beallara Marfitch "Howards Dream" - Orchid Board

clxt7321 · #1 02-15-2006, 02:13 PM

Purple is my most favorite color. Am really comtemplating ordering this
plant. Any one have any experience with it?
I have phals (that bloom pretty regularily) an oncidium (that was absolutely covered with flowers last summer) and catts (that haven't bloomed at all--oldest is 2 years in my house).
This plant would be my new adventure if it's not too pickey about it's growing conditions.
Thanks for any comments.

Karen H

nyorchids · #2 02-15-2006, 07:18 PM

the beallara Marfitch is a easy plant to grow! it reguires moderate light and water when dry. it is alot easier than catts that have very high light requirements. and thats possibly why you catts arent blooming. when i grew under floros the catts would get alot of growths and never bloom untill i moved them outside

Sandra Billeter · #3 02-16-2006, 11:17 AM

Our Beallara Marfitch 'Howard's Dream' just finished blooming last weekend. It bloomed for about 9 weeks with 5 blooms about 4 inches across. It does take bright light and regular watering and is a reliable re-bloomer for us. We have a GH - had it for 17 months now - and it is in the same light as Catts and Oncs. I second the opinion that your Catts aren't blooming because of not enough light. We had ours inside under lights for 2 to 3 years with good growth but since we've had the GH they are going ganbusters and blooming too.

After we got the GH, we read an article that told us we hadn't used our indoor lights properly and that probably stopped some of the plants from blooming. We hadn't paid any attention to "photoperiod" (daylength) when setting the timer on the lights. We set them to go off at 10 PM since that was when we started getting ready for bed and we could easily check that they had gone out. The article stated that plants respond to daylength and some have bloom set triggered by shortening days and some are triggered by lengthening days. We wiped all of those triggers out by having a uniform daylength. You might want to consider normal daylight hours when turning your lights on and off. Good luck.

Sandra in South Carolina

Oscarman · #4 02-17-2006, 09:56 AM

The color and patterns on Bllra Marfitch 'Howard's Dream' is what caught my attention - had to have it. Mine is not so happy though - currently it has 4 pseudobulbs and no leaves. The roots seem to be fine. Possible I let it get toooo dry?

For all orchids it is very important the that period of darkness is sufficient - look to nature for the maximum day length. For photoperiod-sensitive orchids such as Cattleya mossiae and it's hybrids, it is very important that dark period be uninterrupted. If you plan to illuminate in or near the grow area, you must protect the plants from light with black-out cloth or plastic.

clxt7321 · #5 02-17-2006, 02:49 PM

The color of "Howards Dream" is what caught my eye also. What do the leaves and p-bulb look like?
Have moved my catts. oncidium and naked dend to the back porch, which faces south-east, a couple of months ago. Should be sufficient light. As for uninterrupted darkness--I'll have to work on that. Have also added a humidifier and a fan so will see what happens in the future. One of the catts did start getting a spike, but clutso here accidently broke it off.

Karen H

Oscarman · #6 02-17-2006, 03:12 PM

It looks like this.....now imagine mine without the leaves or the flowers.

Really spectacular, you might say!

clxt7321 · #7 02-17-2006, 04:04 PM

Yes, yours must be a real show stopper. Thanks for the pics. I think I'll give it a whirl.

Karen H

tiana_karissa · #8 01-27-2009, 03:30 PM

I have a Beallara Marfitch "Howard's Dream" which I purchased at the Orchid show in Ottawa April 2008. All I was told was that the plant is extremely easy to care for and to only water it once it dries out.

I am in need of some more detailed information on caring for this beautiful orchid. About 4 mths ago I had 2 new pseudobulbs start growing. They are still doing well. About a month later two of the older pseudobulbs leaves turned yellow and fell off. Now the largest and most established pseudobulb leaves are also yellowing and will drop off shortly. I have ben maintain the plant in the exact same way the entire time. I am desperate for any suggestions. Is this normal for this plant? Also when I bought it the person that sold it to me said that it wouldn't ned to be repotted for at least a year and suggested I use a fine bark medium. It currently seems to be a much finer medium that almost looks like soil. Also are the pseudobulbs supposed to look very dried and shrivelled. They have always looked like this but the 2 new pseudobulbs do not have this appearance.

Any help would be desperately appreciated!

quiltergal · #9 01-27-2009, 03:48 PM

Tiana, it sounds to me like you may have a root problem. I would suggest repotting whether it's been a year or not. If you find that most of the root system is brown and mushy (rotted) that will explain the problem with your old P-bulbs. I don't think it will grow new roots from the old bulbs, but it should from the new growth.

tiana_karissa · #10 01-27-2009, 04:20 PM

Thanks Terri! I'm assuming I just cut back any root rot and hope there are still some left to keep the plant going. Should I just discard the old bulbs if there are no roots left? The two that dropped there leaves about three months ago seem to still look like they did when I got them. Also the new bulbs are growing off of the sides of the older bulbs. Do I cut them off if the older bulbs have no roots left on them when I take them out to repot the plant. Sorry for all of the questions I have only dealt with Phals in the past(and currently) but I am so nervous with any other types. Sorry for all of the questions.