Cattleya percivaliana [Rchb.f] O'Brien 1883, First bloom of a selfing of the 'Summit' clone.

This is the first bloom of a seedling produced by a selfing of the 'Summit' clone.  This plant is easy to grow in coastal Puerto Rico and is unfazed by heat and wind.  The only problem that I have with it is that white flies find it irresistible, so about once a month I have to check the plants for this pesky insect.   However getting rid of the white flies is done easily enough with a spot application of 90% alcohol.  Note I didn't recommend drenching the plant in alcohol.

Epidendrum fimbriatum Kunth 1816, a tiny gem from high altitude wet forests

I saw this plant in the orchid house of the Botanical Garden of Quito, Ecuador.    This plant except that it is found in Peru.¹  It is also found in Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia.   The flowers were at the tip of a long inflorescence that seemed to have been blooming for a long time.  It was being cultivated on a raised bed of gravel.

¹Zelenko, H., Bermudez, P. 2009.  Orchid species of Peru

Encyclia brassavolae (Reichenbach f.) Lindley ex Stein 1892

I saw this plant in the orchid house of the Botanical Garden of Quito, Ecuador.   Although this orchid was not identified with a tag, the flowers are unmistakable.   It was growing on a raised bed in the middle of the green house.  It had a single flower.    The plant was in excellent condition.   It is clear it thrives in a diurnal range of 45F during the night and 77F during the day.

This plant is found in Central America and Mexico at altitudes between 1200 and 2500 meters in wet pine oak evergreen forest, it is reported to sometimes grow on rocks.¹  This plant was placed by Withner in the genus Panarica.  In the Cattleyas and their relatives: The debatable Epidendrums, it is named Panarica brassavolae (Reichenbach f.) Withner & Harding. 

 

¹Withner, C. L., Harding, P. A. 2004. Cattleyas and their relatives:  The debatable Epidendrums

Papiliochromis ramirezi, espectacular y retante

Siempre me han gustado los Papiliochromis ramirezi, creo que combinan en un paquete pequeño muchas de las virtudes que hacen populares a los cíclidos.    En adición, no muestran algunos de los terribles defectos que hacen que mantener ciertos cíclidos sea un verdadero reto.   Mi experiencia con estos peces ha sido variada.  Los que más tiempo duraron en mi pecera vivieron casi un año.  Los que menos tiempo me duraron apenas sobrevivieron algunas semanas.  Comparen esto con el hecho de que un Hemichromis lifalili (pez joya) ya tiene cuatro años en mi posesión y esta tan gordo y feliz como siempre. Un grupo de Amatatilia siquia(convicto) está próximo a cumplir los tres.    Aparentemente los ramirezi no son particularmente longevos, se dice que su largo de vida es aproximadamente dos años¹.  Compartiré con ustedes mi mejor experiencia con estos peces con la esperanza que les sea útil en mantener en buena condición a estos hermosos y peculiares pececillos.

Tuve estos peces para 1995 cuando vivía en el pueblo de Mayagüez.  Los que conocen el lugar saben lo caluroso que puede ser, el agua de la pecera se mantenía cerca de los 85F (29C) sin necesidad de calefacción alguna.  La pecera era de treinta galones (66 litros)y media 36 pulgadas de largo (1.02 metros). El agua era suave con un pH entre 6.5.  La pecera no tenía un filtro, solo una bomba de agua pequeña que creaba una corriente suave a lo largo de la misma.

Ustedes se preguntaran, ¿Porque la pecera no tenía filtro?  Hay dos razones para la ausencia del filtro, la primera era que la pecera estaba literalmente llena de plantas, principalmente de Java moss.  La segunda era que la densidad de peces era bajísima, solo cuatro ramirezi y cinco tetras neon.   La baja densidad de peces permitía que las plantas pudieran absorber los desechos de los peces y que la calidad del agua se mantuviera buena.  Las plantas obtenían su luz de una ventana cercana.   Además de las plantas en la pecera había dos pedazos de madera que tenían espacios bajo ellos en que los peces se podían refugiar si se sentían amenazados.  La pecera llevaba meses establecida cuando los ramirezi fueron introducidos a ella. 

Cuando fueron liberados los ramirezi desaparecieron en la vegetación y por un par de días no volví a verlos.  Luego de este periodo de timidez inicial los peces se acostumbraron a mi presencia y, por lo menos los grandes, no se escondían cuando me acercaba a la pecera.  Los alimentaba con comida viva, mosquitos, Chironomus (bloodworms) y comida seca.   Para que los ramirezi pudieran comer primero había que saciar a los neones, los que demostraban una feroz voracidad cuando se trataba de comida viva.   Siendo peces pequeños la cantidad de comida que consumían era relativamente modesta.   Durante el día los podía observar explorando la gravilla y los recovecos de la pecera en busca de comida.   

La pecera tenía en el mismo medio una pequeña área sin vegetación que proveía un espacio donde los peces podían nadar sin obstáculos.   Los dos ramirezi más grandes tomaron como territorios los lados opuestos de la pecera y se encontraban en este punto para intimidarse mutuamente.  Era en estos momentos en que hacían sus demostraciones territoriales que los ramirezi mostraban sus colores más brillantes.   Luego de unos momentos de confrontación, ambos peces se separaban sin que hubiera ocurrido violencia.  A los dos ramirezi pequeños a los veía con menos frecuencia que a los grandes.

Aun cuando los peces se encontraban en excelente condición y la pecera poseía las características que los libros recomiendan para la especie, nunca los observe intentar reproducirse.    Es posible que todos hayan sido machos ya que nunca vi que alguno desarrollara la barriga rosa que es característica de las hembras de esta especie.  Otra posibilidad es que el pH del agua no haya sido el apropiado.  Aunque el agua tenía un pH de 6.5  inicialmente, les confieso que a lo largo del tiempo deje de prestar atención a este parámetro, por lo que es posible que haya cambiado durante su estadía en la pecera para hacerse más neutral.     Las fotos que acompañan este escrito son de una pecera de Kennth Orth, quien amablemente me permitió fotografiar sus peces.

¹Schliewesen, Ulrich.  1992.  Aquarium fish.  Barron’s Educational Series

Lycaste gigantea also known as Ida grandis and Sudamerlycaste grandis

This orchid is a fairly large plant with meter long inflorescenses.  The flowers are variable in color, these were apple green.  It is found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.  It is a cool grower that lives high in the Andes.  I saw this plant in the Jardin Botanico de Quito, in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.  The inflorescenses were growing among the leaves with the result that the flowers were hidden from sight.  I detected the flowers because I could see the inflorescences arising from the pseudobulbs.  The plants were exhibited as terrestrials so flowers were near the ground.  This orchid formed a large clump but had just a few inflorescences.  This orchid has been known by a number of scientific names, Lycaste gigantea var. labelloviridis, Ida grandis, Ida labelloviridis and Sudamerlycaste grandis.  

Myrmecophyla (Schomburgkia) humboldtii an ant orchid from Venezuela

A fully expanded mature flower

A paniculate inflorescence

Note that several of the flowers are partly closed, this is normal

A plant on a wire after one year of growth

The same plant as before but after three years of growing hanging from a wire

Roots are produced in a single massive burst

An ant patrolling the plant, the pseudobulbs are hollow and house ant colonies

When I was given this plant as a gift, many years ago, I had little information on its blooming habits, growth patterns and cultural needs.  In those ancient “pre-Internet” times finding information about an obscure species of orchid meant going to a university library and hoping they had a book about orchids that would give you some guidance.  Unfortunately even when you found some information about your plant often the information was in the form of a taxonomic description with no details of its cultural needs.

As a result of this lack of cultural information this orchid remained a mystery to me. The issue was that growing this plant proved easier than pie, however getting it to bloom seemed an impossible dream.  So year after year my plant would grow into an ever expanding gargantuan specimen plant with no blooming ever.  Eventually the Internet entered my life and through places like The Orchid Source forum I began to exchange information with people that actually grew this plant in its natural habitat in Aruba.  Myrmecophylla (Schomburgkia) humboltii is native of Venezuela and can also be found in the Netherland Antilles.  

Then I found that I had misunderstood what this plant needed to bloom and was growing it too shady.  It needs full sun to bloom but it also needs to produce large and strong pseudobulbs.  Also I found that the roots and the inflorescence are extremely vulnerable to insects and snails which will travel long distances to attack the tender parts of the orchid as they are growing.

To get the best out of this plant you need to give it particularly careful attention when it is in the growing part of its seasonal cycle and when it is producing roots.  Full sun has to be accompanied with frequent applications of fertilizer and abundant watering.  If these are neglected during this plant growing phase the pseudobulbs will be small and most probably will abort their inflorescences if they even try to produce them.  Medium sized pseudobulbs will produce racemose inflorescences that will have a few flowers open at the same time.  But if you manage to get this plant to produce the largest pseudobulbs possible the inflorescence will become paniculate with several flower bearing branches.

I have discovered that under my conditions potting this plant is not a good strategy.  It grows well and flowers acceptably when growing on a dead tree where it gets abundant sun.  But my best growing plants and the ones that bloom best are growing hanging from wires with no material or slab to grow on.  I have no idea why this is so, it seems counter intuitive but there is no denying that the ones growing completely in the air do better under my climatic conditions.

My plants bloom between winter and spring if the inflorescences manage to develop without being damaged.  It has been my sad experience that the inflorescences of this plant in particular seem to be an irresistible treat to insects, millipedes and snails.  Even hanging the plant high doesn’t deter the pests from attacking the tender inflorescences.  So when I see an inflorescence start to develop I give the plant a light dusting of an insecticidal dust.  It has been darkly satisfying to find the dead insects that strived to make a savory dish from the inflorescences.  Since there are many fish tanks around where I grow the orchids I use insecticides with extreme caution and precision and follow the label indications to the letter.

The flowers of this orchid are lovely and among the most full of the genus.  But someone visiting the garden around the hottest hours of the day could be excused if he/she found the flowers disappointing.  The reason is that the flowers are at their best in the early morning and when the day turns hot they turn floppy and partially collapse, only to perk up the next day.  Because the inflorescence produces just a few flowers at a time this plant can be blooming for a few weeks as the inflorescence elongates.  The flowers of this orchid continue expanding in size for the life of the bloom and achieve their largest size just before collapsing.

This plant is highly esteemed in horticulture and due to its ease of culture it is fairly common among local orchid collections.  A an often heard complaint is that it is shy blooming but this comes from growers that keep their plant under shadier conditions than those conductive to blooming or that have undersized plants due to lack of proper fertilization and watering during their growing season.  There is a rare white flowered variant of this species but I have yet to see a plant in bloom of this variety even though I know of people that have grown it successfully.

This orchid has hollow pseudobuls which are colonixed by ants. My plants host several species of ants but usually the one that is most conspicuous is a yellow one with a particularly nasty sting.  Unfortunately the presence of the ants doesn’t seem to deter the pests.