Begonia decandra Pav. ex A.DC. in El Yunque National Forest

 This Begonia is endemic of Puerto Rico.  It can be seen in roadsides and places where the forest canopy borders and open sunny area. 

Dendrobium stratiotes Rchb. f. 1886

 

In my experience, this Dendrobium does well and its easy to grow in Puerto Rico.  Once the canes have reached mature size, they will produce long lasting flowers.  The canes can vary in size depending on the genetics of the plant and the care it receives.   Sadly, I lost it because I became too complacent about its care.  The thing is, once the cane reaches the side of the pot, its a must to repot it taking care to damage the roots as little as possible.   Neglecting repotting can cause the loss of the plant once the roots that are in the pot die. 

Bulbophyllum forrestii Seidenf. 1973

 Native of China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and India.  

Acampe rigida, a large plant with small colorful flowers.

 Acampe rigida is a large plant that produces inflorescences with small flowers that are shorter than the leaves.  The flowers are quite colorful.  A few people locally grow this plant, most prefer the large flowered Vandas.  

Renanthera bella J.J. Wood 1981

 This species is native of Borneo.  This species was once rare, now it can be obtained at reasonable prices.  It is small sized compared with species like coccinea and storiei.  Like all Renantheras it needs exposure to strong light to bloom and frequent watering and fertilizing. 

Bulbophyllum stellatum Ames 1912

 

Bulbophyllum stellatum Ames 1912, is a species that is from the Philippines.  Its a small plant with small flowers on an umbellate inflorescence.

Dendrobium culture: Dendrobium cucullatum, getting the plant to produce really long canes

 One of my favorite Dendrobium has been Dendrobium cucullatum, also known as Den pierardii, and Den aphyllum.  This species does well in my climatic conditions, so much so that all you need to do is attach it to a tree and it will grow and bloom with little care.  I have had plants of this species for many years.

In photos of this plant in Asia I noted that the plants were in many cases much thicker and longer than my plants and produced more and larger flowers.  After observing my plants, I concluded that the issue was that the plants were in baskets and pots that dried too fast for this species.  As a result, a plant that could potentially produce a six feet cane, would top out at a third of that size.

To rest this hypothesis, I put a three-cane plant of this species in plastic soda bottle that was cut in a way that there is a water reservoir at the bottom of the bottle that the roots of the orchid can reach.  I also made holes that allowed plenty of air to reach the roots, this is to avoid rot.

The results were highly gratifying.  The plant produced a five and a half foot cane, much thicker than usual.  In the second year in the pot its on its way to produce an even larger cane.   This year it bloomed with many flowers, sadly marred by thrips.  I expect that next year it will produce even more flowers.  I have a nasty surprise prepared for any thrip that might show up to eat the flowers.

In the future, I plan to make a basket that will allow for four or five canes to grow together.   Given the large size that such an arrangement would achieve the basket and pot would need to be quite strong not to be turned upside down by the sheer weight of the canes.

On a final note, the size of a plant is influenced by many things, light, fertilizer, watering, genetics, temperature and others.  It may be that some plants of this species are naturally small.  The plant I used for the test came from a parent that I knew can produce at least six foot long canes and maybe longer if given optimal care.  So don’t be frustrated if you plant doesn’t suddenly becomes a giant.

Dendrobium culture: No, its not dead.

For most orchid growers nowadays, Phalaenopsis are the gateway drug to bigger and more expensive plants.  But the Phalaenopsis that are now widely available are the product of many decades of hybridizing toward producing a plant that will survive in the average home even when (shudder of horror), watered with ice cubes.   Orchids species are an entirely different beast.  With 30,000 species (at least) species orchids show growing patterns and seasonal cycles very different from your average hardware store Phalaenopsis.   That is why it is important to read about the plants you buy.  A lot of orchid growers do impulse buying and then are bewildered by the way their plants react. 

 An example of a plant that can confuse a novice grower that is trying species is Dendrobium devonianum.  It produces slim canes that can be almost a meter long.  Unlike the leaves of Phalaenopsis, the leaves of Den. devonianum are slim, delicate and are soon deciduous.   During the growing season a cane of this species has leaves near the growing end of the cane with the rest quite bare.   When the cane stops growing, it eventually sheds all its leaves and for months afterwards it looks like its dead.    If the canes have been exposed to strong light and have developed a purplish color, they can look even worse.

This is an adaptation to the cold dry season when the trees lose their leaves and it rains little.  The orchids then have to endure months of drought and harsh sunlight.   My plant blooms in April, just before the local rainy season starts.  For months it looks like a mass of dead and shriveled stems.   But this is deceptive.  In the nodes of those leafless stems the flower buds are maturing.  A well flowered plant is quite impressive.

If you look at the top photo, the orchid looks like its in a wretched condition, ready to be thrown into the trash can.   But if you look closely, you can see the remains of many inflorescences in the second longest cane.   Note the very small root ball.  That is not unusual, if a plant is well fed and watered it will produce just the minimum of roots it needs to fill its needs.   In the bottom photo you can see the cane covered with flowers.

Encyclia plicata culture: Caring for a newly purchased plants with few roots

 A few months ago, I brought an Encyclia plicata.  The plant was somewhat dehydrated from its from its journey (it came from an orchid nursery in Jamaica) but otherwise it was in a fairly good shape.   The plant was sold bare root and has very short roots because they were cropped for transportation.  This presents a bit of a challenge, Encyclias that have lost their roots need a high humidity environment to recuperate, and yet in my experience the are intolerant of media that remains wet for a long time.  My sad experience with Cuban Encyclias is that they can rot away if keep too wet.   I have lost Enc moebusi and Enc. Phoenicia.   I think Enc moebusi died from its mount staying wet too long in the climatic chaos after hurricane Maria.  The reasons for the loss of Encyclia phoenicia are not clear.

So, what I have done is I have put the plant in an empty wire basket with no media.  I am lucky that in my locality the climate offers a level of environmental humidity that is good for tropical orchids.  Once or twice a day, depending on the weather, I soak the plant.  In hot, dry, windy weather, I soak it twice a day.  Before soaking, I check it to make sure it is perfectly dry.  For two months the plant stayed inactive.  But in August I saw three basal buds start developing.  Also a few roots have started growing.

 If this one was one of my other Encyclias, I would have put it in a terracotta pot with coarse potting media.  But with this one I plan to keep it in the basket with no media to see how the roots develop.  If all the new growths mature successfully, I might mount it on a tree fern plaque.  This has worked well in the past with Enc alata, Enc bractecens and Enc Borincana.   Or I might decide to fill the basket its in now with large pieces of tree fern.   Given that the plant has a limited quantity of roots, I don’t expect the new growths to reach blooming size but to stay smaller.  Once the new growths they developed a root system, I will decide what to do with it.  

  

Dendrobium anosmum var.huttonii, 2023 growing season, plant in wire basket

 

The best performing of all my Den anosmum huttonii plants is potted in a home-made wire basket.  The wire basket is five inches deep and four inches wide.  It looks small for an orchid that is several feet long, but it is the best option for me since this plant is growing outdoors and gets soaked almost every day during summer and fall which is the time of the rainy season.  The plant has been growing since February and still have four months to go to finish its growing season.   The plant has some keikis that I have kept on the plant so they will be larger and stronger when they are removed next year after the plant blooms.  During the peak of the rainy season, it rains so much that the media can become coated in patches with white fungus.  In a pot this would be really, really bad for the plant since the fungus accelerates the decay of the media and interferes with the capacity of the roots to absorb water.   But in the basket, the roots still have access to moisture and oxygen in spite of the fungus.  With the onset of the dry season the fungus dies out.   Normally this type of fungus is kept in check by the daily cycle of drying that the media experiences every day.  But during the rainiest days of the year, the media can remain wet for weeks or months even in the baskets. 

This orchid is growing so well I plan to move all my other var. huttonii to baskets.   Because some of my plants are grown in the north coast of Puerto Rico which is drier and windier than my current location, I plan to grow them in plastic pots with a small water reservoir.  I will try this because in the coast the winds dries the media in the baskets much faster than in the mountains.

Dendrobium Culture: Making a Den cretaceum specimen plant

 

Some years ago, I started cultivating a Dendrobium cretaceum plant with the aim of eventually getting a specimen plant with many flowers.  For aesthetic reasons I decided to cultivate the plant so that the canes hang from the bottom of the basket.   The orchid is planted in a way that is extremely different from what is the usual way of growing Dendrobium.   The plant was originally attached to the center of the bottom of the basket.  That way the roots would grow up into the potting mix and the canes would grow downward.   That is the exact opposite of how these plants are grown.    The basket is six inches wide and three and a half inch deep.  The potting media is bark, and fills the basket to a depth of two inches.   Den cretaceum is not a big plant so this arrangement allows plenty of space for it to grow for years.

There two-inch layer of media in the basket allows for plenty of air to reach the roots.   This is a very important detail.  You would think that is a very small quantity of media for a plant that one eventually wants to become large and bushy.  But due to the local climatic conditions it is the perfect amount.  The reason is that during summer and fall in my locality it rains almost daily.   At the peak of the rainy season the media can stay wet for weeks or months.   In a plastic pot this would mean a waterlogged media that would quickly become devoid of oxygen, will start rotting and turning into slush under the influence of fungi, bacteria, high temperatures and fertilizer.  

 To my delight, at the start of the 2023 growing season the plant, that usually produces four or five new canes every year, in a fit of exuberance, started producing nine new canes.   This is wonderful but it bring its own suit of problems.   First, all the canes are clustered and oriented toward the strongest source of light.   That means that the plant is self-shading.   This can result in that some of the canes will be spindlier and weaker.   To avoid that I moved the plant to a spot where it gets the strongest sunlight I can give it without burning the leaves.  Eventually as they grow the canes will spread out and the issue will resolve itself.  Because of the particular way the canes of Den cretaceum grow the leaves are not particularly vulnerable to burn if exposed to strong light.  The canes of this orchid arch downward, so that when the sun is at its strongest the leaves are edge on to the light.   A note of warning, while canes are capable of taking full sunlight, the base of the canes are prone to burning if exposed to very strong sunlight.  Fortunately, this is not a problem for me since the basket protects the tender bases from the sunlight.

If all goes well, by the start of the 2024 dry season, the canes will have reached their full size.  When the canes reach full size, I stop watering and fertilizing the plant, it gets only the scant amount of rain we get during the dry season.  The plant loses all its leaves and looks dead for a time.   In April I will start looking for the swelling flower buds along the length of the canes.  Then in May I expect the plant to produce a mass of flowers.  You can see on top the 2023 blooming.   The plant as it is now is in the photo below.

Encyclia alata culture, mounting a plant in a piece of wood.

Encyclia alata is a species that can produce dozens of small fragrant flowers.  In my garden in coastal Northwest Puerto Rico, it does very well growing outside.   It can handle the dry season with no complaint and is unfazed by the high temperatures of summer.   But there is a trick to growing this species successfully.  It demands media that drains freely and doesn’t get waterlogged.   I have a plant that has been growing for many years in a metal basket full of river pebbles.   The plant produced a tiny side growth.  I decided to mount the side growth when it had a number of pseudobulbs.   I mounted it in a piece of wood. in the lowest part of the mount so that it would eventually climb.  The plant took its time growing but it finally produced a larger pseudobulb.   It is very, very important to attach the plant firmly to the piece of wood, otherwise it will not be able to grab the wood with its roots.   The roots are growing upwards into the wood mount.  Note that the surface of the piece of wood is slightly rough and uneven.  The roots are following the contours of the piece of wood.  The plant is also producing aerial roots, some of my plants have long aerial roots along with the roots that are growing into their pots and mounts.   An unexpected problem is that the wood proved to be less resistant to decay than I thought.  What I will do when the wood decays too much? I will affix the plant, piece of wood and all, to a larger piece of wood and then allow the old piece to decay and fall to pieces, as the plant as the plant attaches itself to the new mount.   This plant is a few years away from blooming but once it has a larger root system its rate of growth is sure to pick up.   

Dendrobium devonianum Paxton 1840

 I brought this Dendrobium last year.  One of the few orchids I have brought after hurricane Maria.   This plant has been delicate and lost two canes to rot during the rainy season.   However the youngest cane survived.  The cane is just a fraction of the size of the older ones it had when it arrived, but to my surprise it produced flowers.  Not many but I don't complain.   I have read Dendrobium devonianum is quite variable but I was puzzled when the flowers started opening.  To me it seems as if someone grafted the huge lip of Den, primulinum of a devonianum flower.  I have never before seen a Den, devonianum with such huge yellow dot and without purple on the distal tip of the lip.   Hopefully, next year the plant will be larger and stronger and will produce even more of this beautiful flowers.   The flowers are strongly fragrant in the afternoon.

Dendrobium harveyanum Rchb.f. 1883, blooming late in the year, months out of its normal blooming date.

Hurricane Maria caused grievous damage to the forest where I live.  Many trees fell and the canopy was destroyed in most of the forest.  Humidity and rainfall dropped.  Because there was no canopy the area temperature went up.  Also without the canopy the full power of the tropical sun hit all the understory plants burning them severely and killing some.  I lost many of my orchids to the changed environmental circumstances.  But some survived through it all.  Among them Dendrobium harveyanum.  In the last month it has not rained and the plants are suffering.  I wonder if this period of low humidity triggered this out of season blooming of the harveyanum.

Dendrobium sutiknoi P.O'Byrne 2005

I photographed this plant at the 2018 Puerto Rico orchid society orchid show.  This Dendrobium is a big plant.  The flowers are impressively large for an antilope Dendrobium,

Coelogyne pulverula Teijsm. & Binn. 1862, a specimen plant

This orchid was seen the 2018 Puerto Rico Orchid society show.  It is a large and healthy plant with long inflorescences and beautifully colored flowers.  It is labeled Coelogyne dayana "pipping rock".   Coelogyne dayana is a synonym of Coelogyne pulverula.

Cranichis muscosa Sw. 1788, one of the first orchids blooming in the Rio Abajo forest, Puerto Rico, after hurricane Maria.

I found this orchid in a roadside.  The leaves had its sides sunburned and the plant was small for the species.  It escaped being buried in a mass of fallen bamboo stems.  It is growing on the side of a road cut, a drier place than where I am used to find them.  When I saw it I was happy that some plants survived.  The loss of the canopy due to the hurricane winds was a disaster for the plants used to grow on the shade of the forest understory, many burned to a crisp and died.  The reduced humidity in the weeks after the hurricane also was an issue.  Many plants were smothered by the massive leaf fall and the numerous large branches that were thrown violently to the forest floor.

Bulbophyllum scaberulum (Rolfe) Bolus 1889, the flowers are tiny, intricate gems.

This orchid is an African Bulbophyllym of the section megaclinium.  I brought it some years ago.  It had a few small pseudobulbs and was mounted in cork.  I tied the cork plaque to a wire basket full of bark and allowed the plant to roam free.  I grew it shady with frequent watering and fertilizer.  The flower grew well and spread over the basket but failed to bloom.  This year I noted that the plant had plenty of adult sized pseudobulbs so it should have bloomed some time ago.  My rule of thumb is that if a plant is not blooming the first thing to check it to see if it is getting enough light.  I moved it to a brighter part of the shade house, only a short distance away from where it was growing.  In weeks the inflorescences started appearing.

Dendrobium devonianum Paxton 1840

My plant has bloomed again.  Only with three flowers, but considering this is a plant from a temperate climate, I am happy it blooms at all.  It is challenging to grow and loses vigor and size if it doesn't get consistent care.

Psychilis krugii (Bello) Sauleda 1988, 'Machiavelli' CHM/AOS, a yellow flower with just the faintest hint of purple in the lip