Brassavola nodosa 'little stars'

[littlefrog]

Nodosa is about as easy to grow as you can get. Direct sunlight is fine if you acclimate the plant to it, although I wouldn't go full sun all day.

Water it when it dries out.

Now, I might have a problem with the name... B. Little Stars is a hybrid of B. nodosa. I suspect you have B. Little Stars. I don't really trust labels at big box stores. If so, Little Stars is even easier to grow than nodosa, so it is a good mistake.

Rob

Originally Posted by EDDIE

Hello everyone

I purchased a brassavola nodosa 'little stars' from Lowes yesterday. I was wondoring if anyone out there has any experience with these and what are their light and water requirements? The label on the orchid says that it is 'easy to grow' and that it prefers bright light, but to protect from direct sunlight. I can place it in either an east facing french door where it will get good sun for several hrs. each morning or I can place it in a south window(screened) where it can receive filtered indirect light about all day (I have it there now). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Eddie...

[cneos]

My thoughts exactly that Eddie (and other Lowe's shoppers) have B. Little Stars (nodosa x cordata) which seems to be quite widely available at big box stores.
I've only seen hybrids at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc., never [I]species[I] plants.

[catwalker808]

I also think that Eddie's plant is B. Little Stars.

During the past 30 years, we've produced tens of thousands of B Little Stars for ourselves and for other growers. During that time we've only produced a few thousand of B nodosa. Reason's simple, B Little Stars has hybrid vigor, grows faster, blooms twice a year. By using different combinations of nodosa and cordata parents, we've also been able to shift blooming seasons, so that some bloom in September, October, November & even into December, as well as the spring-summer blooms. There are also larger versions & shorter versions. I think that many of these easy bloomers have found their way into the big box stores and somewhere along the line have been mis-named. I believe that most of the B. Little Stars around are seed propagated rather than clones.

cneos.

I was wondering why you had such a large B nodosa 'Mas Mejor' & so many large blooming B Little Stars in your New Hampshire greenhouse. No wonder they looked as large as ours. I didn't have the opportunity to meet you or your mother during your visit. By the way, for those of you who know Spanish, we did not give the clonal name 'Mas Mejor'. Some of my Spanish speaking friends said that it's not good grammar ... it means something like "plenty big".

I never took a full body photo of our Little Stars, but here's a close up.

[EDDIE]

Thanks for your input everyone...don't mean to ride this thread to death, but I have one more question...can someone describe what the blooming stalk looks like? I have what looks like a slender 'growth'; however it has a split on it that looks like a leave, but there are smaller leaves that have already opened up, so this has me a little stumped...

[cneos]

Attached is a photo of our greenhouse taken in January of this year. This is where we grow our Brassavola nodosas, B. Little Stars, and B. tuberculata, though not quite as magnificent as those in my earlier posts (grown at H&R nurseries). We also grow vandas, a few of which have received AOS flower awards.

[nenella]

Originally Posted by EDDIE

Thanks for your input everyone...don't mean to ride this thread to death, but I have one more question...can someone describe what the blooming stalk looks like? I have what looks like a slender 'growth'; however it has a split on it that looks like a leave, but there are smaller leaves that have already opened up, so this has me a little stumped...

I would love to know what the spikes look like too ? Anyone have any pics please? I bought 3 & gave 2 to my mother who lives near the equator; mine isn't doing anything (but I'm in Europe) ... one of my mums might be spiking ? Thanks in advance.

[cneos]

Inflorescences arise at the base of the leaves. When the nub first appears, it may look like a sheath or very small leaf. If it survives, it fattens up and you'll see the beginnings of buds. You can expect five to seven flowers per inflorescence on nodosa species, more on its hybrids like B. Little Stars.

Photo in picture with asterisks indicating the inflorescences is B. nodosa (species). The second photo is an example of nodosa hybrids (made by) grown by H&R Orchids.

Enjoy!

Joanna

[Cattleya17]

these are from my little stars that is in bloom now i will post an album invite to my flickr account when the other inflorescence opens, It will show from sheath to bloom. It currently has 5 spikes and it was a bag baby like yours! here is what the sheath and early spikes look like

The Tiny Sheath.



The Small Spikes Wide View.


The Small Spikes Close-Up


Hope this Helps!!!!!!

~Sam

[nenella]

Thanks a lot Joanna & Sam - Very helpful - exactly what I was after!