Friday, January 29, 2016

A Few Orchids That Bloomed Last Year

I hadn't gotten around to posting all the orchids that bloomed late summer through December 2015, so here are some that I remembered to photograph now!

This nice species Oncidium ampliatum decided to bloom, rather largely for being a 2 pseudobulb plant at the time.




Maxillaria tenuifolia had it's best bloom year ever.




Then  in December, this Cattleya lawrenceana I've had for 2 years finally bloomed. (Species cross with color forms 'El Hatillo' x 'Manantial') Hey, you think this one needs a repot yet?  ;)



There were so many that bloomed that I forgot to photo or was too busy to notice until they were fading. That was disappointing, but sometimes life gets gets in the way and I'll have to remind myself this year to stop and smell the orchids, or roses, or whatever.

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful! I've got a Maxillaria tenuifolia as well. It isn't as big as yours yet, but I've never seen it bloom. I acquired it less than a year ago. The potting mix was quite broken down and crusty, so I divided the clump and re-potted 1 clump into LFS/Perlite, and the other clump into a general variety "orchid mix" from the store. Would you mind telling me more about how you care for it?

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    1. I give this one tons of water, summers outdoors where it gets direct sunlight, some morning, all late afternoon/evening, and then a dryer cool winter rest for about a month or two where I water it only about once every week or two.

      It shouldn't matter how it's potted, but I have mine in a fairly open mix of hydroton and coco husk chips in a net basket. I had read somewhere that each growth needs to be at least 3 pseudobulbs tall to bloom on that growth (they stack on top of one another as well as growing beside one another, so 3 stacked.) I found that to be mostly true regardless of overall amount of pseudobulbs on the plant until the plant got massive, now it doesn't seem to care anymore. Hope that helps, sorry no special tricks with this one.

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