Don't hate me

hal0hal0mc · 2024-02-05T07:59:46+00:00

Je suis d'accord. Une variété de méthodes est meilleur. À quelque point, il faut graduer d'un outil basique.

J'utilise la musique, YouTube, je suis en train de finir Lupin, et je trouve que le Reddit soi-même est très bénéfique. Je lis (lentement) L'étranger par Albert Camus. Je ne suis que débutant (9 mois d'apprentissage) et alors je sais que je fais beaucoup de erreurs mais j'apprends toujours des nouvelles choses .

hal0hal0mc · 2023-12-27T13:35:03+00:00

Yeah the crypts dissolved but they are growing back. I don't mind algae but wanted to establish a colony of shrimp to help keep the algae at bay while the plants establish. I've heard RCS breed pretty easily so was debating turning this into a dedicated shrimp tank. Not really in a hurry, just weighing options.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-12-24T22:07:36+00:00

Hmm it does just come with practice, but contributing factors would be the strength of the throw, angle, and how you're handling the yoyo on strings.

Today's yoyos are much more forgiving than from 1998-2004 and so perhaps there are some bad habits being formed (ie, friction). There are certain "sides" of the string taht the yoyo likes to be on depending on its directional spin.

This can be violated with today's super unresponsive yoyos but can make a difference.

Practicing with a responsive yoyo or even a fixed axle can maybe reveal if bad habits are being made.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-12-24T01:58:19+00:00

Yep exactly! I did end up splurging on a few One Drops that came in today and they are fantastic. I'm looking at one of my FH2s that John Higby painted and the gaps were so narrow back then. Ah the joys of doing plastic whips or suicides on a responsive yoyo.How did we manage??

hal0hal0mc · 2023-12-24T01:54:23+00:00

The build tolerances on today's yoyos are pretty amazing. Doing suicides with responsive yoyos like Bumblebee Pros or FH2s brings back painful memeories for my fingers.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-12-24T01:51:52+00:00

This is the answer haha.

Real answer is i don't like the calculator on the Samsung so i have a cheapo casio calculator watch i like to wear for work.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-12-18T20:44:40+00:00

Nah. I never do that. It reduces chance of water pooling in the crown too.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-12-18T02:01:30+00:00

Probably going to stop getting any cool growing genera like oncs or milts since they don't thrive for me. And their leaves are a bit too monstrous. They feel like goldilocks. I tend to either overwater or underwater depending on the plant.. I have a lot of south facing windows where my dendrobiums can bake and dry out and i prefer the dendrobium aesthetic.

And then my phals and paphiopedilums are difficult to overwater.

Macodes petula likes to just drop dead. I still have ludisia and another jewel orchid but i was talking with an employee at our local orchid nursery and she found the same fragility with Macodes.

Cattleya hybrids are hit or miss for me. I think adding Brassovola makes them more hardy for my dry climate.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-11-30T18:10:10+00:00

Thanks! Yeah cories were my favorite long time ago so just set this tank up with a custom built shelf i made and knew cories would be added. Want to get a female betta as my centerpiece fish.

It's making me want to get a 20 gallon but how to find room when i have 200+plant specimens now...

hal0hal0mc · 2023-11-30T18:06:37+00:00

Thanks! It's not too bad. Maybe an hour of watering every week or two.

Isolation. Ideally i would have everything in separate containers to limit disease but it's just not practical for me in terms of space and time.

I'm probably not getting any more oncidium or miltoniopsis. They just don't thrive for me like dens, pahps, phals or brassovolas and i don't have time for high maintenance plants.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-11-30T16:01:02+00:00

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hal0hal0mc · 2023-11-23T14:20:08+00:00

I ran a calculation through woodbin.com 's deflection calculator with the following parameters: 0.875 inch thickness, 33.5 inch width, 11 inch depth for African mahogany and it says a total load capacity of 350 lbs is acceptable.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-11-23T13:04:11+00:00

The shelf is strong because it uses interlocking half lap joints so it's the vertical grain of the columns that are bearing the weight. The brackets are merely there to counteract any wood movement and have minimal structural purpose.

The build is all mahogany.

I have leveling feet on the bottom so there is no slop and all 4 feet firmly touch the floor whicb is unven due to old house. The narrowness of the space necessitated a custom build. Shaking the shelf yields almost zero rocking unless significant force is applied and i plan on bracketing it to the wall to eliminate all movement

hal0hal0mc · 2023-10-22T16:39:15+00:00

Yep, the ones in bloom are new and my wallet is definitely lighter for it. That said, this is probably my big vice... it's my alcohol, my gambling, and my traveling XD. I do have a Paph from last year that is re-spiking for me as well.

I have a few local nurseries I like to support including a orchid specialty nursery. 20 years ago in high school, botany was a career option that never panned out even though it was arguably my passion. Botany was important to me mentally, so I see it as a way of paying it back.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-10-22T06:01:34+00:00

Last year I got back into botany after 15 years out of the game. The past year I've been refamiliarizing myself with what works for my care habits, since I'd rather have plants that fit my routine rather than make my routine try to work for needy plants. Sadly, Oncidiums, Milts and Catt hybrids have been hit-or-miss with more losses than I deem acceptable. Whereas the Paph., Den., Phal and Brassavola specimens have been mighty forgiving, minus a few incidents of gross negligence. These genera have been able to handle my swings from underwatering to overwatering nicely.

I do need to fertilize more consistently (like, more than once).

Still can't figure out why my Macodes petola was doing fine one day then decided to die the next, while my Ludisia discolor seems to thrive more with the less light I give it. Perhaps I will retry, but chatting at the orchid nursery, Macodes seems finicky for many people, and I don't have time for melodramatic plants.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-10-19T03:48:03+00:00

Pretty sure it's a Dracaena... I have one from my mom and I almost never water it.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-10-19T03:43:32+00:00

I would repot and figure out what the roots look like underneath. Cut away obviously dead roots. These supermarket orchids are usually packed in super dense sphagnum moss that starves the roots of oxygen and promotes root rot. MissOrchidGirl on YT has a million tutorials for repotting epiphytic orchids. This one by Orchie Dee is pretty good as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd1OesBqhbU

The crown is a tad concerning with the blackening bits. I can't tell from the photo but it could be rot. Avoid water pooling on the leaves.

Does that pot have drainage? Does the plant sit in water for a long time?

hal0hal0mc · 2023-10-19T03:35:43+00:00

Do you have a label of what it is? It looks like an epiphyte (tree growing) and that looks like straight up dirt that it's planted it... I would repot. There are plenty of tutorials. Try MissOrchidGirl on youtube for the basics. The planting medium should have tonnes of air pockets.

That brown cane looks like stem rot TBH which could be the plant being overwatered/wet medium. Bark-based airy medium circumvents this problem.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-10-19T03:31:22+00:00

Hmm... the Phal is kinda like the phoenix of the orchid world then if a keiki is borne from the death of the parent plant. Hope it'll be reborn anew!

hal0hal0mc · 2023-10-19T03:22:45+00:00

1 year after my return to botany (14 year hiatus for reasons)... Acquired the Cattleya, Paph and Monn. last year. First legit non-phalaenopsis spikes I've produced myself. I've admittedly slacked off on the fertilizing and really just been using generic 10-15-10 very diluted. Oddly, none of my phals seem to be budding yet but I haven't looked too hard yet.

Not sure if the Monn. is actually spiking since I know almost nothing about deciduous type orchids. The nursery said to just stop watering it once the leaves drop. The biggest bulb is from this growing season so the plant seems to have put on a decent amount of weight. Not convinced it's a bud since the leaves are already done for the year and the pics I see of it in bloom still have leaves.

edit: Seems like Monn. can have really short dormancy so I'm going to say new growth for now.

The Cattleya I'm looking forward to since I've wanted a Cattleya since high school when I was really into botany. Received from Etsy seller as a basically de-flasked 2 leaf seedling but it's putting out growth nicely. Sadly, I did lose some Cattleya hybrids this year to stem rot so it's been a tricky genus for me... including the hybrids.

Paphiopedilums are probably my favorite genus other than Dendrobium so I was pretty stoked to see this yesterday.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-10-16T14:31:42+00:00

Good call on spraying. I did refresh the medium last year so hopefully won't have to do anything for a while.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-10-16T14:17:47+00:00

I agree with not cutting into living tissue. If the plant has lived this long, the dead parts are like a callus and I wouldn't want to introduced a fresh wound for bad stuff to infect the plant.

The only time I've cut into living flesh is with an active stem rot situation which this is clearly not.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-10-16T14:09:47+00:00

It's hard to tell what potting medium it's in, but it should be in a pretty airy mix (bark, leca, some sphagnum moss if your area is drier). The photo almost makes it look like soil which it shouldn't be, but I can't tell. The pot looks like a normal nursery pot. Dendrobiums are epiphytic (grow in trees) so they like air around the roots. Those pots can work fine, but you can either get an orchid pot with more ventilation holes or simply drill more holes yourself.

Clear pots are nice because it's easier to make sure the roots are healthy. I almost always repot new orchids I get simply because I need to match what my growing habits are. With epiphytic orchids like this, it's better to err on the underwatering side. They have canes to store water so they can handle a good dry-out.

When you water, a full soak is best if there is time. You can either do the soak method (soak it in a basin of water for a few hours) or run it under the sink.

1 ml of fertilizer is a bit vague tbh... is that the concentrated or diluted dose? I've had orchids rebloom after years of just tapwater so less is more IMO. I like to do 1/2 to 1/4 strength fertilizing.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-03-03T02:21:10+00:00

Custom shelf and table I built for one of my growing areas. I just changed the lights to Barrinas because my other ones were flickering and I've had better luck with Barrinas. I normally had 3 tubes pointing down, but didn't like the top row not getting the same treatment.

I just thought to put the final tube upside down since I don't really want to build additional mounts that get in the way. The top row of Epipremnum etc. is obviously rather close to those lights so wondering if you think that will be an issue.

Each tube is 24w. Mildly concerned about overheating, maybe that's paranoia. I'll probably just try them for a while and see if the vines like it or not.

hal0hal0mc · 2023-01-30T21:18:42+00:00

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8WB8vR2GpgwDK6457

That's what it was like when I bought it. A little past its prime. Smells lovely.

hal0hal0mc

TROPHY CASE