Bought my first two species! Now what?

[Izzie]

Anyone who was in chat last night already know how SUPER EXCITED I am about this.

I was finally able to get to my garden center and pick over the leftovers of Denver Orchid Society's recent sale.

After fishing around for about an hour, I found:
Phal. Stuartiana
C. Intermedia var. orlata (var. clarified by Philip, thanks!)

I could hardly contain myself!

So now I have these two species that I've been dying to have....and only half certain of how to care for them.

All I know about the C. intermedia:
Intermediate, likes bright light, let dry slightly between watering.
Concerns:
~I get the feeling that it's roots aren't in the best shape. The few I can see near the surface are sickly, but the leaves of the plant are still firm.
~It's in bloom right now, should I wait till it's done to repot? It is in bark right now.
~It's pbulbs old and new have grooves in them. I know that's normal for older ones, but am concerned that even the newer ones including the one with the flower spike are also grooved. The bulb on the far left is the one that is flowering.

Here is the entire plant:

It does have a tiny new lead starting that I forgot to take a picture of.
Would this little nub here become a sheath someday? I can't tell if it's pbulb is older or newer than the one in bloom.


Hokay. enough of that guy.

All I know about the phal. stuartiana
Warm growing, likes shade. Both new to me. I can provide the low light, not sure about the heat yet, though my house is 72-65F.

Concerns:
~The oldest leaf is slightly limp, on the verge of being wrinkled. I've poked around, and the many roots that I can see are all healthy with growing tips, and there is one little nub that's just starting.
Repotme.com mentions some where that phals will have one leaf per every 10% humidity, any truth to that? I dont' quite agree, since I have a noid phal that is just massive and very leafy.
So is this just an old leaf that's finished it's life cycle, or a leaf that is dying because it was transferred from the humid grower to the not as humid garden center?
~There are two aerial roots that are very dry- not completely withered yet, and one is still green towards the tip but is obviously broken halfway down.
They still turn somewhat green when I mist, should I keep them or no?



Whew! Free cookies to anyone who actually read all of this and sharing in my excitement!

[Izzie]

no species love?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

What are you talking about woman?!

Of course there's species love!

That's most of my collection.

I got C. intermedia var aquinii var coerulea (if this is even right ). It's not doing too well, but at least it's still alive.

I only have one natural hybrid (Phal x leucorrhoda) and the rest of my Phals are species.

It'd be cool to have Phal stuartiana, I've seen some impressive ones.

Nice haul.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

For your C. intermedia, I'd make sure the rhizome is above ground.

This is supposedly one of the "easier" bifoliate Catts.

As for the leaf on the Phal stuartiana, don't worry about it.

Keep the roots until they're dead as a doorknob.

I don't know where Repotme.com gets that statistic. That's a rather odd thing to say. My Phals don't follow that statement whatsoever. I wouldn't put much weight to that claim.

[Izzie]

Yay love! I'll be sure to post pictures of the stuartiana when she blooms, the spike looks nice and crowded.

What does that variety look like?

I'm uncertain as to whether this is "var. oculata", because after much searching, I have yet to find a C. intermedia of that variety.

[Izzie]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

For your C. intermedia, I'd make sure the rhizome is above ground.

This is supposedly one of the "easier" bifoliate Catts.

"bifoliate"?

Should I wait until it drops its blooms to repot? As far as I can tell, the rhizome is buried- all I can see are the bulbs and some roots.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Izzie

Yay love! I'll be sure to post pictures of the stuartiana when she blooms, the spike looks nice and crowded.

What does that variety look like?

I'm uncertain as to whether this is "var. oculata", because after much searching, I have yet to find a C. intermedia of that variety.

I'll post a pic later. I gotta go somewhere right now. But it's beautiful.

Your "var. oculata" may be spelled incorrectly, it might be "var. orlata".

There is a C. skinneri var. oculata.

[Izzie]

Anybody think that little nub will be a sheath?

[Izzie]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

I'll post a pic later. I gotta go somewhere right now. But it's beautiful.

Your "var. oculata" may be spelled incorrectly, it might be "var. orlata".

There is a C. skinneri var. oculata.

I'll look into that, thank you so much! I was getting worried.

ETA: Just looked at some examples of the orlata and I think you're spot on! Kudos!

[jkofferdahl]

Like Philip, the vast majority of my orchids are species, though I don't have many Catts at all. Still, I'm going to also try to address your questions.

I'd not repot the Catt while in bloom, or even after the bloom fades. Catts respond best to repotting when they are just about to start new growth; though since it appears to be initiating a new pbulb (and that's probably what you see), you should be OK repotting yours, in this case, once the blooms fade. I personally prefer to use bark for my few Catts.

Phal. stuartiana is one of my favorites. Yours looks to be quite healthy. They tend to drop a leaf when they grow a new one and that's likely what's happening to yours. If the leaf per 10% humidity rule had any basis in reality then all of my Phals would have the same number of leaves, and that's far, far from the truth. I'd be more concerned if the newest leaf growth was far smaller and thinner than older ones, or if the roots, especially aereal roots, were sere. Keep the aereal roots on the plant, even though they may not look too good; if they turn green when sprayed then they are still alive, and that's a good thing.

Here's a pic of one of my Phal. stuartianas to give you an idea of what to expect: