Pleione keikis spontaneously fallen off... what do I do with them now?

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by Andrew

I don't know whether it's necessary but this is how I usually see Pleione potted so I have always done the same. I usually cover them to 1/2 the bulbs depth so that when the bulbs are watered in the mix usually settles to cover the bottom 1/3 of the bulb.

Yes, repot during dormancy so that you don't disturb the actively growing roots. Discard the old shrivelled bulb and trim the roots in the new bulb back to make them easier to repot. I usually trim the roots on the bulb back to about an inch just to anchor it to the mix. The roots on the bulb don't feed the new growth so there's no harm in cutting them off.

Thanks I'll do just that. I know the nursary also said that the old roots are not needed as it grows new ones each year.

Originally Posted by Andrew

It's not uncommon for them to favour putting energy into one bulb like that. I find that if the old bulb is big to support two bulbs it will. If it's not it tends put its energy into producing one big growth and gives the other growth(s) whatever is left over.

Cool, I looked again last night and the second growth HAS fattened a little but is significantly smaller. The bigger growth is about the size the old bulb was before it wrinkled (maybe a little bigger).

Originally Posted by Andrew

I read your other post about this plant. I'd also suggest your plant is likely to be Pleione Erebus 'Redpoll'. The RHS treats Pleione a bit differently to other orchids and seems to put more emphasis on register cultivars than it does with other orchids. This may have something to do with Pleione being more popular amongst bulb growers than orchid growers in the UK and Europe. They used to publish the list of Pleione cultivars on the RHS website, but since they rejigged their website I haven't been able to find it.

Really interesting. Maybe I'll ask the nursary about this because I would love to know for certain. Apart from Phals (which they seem to buy in and sell on) this nursary seems to have everything carefully tagged that they cultivate themselves. Hopefully they might know more details. Even if they don't know I think it is likely that as you say the cultivar name has been emphasised, but I would love to know the 'proper' name if at all possible.

Thanks again for all the advice.