Good growing Tony!....Your patience and care has paid off!~Charm

hallefallujah!

do you have a pic of the whole plant in bloom?

Magnificent, Tony. You obviously have provided it ideal growing conditions. Congratulations and great growing!
The spurs are tremendous!

Oh my! It is wonderful!

COngrats,

I believe blooming ghost orchids shows a new level of success.

Christian

Wow! congratulations.

I've been anxiously waiting to see this for a while since the first post way back when. I'm geen with envy.

Cheers
Rodrigo

Wish I were there to give you a high 5!

Clint

Fantastic, great work!

Congratulations!! How long do the blooms last? Do you think they'll all be open at the same time? If so, please, please, please post again when they are all open, the display wil be amazing! I'm so happy for you!!! Woo Hoo!
-Mimi

Congratulations! And what a fabulous picture! It looks like 3 different buds in 3 different stages of blooming. I would love to see it in person too!

Carolyn

Finally and congratulations!!! The wait was agonizing and I can't imagine what it must have been like for you. It's a strange and wonderful flower. Totally worth the effort. Now you can sit back and relax with a belly full of the warm fuzzies. Excellent growing!!! Naomi

**POP!!!** (sound of champagne cork!)

Awesome, Tony! Major congratulations!!!!!!!!

Sharon

Wooo Hooo! Party time ! excellent growing ! Gin

Tony, Great growing! Congratulations. I have been waiting to see this one bloom.
Hey, I can run by there and see it in person. I will give you a call to see when you will be home and convenient for you.
Great growing!
David

CONGRATS!!! and thanks for sharing your pics along the way so that we could feel the mounting anticipation right along with you.

Great job growing! From this day forth, you shall be known to all as the "Ghost Master." All questions pertaining to the Ghost Orchid will be directed to you, oh ghosty one.

Steph

Hiya Tony.. such dedication, that is so cool~
mine are still wormy ;-) and demand so much water,
I'm determined to set up a mister on a timer for them.

Big time congrats, tho, job well DONE.. are they gonna put u in the paper?

Listen hard for the sound of very loud applause and take a well deserved bow! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! What a gorgeous little green goblin. Please keep the photos coming!!!Thank you for sharing this excellent adventure with us.

Judybird,

Good to hear from you again. Yep, I called WALB TV, The Albany Herald, and our own Sylvester Local Newspaper reporters, and I have appointments with them.

You might have heard in the news that our local TV towers were destroyed when a military helicopter hit one of them a few weeks ago. Tragically several died in the crash (One of the crew lived!). When they were taking the tower down that was hit, it hit the WALB TV tower. Now they say it may be 5 or 6 months before they can be rebuilt and erected. WALB is still broadcasting on cable TV; don't know about WFX.

Tony

Tony: If I could spare a few hours I'd be on the road to see that baby. Awesome job. It really makes me want one now.

Vince

tony; once again congrats and thanks for sharing with us!!

Congrats. I have only seen it once in chicago at oak hill gardens. I dont even have the courage to try to grow it. Truly awesome.

I went over to Tony's this afternoon and took some photos. This plant is amazing in person there are 3 other blooms about to open. Here are the photos that I took while over at Tony's.
David

The Proud Papa

Wow! What a great response! Thanks for all the compliments and congratulatory posts!

I will post a photo of the entire plant in a couple of days.
I have heard that the blooms will last from 7 to 14 days and hope that I have at least two blooms open at the same time. The second bud is on the verge of opening now.

Vince, come on over. We'll both celebrate! LOL

David came over this afternoon to see the blooms, and Dr. and Ms. Bacon are coming over from Albany tomorrow. Ms. Bacon is a writer for the "SW Georgia Living" magazine, and she wrote the interesting article about David's orchids and mine about a year ago. If you'd like to see a copy of the article, send me an email.

Spectacular!!! I have really enjoyed your posts about its progress.
Troy

WOW ! I'm jealous I have owned three and killed two still have one it is hanging on please tell me Tony how you care for it... Dottie

Congratulations! Like many I have been following the soap opera. Would you mind reminding us of the botanical name of this splendid orchid?

Congrats! I wish I could grow this...
Edward

David, such a great pic of proud papa, made me smile.

Tony, I did read about that, such a tragedy:-(

Do you not have any shadecloth on that greenhouse above your head?? I've gotta come down there!!!!! Congrats again, as we say in the south~you are something!

astounding. wish the blooms lasted longer given the anticipation and all. enjoy while you have it.

Radha.

Haven't been on line in awhile and am sorry I missed the excitement. It is always such a great feeling when someone grows such an awesome plant. Thanks for showing it, it is beautiful. Foster

I have added a few more pictures. The second bud is beginning to open.

Here is a link that might be useful: More pics

I have added four more pictures of the two blooms that are now open. (After selecting the link: '4 New pics', scroll down to the bottom of the page.)

Here is a link that might be useful: 4 New pics

Such dedication! Great growing! Please let us know if it's fragrant, too.
Carol

It just keeps getting better and better!! Thanks for the new pix.
-Mimi

I pollinated the first two blooms of the Ghost Orchid today. Its anatomy is very much like the bloom of the cattleya in that the anther cap had two little sacs of pollina. I used the pollina from one bloom to pollinate the other, and I hope this will increase the chance for success.
First I removed the anther cap and retrieved the two sacs of pollina (which were each about the size of a grain of sand) with a toothpick. The sacs of pollen stuck to the toothpick, and I gently pushed them upward into the "sticky fluid" in the column.
Now I guess it's a waiting game all over again to see if it worked. :o)

What is the botanical name of the Ghost Orchid?
Thanks.

Great tony pity I will not be able to ask you some seeds if they ripe, i suppose this is forbidden by cites.
YOu may start a business flasking ghost orchids lol.
Thank you for the wonderful pix.
BTW did you detect any fragrance from the flowers?
I am so curious about this!!!!!
Usually long spur flowers have a fragrance :) I really hope your ghost will be also fragrant!
And that the pod will grow.

Hello!

That looks amazing! Love how the flower have streched downwards, making it look bigger! ;) Congrats and hoping that the seedpods grow and have good seeds!

Marleneann, the current accepted name for the ghost orchid is Dendrophylax lindenii. It's also called Polyradicion lindenii and Polyrrhiza lindenii.

Kind regards
Joao

Thx for all the postings/photos. This has been a wonderful experience watching this plant come into bloom. You are a fabulous grower. Sheila

I am so happy to let you know that the Ghost Orchid is very fragrant. I had been checking for fragrance in the day-time and hadn't been able to detect a scent, but tonight I went out to the greenhouse to pollinate the third bloom, and to my surprise I noticed the sweetest unique fragrance. (I should have realized that in situs the pollinator is a moth and therefore it would likely be fragrant in the evenings.) Wow! I could smell the fragrance from several feet. It was sooo nice!
Tony

The fourth bloom just opened. The first bloom has dropped; it lasted about 7 days.

Toooooooooooony I am so happy!!!! I was pretty sure it should be fragrant considering the shape of the flower and that it is pollinated by moth :)!!!!!
What a great pic!!!!!!!!!
Now you only need to have your seeds! than!!!!!
A new generation of ghosties will come from your stud plant!!!!!
Happy growing!!!!!!!!!!
And many thanks for all your efforts!
We loved to be with you behind this magnificent so mysterious flower.
I suppose the whole forum worldwide has been looking for your posts!!!!
Kisses
Marco

Tony thanks again for the tips with the ghost, my ghost is still alive thanks to you.I cant wait untill mine is blooming as your's Great Job Dottie

Dottie, glad I could be of some help. I would like to see pics of your Ghost as it matures.

My Ghost orchid produced nine blooms, and the last bloom dropped on 09/15/06. It bloomed for 81 days.

Tony, what a fabulous journey. Congrats on the nine!! blooms. Growing a ghost here in SW Fla., but looking at yours, I'm several years from blooming. Can you give us some cultural hints? Thanks, Debbie

Debbie, I can give you this information:

Learn as much as you can by reading about and researching the Ghost Orchid and its culture requirements. You "arm" yourself with the best information you can find, and then you have a "head-start" at growing the orchid. I have done the best job I could at trying my luck with the Ghost Orchid, but I am of the opinion that if a plant dies because "conditions" inside my greenhouse werent right, then I dont try growing it. Changing the conditions in a greenhouse is just too much work for me, so I attempt to fit the plant to the environment that I already have.

My Ghost Orchid is kept in a 17x30 polycarbonate exterior greenhouse (along with my cattleya and vanda orchids) with a 63% shade cloth. Although I have a 63% shade cloth, my greenhouse is very bright. I imagine that the Ghost Orchid growing in the Fakahatchee Strand State Game Preserve gets "plenty" of light and high temperatures in atmosphere heavy with moisture, but my mounts here in SW Georgia do dry out between watering. The greenhouse has a concrete floor that I water down on the very hot days to increase the humidity and lower the temperature.

There are two fans on the floor at the west end of the greenhouse that run 24/7, so the air circulation is very good. I try not to let the lowest winter night-time temperature get below 55degF, but it has dropped to 50 on occasion. I mist spray the entire greenhouse in the Smmer when the Smmer day-time temperature inside reaches 108degF. I would like to keep the Smmer daytime temperatures lower here, but again it would just be too much work for me to do more than I am now doing. In South Florida I know that the temperatures get pretty high, but as long as there is a high humidity, they seem to do pretty good. I know that if they stay wet, the roots will rot.

When I first got the plants I also bought 'Plant Success' Fantastic Fungi micorrhizae tablets from Charleys Greenhouse to spray and dip the plant in occasionally (product #7170 - 75 tablets for $19.95). Also, when I first got the plants I kept them hanging beneath a plastic bell. The plastic vented plant protector (product #1747 - Solar Bell - 3 per pak, 13" diam. x 10" high for $19.95) is from Charleys Greenhouse too. When the plants started to really grow, I removed them from under the plastic bell. The clear plastic bell didnt provide any shade but was used to keep any drafts off the young tender plantlets and to hold the humidity around them. The mature plant hangs in the center of the greenhouse on the east end facing south and are out of the direct flow of air which would dry them out too quickly here where I live.

I do fertilize it with Better-Gro fertilizer, and I also use Superthrive. I dip the entire mount into a large pail of the fertilizer - Superthrive - water, sometimes several times a day. (I use 1/2 tsp fertilizer and 2 or 3 drops of the Superthrive per gallon of water.) With my environment during the Summer, with the air flow I have and the high temperatures, the mounts dry out within an hour or two. I fertilized the Ghost Orchid pretty often from last September to March, but I slacked off when it actually started blooming. During that period from September to March, I was also using Superthrive in the fertilizing solution.

I use "Orthene" as a systemic pesticide. It works good for me, and I have used it on the Ghost Orchid to get rid of wooly scale.

Years ago, when I first got the Ghost Orchids, I mounted them on a larger mount, but I didn't remove them from the mount they came on. I just attached that mount to the larger one that I had.

Hope this information will be helpful.

That is amazing!!!

Thanks for sharing something really special with us.

Tony,
Your info is terrific! I have had trouble collecting info on blooming the ghost. Many people are growing it, but not many are blooming it. I knew it needed a certain fungus to bloom and was hoping it lived on my patio since I live so close to where it blooms naturally.(About 200 miles) But your cultural info is priceless. Thanks so much.
Debbie

Good lord very beautiful, I am a new grower trying to grow this plant , yes i took the head first dive into this , but if anyone could help it would be great, Tony your flower is magnificent I hope it blooms for you for decades to come.