stanhopeas in winter - Orchid Board

frogman182 · #1 01-09-2009, 01:23 AM

so i brought my stanhopea inside for the winter and i've noticed that it doesn't look that happy. it's been inside for awhile, so i figured it would have adjusted by now. does anyone do anything special for them in the winter?

Royal · #2 01-09-2009, 10:02 AM

Good question. I'm a Stan newbie too, so I'm just feeling my way through this first winter. I did read that some like a bit of a rest - which one are you growing?

isurus79 · #3 01-09-2009, 02:54 PM

First, we have to know what species you have, what conditions it gets and maybe some pics to show us what you mean by its unhappiness. Also, how long has it actually been inside? Where do you live?

frogman182 · #4 01-09-2009, 06:13 PM

it is a stanhopea nigraviolacea. by unhappy i mean that it's just sitting there. all summer i could almost sit back and watch it grow. i know that inside is not the same as outside. do these need a rest period in winter? i am in southern illinois

Brooke · #5 01-09-2009, 08:22 PM

The Stanhopea you have does not require a true resting period but the water needs slow down because of cooler temps and shorter days. I grow mine in a g/h and it is only getting watered once a week now instead of every 3 days in the summer.

What type of light is it receiving inside? They still need quite a bit of light for the winter.

Brooke

frogman182 · #6 01-10-2009, 12:27 AM

its getting the same high light that my grammatophyllum does and it's still growing fine. i am almost afraid to scorch it. i just noticed a couple of brown spots on the leaves

isurus79 · #7 01-10-2009, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frogman182

its getting the same high light that my grammatophyllum does and it's still growing fine. i am almost afraid to scorch it. i just noticed a couple of brown spots on the leaves

Wow, either you are giving your Gramm to little light or your Stan too much. There's no way that you should have those plants getting the same lighting regime. Gramms take full sun all day and my tigrinas and nigroviolacea take moderate Cattleya light. Any

?

frogman182 · #8 01-10-2009, 01:11 AM

its not directly under the light like the gramm is. it just gets light from the side. i'm more worried about the humidity than the light. light usually isn't my problem. slowing the watering down should do the trick. i just wasn't sure about the winter rest

isurus79 · #9 01-10-2009, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frogman182

its not directly under the light like the gramm is. it just gets light from the side. i'm more worried about the humidity than the light. light usually isn't my problem. slowing the watering down should do the trick. i just wasn't sure about the winter rest

Whew! I thought you were gonna scortch your precious Stan! I think that if your plant is not in active growth you can back off a bit with watering until you get new growth. That seems to be a good rule of thumb for all orchids though. As for humidity, these guys are pretty tolerant of low humidy. In summer here, we regularly get days on-end with 45-50% humidity and all my Stans grow like mad. They do get watered everyday though!

smweaver · #10 01-10-2009, 10:57 AM

I have a couple of Stanhopea tigrinas and a nigroviolacea, and all of them are currently resting. If you go to Orchid Culture - Charles and Margaret Baker and order one of the culture sheets for tigrina (nigroviolacea, depending on who you ask, is either a subspecies or a very closely related species of tigrina), you'll find that in its native environment, this orchid experiences quite a bit less water in winter, along with lower night temperatures, than it does during its summer growing period. While I don't let my plants get bone dry, they do dry out much more between waterings in the winter (when they aren't actively growing--at least my plants aren't--and don't require as much H2O) than they do in the summer. Also, the average night temperatures between November and March in the plant's native habitat (again, according to the culture sheet for this species) are between 48 and 52 F. So my suggestion would be for you to follow your plant's lead. If it seems to be resting (no new growths being made, little or no new root activity), let it rest by minimizing the amount of water it gets, keeping it relatively cool and giving it much more sunlight than you would during the summer. Good luck!

Steve