QuestionHi!
I took some photos of orchids at my grandfathers house, he doesn't know what species and there isn't a tag, but maybe you could help out identifying based on the pictures? They can be found here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fir0002/Unidentified_orchids
I would really appreciate your help!
AnswerHello Peter F,
After looking at the photos you took, all of them are cymbidium orchid flowers.
While looking at the photos, I noticed what appears to be snail or slug damage on several flowers. You might suggest to your grandfather to put out some snail bait in and around his growing area and also place a little in the pots. If he has some cats or dogs in his yard or young grandchildren that might play in his garden area, I would suggest he use a snail product made of iron phosphate as this product is much safer for pets and children than most snail baits available. It also doesn't leave a moldy mess as the other products when it gets wet. Another plus is that iron phosphate snail bait is biodegradeable and can be beneficial to other plants in his garden.
As for why I said it appears there is snail damage? If you look closely at the first two photos, you will see an irregular edge to some of the flowers as though it had been damaged or cut. You can also see evidence on the photos of flowers with several unopened buds where the topmost bud appears to have a hole in the bud. These are sure indicators of the presence of snails and slugs.
Lastly, most of the flowers appear to be of fairly common cymbidiums but the last yellow one is very good. He is doing a pretty good job of growing, he just needs to keep an eye out for snails, especially when it is cool and wet. Snails and slugs are really good at playing hide-and-seek, you usually won't see them during daylight hours, as they normally come out at night to feed. I'm sure he will be surprised at the number of empty snail shells laying about the next morning after spreading out the snail bait.
Hope this helps.
Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.
