Cranichis tenuis Reichenbach f. 1865, found some dew covered flowers today.

Today I visited a population of Cranichis tenuis in the Maricao forest.  I was surprised to find only seven plants, when last year were dozens.  The place where they grow is not often visited by people so human influence is not suspect.  I visited the place early in the morning and found these flowers covered with dew.  I like how the flowers look.

Dendrobium Silver Bells 'E Orchids' AM/AOS (Den. schuetzei x Den. Alice Iwanaga)

This plant was exhibited at the 2016 Puerto Rico Orchid society show.  I won an American Orchid Society merit award.  The plant is well cultivated and the flowers were many and huge.  

Dendrobium Star Sapphire and Dendrobium nobile

Dendrobium Star Sapphire

Dendrobium nobile

Dendrobium Star Sapphire is a wonderful example of the hybridizer's art.  As you can see. all the characteristics that make Den. nobile a worthwhile species to keep, have been enhaced.  The flowers or the hybrid are larger, the color is deeper and the form of the flower and its presentation are much better.  Unfortunately, a few years ago, my only plant of Den, Star Sapphire departed for the great happy terracota pot in the sky.  This was very surprising as all the other Den, nobile hybrids I have have been very resilient and grow without any problems. 

Gaeotis una semi lapa endemica de Puerto Rico

Personalmente siempre he asociado a los Gaeotis con los grandes bosques de palmeras Prestonea montana que dominan el dosel a ciertas altitudes de la sierra de Luquillo.   Es en los bosques de la Sierra de Luquillo donde he visto estos animales en su mayor abundancia y tamaño.   De vez en cuando me he encontrado uno de ellos en la cordillera central de la isla, pero nunca en la abundancia que lo he visto en las cercanías de El Yunque.  En Rio Abajo los asocio a áreas pantanosas y a la noche.  Por esta razón me sorprendió encontrar un Gaeotis en una de las canas de bambú que crecen en el aviario de Rio Abajo a plena luz del dia.  Es el caracol Gaeotis nigrolineata, digo a menos que le hayan cambiado el nombre de la especie  o hayan descrito otras especies recientemente.  Veo que hay algunas personas que la llaman Gae. flavolineata, pero no he podido encontrar la razón del cambio de nombre.  El área del aviario tiene periodos en que la lluvia satura el terreno y hay charcos por doquier, pero también hay meses en que deja de llover por varias semanas al punto que aparecen profundas grietas en el suelo.  Me imagino que la aparición de la Gaeotis fue causada porque el 21 de agosto de 2013 el aviario experimento 4.80 pulgadas de lluvia, casi toda en unas pocas horas entre el medio dia y las 6 pm.  Esta importante cantidad de precipitación causo la saturación del terreno y la aparición de niebla.   Aparentemente, por algunos días, el bosque de Rio Abajo ofreció las condiciones ambientales favorables como para que los Gaeotis estuvieran más visibles de lo usual.

Stanhopea panamensis N.H. Williams & Whitten 1988,

I got this Stanhopea orchid many years ago as a two bulb division, it was a gift from a friend.  I planted it in a basket filled with small pieces of coconut husk.  I watered and fertilized it weekly.  Under the climatic conditions in Aguadilla the plant grew slowly.   Originally this plant was in a garden of my mother’s house, which is in Aguadilla, in the northern coast of Puerto Rico and about a mile from the Atlantic Ocean.  This part of Puerto Rico is characterized by often windy conditions as well as warm to hot weather.  In these environmental conditions the plant didn’t do too well, probably because I was watering it less than it needs in this warm climate.

When I moved to Arecibo, to a location about 1,000 feet above the sea, the plant started doing much better.  To me the main reason is that in this location it rains more than in Aguadilla, but maybe it helps that the new location is cooler.  During spring, summer and fall the media in which this orchid is growing stays moist just from the water it gets from rain. During some particularly rainy periods it remains wet for weeks or even months.   Sometimes it rains so much that the media becomes absolutely waterlogged. I these very rainy times, here and there, patches of white cottony fungus appear in the media.  However the plant doesn’t seem to be bothered by the fungus.  The fungus dies off when drier weather returns.  The climatic conditions in this part of Arecibo are more moderate than in Aguadilla and it hardly gets as hot.  Only for a few months in the summer the temperatures in my location in Arecibo become hot during the day.

In Arecibo, this orchid grew into a large and heavy plant, but it would not bloom.  The plant was moved to a sunnier spot than it had been growing and it eventually bloomed.   I thought I had found the perfect spot for this plant among my pendent Dendrobium, but this conclusion was produced by the fact that I moved the Stanhopea with them in the spring.  Because of the movement of the sun along the horizon during the seasons, the Dendrobium shadehouse is sheltered from exposure to full sunlight for most of the day during spring and summer.  But in fall and winter, the shadehouse receives full sunlight for many hours.  This is ideal for the pendent Dendrobium but the Stanhopea could not cope with so many hours of direct sun.  As a result of the increased exposure to sunlight the Stanhopea lost all its leaves,  happily the pseudobulbs were not harmed and the plant recovered quickly.   I had to experiment a bit to find the right place for this plant, one where it would bloom well but not get its leaves sunburned.   Presently my plant is in a place where it gets unfiltered sunlight until 10 am and dappled sunlight for the rest of the day.

In my garden this plant blooms in the summer, however it has also produced inflorescences at other times of the year, even in December, at the start of winter.  For some reason, every year it aborts one or two inflorescences when they are about half developed, it is not clear why that happens as it usually has other inflorescences at the same time that develop normally.    The inflorescences take six or seven weeks from the time I find them poking out of the media to the time the flowers open.   The inflorescences my plant produced carry from four to seven flowers.  The flowers last around three days.  The fragrance is reminiscent of chocolate.  My plant cannot be classified as a prolific bloomer.

The media in which this plant was originally planted decayed a long time ago.  The plant now has a root ball that grips the remains of the bark that I used the last time I refreshed the media.  Any kind of repotting is out of question as Tthe roots grow in all directions, sometimes even upwards, any attempt to remove it from the basket to change the media would result in severe root damage.  The plant produces new growths along the edges of older pseudobulbs, which are on top of the basket.   But in early in 2013, a new growth popped out from the side of the basket, about two inches under the top of the media.  This new growth has been developing normally, and even produced an inflorescence in spite of being smaller that the full grown bulbs on top of the basket.

This orchid is doesn’t need much attention with two exceptions.  One is that it resents underwatering, the other is that the basket where it is growing is a veritable weed magnet.  In the rainy season I have to weed the basket to prevent the weed growth from becoming too heavy.  Among the most persistent weeds are the ferns and begonias.

In Puerto Rico Stanhopeas have never been particularly common orchids in local collections.  Having said that I can attest that particularly knowledgeable growers have been growing them for many years.  I saw my first Stanhopea plant at an open house of the Universidad de Puerto Rico in Mayaguez about thirty four years ago.  The plant was the property of Dr. Rivero.

Oncidium Sharry Baby 'Sweet Fragrance'

This Oncidium hybrid has many virtues, it is relatively easy to grow, can be forgiving of neglect and if well cared for, it can produce large inflorescences of deliciously fragrant flowers that produce a powerful chocolate fragrance.  A single large mature pseudobulb can produce two inflorescences at the same time and those can carry dozens of flowers.  I have read that some people don't like the leaves of this orchid because they are not the smooth green of other Oncidium but can be covered with tiny blemishes, but to me this is a minor defect.  The flowers are so nice that it is easy to overlook the leaves.  Best of all mature plants can be found in many places from specialist orchid vendors to department stores.  Good sized and well bloomed plants can often be obtained at reasonable prices.

How I cultivate this plant:

Light:  Young plants get bright shade, adult plants get a few hours of sun in the morning but are sheltered from the harsh midday sunlight.  Giving the plants as much light as they can stand without burning has given me the best results.

Watering:  Almost every day when the plant is producing its pseudobulbs, particularly the phase where the pseudobulb is increasing in size.

Fertilizer:  In every watering when the plant is producing new growths.  No fertilizer when it is blooming or not growing.

Potting media: It seems to grow equaly well in bark, tree fern and coconut husk pieces. 

Temperature: Summer: 85F day, 75F night, winter 75F day, 65F night.

Laeliocattleya Marie's Song

I love this plant, it grows well with standard care and usually produces four flowers at a time.  It has survived both fungus and scale insects.  The flowers are richly colored and using sunlight for the photo made the colors come out even better.  

Tolumnia (Oncidium) variegata, birds weaving this orchid into their nest

Tolumnia variegata, one of our most common native orchids

A nest of an unidentified species of bird

The orchid was originally weaved into the fabric of the nest, you can see the dried  leaves trapped in the fibers.  A new fan of leaves grew free of the nest and its now producing another leaf fan on top of a stolon.

Many years ago, as I was hiking in a local forest, I found an area where the local birds would weave orchids into the fabric of their nests.  It was a charming sight but unfortunately at the time I didn't have a camera with me.  I returned to the forest last weekend and managed to find a nest with an orchid.  When I visited this area, a long time ago it was almost pristine.  Now although there were signs of human visitation, to my utter astonishment, there was no trash anywhere.  Apparently whoever has visited the spot has been respectful of the area.  Sadly, I found the orchid population in the area was just a fraction of the size it was when I first visited.