That’s definitely Brevipalpus you can clearly see the red oval eggs in your photo. I’ve used sprays based on rapeseed oil on orchids and it doesn’t leave a sticky residue. By the way if you can see that many mites that’s not the start of an infestation, they will have been there for quite a while as...

Thanks Mike. How hardy is it, do you know? I don't have any Disocactus as they don't tend to be very hardy, if I recall correctly..... Just to add to Mike’s reply, Disocactus speciosus is quite tolerant of low temperatures, as is Disocactus phyllanthoides although the latter will get brown spots if...

Orostachys spinosa seems quite tough to me, it certainly gets frost here in Birmingham. For protection from too much rain in winter I usually move the three plants I have under a shelter It’s quite cold tolerant as long as it’s relatively dry in winter, doesn’t need much heat in the summer. I grew ...

I’ve grown spinosa in the past. Better in an alpine house!

Thanks, this one was seed raised a few years ago now and seems quite amenable to cultivation at whatever temperatures I’ve kept it overwinter. It’s very slow growing though and I am mean with watering generally so perhaps that helps!

A nice surprise in the greenhouse today,
not had as many flowers as usual this year due to the lousy weather

Thanks Steven, Andy, that’s very useful. Real world temperature tests are always better than the internet !

MatDz wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 10:16 pm

Ali Baba wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 2:17 pm ericaceous compost

What's your favourite brand at the moment?

I’m using Levington peat free, which looks pretty rubbish, but the plants seem to grow in it ok. I’ve used miracle-gro previously but had trouble getting it this year

I tend to use a mixture of peat or ericaceous compost, perlite and orchid bark, probably about 4:1:2 ratio. Smaller epiphytes get peat (I'm eking out a large bale I bought about 10 years ago...) whereas I tend to use ericaceous compost for the larger growers. I feed with an orchid fertilizer so they...

Thanks Chris, I found a Hungarian article about it which suggests a winter minimum of 10C is possible but 13C is better. It’s a huge growing plant but the flowers are indeed cracking! I think it’s otherwise typical in requiring an open acidic compost with plenty of water in growth and less when cool...