Herself's Houseplants

Odontoglossum crispum, a white flowered odontoglossum was first discovered in the mountain cloud forests of Columbia in the early 1840s. It immediately became a rage in Europe and little is left of the forest where these plants once grew.

This is a cool growing orchid preferring temperatures between 50′F and 75′F. This makes it great for a drafty location in your home. Be sure if you live in a cooler area than I do now to put it outside for a good chunk of the summer if you are able.

Odontoglossum orchids are high light orchids like cymbidiums. So find this plant the brightest, sunniest window in your home. If the leaves start to turn white, it is too bright, but that is unlikely in most home settings. But watch it closely when you first bring it home.

Roots should be kept moist not wet at all times. When I first brought a couple of these home, they had been planted in bark and the psuedo bulbs ( thick area at bottom of leaves ) was wrinkled, a sure sign of water distress. They also dry out quickly in sunny windows. So I repotted my odontoglossum orchids in sphagnum moss. I think that is the best choice for this species.

With proper care you should get at least two, as many as a dozen when the plant gets old, stems of closely placed flowers. Some varieties are fragrant, some not. This one is not noticeably so.

Because I have them planted in moss, not soil or bark, I use fertilizer each time I water.

These orchids because of their shape and love of moist roots do very well just placed in large glass containers with moist moss kept about their roots.

I received an interesting question by email this week, someone wrote to ask if there was a list of plants preferring to be bottom watered as opposed to top watered.

Most people know that African Violets prefer bottom watering and that’s about it.  While I don’t know of a list of plants preferring bottom to top watering I can give you some rules of thumb:

Bottom water preferring plants:

- Plants that are tropical and prefer moist soil, including African voilets but any plant that prefers moist soil and warm temperatures.

- Plants that don’t like wet leaves, this is usually your warm weather tropicals and plants with fuzzy leaves, like Purple Passion/Purple Velvet plant.

- Bog plants including Venus flytraps, pitcher plants and other bog plants grown inside.

Top water preferring plants:

- Any plant planted in sand like cactus, the sand doesn’t wick up enough water from the bottom to water the plant.

- Any plant in bark, same as above, to bottom water a plant you need  a soil that will wick the water up.  So orchids in bark need water from the top.