Phalaenopsis amboinensis

Here is yet one more new purchse that I made at the Montreal orchid show in October - Phalaenopsis amboinensis:



I got it from Crystal Star Orchids, so far it has been the best source for mature phalaenopsis. They always have nicely established plants with good root system. I already have one ambo "common', but it had almost deadly roots problem at the beginning, then it took a year to grow some new roots, then it started what I thought was a spike but came out as a keiki and now it just sits there doing nothing, so I am not expecting any blooms from that one for a while.

The new ambo has three spikes, one is visible on the picture above and has buds already, the other two are small under the leaves and not active at the moment.
Plant has mechanical damage on the leaf but that doesn't bother me much, it is healthy otherwise.

So, waiting for those buds to open...

Phalaenopsis mannii 'black'

I got this one from Kingfishers too, still trying to follow my original idea of collecting all phalaenopsis species. Also I really like the shape and waxy appearance of the blooms on mannii, cornu-cervi and such.

Phal. mannii 'black' looks nice and healthy, although probably a bit too young to bloom now:



Hope I can keep and grow it nicely.

Phalaenopsis Yaphon Sir

This is one of my recent purchases from Kingfisher Orchids, tiny little seedling with not so tiny price tag. The label actually reads Phal. Yaphon Sir x sib.



Examples of flowers can be found here.
Of course it will take years until I see mine with blooms.

Phalaenopsis bellina 'Chen'

Yet one more bellina joined my collection a while ago. Phalaenopsis bellina 'Chen':



I got it from Kingfisher Orchids in the beginning of summer. The plant is quite small but has healthy roots, hopefully it will establish well. I potted it into bark in plastic cup with holes at the bottom and sides. I made lots of such "pots" when moving my phals from moss to bark.

Phal. gigantea x LD's Bear King

Got this hybrid from Kingfisher in July. It is not as mature as cross of gigantea with LDBQ that I have spiking now, but is a healthy plant, so I hope it will pick up in the orchid tank with its warmth and humidity.



Wonder if it will have huge leaves eventually too...

Phal. gigantea x LD's Bear Queen

Finally I got the spike on Phal. gigantea x LD's Bear Queen:



I saw quite a few pictures of this cross blooms on the BLO forum and couldn't wait for mine to bloom. Now there is a hope I will have flowers soon.

My plant has huge beautiful leaves:



I wonder what the flowers will look like...

Ooops, there is no existing label for this plant, which means I never logged it in here since I got it in March, just like many others, so this is a late introduction too. My current orchids list is so outdated.

Phal. Gelblieber x cochlearis

Cross of Gelblieber and cochlearis is a new plant from Kingfishers Orchids:



The picture of the flower example is here, but of course being a seed population they can be very different between each other.
I just hope that mine will have similar lip.

Phal. Mituo Sun King II

This is my second version of the cross Mituo Sun 'Mituo #1' X LD's Bear Queen.



It came from Crystal Star Orchids too and had one open flower and couple buds. Now all three flowers are opened.



Plant itself is large and healthy with pretty long spike:



I am not even sure which one I like better - my first one the red or this one pink spotted.

Phal. Princess Kaiulani IV

Yet one more Princess Kaiulani is joining my collection but I still have just three of them because the number III died recently.
I got the new one from Ten Shin Gardens during the show in Ottawa for only $20. It has a spoiled bloom on a short spike.

The roots look fine:



Potted into net pot with sphagnum:



I am hoping it will be different from my other PKs.

Phal. stuartiana 'yellow' x 'green'

It is a new purchse and the tag really stated Phalaenopsis stuartiana 'yellow' x 'green'.



Plant came from Crystal Star Orchids and as always with their plants - the roots appeared quite nice during repotting:



Vendor noted that this plant needs to be kept a bit drier during winter and if it is going to be in the humid environment - it is better mounted. I don't like mounts so I decided to pot it into the net pot, hoping that moss will have a chance to dry out fast enough for stuartiana.

Phal. Mituo Sun King

Cross of Mituo Sun 'Mituo #1' and LD's Bear Queen.
Crystal Star had several plants of this hybrid with blooms. I was selecting the best flower (in my opinion of course), they had different colors since they are seedling population not clones.
Here is what I ended up with:



The flower is very thick and seems heavy. It has faint fragrance, smells like opened package of the baloons.



Now for the sad part. Plants were wrapped into plastic, I was concentrated on selecting a flower and didn't even look at the foliage. At home, unwrapping the plant I discovered black rot in the middle where new leaf should come out. Of course I sent the picture of it to the vendor and she replied right away that I should bring it back for refund or exchange. The problem is - I really like the bloom, there weren't any other with such shape and color.

Black stuff seems to be dry, but I don't know how far into the middle it goes. Otherwise it is very strong plant with nice roots and there is a nubbing of the second spike coming out. I can bring it back to Ottawa show and get another plant, but in reality I would like to save this one.
I spilled some hydrogen peroxide into the middle and keep the plant out of tank for now to make sure there is no humidity around the black stuff.

Any suggestions/opinions for me?

Phalaenopsis deliciosa

I have had this plant for a while.
From the beginning it had some problem with one of the leaves and it came down almost to the crown so I was pretty sure plant was a goner. I didn't throw it away only because it is kind of hard-to-find species, so I just left it be.

At some point problem stopped and plant was just standing there looking non-pretty.
Recently I noticed some positive activity - a new leaf and a new root:



So, I guess, this is a belated introduction. The name on the plant stated deliciosa yellow, but there is no var. yellow in the deliciosa family. However from the description of the var. hookeriana I think it might be it. Therefore I am going to log it under the name Phal. deliciosa var. hookeriana for now.

Phal. Chang Maw Evergreen 'U-Bix' x P. {Tzu Chiang Litlitz x P. (Buena Jewel x Peach State Red)} x P. (Su-An Super Star x George Vasquez) II

This plant was a rescue from the beginning. It came last summer together with its sibling. While sibling had two spikes and was extremely healthy, this little guy had rotten mess instead of roots.
I didn't even bother to log it here.
Surprisingly plant didn't die, grew couple of roots and one new leaf(much smaller than all the previous because of the root problems:



Yesterday when watering I noticed few small root starts along the stem. On the closer inspection, one of them looks like a spike to me (the one on the far right that grows up):



I might be wrong, it could be just a root that decided to grow up, but still it is enough to get this plant logged here ...

Phalaenopsis Penang Girl

I am very good at breaking the top on any phalaenopsis plant: mature or seedling, fully grown leaf or just tiny curled start. This one was the most annoying: I broke the top with new leaf start on the very first day after receiving seedling of Phal. Penang Girl back in summer.

The fact that this hybrid was on my wish list adds to all the grief that I went through. The same fact and also nice healthy roots made me keep the plant even though usually I don't bother.

After some while I noticed that broken leaf started to come out some more and now - there is a new growth:



There is also new root showing on the other side:



It looks like my Penang Girl might survive, so I decided to log it in.

Phalaenopsis BaShi Blackspot alba

As the name suggests Phal. BaShi Blackspot should have spots, but the word alba in the name should make it all white.
This hybrid was registered in 2005 and produced by crossing
Brother Redland Spots and Yungho Gelb Canary.
I am not a big fan of spotted and harlequin phals, but really liked the shape of the bloom on this one. Hope this alba is really alba and will have just white blooms



Plant itself is quite substantial in leaf span and has nice roots. I potted it into clay pot with sphagnum just like all my phalaenopsis plants.

Phalaenopsis venosa

I got this plant for a while, it arrived here during summer, I just forgot to log it in.
There is not much I can say about Phalaenopsis venosa, never saw one blooming in person, but read somewhere that flowers smell like crushed centipede. Since then I decided to smell crushed centipede but never had a chance yet.



My plant used to be a keiki because I found the remainings of an old spike that it was connected to the mother plant with. There wasn't much roots but maybe it improved lately, plant has started a new leaf recently.
Hopefully I will have a chance to smell the flower before I will find the crushed centipede.

Phalaenopsis amboinensis var. yellow

Looks like Phal. amboinensis var.yellow had pretty tough times before it got here. Roots are rotted, leaves are damaged in several places. I wasn't sure if I should waste my time with it or no.



Since it is a var. yellow that you don't see very often, I decided to give it a chance. I have potted it into smallest clay pot with sphagnum moss and just let it be, watering when moss becomes crusty dry.
Now there are some new roots and maybe it will survive after all:

Dtps. Anna-Larati Soekardi

Dtps. pulcherrima x Phal. parishii = Dtps. Anna-Larati Soekardi



Yet another phal with cute flowers to be.

Phal. bellina 'blue' x sib.

Even though plant is very small and has damage on the newest leaf - I am very excitied about this little seedling.
Not only is it bellina, but a BLUE bellina.



The hole in the leaf looks like some slug damage, I can tell because I had the same hole on my masdie and found a slug in the pot.



Yellow bottom leaf is hopefully just a normal aging process when old seedling leaves just shed away. Two new roots look promising, hope they will continue to grow.

Dtps. Liu's Cute Angel

Dtps. Jiaho Cherry x Phal. lobbii = Dtps. Liu's Cute Angel



I find all crosses with lobbii or parishii just adorable. Plant is small but sturdy with nice roots. Since lobbii is a mini, I don't expect it to grow very large and maybe my little plant is actually a bloom sized one.