4/4/2009 - Hi, I'm Terry Glancy - Barbara and I own Pine Ridge Orchids. We are a wholesale orchid greenhouse that sells to the general public at wholesale prices. We also grow large tropical palms and clumping bamboo planted in the ground for landscape projects.We have been restoring our globally endangered ecosystem, the Miami Rock Pineland, for the last 32 years using herbicide treatment and prescribed burning and have received numerous awards for our efforts.Barbara and I have been intrigued with Taiwanese, Chinese, and Japanese teas for a number of years now.This is our first attempt at a blog - our son, Chris Glancy, a well known independant photographer, snowboard designer (Monument Snowboards), jewelry and clothing designer, and videographer, wanted us to try this out.Barbara will attempt to update the blog daily, but we have to learn our way around.Thank You for visiting our site.
Phalaenopsis (Atticus X Judy Champion XX Happy Valentine X Happy King) 'Pine Ridge'
Pine Rockland 5 months after the last prescribed burn.
Bambusa chungii
Cycnoches chlorochilon
4/5/2009 - Sunday - I spent the afternoon taking 2 photos to update the Pine Rockland / Plants section of our website - "Small's flax" which is an endangered plant endemic to the pinelands of south Florida and "Walter's ground-cherry". It took several attempts because the "Small's flax" flower only opens for one day in the middle of the day - and then I had to crop and enter the photo into several files for safe backup.
Linum carteri var. smallii
Physalis walteri
Barbara is working in our lily pond by the house. The circulation pump seems to be clogged up, possibly with snail shells.
Dendrobium aggregatum
Spring cleaning pond style.
Putting your hand in wet dark places is not for weenies! Found lots of snail shells and unidentified skeleton parts.
4/6/2009 - Monday - I thought I would post some photos of our orchids that are for sale in our greenhouses.
Brachyphylum type Paphiopedilums hybrids ("Lady Slipper orchids") - $20 ea
Multi-floral Paphiopedilum hybrid orchids in 13 cm pots - $25 ea
We breed and clone unusual colored Phalaenopsis hybrid orchids - 13 cm potted plants @ $15 ea.
I'm concentrating on breeding and growing Phal hybrids in the harlequin, art shade, sunset tones, and the more unusual colors that are not as common as the whites and pinks that are available all over.
The unusual colored Phal hybrids I grow are slower growing and take an additional year or two to produce the number of flowers our customers expect from us. The plants are larger than the 4" potted Phals that are available elsewhere. We ship throughout the US. To see even more photos, please visit our website -
http://www.pineridgeorchids.com/4/7/2009 - Tuesday -
One of my fertilizer concentrate tanks broke and I had to install a new 220 gallon tank which involves drilling holes for drainage and ball valve fittings.
4/9/2009 - Thursday -
Amaryllis bulbs planted are blooming.
Purple Martins arrive in March, it has been later and later every year. The earliest was January many years ago. Their activity starts early in the morning calling to each other like a raucous farmers market. The 20 acres and surrounds are filled with their presence and social activity. We are a Martin sanctuary until they migrate south near the 4th of July.
4/8/2009 - Wednesday - I had 12 flasks of Complex ("Bulldog" style) Paphiopedilum seedlings to take out of flask and put into 10" X 20" seedling trays today. The count turned out to be 324 for the 12 flasks or an average of 27 plants per flask. The per plant cost is a little bit over $5 per plant - coming out of flask. The seedlings will spend at least one year in the seed flat and when big enough will be bumped up one plant per 3.25" square rose pot. The plants may spend another year to year and one half in these pots before they either bloom for the first time or are large enough to be transplanted into 13 cm round pots. As you can see, there is a lot of time and expense involved in growing orchids, especially the Complex and multi-floral Paphs.
4/11/2009 - Saturday - We were fortunate enough to have our orchid nursery included on the Spring Ft. Lauderdale Orchid Society bus ramble. The bus arrived around 1:15 PM and the members all left a little after 3:30 PM. Barbara and I extended wholesale prices to all the members and gave everyone a Thank You gift of a Paphiopedilum ("Lady Slipper") hybrid seedling. The members saw a lot of color and everyone gave us compliments on the outstanding colors and plant growth. As you can see in the photo of the bus' cargo area, the Society had a great day visiting various nurseries in south Dade.
Barbara and I along with our employees Rafaela, Adam, Jose, and Maria all want to thank the Ft. Lauderdale Orchid Society for their enthusiasm and friendship.
Thursday 4/23/2009 --- Well, the more technological you get, the more stuff breaks. We had to repair a pump leak today and at the same time rebed an activated carbon filter attached to our reverse osmosis water syatem. The well water comes out of the ground with very high calcium carbonate (really really hard) because south Florida is basically exposed sea bottom and our "soil" is solid oolitic limestone. I've found over the years that if you water orchids, particularily Paphiopedilums, with high calcium water, there are nutrient antagonisms that will prevent the plants from blooming. When I changed over our nursery to R/O water I not only saw a lot more blooming, but one more variable was under my control - I knew exactly what was being applied to the plants because R/O water is virtually distilled. I also added carbon filters to further remove unknowns like herbicides, nitrates, and other chemicals from the water that I then add fertilizer or growth adjuvants to.Here are a couple of photos of one of our carbon filters being cleaned out and recharged with new quartz bedding and activated carbon.
