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...

Phal. cornu-cervi 'Burma'

I didn't post anything about this plant since the very first introduction in June 2012. Mainly because there was nothing to post comparing to all the other plants that had something going on.
Initially cornu-cervi 'Burma' arrived mounted on the metall mesh with a small handful of sphagnum moss. I remember trying to grow it that way, but I didn't have my tanks back then yet, so it was extremely dry most of the time and at some point I took it from the mount and potted.
It did grow couple new leaves and many roots but the reason it deserved a post today - two spike starts that I discovered on the plant:



It is an exciting event because I might actually find out what the word "burma" in the tag means, I mean how is it different from all the other "non-burma" cornu-cervis.
So, fingers crossed, hope at least one of those spikes will eventually bloom.

Phal. violacea alba

Violacea alba opened second flower:


Notice how the color of the bloom changes with time loosing some green.

I repotted it because couldn't stand old dirty moss, plant didn't complain and continued to bloom.

New phrags, what is going on.

I had my new phrags for couple weeks now. One of them bloomed, other is growing a bud. I really like besseae and its hybrids so I want to keep an eye on these two "test plants" to see if they will progress or decline and decide if I want to buy more when the shipping season restarts.
So, here are my observations.

Phrag besseae has one old growth which does nothing and one new growth which currently blooms. Through the walls of clear pot I can see quite a few nice green roots with growing points:



Blooming fan also started new rooots at the base:



And there is a green nub of the new fan coming out:



Phrag. Eric Young has four fans: two in the middle are old previously bloomed fans, two others - one in the front and one on the back are new. This plant didn't have any green roots with fresh growing point, all roots were brown but firm and not mushy.
New fan at the front currently grows a bud:



It also has started new root at the base and a new fan:



Back fan didn't spike yet but it is busy, two new green nubs poked out and one of them already has tiny leaves. Although direction of the growth is somewhat strange:



Two old growths have some white formations at the base too, but they don't look like the green new fan starts yet, so I am not sure what will come out of them, if anything:



All in all both plants look happy in the tank. I water them every day with rain water and keep their pots in the saucers with rain water which I change every day too.
Let's see their status in a month...

Phrag. besseae blooms

I was holding my breath because at some point it seemed that bud on my new besseae was becoming limp and might actually wilt.
But it didn't.
Instead it opened a beautiful flower:



The spike is quite thin and started to bend a lot under the weight of the open flower, so I had to use the stake and ugly green clip to support the spike:



What a lovely bloom. I definitely want more of these...