Several nice blooms this week. See the Photos page for Laelia anceps, Slc. Livingston Sunset Fire ‘Flame’, Lc. Gold Digger ‘Orglades’ and Pleur. platystames.
Lc. Drumbeat has been blooming for about two weeks. The larger of the two plants has seven fully opened blossoms and three more inflorescences swelling in their sheaths. The second pot of Drumbeat, a division of the specimen plant, has five blooms.
That’s the oh-joy-oh-rapture news. The bad news, which isn’t really news at all, but a couple of everlasting aggravations in the form of Epi. Parkinsonianum and Bulb. echinolabium, otherwise known collectively as feed-us-water-us-but-we-will-never-bloom plants. A couple of free-loaders.
I’m not talking unhealthy plants. These are two exquisitely robust orchids, full of strong, pest-free leaves. I bought the Epi. parkinsonianum in 2004 and the Bulb. echinolabium in 2005. The Epidendrum toyed with me in 2007, putting out two lovely blossoms and then lapsing into leaf-creating but bloomless mania.
On a more serious note…something is attacking a few of my phals. The photo here of an affected leaf shows the type of damage being done. Anyone know what’s happening?
Closing on some upbeat news…Several weeks ago I mentioned that I’d caught one of the long inflorescences of Pychopsis Mendenhall on a wire in the greenhouse, snapping off the bud head. I decided to leave the truncated inflorescence to see what would happen. This post’s second photo shows the newly sprouting branch, with a second bud head – now that’s an aggravation turned to rapture.
I had the yellow chlorotic spotting on my phals…Tom Nasser of Carolina Orchids diagnosed it as microfungus…the write up begins on page 7 of our newsletter…break out the Phyton!
Click to access SAOSNewsletter201002.pdf
Best o’ luck! Sue
Thanks, Sue. This is excellent help. I’ll start the recovery process right away. [Sorry for the delay in responding. I’ve been attending and volunteering at the Orchid Society of Greater Kansas City’s exhibition at the KC Lawn & Garden Show. I picked up some great tips about Phrags from a couple of AOS judges. Check the blog either later today or tomorrow for their suggestions. Thanks again for the advice.