I've discussed this one before here. When folks ask how it should be grown those who read it's parentage (half unicum) say it should be grown like unicum with cool dry winter rest.
However I tried that... and killed it. Luckily I got some keikis off it first and those I've learnt to grow and flower... with an intermediate and moist winter.
The parent lost all it's leaves in it's cool dry rest, but never grew back well the next season. Each year it was worse than the year before and it finally succumbed to mites, but they weren't the reason for it's steady demise in the prior years.
I grow this with NO fertiliser beginning of September to mid Feb. But otherwise it is in my bathroom all winter and is watered once a week (growing in moss). Fertiliser too late in the season seems to lead to keikis instead of flowers. Of the 7 plants I now have the largest 2 have both flowered well this year (better than last year but then they are bigger).
The largest 2 also were not fully drying between each watering (bigger pots dry slower than their smaller siblings). The smaller siblings dried between each watering but also have a couple of flowers each. I'm not saying keeping it damp made it flower well (the ones drying between each watering are also smaller) ... but equally didn't stop it, and watering regularly through the winter had kept it much healthier than the parent ever was in my care.
Interestingly growing this way it looses the leaves from the previous years growths every winter. Not the leaves from the growths of the season just finished, but the ones from the year before that. It flowers on the growths from the season just gone, which still have their leaves (and will do until the following winter).
4 of the 7 flowered this year, but this one, the largest had the best display. It actually had four flowers on a smaller growth earlier in the winter, then after they had gone developed flowers all along the largest cane, which is what these pictures are of. These are actually fading now, but the second largest plant is opening ones all along it's largest cane now, and I have odd individual flowers on another two
The flowers have the lip patterning of unicum. Most flowers are the other way up though, just occasionally ones don't turn over and are the same way up unicum holds it's flowers.
Den Stardust 'Chyomi' in bloom
Linear Mode
