B. Lttle Stars update

The growth gets larger. I am still not sure if it is a bud or a spike with several buds. I also have no idea how long will it take to develop into flower/flowers:



I got my Brassavola Little Stars couple months ago from Clouds Orchids as large seedling. Well, it turned out to be blooming size even this small, its pot is just 2 1/2 inch:

Orchid news: Bulbophyllum nocturnum

Apparently this orchid blooms exclusively at night, for one night only and is the only orchid at that.


Image source

Dutch scientist Ed de Vogel was first to discover bizzare behaviour of Bulbophyllum nocturnum. It would open shortly after dusk, stay in bloom for about 12 hours and wither after sunrise.
More information here:
World's first night-flowering orchid discovered on island.
I am not sure if I would like that one in my collection, I actually like orchids for their long lasting flowers.
With Bulbophyllum nocturnum it is not the case...

Cattleya jenmanii

Seedling of this beautiful cattleya is potted into clay pot with coconut husk chips.
Cattleya jenmanii is a smal sized species but has quite large - up to 12 cm - flowers. It is also fragrant. Mine is probably couple years from blooming:

Haraella retrocalla remounted and blooming

Haraella retrocalla bloomed, and it looks beautiful, and fragrance is wonderful.
Previously I mounted it on clay pot, but it seemed that I put too much sphagnum on the mount, so it looked and smelled too wet.
I removed sphag from the pot and put pot into saucer with water hoping that porous clay pot will drag the water and supply the roots.
It could probably live happily that way but yesterday at the pet store I got a bag with five pieces of grape wood.
I took the nicest one and mounted my Haraella retrocalla on it. I wasn't sure if she should be mounted face up or face down, so I put her sideways and let her decide which way to grow.
Here is the picture:



Flower a bit closer(I wish I had macro lens):



And mount again:



There are four more small pieces of grape wood, I am going to use them to mount my mini-phals.

Paph. emersonii progress

Paphiopedilum emersonii is the only one from several paphs survived my major paphs fiasco, that is still trying to grow something.



I bought bunch of paphs without much research. I potted them into chc and was determined to not let them dry out. Needless to say - I promptly rotted all the roots.
They turned out to be quite robust plants and several of them started to grow new roots. That's when I decided to cut on water, so to not rot the new roots. later on I discovered that almost all new roots just dried out :(.
Now I have Paphs delenatii, micranthum and barbigerum that are still alive but do nothing visible, although foliage looks nice (hopefully they are working on new roots down in the pots).
Paph henrianum dried out and died.
Paphs dianthum and boxalii without roots at all will probably dry out and die, it is just a matter of time. I had to cut whole mushy bottom on them and then stuck them into pots with shallow chc. I keep watering chc and checking for activity, but there is none as of yet. Some of the older leaves look wrinkly, but majority is still fresh, so I keep it for now.

And this pictured emersonii is pushing out new growth:



I read that they are very slow and can take up to 4 years to bloom from a new growth, so not very exciting, but at least it is still alive...

Phalaenopsis fasciata 'Shaffers' bloom

Well, my Phalaenopsis fasciata finally bloomed after several blasted buds, but there is a slight damage on the petals. I don't know, maybe it is a water damage from when I was misting the plant.
It is a bit disappointing, I waited for the flower and it isn't perfect, but on the happy note - there are two more buds forming on the other spikes. I will make sure not to mist them and hope they will look better.

I was making pictures of the bloom as it was developing. Here they are:

Maxillaria tenuifolia

These are the sad leftovers of a beautiful large Maxillaria tenuifolia plant that I bought last April at the show.
Plant arrived in the old moss. Moss was black and smelled bad. I decided to repot, but being total newby, I was very harsh with roots and damaged them badly when trying to get rid of old stinky moss.
I potted it into clear plastic pot with chc and quickly rotted rest of the roots. Bulbs wrinkled and I though the plant was a goner.
I eneded up selcting couple pieces with new growth and potting them into smallest pot with new moss. I was very carefull to let the moss get crusty dry on top before next watering.
To my surprise bulbs plumped up, new growths grew bigger and roots filled up small pot. I just moved it to the larger pot yesterday. From all these manipulations here is what I learned:
- Maxillaria tenuifolia likes to grow in the sphagnum moss on the full sun and likes to get somewhat dry between waterings.
- She doesn't really like her roots disturbed much.
- If bulbs wrinkled, they still might plump back if noticed in time to save them.
Anything else? Please add more...

Lc Blue Grotto 'Takagi'

There are five small plants in those three pots. I just wanted to save some space for now, when they are such small and can fit two in a pot.

Cattleya forbesii

Catt. forbesii significantly grew after arrival and roots started to grow out the little pot. I decided to graduate it to larger clay pot with chc.



It tends to grow sideways, so I had to tie it up a bit to make the bush more compact.
This was a freebe from Clouds that I didn't actually order, but after seeing this I can't wait for mine to bloom.

My vanda "blues"

These two seedlings are start of my blue vandas collection. I plan to buy more blues in the future, for now - just Vanda Pakchong Blue on the left and Vanda Bangkok Blue on the right:



My proven way of growing vanda seedlings - in a plastic vanda basket with a handful of coconut husk chips. For handling covenience - baskets sit in the square plastic pots. I water them once every two-three days.
They are still small and several years from blooming, hopefully by the time they are grown up I will have a greenhouse with lots of room :).
I read somewhere that V.Pakchong Blue can flower even on relatively small plants.

Brassavola Little Stars

Looks like my very small Brassavola Little Stars is growing a bud:


Can't wait for the flower!

Dtps. hybrid

Pretty Dtps came from Kingfisher Orchids a while ago and was a bonus plant. The name on the label is quite long: Dtps. Freed's Beautiful Girl 'Blue' X Phal Equestris 'Alba'. It had a spike with blooms.
The moss looked too packed up, so I decided to repot it right then. As a result - blooms shriveled, buds dropped and spike yellowed. I cut it off.
Plant didn't do anything for a while, but now there is some activity: new leaf start and a couple of new roots:

Another mounting on clay pot

Picking on the roots of my newly purchased Phalaenopsis mannii, I noticed that in just a couple weeks I managed to rot a lot of its roots. Maybe they were cracked to begin with, I don't know.
Now there are only three roots left, they have traces of rot and don't look all that healthy.
In my attempt to save them I decided to mount this phal onto clay pot just the same way I mounted Haraella retrocalla.
Here is what came out of it:



Back view, notice how bad the roots are:



When and if the roots will start to look healthy - I will pot it up again.

Lc. Canhamiana coerulea 'Azure Skies'

Few small seedlings of Lc. Canhamiana v. coerulea 'Azure Skies' is part of my earlier "cattleya frenzy". I wanted to buy just a few catts for the sunny window, but looking at them all - I want them all.
Lc. Canhamiana is an old hybrid between L. purpurata and C. mossiae and judging by pictures on the web should be a showstopper when blooms. There are actually five plants n those three pots, I will see how many will make it through...

Lc. Meadow Gold new roots

I just had to log these new roots growing on my Lc. Meadow Gold. They looked so sweet, I couldn't pass them with my camera:

Bl. Morning Glory

Cross between Brassavola nodosa and Laelia purpurata, Bl. Morning Glory supposed to have showy white flowers with purple lip. Mine came from Clouds, still a seedling, and is working mostly on growing new roots:

Phal Kuntrarti Rarashati bud

Phalaenopsis Kuntrarti Rarashati is a primary hybrid between Phal. equestris and Phal. venosa. Mine is still a small plant but it activated its teeny spike and is growing a bud.
I don't know if it is such a good idea and was wondering if I should have cut the spike so plant could concentrate effort on growing new leaves and roots.
Well, now with bud progressing I want to see the flower, so here is the picture and hope this one will not blast:

Phal. fasciata another update

My Phalaenopsis fasciata bud got much bigger and now I can see the markings showing through on the petals.

I think there is also another bud is starting to grow on the other spike! Exciting!!!

Haraella retrocalla mounted

Reading about Haraella retrocalla it always seems that everyone is suggesting it does better mounted. I have no suitable wood to mount it, but inspired by a thread on Orchid Board about mounting orchids on the clay pots, I came up with this:



And yes, there is a giant bud on my Haraella. The suspicios growth from the previous post dried up and fell off but whole new bud came up. It was half-burried in the moss, so I discovered it when mounting.
Now Haraella retrocalla is proudly sitting atop of her clay pot on the humidity tray between other 'chids:

Vanda pumila update

I just wanted to log the update on this family of Vanda pumila residing on tiny piece of wood, the only mounted orchid I have.



It gets watered every day by lukewarm tap water in the kitchen sink. There is noticeable growth: couple new leaves, many new roots on both sides of the wood, since the last picture on arrival.
I think it looks happy...

Phalaenopsis bellina ('Ingrid Ohh' x 'Joy' AM/AOS)

This phal. specie seedling with long name - Phal. bellina ('Ingrid Ohh' x 'Joy' AM/AOS), came from Kingfishers in September. Since then it just sits there and does nothing. Its not like I am asking for somethng special, just new leaf would be good...

More photos from Montreal orchid show

Ascda Princess Mikasa Blue in full bloom

All the flowers are open, so I couldn't resist to take another picture of my Princess. Camera wouldn't cooperate, so color is bluish again. In the real life there is more purple in her blooms although I like this blue better.
Now I just need to buy pink and white versions of this wonderful orchid.

Dracula lotax

This is another trial. Most of the draculas are cool growing and probably wouldn't be suitable for my indoor conditions, however Dracula lotax is listed as the one that would tolerate warmer temps, so I decided to give it a try.



It is potted into sphag and sits on the humidity tray lined with moss together with couple other chids.
Came as one plant but fell apart when I unwrapped the roots, so I had to look for two pots.
Funny, batch-by-batch I bought out all the smallest clay pots from our buck store, yesterday we drove to another location and there were none too. I might be doomed...

Bc. Little Mermaid 'Janet'

There are three little plants of Bc. Little Mermaid 'Janet'. They are quite small but happy and healthy, growing new roots that are coming out of coco husks.



The blooms should be fragrant, of course who knows how many years there are before blooms...

Cattleya luteola again

Something weird happened. I filed Cattleya luteola couple days ago but today accidentally deleted the post together with all the comments.
So here it goes again and I apologize for deleted comments, still don't know how did that happened.

These twins are parts of Cattleya luteola I got from Clouds. On repotting plant just came apart having two pieces with three p-bulbs each. Potted separately they appear to be ok for now and both grow new roots:


One of them will be available for trade on OrchidBoard when spring comes.

Phalaenopsis fasciata bud update

Is the bud getting bigger or is it just my wishful thinking? Well, it is still alive, and doesn't shrivel, and that's what matters.
Still keep my fingers crossed and also try to keep humidity around its mossy humidity tray.
I hope I didn't jinx my bud by posting the progress :).

Phalaenopsis mannii

A seedling of Phalaenopsis mannii came from Ecuagenera with pre-order to the Montreal show. Older leaf looks like someone munched on it, second leaf has a small damage too, but newest leaf looks nice and roots are quite healthy so I let it stay.

Haraella retrocalla is growing something

There is something suspicious started to grow on one of the old spikes on my Haraella retrocalla. Some roundish nub on the left, but not a the very end of the spike. I would like to think that it is a bud that will eventually become a flower, but to be sure - should wait and see.

Wish list additions

I should really stop going through the orchid forums. Those are such enablers especially with pictures...
Anyway, whole new family of four Gastrochilus species joined my wish list today. Well, who could resist adorable mini with bunch of cute flowers that are also fragrant? Not me.
I should be on the look out when the spring comes...

Phal equestris blue

Phalaenopsis equestris blue came with Kingfishers order back in September. Amusingly its leaves have pointy ends. There is a small keiki on the side of the plant. Both, main plant and baby, currently grow a new leaf each...



Update Dec. 25, 2011.
Gone due to crown rot. Archived.

Vanda tessellata

This was legitimate purchase since Vanda tessellata was on my wish list. Young but quite large division with two long roots that grow vertically. I curled one of the roots back into vase and peeled couple leaves from the bottom to free some nodes for new roots. Now I can remove it from the wish list :)

Ascocenda Princess Mikasa Blue again

Just one more picture of the blooms:



I really like the shape of the flowers. Much cleaner than floppy blooms of my Roberts Delight, but also smaller.