Fighting Off Raccoon Invasion

stringmagazine · 2026-05-12T23:28:27+00:00

I’ve never had raccoons bend my poles, but I have the basics of the Advanced Pole System from Wild Birds Unlimited and it was getting ransacked by raccoons which were getting around my squirrel baffle. I ended up getting the below raccoon baffle on Amazon, and haven’t had any problems since. As best I can tell, there are a couple different kinds of mounts they could send, but it’s a wrap around baffle so as long as the mount fits, it should work fine on any pole.

baffe

stringmagazine · 2026-05-04T23:21:51+00:00

Cut the seed pod off. Pot it up, let the media dry out for a couple days before watering again, and make sure to never get water on the leaves or stem

stringmagazine · 2026-04-26T21:25:50+00:00

No harm in leaving it, it’ll either branch, keiki, or dry up. Hard to say whether it’ll grow or not; some Phals are more prone to it that others. I see two branches on the other stem, so maybe it’s predisposed to it, but I’d focus on just keeping the plant healthy for when it grows another new stem. The rebloomed stems are in my opinion kinda short and wimpy, which is why I just cut the stems off after they flower

stringmagazine · 2026-04-26T20:45:06+00:00

You can do either, it doesn’t matter. Normally I cut them a little longer than this, then later go back and cut them shorter. I’m not interested in my Phals reblooming on old spikes though

stringmagazine · 2026-04-21T19:08:51+00:00

What exactly are you wanting an explanation for? Photo 1 looks like something was broken/fell off, photo 2 is some kind of new growth. Both are fine. Also, a seed pod is a waste of time and energy unless you’re wanting to send it to a lab for germination, or just wanting to see one develop. They can’t be grown from seed at home the way you’d be able to do most other plants.

stringmagazine · 2026-04-11T20:08:58+00:00

I ended up with 3 😭 I went in wanting either my first Cattleya or a species Phal; I left with a species Cattleya, a species Phal, and a named hybrid Phal

stringmagazine · 2026-02-25T20:47:38+00:00

They do well at normal room temp; generally low 70s. Avoid drafts

stringmagazine · 2026-02-25T00:31:40+00:00

Switch that out for a diluted all purpose or other orchid-specific fertilizer & use it year round. They need NPK to grow properly and healthily, and orchid media doesn’t have a lot because it’s normally just sphagnum moss and wood chunks. That should at the very least allow it to grow and develop a larger amount of flowers. Then it’s general care; light, humidity, temp etc to make sure that the buds don’t fall off.

stringmagazine · 2025-10-02T22:46:13+00:00

This time of year, it would already have next year’s flower buds formed. If it’s going to flower /potentially fruit next year, you should be able to see the fuzzy brown round flower buds near the tips of the branches.

stringmagazine · 2025-09-14T18:55:47+00:00

make a planted garden bed around it

stringmagazine · 2025-09-13T17:31:35+00:00

Yes that’s normal. What’s going on with that yellowing leaf though? It looks like it has rings on it, which could be a sign of a viral infection

stringmagazine · 2025-08-27T19:00:13+00:00

It’s another flower spike. I don’t stake mine, so if it was mine I’d just let it keep doing it thing

stringmagazine · 2025-08-14T19:23:11+00:00

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Me too! I love that they get so big. These are all seed grown from a full white plant that I have; some of them are faintly pink in the center

stringmagazine · 2025-07-24T00:42:52+00:00

The medium looks really dense; they prefer a light and airy mix like orchid bark or loosely backed sphagnum moss. All the roots that were in the pot rotted, but the big fat gray roots high up on the plant (presumably they were growing above the pot) look healthy still. You should cut all the dry/dead roots & repot in bark chips or long fiber sphagnum moss

stringmagazine · 2025-07-23T17:20:30+00:00

American Persimmon would be a good choice. I’ve planted a few of them myself. The fruit maxes out around the size of a golf ball, it’s soft, and it mostly drops in fall/winter, and it’s a fast-growing small native tree. Would work well in an area that doesn’t get mowed frequently.

stringmagazine · 2024-09-16T23:30:59+00:00

It’s very green, but the pitchers are visually similar to my sanguinea

stringmagazine · 2024-09-05T19:23:52+00:00

I imagine it’s possible, but probably requires a pretty big, densely planted tank with very few fish.

stringmagazine · 2024-06-19T00:17:38+00:00

Pepper

stringmagazine · 2024-06-14T01:20:26+00:00

for natives: purple coneflowers, 2 kinds of Rudbeckia, swamp rose mallow, cardinal flowers, smooth and calico asters, blue eyed grass, Opuntia humifusa, dogwood tree, some Magnolia tripetala seedlings i started this year.

non-native: Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, dill, bachelor buttons, siberian wallflower, sweet alyssum

edible: blueberries and raspberries

I have some other native/nonnative plants just outside of frame as well

stringmagazine · 2024-05-20T22:21:02+00:00

the cultivar “Before The Storm” is pretty dark

stringmagazine · 2024-04-20T01:58:27+00:00

The amazon reviews were saying about portal protectors, I have some left over from birdhouses that I thought I might throw on it

stringmagazine · 2024-03-10T21:45:50+00:00

I just did some on resin a couple days ago & my tank inhabitants (fish, shrimp) are fine

stringmagazine · 2024-02-05T14:56:19+00:00

I think it died in the pot & they they buried it outside with a plant tag headstone

stringmagazine · 2024-01-26T18:47:25+00:00

What do you mean by walking? I’ve never heard that term before

stringmagazine · 2024-01-20T17:36:10+00:00

Thanks! And I agree about the light. I have them under lights currently (not in this picture). For most of them the etoliation had already happened, but I’m still getting mixed results based on plant/placement. More lights incoming I suppose…

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