Posts

I’ve had most of my orchid collection in semi-hydroponics for around 4 months now. The verdict is that my orchids seem to love this method of culture and, well, I mostly do, too. Mostly. It does have a few shortcomings. For one, it is a pain in the rear to completely drain the old solution out of the pots, cover the drainage holes, fill the pots to the brim with water, and then drain them completely to flush out any salt build-up or decaying organics. This process takes a long time and I almost always end up accidentally losing some of the LECA into my drain bucket which means I have to collect and eventually resterilize them before they can be used again. The other problem is algae. Because I used translucent containers (the better to see the fluid levels and growing roots through), a lot of light gets into the moist, nutrient-filled space and algae runs rampant.

I really don’t remember when I first heard of Linux but I do vaguely remember the first time I saw a Linux desktop. I was at my friend Mitch’s place in the very late 90’s and he had it running. I remember he said something about “X Windows” and I remember thinking it was ugly but neat. He was the only friend I had who shared my love of computers though his skills and knowledge were (and still are) greatly beyond my own. In our earlier teens, we’d spent much of our time tinkering with various old TRS-80s we’d bought from a stockpile of retired computers at our school. We were both proficient in BASIC and could navigate BBSs with our relatively ancient machines using their ridiculously slow modems. As disappointing as I now finding it in hindsight, that brief glimse of Linux didn’t actually start me on my path.

If you use either LibreOffice Online or Collabora CODE, you’ve probably noticed that a healthy chunk of the menubar area is taken up by an icon that looks like colored diamond with a folded corner as well as a block of text (if the browser window is wide enough). I think these projects are great and I believe they deserve to splash their branding within their products as they see fit but, in practice and for reasons I can’t explain, I get irritated when I see it. Because I run a two user server and the user who isn’t me never logs in, I decided to see if I could do away with this minor annoyance. I think if I ran a server with more users on it, I’d feel compelled to leave it in so that those users would know who deserves credit for creating this awesome software.

Since starting my orchid collection, I’ve always used traditional media such as orchid bark and sphagnum moss in either traditional glazed ceramic orchid pots or plastic net pots. There are a number of shortfalls and inconveniences to this method, the biggest of which is the investment of both time and money required to replace the media every one to two years as it breaks down. To combat this and the need to frequently water when using traditional media, Ray Barkalow developed a culture method called semi-hydroponics. For more about Ray or for much more in-depth information on semi-hydroponics, check out his website at https://firstrays.com/.

Earlier today my family welcomed its newest member, Jordy Kruszka! I’m excited to add a nephew to my collection and therefore gain even more awesome guncle powers. He’s a healthy little guy and both he and my sister are doing great.

Today, a dream is coming true for me thanks to my unbelievable boyfriend, my amazingly generous sister and her husband, and my flexible and reasonable work.

Unforunately, those were the only specimens we found. Still, it was a fun and exciting trip and I’m glad to have finally laid my eyes on a native carnivorous plant in situ! I’m already looking for ideas on where the next trip should be. I’d really love to come across some sundews! If you know of any local sites, let me know about them.