Stanhopea tigrina

[smweaver]

Five spikes (there were six, but one rotted) and twelve blooms and buds. Very fragrant and thankfully the buds mature in succession, which sort of compensates for the short individual flower lifespan.

[rbarata]

Beautiful

How old is the plant?

[isurus79]

Stunning flowers and well grown!!

[AvantGardner]

Great culture! Congrats!

[smweaver]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments.

Rbarata, the plant is approximately fifteen years old.

Steve

[rbarata]

Rbarata, the plant is approximately fifteen years old.

I have a Stan wardii with two pbulbs and two leaves. I guess I'll have to wait a few more years.

[smweaver]

Originally Posted by rbarata

I have a Stan wardii with two pbulbs and two leaves. I guess I'll have to wait a few more years.

Not necessarily. Both tigrina and wardii are (in my opinion) fast growers and reliable bloomers. I have split this plant several times over the years, and it continues to produce multiple growths every year. It is already at the point where I am probably going to split it again within the next year since it's outgrowing its current net pot.

Just do whatever you can to encourage all of your plant's new growths to reach their full potential in size. Once it becomes an adult (and that certainly will not take fifteen years for Stanhopea wardii) I think you will find it to be a fairly free flowering plant. Best of luck!

Steve

[rbarata]

Just do whatever you can to encourage all of your plant's new growths to reach their full potential in size.

And that is...?

[smweaver]

I can only tell you what I do with my plants. The stanhopeas get direct morning sunlight from about 7 AM until 11 AM (and light shade for the remainder of the day). They get watered a lot with very clean reverse osmosis water and fertilized with perhaps 2.5 ml fertilizer per 4 liters of water every third watering (which works out to about two fertilizations per week) between the very end of winter and whenever the new growths have matured (mid to late fall). They are then given a cool (15 to 18 C days, and 10 to 13 C nights) and relatively (for a stanhopea) dry rest. This has tended, over the years, to produce consistently good results. It may not be what all of the species of the genus experience in their native environments, but I'm basically a lazy grower and don't want to be bothered with fussing over them too much. If a plant doesn't perform well with this arrangement, I usually will either try to find it a new home or (again, being a lazy grower) I will walk it across the street to my neighbor's farm and offer it as an exotic salad item to his always appreciative mules and goats.

[Rothrock42]

Wow. I love the Stanhopeas. Do you keep it in the house? I'm guessing with those temps not.

I grow in the house and recently got a Stan. embreei to bloom, one spike with three flowers. I've also got a tigrina, hernandezii, warscewiczii, and one NOID. None of the others have bloomed, but a couple of them are well established. You're inspiring me to have a talk with them...