Angraecum sesquipedale flowers.

[bil]

OK, I have an A. sesquipedale and it is starting to flower. Two spikes this year.
Now the curious thing is this, last year and this year all the spikes have started out with two flowers, and the second, instead of growing, simply yellows, shrinks and withers away.
Anyone know the cause, or is it just what they do? Do they grow out of it?

[Roberta]

I suspect the plant is just not strong enough to support both flowers, so settles on one good one. The plant looks healthy, I think they just do that sometimes. They can become quite large, and perhaps need to do that to support more flowers on a spike.

[Leafmite]

Congratulations!

[bil]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Congratulations!

Thank you. I always wanted one because of its association with Charles Darwin.

---------- Post added at 01:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:14 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Roberta

I suspect the plant is just not strong enough to support both flowers, so settles on one good one. The plant looks healthy, I think they just do that sometimes. They can become quite large, and perhaps need to do that to support more flowers on a spike.

Ok, thanks. That makes sense, because it is a pretty big flower.

[Michaeljrdn13]

I have an Angraecum Crestwood that does the exact same thing. I agree with Roberta that it just puts all of its energy into one.

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[Michaeljrdn13]

Its beautiful though!!

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[bil]

Originally Posted by Michaeljrdn13

Its beautiful though!!

Well, yeah, that is the other reason I always wanted one.

Weird, they really seem to like wet feet.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by bil

Weird, they really seem to like wet feet.

Mine seems to be happy in a pot with large bark - some aerial roots but not of the sort that would be trying to escape a medium that they didn't like. I did have the privilege of seeing them growing wild in Madagascar. And it was WET (supposedly "dry season" but still very wet) While I saw A. eburneum up in trees, the A. sesquipedale plants that I saw were at ground level - fallen trees, vegetation. So I think that they do need somewhat wet feet. They also can take cold, though they grow mostly at sea level. Mine I grow outside until the spikes start to develop and them protect them so that I don't lose buds to a sudden cold/wet situation. But the plant seems to have no problem with overnight temps down to 40 deg F (4 deg C ) (I'm sure that it would be happier a little warmer, but it tolerates what it gets) A. eburneum is even more cold-tolerant.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Mine seems to be happy in a pot with large bark - some aerial roots but not of the sort that would be trying to escape a medium that they didn't like. I did have the privilege of seeing them growing wild in Madagascar. And it was WET (supposedly "dry season" but still very wet) While I saw A. eburneum up in trees, the A. sesquipedale plants that I saw were at ground level - fallen trees, vegetation. So I think that they do need somewhat wet feet. They also can take cold, though they grow mostly at sea level. Mine I grow outside until the spikes start to develop and them protect them so that I don't lose buds to a sudden cold/wet situation. But the plant seems to have no problem with overnight temps down to 40 deg F (4 deg C ) (I'm sure that it would be happier a little warmer, but it tolerates what it gets) A. eburneum is even more cold-tolerant.

Mine were in bark, but they just weren't happy. I was getting into the swing of putting everything up on a mount at that time, and I just thought 'Why not?'

As soon as they were mounted with a nice wet ball of moss, they perked up no end.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by bil

As soon as they were mounted with a nice wet ball of moss, they perked up no end.

Here are a couple of in-situ photos - looks like it is growing on a rather soggy decayed log. So it does like wet feet (with air)