This orchid was a present from a
friend. Unfortunately it arrived at the
height of the dry season. The bare root pseudobulbs were put in a
shallow dish, over a layer of sphagnum moss.
Keeping the sphagnum moss wet was a constant chore as in the local dry
season humidity during the day can dip as low as 40%. Although the plant had two developing new
growths, these gave no sign of further development and stayed the same size for
weeks and then months after the plant arrived.
I found this mighty peculiar as it is my experience that new growths
that stop developing due to stress often die.
But when the rainy season arrived
and humidity climbed into the 90% range the plant came alive and the new
growths finished their growth turning into small replicas of the older
pseudobulbs. Since the rainy season
started the plant has been growing slowly but surely. But in the past month, a very, very wet month
humidity was so high, apparently this affected one of the new growths and it
rotted away. I was startled by this as Bulbophyllum love wetness, the event of
one pseudobulb rotting away due to too
much water is unknown among my other plants.
So it appears that this plant is sensitive to both dryness and too much
water.
My plant bloomed in early June
from an old pseudobulb. It produced a
two inch inflorescence with a solitary flower.
The flower was nice but a bit small for the species, perhaps due to the
fact that the plant is not fully established in its new home and lacks an
extensive root system. The flower seems
sensitive to humidity levels. I took it
into the relatively dry indoor environment and the flower stayed slightly
cupped. I took it out in the garden and
the flower perked up and opened fully.
This plant has been in my possession
for too short a time to really judge how well it will grow in the long
run. I am giving it the best care I can
as I love the flowers. The plant gets
full morning sunlight until 10 am, and
from then on dappled sunlight. It gets
watered daily when the weather is very dry and twice a week when conditions are
more humid. It is fertilized once a week
when it is growing, no fertilizer is given when it is not growing. Local temperatures fluctuate between 85F/29C
during the day to 70F/21C at night. In
the local tropical winter night temperatures can drop to 60F/16C, for some months.
This orchid is native from Malaysia and
Borneo.
I have not seen this plant in
local collections. There might be some
specialist that keep them but I have not seen it exhibited at local shows. If the date when it bloomed in my garden is
any indication, its absence from shows might be due to the fact that it blooms
after the spring orchid shows but before the fall shows.
1 comment:
EN REALIDAD ES MUY PROVECHOSO TODO EL MATERIAL EN ESPECIAL EL DE LAS ORQUÍDEAS GRACIAS MIL
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