Laelia lobata

[Tindomul]

Wow! Great info. Congrats and keep it going!!! 10 years is a long time for me.

[Spider]

I does not look like a Laelia lobata to me, more like a Laelia purpurata.

[Frdemetr]

Hi Spider,
Yes, purpurata and lobata are very seemed! This one is for sure a lobata: smaller (in average) than purpuratas (both flowers & plant), lip divided in 'lobes' (parts) when opened (then 'lobata'), and ecology and habitat completely different: lobata is founded in nature growing only in certain rock mass in Rio de Janeiro city (Pedra da Gávea, Pão-de-Açúcar - Sugar Loaf), and is strictly litophytic. Purpurata is (or was...) founded in the Mata Atlântica rain forest, from S. Paulo state to Rio Grande do Sul state, and is epiphytic.
Thank you for looking!

[Spider]

Hallo Federico. Thank you for your answer. I am so glad today the flowerbud is opening. I will have to take a picture. The plant has grown, so the last bulb is sitting on the edge of the pot. It was replanted last year. I have heard that it does not like to be repotted. I do want more flowers next year. Do you have any sugestions

[Frdemetr]

Originally Posted by Spider

Hallo Federico. Thank you for your answer. I am so glad today the flowerbud is opening. I will have to take a picture. The plant has grown, so the last bulb is sitting on the edge of the pot. It was replanted last year. I have heard that it dos not like to be repotted. I do want more flowers next year. Do you have any sugestions

Spider,
You could try to copy their habitat, ie, much light, heat and low humidity during the day, but high atmosferic humidity (fog) and 'lower' temps (but never cold; Rio de Janeiro 'low temp' is almost never below 20ºC!) at night. They don't like a 'compact' media, and grow better over a 'soft', loose mixture (or any media at all! often my lobatas do better when grow out of the pot!). Frequent sprays at the end of the day and early in the morning are welcome (never under the sun!); I don't do that (I think it's unnecesary), but some people put a few drops of iodine in the sprays for lobatas (to 'copy' the sea sprays), with good results. I use 'bokashi' (japanese fertilizer, with powdered fish, soy and mamona and other smelly stuff) in the media (1 teaspoon, every two/three months, far from roots) and Peter's 0,5-1g/L every week.
I'm waiting for the pics!!

[Spider]

Hm, I try to copy nature and use Ro-water with a little of Peters fertilizer every watering. It gets a spray of water morning and evening. I have a humidity of 60-70% with the humifier that also is an aircleaner. I also have a few fans around the flat that I live in. I use halogen spotligts on a ramp with 3 lamps in each window. The temperature in my home is rarely below 20 degrees C. I realy wanted to know how I should do now when the plant has grown out of the pot. By the way, what is its name Laelia lobata or Sophronites lobata?

[Frdemetr]

Well, the name....in Brazil NOBODY accepts the change of name for “Sophronitis", as in the RHS. For me Laelia will be forever Laelia, and I don't use any other name. However, as the name Laelia can be used now only for mexicans Laelias and not for the brazilians, some botanists created a lot of new genera: purpurata group (to which lobata belongs) is "Brasilaelia", pumila group is "Hadrolaelia", the lithophytics are "Hoffmannseggella", "Dungsia" and so. Personally I think this number of new names add more confusion to this matter....Laelia is Laelia!

[Spider]

It all sound crazy, a lot of new names on old plants. How many South American Laelias are there that is contaminated? I also like the Laelia name. A name is name, but in this sence it seems like a name is more then a name. I wonder what subgrups we humans could be devided into? Merely the thinking gives me a schiver up my spine.