root and spread out diseases. I used snailex (snail bait) for snail elimination every week.

Rot disease is cause by excess water on the potting media and very humid air. Fungicide such as Physan 20 will help to reduce the chance of rot disease. I use 1 teaspoon of Physan 20 diluted into 4 liter of water and spray every week to my orchid.

Internet: Orchid Photo Encyclopedia

One thing that I like most of the internet is: good quality information (and many of is free). Before the internet era, information in the developing country is expensive "commodity". For orchids grower, you can spend US$25 - $40 to buy a good quality orchid book or using internet connection to find some useful information.

One good information for orchid grower is: Orchid Photo Encyclopedia. It has brief information -description, size, growing temperature, light requirement - and of course the photo. Many thanks to Jay Pfalh for doing such a great work which beneficial for all orchids grower. In addition to the encyclopedia, you can find some links to others orchid site and orchid species glossary.

Dendrobium chrystalinum

Luisia javanica

This is my another small flower species, Luisia javanica, colected from west java. One inflorecence consist 4 to 5 small flower (8mm - 10 mm). The plant will flower every 3 months. It like a lot of water just like Vanda, and I put it on a place with 60% shade.

Eria sp.

This Eria sp. has very small flower. The length of the flower inflorecence is only 5 cm long. The flower will last for 2 to 3 days. It will flower anytime.

Dendrobium Hybrid (nobile)

Catasetum Hybrid

Asco. Pine River

The Asco. Pine River is a free flowering ascocenda - 3 to 4 times per-year. It is easy to grow like any other Vanda and Ascocenda, need a lot of water and fertilizer.

Photo: Selling my orchid photos

Some people send me an e-mail and ask me if they could use my orchid photos for their homepage or for printing. Please feel free to use my orchid photo as long as it not for commercial use. So far I never sell my orchid photo not because I don't want, but I thinks my photo and my orchid is still far from perfect. I will hope someday I will be able to sell my orchid photos so I will be able to buy some more orchids and photographic equipments ;-)

Dendrobium pierardii

Nursery: Sien Orchid

Sien Orchid
Jl. Raya Ngemplak No. 6, Prigen

Sien Orchid located on Prigen, East Java - one hour drive from Surabaya. This is a very big nursery with a lot of Hybrid collection and also has a tissue culture laboratory. The owner, Mr. Moling Simardjo is the chief of Indonesian Orchid Society (Perhimpunan Anggrek Indonesia) and one of most respectable Orchid Hybridizer in Indonesia.
Last year I visited Sien, and bought two orchid hybrid: Dendrobium Claudia (Den. lasiantera x helix) and Schomburgkia Emma Solosa

Internet: OrchidWire

Lost in the internet? not anymore. Good search engine will help you, such as Google and then type orchid, you will get tons of orchid website, but which one worth to visit? OrchidWire. The administrator did a very good job by cataloging the orchid website around the world and the most important the site is regularly updated. You can find the website based on several categories such as: geographic, photos, suppliers etc.

Book: Botanica's Orchids

My comment for this book is simply fantastic. The book has more than 600 color pages with over 1200 species. This book is consider very cheap (US$16.47 if you bought from Amazon) therefore it is a must have book for both beginner and advanced grower.

This is not a how to book, which will teach you how to grow orchid. I consider this book as a reference book for orchid grower who would like to get a brief and general information about specific orchid. The color photo for each species helps identification. Even though the cultural information is very short but I think it is very useful. The book also shows some photo of orchid hybrid from several genera.

Dendrobium purpureum

Internet: American Orchid Society

The American Orchid Society (AOS) is probably the largest orchid society in the world with almost 26000 members. You can join the society - even though you are not American or live in US ;-) for around US$ 50 and you will get 12 issue of Orchids magazine. The Orchids is very good magazine with a lot of high quality orchids photos and culture tips for both beginner and advanced grower.

Their web pages provides a lot of information such as culture sheet for many orchids genera, directory, guide to growing healthy orchid etc . You can buy books and merchandise online from AOS web.

Dipodium pictum

The plant is 1.5 meter high. Dipodium pictum grows on 50% shade, and like a lot of water and fertilizer.

Dialaelia Mizoguchi

This plant is a hybrid of Diacrium bicornutum syn Caularthron. More than likely it is Dialaelia Mizoguchi (many thanks to Damon). I bought it from the orchid show last year due to I like the flower.

Asco. miniatum

This is a very small species. My plant is only 12 cm high and the lenght of the inflorescence is only 7.5 cm with 20 flowers. The plant is watered twice a day and fertilized once/twice a week (quater strength) just like my any other Vanda and Ascocenda.

Eria sp.

This is an Eria sp. (unknown), collected from East Java. The plant is mounted on fern bark and water twice a day. This is the first blooming since in my posession. This time bloom with five inflorescences with 10 to 15 flowers each. The flower last for a week.

Nursery: Handoyoharjo

Handoyo Hardoyo
Jl. Agrobimo no. 25
Lawang

My last visit to Handoyo Hardoyo nursery was December 2004, when I bought some oncidium and phalaenopsis. His nursery located at Lawang, East Java, about 2 hours drive from Surabaya. He has extensive collection of dendrobium species, some of his dendrobium reach 2 meters high. He also sells orchid seedling in the bottle for both hybrid and species.

Dendrobium capra

Dendrobium capra grows like any other dendrobium. The plant is vulnerable to rot disease so well drained potting media and good air circulation is very important. Mine was mounted on the tree bark .

Book: Orchid Growing in the Tropics

This book is must for every orchid grower/enthusiast in the tropics area. The 208 pages is very usefull guide for beginner to growing orchid in the tropics. The book start with an introduction to different type of orchid, discuss the culture requirement for each genera, and at the end shows the orchid disease and treatment. A lot of color photograph included in the book.

This is the first orchid book I bought when getting serious into growing orchid. I ordered directly from OSEA (http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~ossea/)

B1 vitamin

B1 vitamin can easily be found at gardening supplies store. Most of people used it as root stimulant and anti stress. I'm using B1 mostly for new repotted plant, by spraying B1 solution into the media and leaves. Some grower use B1 regularly (once a month) in order to stimulate root growth.

Some web pages stated that B1 for stimulating root is only myth and the others say that B1 need to be combine with root hormone or plant growth regulators in order to achieve maximum result. Which statement is true, I don't know, but many growers still use B1 nowadays. Therefore during B1 application, I mix B1 with Atonik (Plant Growth Regulators)

Links related to B1 and plant growth regulators:

http://www.quickgrow.com/gardening_articles/plant_hormones.html
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/4DMG/Garden/beware.htm

Fertilizing

For Fertilizing I used Top Soil, Fish Emulsion, Growmore, and Vitabloom. Top Soil is an organic fertilizer developed by Ayub Pranata (He has orchid nusery in Lembang, West Java - He is also produce many orchids hybrid), and I think Top Soil is only available in Indonesia. I mix one spoon of Top Soil with 4 liter of water, and spray it to the leaves and potting media every week. Sometimes I use Fish Emulsion instead of Top Soil. When compared to the Fish Emulsion, Top Soil is less smelly eventhough you could still smell fishy from it.

To promote flowering I use Growmore and Vitabloom (with high P) quater strength every other week. Orchid likes frequent fertilizing with less strength and from my observation orchid prefer organic fertilizer ;-).

Cattleya Peny Curoda

This very easy to grow and to flower cattleya. In my collection it blooms two or three time per-year. The flower can last for 1 week and very fragant. Like any other catelya, it like a lot of sun (25% shade) and daily watering.

Introduction

I live in Cileungsi, West Java (it is about 15 km south Jakarta). I grow almost 200 pots of orchids in my backyard. The temperature at Cileungsi is about 27 C at nigh and 31 C at noon. Most of my orchid is Dendrobium, Vanda and Catelya. There are some Bulbophylum, Eria, Phalaenopsis and Cymbidium in my collection.

Starting from today, I will post my blooming orchid photo and write how to grow my orchid in this weblog.

Thanks

Best Regards

Soerjo Winarto