Grobya amherstiae

[euplusia]

Taxonomists have pushed Grobya from Cyrtopodiinae to Cymbidiinae until phylogenetic studies showed her relationship to Catasetinae. Kavanaru has made this clear here in october 2010.
Also a lot of facts written about Grobya on various websites is cribbed rubbish. I have seen plants of Grobya amherstiae in a nature reserve in the interior of Rio de Janeiro. Here they grow at elevations of 1000-1300 meters on vertical trunks of old trees more or less 2 meters above the ground, what makes it easy to take a picture. These forests are protected because they are essential for the water supply of the megacity. There is always more or less humidity in the moving air, sometimes clouds pull through, the light is dimmed, temperatures are intermediate with cooler nights. Grobya plants share this specific biological niche with a Promenea. A few meters further on in more open land we found a Zygopetalum,
To my knowlegde the habitat of Grobya stretches over the outback to Minas Gerais.
I purchased my plant in March. It got higher amounts of fertilizer and finished new growth in August. Then not much happened, I reduced watering and fertilizing. In October 2 spikes showed up.
Now one bulb has 2 spikes with 14 flowers on the left one and 16 flowers on the right. This is the maximum achievable number of flowers. I am very pleased of the sweet fragrance of honey they emit.
Wintertime will be critical as the plants can easily rot. I will keep it on the dry side.
If only I could find a second species of Grobya for sale.

[TOMMYMIAMI]

very interesting and nice spikes.

[isurus79]

This is a genus I'm not familiar with at all. Thanks for showing pics! So you are treating this one a lot like other Catasetinae?

[kindrag23]

How cool! It looks like a squid/octupus. Very pretty.

[euplusia]

My care is a bit different from Catasetums: The potting medium is medium coarse bark and clay pellets instead of sawdust. The medium dries out faster than sawdust, and the pot does not stand in a saucer or shallow pan. The amounts of water given are lower, the pot is never allowed to sit in water (something that Catasetums love).
The plant doesn't get full Cattleya light. Placed on the middle bench under the top bench there is less light and more even humidity. On warm days temps are more moderate.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by euplusia

My care is a bit different from Catasetums: The potting medium is medium coarse bark and clay pellets instead of sawdust. The medium dries out faster than sawdust, and the pot does not stand in a saucer or shallow pan. The amounts of water given are lower, the pot is never allowed to sit in water (something that Catasetums love).
The plant doesn't get full Cattleya light. Placed on the middle bench under the top bench there is less light and more even humidity. On warm days temps are more moderate.

Great info, thanks!

[WhiteRabbit]

Very cool!

[katrina]

Thanks for sharing...I've never heard of this one. It's beautiful.

Not to go off topic but...would you please expand a little more on your use of saw dust as a potting medium for Ctsm? I'm really curious...I've never heard of any thing like that.

[Rowangreen]

Thanks for the info! I'm currently looking at a set of auctions that includes one of these. So I just might end up with one if the bidding doesn't go mad LOL

Yours looks very well grown!

[euplusia]

Originally Posted by katrina

Thanks for sharing...I've never heard of this one. It's beautiful.

Not to go off topic but...would you please expand a little more on your use of saw dust as a potting medium for Ctsm? I'm really curious...I've never heard of any thing like that.

I just opened a new thread about my potting mix for Catasetinae based on sawdust.


Thank you all for your interest and great comments.