Stanhopea lietzei in flower again

[JP020366]

Hi guys

This is 2nd flowering of my Stanhopea lietzei.

Smells great and pretty easy to grow...just keep pretty dry in winter. Water just when bulb on verge of shrivelling. Worked for me but maybe not gospel.

If you are interested please follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/onlineorchids. I send tweets as plants are flowering and advise on upcoming auctions on eBay - no good for international followers I know.

I try to post here when I get the chance.

Cheers

[tuvoc]

Nice.

Kim

[WhiteRabbit]

Lovely!

[My Green Pets]

Beautiful! A couple of questions:

1. I've read the flower spikes grow downward. If potted in a basket in bark (for example), can the spike push its way down through and emerge out the bottom?

2. Do Stanhopeas bloom more than once a year?

3. How long do the flowers last?

Thanks!

[JP020366]

Hi

In response to your questions.

1. Stanhope baskets must be lined with something that will hold the medium but let the spikes push through. Some people line with newspaper (but rots away quickly), some use paper bark (good but don't make it too thick) and others use coconut fibre (again not too thick). I usually line steel baskets with bird netting (very light type netting) on the inside and then put a layer of wet sphagnum moss (pretty thick) to hold the medium in. This works well but in summer can dry fairly quickly and doesn't rehydrate well. Have recently tried lining some baskets with bush moss first and then a layer of sphagnum. We'll see how that goes.

2. If there is more than 1 spike e.g. this plant, you can have two flowerings. But generally they only flower from mid/late Spring through to end Summer/early Autumn, depending on the species/hybrid.

3. Biggest drawback...flowers only last a few days, which is why their smell is so strong. They need to attract the attention of a potential pollinator pretty quickly or their done for. But they are worth it for those few days.

With culture, just note there are differences between certain species based on where they are from. Eg S. maculosa and liezei require dry winter to help flowering. most others aren't so particular. The most dramatic Stanhopea, nigroviolacea (biggest flowers and very fragrant) is a very hardy plant and is very easy to look after...just don't do much too it and it will grow fine.

Hope this helps.

John

[isurus79]

Wow, this is a really nice clone. Looks great!