Angraecum leonis repotted

Dehydrated Angraecum leonis in a vase

     After almost 2 years, I am terminating my attempt to grow Angraecum leonis in a vase.  The methods was not intrinsically flawed, so much as I have run out of time to water the orchid as much as it requires.  Grown in a vase, my Angraecum needed daily watering during the cooler months, and would need twice daily watering during summer.  Lately, I have been finding myself too busy to take care of my orchids on a daily basis (hence the recent decline in post frequency as well).   I've been watering the orchids every 3-4 days, and the Angraecum has suffered as a result.  The newest leaf is shriveled.

Newly repotted Angraecum leonis

      I've repotted the orchid into a 5" clear plastic pot, with large bark pieces.  Hopefully this setup will help it better tolerate my lackadaisical watering schedule. 

New growths and a possible spike on Cymbidium Kusuda Shining x Douglas Dillon

Growth or spike?

     My Cymbidium Kusuda Shining x Douglas Dillon has produced a number of new growth starts, one of which is much rounder than all the others.  Could it be a spike?

This one is definitely a growth start

Slightly larger, but also a new growth

   The last two pictures show what I'm fairly certain are starts of new pseudobulbs.  So what about the top picture: growth or spike?

Spotted noid phal in bloom

Spotted Phalaenopsis orchid

     This lovely little orchid is the oldest in my collection.  It's a no-name box store hybrid phal, which has survived with me since 2009, and was the first of my orchids to ever rebloom for me.

Flower closeup

     There are 4 flowers on a short spike (and a 5th bud developing).  Spike maturation lasted 3 months.  The first flower opened on 03/13/13, and all are still blooming strong.  The flowers are 2.5" across.

Surprising blooms from Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy

A severely dehydrated Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy in bloom

     My Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy took a big turn for the worse soon after I treated it for cold-induced root loss.   The leaves turned limp and wrinkled, and eventually yellowed and died.  It now has only two leaves left, and neither looks very strong. And yet, even as the plant itself suffered, it managed to proceed to blooming.

Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy

     Even more surprising than the appearance of the flowers was their look.  They look different from the image advertised on the Hauserman's website when I purchased this orchid, and even more different from images of Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy I've seen online.

Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy as advertised on Hausermann's

     In hindsight, perhaps the Hausermann's picture is not too different (just a yellow hue which changes the colors of the flowers). However, there is a great variety of Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy flowers around the internet with all sorts of different colorations and shapes.  Check these photos out: one, two, three.  Every single one looks like a completely different hybrid, yet all bear the same name.

Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy, by Orchidgalore (Flickr photostream)

     Some of these flowers are solid colored, some are spotted in various patterns.  Some have the more typical phalaenopsis shape, while others like mine have the smaller petals and pronounced lips typical of dtps. hybrids.

My Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy flowers closeup

     The flowers on my Dtps. Yu pin Burgundy are a very deep saturated wine red, with white edging on the tips of the petals.  The flowers are small, only about 1.5 inches across, and their lips are disproportionally large.

Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy

       The individual flowers didn't last very long, but I suspect that's a reflection of the plant's current dehydrated state.  The first flowers opened on March 12, and the orchid is still in bloom now.

Phalaenopsis Gold Tris 'Desk Pot' in full bloom

Phalaenopsis Gold Tris 'Desk Pot'

     My Phalaenopsis Gold Tris is now in full bloom.  The first of the flowers actually opened on February 23rd, and further buds have been slowly maturing every since then.  

Phal Gold Tris 'Desk Pot'

     The orchid produced 21 flowers on two spiked.  However, 15 flowers was the most to ever be open at the same time.  The earliest blooms have since started to fade, while the last two buds have yet to open.

Phal Gold Tris 'Desk Pot' closeup

     The flowers are much more vibrantly colored this time, compared to the pale yellow blooms from last season.  Again, I attribute the winter cold for bringing out the red tones on these flowers.

Phal Gold Tris 'Desk Pot'

     The flowers are 2 inches across, and unscented.  Half the flowers face to the front, and half to the back of the plant.  The spikes are about 8 inches tall.

Repotting noid phalaenopsis

Large noid phal

     In March, my large noid phal (still in bloom since December) lost the last of the 10+ inch leaves it had originally arrived with.  At this point, since the orchid did not eem to be growing so well, I decided to do a repot.

Noid phal roots before and after trimming

     When I removed the orchid from its media, I discovered a rather large proportion of dead roots.  These roots did not strike me as rotten or diseased, so much as just expired.  The roots higher up on the stem remained healthy. Nonetheless, the low proportion of healthy roots explains why this orchid has not been growing as well as it could have been.

Newly repotted phalaenopsis

     I repotted the orchid into a smaller, 5-inch clear pot with coarse bark media. Hopefully the repotting will help inspire further new root growth.  In the meantime, the orchid has produced yet more buds from the tips of its spikes, so I will get to enjoy its blossoms for several more months to come.

Cattianthe Jewel Box 'Scheherazade' in bloom again

Cattlianthe Jewel Box 'Scheherazade'

 

     These flower developed incredibly quickly (by orchid standards).  In February, I posted about the pseudobulb finishing its growth, with a hint of swelling in its sheath.  Less than two months later, I had two open flowers (03/26/13).  This sets the length of bud maturation at around 6 weeks.

 

Cattlianthe Jewel Box 'Scheherazade' closeup

 

     The flowers are unscented, and about 3 inches in height and width.  The color is a deep scarlet, with orange near the lip.  This makes a great difference from the last blooming, when the flowers had a paler and pinker magenta tone.

   

Summer blooming on left, winter blooming on right

 

     The difference in color is the result temperature variation.  Last years flower buds developed in the heat of NY summer (flower opened in mid June 2012).  The heat led to a more adulterate red coloring.  Meanwhile, the current flowers developed during February and early March, when nighttime temperatures often decended into the 50s (if not lower) where the orchid grew.  As a result, the red color is much more intensified.





 

Repotting Phalaenopsis gigantea

Bare root Phalaenopsis gigantea

 

     Phalaenopsis gigantea got moved up to a larger pot on 03/12/13.  The reasons for the repot were two-fold.  One: I'm finding myself less and less willing to water orchids every day.  The 2.5" clay pot that housed my gigantea seedling dried out very quickly, and I wanted to have more time between waterings.  Second: the orchid has grown a great number of roots since September, but they were all growing up and out of the pot.  But putting the orchid is a wider larger pot, I was able to give all these new roots a chance to grow into the media.

Phalaenopsis gigantea seedling

Repotting Phalaenopsis Memoria Audrey Meldman 'Mendenhal'

Phalaenopsis Memoria Audrey Meldman 'Mendenhal' in bud (04/05/13)

 

     After the disastrous root loss on my Dtps Yu Pin Burgundy, I carefully the examined the rest of my pants for any signs of trouble.  Most of the orchids were perfectly fine, but I noticed a hint of rot on my Phal. Memora Audrey Meldman. 

 

Phalaenopsis roots before and after trimming

 

       Fortunately, I caught the problem quickly, and most of the roots remained healthy.  I really think that the cause of this root loss is not bacterial or fungal in nature, but rather caused by too-cold nighttime temperatures.  If I am right, then I should have no more root issues now that Spring is coming.

 

     I repotted the phal on 03/14/13.  The orchid remains healthy looking today, and is working on a singular flower bud.  I managed to snap off an earlier flower bud a couple months ago, so I am trying to be extra careful in handling the orchid so as not to damage this one.    



Vinicolor noid paph in bloom

Noid Vinicolor Paphiopedilum

     My noid paph opened its flower during the first week of March.  These pictures were taken on March 9th.  The spike matured rapidly, taking only 6 weeks between the first sighting of the flower bud to flower opening.  However, the final opening of the flower occurred over several days, so it's difficult to pinpoint an exact blooming day.

Vinicolor paphiopedilum noid closeup, natural light

 

     The flower is 3.5 inches in height, and 4.5 inches in width.  The spike is just over 12" tall. It opened with several imperfections which weren't there when I purchased this orchid last year.  There is the little dry spot at the front of the pouch.  Additionally, the dorsal sepal never fully opened.  It leans forward at a 45 degree angle.

 

Vinicolor noid paph, backlit front view

 

     Still, I love the deep berry color on this orchid, as well as its quick and undemanding growth habit.  

 

Paph noid vinicolor, front view flash

 

Repotting Oncostele Pacific Perspective

Oncostele Pacific Perspective

 

     On the same day as the Dtps. Yu Pin Burgundy repotting, I also moved my Oncostele Pacific Perspective to a larger pot.  The orchid had grown so many roots, that I simply could not keep up with watering it frequently enough in the old 4-inch pot.  You can see in the picture above how the pseudobulb on the far left is starting to wrinkle.  All those creases have since evened out once I moved the orchid to a larger pot which stays moist for longer.

Oncostele Pacific Perspective

 

     The roots on the oncidium intergenic were healthy and numerous.  I barely had to do any trimming to clean up dead material.  Impressively, all this root growth is less than 6 months old.

Oncostele Pacific Perspective

     The orchid is now housed in a shallow 5-inch plastic pot, which will hopefully hold it for the rest of the year.  Its two new growths are now maturing quickly, and promising to grow quite large.