Question regarding mini's

[Paul Mc]

I'm looking for beginner mini's but don't know much about them. Could anyone suggest some. I'm specifically looking for those that remain relatively small and somewhat compact plants (due to limited space) but have flowers that are at least 2 inches. Fragrance would be nice, but not necessary. It would be a score if I could find a few that bloomed throughout the year as well, lol...

[cb977]

Hi Paul

I don't know what your growing conditions are...and of course, that's very important but it sounds like Rupicolous Laelias would fit your description:

Rupicolous Laelia

I'm sure our other friends will chime in with suggestions...and questions

[ronaldhanko]

I find rupicolous laelias a bit difficult and was going to suggest Soph. coccinea and some of the other Sophronitis species, but they can be a bit temperamental as well. The Sophronitis species are cool growing, too, and I realized after I started this post that I don't know what your growing conditions are - that would help immensely.

[Duane McDowell]

Ron's absolutely right on this. It will depend entirely on your growing conditions. Where do you grow (light, temperatures, humidity, etc...)
What do you consider miniature? This is another good question to ask yourself. Most of my collection is plants that are less than 5" tall, including flowers. Quite a bit of it is less than 3" tall, including flowers. Needless to say, not a lot of 2" flowers in this latter group...
All that said, here are a few ideas. We can all zoom in more closely once we know how you grow and what constitutes "miniature" for you.
Several Masdevallias might fit the bill
Miniature Cattleya types
Soph. coccinea
Laelia pumila, sincorana, dayana, praestans, alaori
Paph. henryanum, niveum, helenae, barbigerum, leucochilum

[ronaldhanko]

Just to chime in again - Duane's brief list include plants you will probably not be able to grow side by side - unlikely, for example that you can grow Soph. coccinea and the Paph. species together.

[Duane McDowell]

Originally Posted by ronaldhanko

Just to chime in again - Duane's brief list include plants you will probably not be able to grow side by side - unlikely, for example that you can grow Soph. coccinea and the Paph. species together.

Thanks, Ron! I was thinking about the absurdity of the list as I was writing it, but then forgot to hit the main point...

[Paul Mc]

Well, let's see if I can adequately answer your questions.

Growing conditions: I grow on the windowsill's (N, S, E & W are all available) and tend to take the less sensitive one's outside in Missouri during the spring through fall. I have successfully re-bloomed phal's, dend's (the one's that don't need a winter rest and keep their leaves) and onc's (though several have yet to rebloom as they are new this year). I have also successfully rebloomed phiaus's, but working on cym's still (2nd year but no bloom spikes that I can tell yet). Also a Jewel orchid successfully rebloomed. I am still waiting to see what will happen with my zygo, bulbo and paph as they are all new.

A side note about the light in the windows. In St. Louis, the houses are ontop of each other with only a walk-way between. So my east windows only get 1 or 2 hours of direct sun early in the morning. In the south, we have a huge pin oak tree which blocks a lot of light during the growing season but obviously doesn't do anything for shade during the winter. The west windows are completely exposed to get sun after about 2pm into night.

I also have grow lights set up in the basement for all of my tropicals so they can experience some cool from the basement floor. Bromeliads, palms, ferns, vines, 9foot rubber plant and hibiscus (which is blooming like crazy). No humidity there though other than when I water and from all of the drainage after watering.

I put all of my orchids in clay pots (except for phaius' and cym's) with the appropriate medium. The pots have a humidity tray on the bottom that I keep filled.

We tend to keep the house around 70 throughout the year. St. Louis can get upwards of 100 for brief moments (a few days at a time) with high humidity usually.

What I would consider mini's would be something that could fit in a 2.5 or 3 inch pot, not grow taller than 5 or 6 inches, and won't fall out of the sides of the pot. I don't really have room for any other sized pots unless it's in a north window which all are empty.

Sorry the lengthy essay, lol... Please forgive me, but I hope I have answered your questions.

Thank you guys for helping my OCD along!

[tucker85]

There are several small, fragrant phals on the market now. They can stay in bloom for months. They don't need much light. The plants stay pretty small but some have decent size flowers. I have Phal Lea Marie Salazar 'Red Dream' which is small, beautiful and very fragrant. I also have Phal Sweet Memory that is beautiful and fragrant. My Dtps. Purple Martin 'Champion' has small blue flowers and no fragrance but it's in bloom for six months out of the year. It's important not to cut off the old flower spikes on some of these because they rebloom on the same stems. Go to either Norman's Orchids at orchids.com or Big Leaf Orchids and search "Fragrant phals" to get an idea of whats available.

[ronaldhanko]

I grew on window sills for years and still grow a few plants on sills, mini Phals, Paphs, and minicatts)and I think I'd stick with the Phals just mentioned, with minicatts (very few fragrant) with some of the smaller Oncidium alliance stuff and with Paphs (Duane has mentioned the best of them).