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.