Agsm. Blue Butterfly

[calvin_orchidL]

Sorry to pull up an old thread - but has anyone had success with this one yet? I'm thinking of getting one from EooM sometime in the near (or not-so-near) future, not to mention the parent Acacallis cyanea. I'd love to hear about any success/tips/experience you have all had since getting your plants a year ago.
-Cal

[missann]

I have recently purchased one of these from the same place, only mine just arrived today. I have "THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ORCHIDS" where I found the following info.
Sorry about the all caps, by the way. I accidentally hit the button. I am not yelling.
ACACALIS: "Two showy epiphytic species are known from Columbia, Venesuela, the Guineas, Brazil and Peru. Both species bear blue lavendar flowers. The speudobulbs usually bearing one leaf, are produced along a creeping rhizome. A raceme of up to ten flowers arises from the base of the pseudobulbs. Acacalis flowers have 4 pollinia."
Culture:
Grow on a slab of tree fern or cork bark. Provide high humidity and temperature 25-30 degrees C during the day, and 20 degrees C at night and moderate shade.
ACACALIS CYANEA
"This species, found in lowland forests in Columbia, Venesuela, and Brazil produces arching inflorescences of up to ten showy flowers from February to August. Sepals and petals are blue lavender and the lip reddish brown to purple. The flowers maintain a darker shade of blue if not exposed to brights light. In the past, most plants collected in the wild survived only two years. Recently, however, much hardier plants grown from seeds have been seen in cultivation.

For fear of having my post be too long, I will post the info about the other orchid next.

[missann]

ZYGOSEPALUM
"This genus of seven species known from Columbia, Venesuela, Peru and Brazil. The genus is characterizsed by the elongate rhizome with pseudobulbs of a single internode with one to four leaves at the apex; the foliaceous sheaths surrounding the base of the pseudobulb; the leaves plicate, heavily veined; the inflorescence arising from axils of the foliaceous sheaths with one to three large flowers; the flowers resupinate; the sepals and petals on the margin; the callus at the base fan shaped; the anther capwith an elongate, horn like projection from its apex; and the four hard pollinia superposed in two pairs, attatched to a quadrate stipe."
"The plants grow as epiphytes in lowland forest at elevations from 100 to 500 meters. Cultivation of the species is best on plaques because of the elongate rhizomes. They should be grown under intermediate conditions with liberal applications of water throughout the year."

The book does not mention the exact species that we have a cross of, and the ones that it does list, Z. lindeniae, and Z. tatei, only have description of the plants, not of how to grow them.

It seems as though they grow closer to sea level that some of the others. This means that the temp at night does not fall so extreme, so they probably don't need a drop in temp to flower. I think I read somewhere that they will be fine with cattleya light. I would just give them a bit more water and I also read that the former, was the only real "hot grower" that someone had encountered. I would not let this plant suffer temperatures below 65f just to be safe.

Also-has anyone had thiers flower yet?

[nancy]

Well, hey Cal -
I was the original poster, and all I can say is that my little plant is still alive. It has not bloomed. I gave the basketed one to my friend; it missed a couple of waterings while she was away, and croaked.
Mine is on a stick...it grows slowly, and I believe it likes to grow in somewhat vanda-like conditions - bright, moist, and humid. It is doing better now that I remember to water it daily (it is on a mount, no sphag or other toxin).
If/when it flowers, I will surely trumpet it here.
I am in the deep south, so temperature and humidity are both refreshingly high.
Regards - Nancy

[calvin_orchidL]

Thanks for the replies, everyone Missann - great info there.

Nancy - I recently went to an OS meeting and someone brought an aganisia (acaccalis) in that was in bloom. She had it potted in course(ish) bark and gave it medium light...that's the best I could get out of her (she's one of those adorable ladies who shrugs and says things like "oh I don't do anything special...I just put it there...water once in a while and it flowers!" ) I'm thinking maybe the bark gives it the extra moisture it needs (as opposed to mounting and daily waterings?)

I'm still looking to get my hands on a plant/hybrid from this genus...keep us updated on how yours is doing...I think you're right in that this plant does grow pretty slowly...you are lucky to have good conditions for it though. Keep us updated!