The "Project"

[TeeGate]

All,



I am starting this thread so that all of us can follow along with the progress of a little project that bobpbx asked me to join him with. The project concerns Platanthera blephariglottis, which you may know as white fringed orchids. Deer love to eat them, so last evening we erected a small fence around a few of them that Bob felt had the best chance of flowering in the location they were at. There are most likely a hundred of them coming up; however, only a few will make it to see our camera lens. This project hopefully will help a few of them to make maturity.


BTW, here is what they look like even though the Latin name is different.


http://www.mikebaker.com/plants/Habe...riglottis.html



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Photo’s by Jessica from here on


Preparing the location for the fence. It was like walking on egg shells trying not to step on them.





Tools. I dug up some mud and coated the stakes to try to camouflage them as much as possible.









The plants that were growing the best are right on the fringes of the swamp where they get just the right sunlight and the soil is perfect.





This plant was further in the swamp and most likely will not flower.





Almost finished.








Notice we are in the transition area between the sun and the shade.





Stay tuned


Guy

[oji]

I have heard that spreading human hair around keeps deer away.

[TeeGate]

I have heard that spreading human hair around keeps deer away.

Just got mine cut Now Jessica on the other hand ..........

Guy

[manumuskin]

Now thems some purty ovaries:-)
Al

[glowordz]

Just got mine cut Now Jessica on the other hand ..........

Guy

Love this project.
Thanks for the photos, Jessica . . . but don't let them talk you into donating your hair! They could plant alliums or salvia, which are natural deer repellents.

Glo

[glowordz]

Now that you're back, how are things going with "the Project," Guy?

Glo

[TeeGate]

I got back just after noon today so I have not even been able to answer or look at the 300 emails I have. As soon as I wade through them and find out if I will have time to get there this weekend, I will be able to give you that answer. Maybe Bob has been there and can fill us all in.

Guy

[TeeGate]

Glo,

I visited the "project" today and it appears that things are not going well. The orchids are no bigger than when we started this weeks ago. And I don't see many of them. Bob was going to check it out, so we may have more accurate info from him on what is going on.

This afternoon.




Guy

[oji]

Guy, Was there any evidence of deer around the area?

[TeeGate]

I did not see any. I am certain no human caused any problems, so a deer was my suspicion. I looked for some of the others outside the ring and could not find any.

Guy

[james ungehajer]

I was leaning toward the weather being the problem.

Jim

[glowordz]

Glo,

I visited the "project" today and it appears that things are not going well. The orchids are no bigger than when we started this weeks ago. And I don't see many of them. Bob was going to check it out, so we may have more accurate info from him on what is going on.
Guy

I'm sorry to hear this, Guy. It looked as if y'all gave them a good start. Let's see what Legendary Bob says.

Glo

[TeeGate]

All,

I have an update on the "Project" that Bob, Jessica, and I worked on last year. Last year in June we erected a fence in an area where White Fringed Orchids were growing, trying to stop the dear from eating them. In the end it appeared to be a failure as nothing grew to maturity. Fast forward to this Thursday when I received an email from Bob telling me that the "Project" was working, and there were quite a few blooming orchids inside our fence. He even told me in a round about way the his dog Buddy had helped him figure out that deer were not the culprits that were doing the damage.

Early this afternoon we traveled there with Hewey (Chris) and Jessica to see for ourself what was going on. Inside the fence were 6 large orchids, some even leaning on the side of it. There were however no other orchids to be found outside our fence, or for that matter anywhere we looked where there were some last year. If the deer were eating them, why did they not eat the ones leaning on the fence where they could easily have reached? The answer lies with Buddy's actions when Bob let him out of his truck earlier this week. He loves chasing deer, and he also likes chasing rabbits, and that is exactly what he was doing when Bob was examining our project. Rabbits would not be able to reach the orchids leaning against the fence.








Guy

[oji]

Very nice picture Guy and look how happy Bob gets around orchids.

[bobpbx]

That is a really, really nice photograph Guy. It is hard to take a really nice photo of a white flower, and you've done it.