Herself's Houseplants

It is nice to see some new orchids coming to the local plant dealers.  This is the first Grammatophyllum I’ve had or seen.  Outside this plant wants light shade, which indoors means a bright, sunny window.

Temperatures can be as hot as 105′F These grow outside in Houston but it’d really be much happier if you kept the temperature under 85′F.  Nights should be around 55′F So find a drafty window or door to put it near.  Or place it outside in light shade when not in bloom.  It can tolerate an occasional light frost.

Watering should be frequent, water frequently but do not let it sit in water.

Grammatophyllums are from the rainforests of Asia, so keep the humidity as high as you can.

As you can see in the photo these are large orchid plants, so they are great for floor plants.

Watch for rust, give it more sun if you see the rust fungus on the plant and better air circulation.

The more sun it gets the more blooms you will get.

Fertilize regularly, most orchid growers are now using the time release pellets when they repot their orchids.  I still prefer my liquid fertilizers.

Not only do stressed trees make their own aspirin to help protect themselves, they release methyl salicylate into the environment to warn other plants. I told you those plants were all talking about you.

It has also been verified that plants in laboratories under stress also produce asprin, which means your houseplants are likely doing it as well when stressed.

The release of aspirin stimulates an immune response type function in the plants.

. . . The discovery raises the possibility that farmers, forest managers, and others may eventually be able to start monitoring plants for early signs of a disease, an insect infestation, or other types of stress. At present, they often do not know if an ecosystem is unhealthy until there are visible indicators, such as dead leaves. . . [ read more Plants in forest emit asprin chemical to deal with stress]

. . . Walnut trees stressed by drought and other factors release large amounts of an aspirin compound to reduce damage and possibly warn nearby plants, a study released Friday found. [ read more Stressed trees release asprin compound, may communicate ]