Catasetum growing on palm

[Nicola108]

This plant flowered for the first time last year.
It is growing on the stem of a thorny palm and gets little direct sun in the afternoon.
Now it looks like it has big plans, and I would like to have more information on this species.
Is it true that it produces separate male and female flowers?
It looks very happy and you can see a lot of exposed roots growing upwards and I wonder if I should give fertilizer.

I added a photo of last year's bloom but it is a bit too "artistic" and doesn't show the flower in detail.
However, I hope that the species can be identified.
Here the popular name is forest orchid which is clearly very vague.

[Dorchid]

Beautiful plant and incredible flowers! Don’t know what it is but would definitely be feeding it. In culture, they are heavy feeders in the growing season.

[Roberta]

It looks like there will be two nice new spikes to photograph in a month or 6 weeks. Then perhaps you can get some photos that are more clear that would help with identification. That plant clearly likes that location!
You should be fertilizing heavily while the plant is in rapid growth (like now) About double what you give your other orchids for the next month or so, then you can cut back to what the others get, stopping as the leaves start to age and dormancy approaches.

Yes, Catasetums do produce separate male and female flowers. Let us hope that you get some male flowers... the female flowers look pretty much the same for the whole genus, so males are needed for identification. (I have, occasionally, even had both males and females on the same inflorescence, though usually they're separate but a given plant can produce both sometimes at the same time, sometimes the spikes bloom at slightly different times.) There is no way that I know of to encourage a plant to make one or the other. That is the conclusion of Fred Clarke, Sunset Valley Orchids, who has done very extensive work with the genus... if he can't figure it out, with all that he knows, I doubt very much that anybody else will do any better. (Hobbyists would generally prefer males, they are the attractive ones. But hybridizers need at least some females ) We get what we get...

[isurus79]

Looks like Catasetum cernuum. Those bulbs are MASSIVE!! Great growing!

[DirtyCoconuts]

This is awesome. Great job and I am so inspired by the tree mount pics

[Nicola108]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Yes, Catasetums do produce separate male and female flowers. Let us hope that you get some male flowers... the female flowers look pretty much the same for the whole genus, so males are needed for identification.

Thanks Roberta, I really appreciated your explanation and advice.
It also made me laugh because last year when I saw the bloom I was not happy.
Looking for information about the plant I read that it produces male or female flowers, and that male flowers, if touched, shoot pollen.
Of course I immediately went to tease the flowers and I got a small yellow dot attached to my finger.
So I thought now I have a male plant that will never produce seed.
I have started to follow your advice and give some fertilizer once a week until flowering.

Thanks also for the compliments I received from other members of the forum, but my credit is more or less is limited to watering when it's not raining enough.

[Roberta]

Also, when you trigger the flower, it fades very quickly after (since it is no longer "botanically useful") And don't put your face too close to those flowers without wearing glasses... that pollen is ejected with a lot of force, and you really don't want to get it in your eye!

The female flowers usually look like a helmet with small petals below, no matter which species. (Check my website for some examples) Rather boring. But they are fragrant, and usually last longer than the males.

[Nicola108]

The idea that I would have to go to an ophthalmologist because I was pollinated by an orchid made me laugh too much.
Luckily without glasses I can barely see.

[Nicola108]

A visual update on the development of the floral stems.
And two new growths of smaller plants on the same palm.
At this time of year here it normally rains, but this year is very hot and dry, so I water every day and once a week I spray with fertilizer.
Stems have grown very fast and ants and wasps are constantly present attracted probably by some kind of secretion.
The liquid fertilizer I use recommends 2 ml per liter per week, I wonder if by halving the dose I could use it more frequently?

[DirtyCoconuts]

you can bump up the feeding if you want but they are looking pretty happy