Spring Blooms

[james mickelso]

Go Jeremyinsf. These can be a bit touchy so read up on them.

[jeremyinsf]

Doing that a lot! And learning from people here. And having a lot of fun along the way.

I'm supposed to immediately re-pot it, and snap off the spike at half point, because it will grow back stronger - right? ;-)

[james mickelso]

Leave it alone to bloom to completion. If you want to help it strengthen you can cut off the spike and allow it to grow and store up more energy for the next flower spike. Unless the media has started to deteriorate I would not repot it. Can we see better more detailed pics of plant and surface media?

[Nanook 2010]

Originally Posted by james mickelso

Leave it alone to bloom to completion. If you want to help it strengthen you can cut off the spike and allow it to grow and store up more energy for the next flower spike. Unless the media has started to deteriorate I would not repot it. Can we see better more detailed pics of plant and surface media?

James.....profile says you have 200 orchids ....no pyschopsis?

A pic from a more experienced grower might be beneficial

[jeremyinsf]

I was actually kidding! But since you offered, any help - yes please!

Here is pictures of the existing one I have, and the one one today. The existing one on the right is a Mendenhall with a tag, it's been re-potted (I got it that way) recently into clay and was told to let it really dry out between watering. It doesn't have any flowers yet. The new one from today has totally different leafs, thicker spikes (a mature one and a new one) and is actively growing flowers - one that is still opening, and another bud behind it - but it seems to have been kept very wet. It was wet today, but I say kept based on how the media looks. Very, very different between the two. Also on the new one, it seems a primary leaf where the mature spike is growing was lost some how, but it has little point-ies coming out as though it might re-grow them?

Since the new one is a NoID, any thoughts on that as well?

[james mickelso]

I grew them in San Diego and they (papillo and kameriana) grew very well. For whatever reason they won't grow here at my new place. Last year I had over 450 orchids but sold most of them due to a planned move which then never came about. So now I have around 50 or so. Psycopsis don't like to be repotted unless necessary. They seem to grow best in a fast draining media and some have reported that they produce better flowers next season if a low N high K fertilizer is used the last few months before they rest. I've seen them mounted on cork plaques. I know mine in SD didn't do well if I kept them too wet (I lost most of them in 1992 during the El Nino that year. I couldn't get them to dry out and they rotted). During the winter I let them get dry before watering them at all. Then I watered sparingly. Papillo I know can have multiple spikes. To tell the difference between the two (papillo and kameriana) I was told that the papillo has a flattened flower stem and the kam has a round one. I never looked so can't confirm. I might try them again mounted on a rescue board. Hope this helps.