Frog Friday!

Above the fog, pushing her way past the Bulbophyllum, Alice contemplates jumping into the ultrasoinc mister. We have it set to bathe the frogs and the orchids at regular intervals for about four hours a day total. Almost all of the frogs have climbed up on the ledge and dropped into the foggy pool while the ultrasonic mister is on. It seems like the thing to do. The frogs and most of the orchids love it, but the one featured here is getting too much of a good thing. You can see rot begin to form on the bottom right root. It’s simply getting too much water in this location.

So, we moved it to a higher and drier place on the frog wall. The baby in question is a Barkeria whartoniana about two years from flowering. Barkeria whartoniana is very rare in the wild and is only found in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca Mexico. I bought mine from Clackamas Orchids. It grows on rocks in dry and hot conditions, so its initial placement on the frog wall invited all sorts of problems.  Barkerias also need to dry out during the winter.  I've mounted it on the other side of the orchid wall, away from the fogger, and it has recovered nicely.