Zygolum Rhein 'Moonlight' new growth with two spikes

[lotis146]

I want to share this plant with you that I've spoken of many a times before. It's my first Zygo as well as among the first Orchids outside of several Phals and a Paph.

When I first bought it off Ebay in April it arrived damaged during transit and only one of the buds survived. While the bloom wasn't actually what I thought it would be (bought Zygopetalum, was labelled Zygosepalum, learned here it's actually Zygolum, a cross between the two) I so loved the flower in the end. This one flower was quite fragrant in the first half of the day.




Since then I repotted it, initially it WAS upright, I swear to you, lol...but...



...over time as it was outside it slowly but surely leaned over. I told myself I was going to stake it but when I did move it a bit early on it seemed rather "stiff" and stable where it lay, so I left it.

As you can see the new growths took off. (There were four when I got the plant. One looked dead, I picked at it (ignorantly) and discovered I had just killed a still living growth...) The tallest most "open" one was first and fastest.



The oldest new growth is on the left in the second picture, leafed out.



But then after being outside a while and, I think, not getting the water it really wanted the first and third new growths seemed to stall while the second one (the one straight up and down and still all "rolled up") took off. Meanwhile the smallest remains SUPER tiny...




About a week or so ago I realized that this second new growth, while its leaves have not opened as the first did, is growing a spike!! Then just the other day I was watering and found there's actually a second spike!!!!








I don't know why they've grown so differently, or why the first has open leaves but no spike while the other does not, but I'm not complaining!! When it first came the growth that was in spike/bud was leafed out and larger than both of these but still without a pbulb. It is now the biggest pbulb you see in the picture.

Please do share if you have experienced this yourself or know anything more about this! But I'm a super happy camper; before I had one flower total, now I have two spikes!!


HECK YEAH!!!

[katrina]

Congrats!! Lookin' good!!

One minor change...it looks like you might want to increase your watering a bit. The plant looks a little dehydrated and that would also explain the limp growth. I don't grow Zygos anymore but when I did...I had a good deal of sphag in the mix because they do tend to be water hogs. Moist but not soggy, if that makes sense.

Again, Congrats on the recovery!

[orchidsarefun]

I would plant lower into a mix of sphagnum ( 25% ) and medium bark and use a rhizome clip to anchor the plant in an upright position. The pot should hold 1-2 years growth only, otherwise you are overpotting.
This site is good, or you can make your own :

Orchid Clips, Orchid Plant Stakes, Hooks, Pot Hangers, Wires.

The roots shouldn't have to travel that far to enter the medium. Its good that your plant/s is outdoors. Zygo's love it outdoors in Summer/Fall.

[judith_arquette]

Yay! Great job!

[lotis146]

Originally Posted by katrina

Congrats!! Lookin' good!!

One minor change...it looks like you might want to increase your watering a bit. The plant looks a little dehydrated and that would also explain the limp growth. I don't grow Zygos anymore but when I did...I had a good deal of sphag in the mix because they do tend to be water hogs. Moist but not soggy, if that makes sense.

Again, Congrats on the recovery!

Thanks Katrina, I believe that to be true as well. However what you're seeing in the condition of the leaves is actually similar to how they arrived though again, I do believe I haven't been giving it what it needs in terms of water.

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

I would plant lower into a mix of sphagnum ( 25% ) and medium bark and use a rhizome clip to anchor the plant in an upright position. The pot should hold 1-2 years growth only, otherwise you are overpotting.
This site is good, or you can make your own :

Orchid Clips, Orchid Plant Stakes, Hooks, Pot Hangers, Wires.

The roots shouldn't have to travel that far to enter the medium. Its good that your plant/s is outdoors. Zygo's love it outdoors in Summer/Fall.

Thank you for sharing your experience, I know you have a lot of it with Zygos. But I have these questions/thoughts...

If this plant produced 4 new growths in the first place then after these three flower, assuming I'm taking good care of it, I should get at least three more new growths. So it would seem to me that this pot is not over-sized.

Like I said in my first post I was going to stand this guy back up however I thought about epiphytes in the wild and how they would hang somewhat horizontally. But then I've read also that some Zygos are terrestrial (need to do my research on parents of my hybrid). Given that this plant did not seem to want to give readily when I tried to stand it up I thought perhaps it is happiest laying on the side like this although I do understand the need to bury the roots more. It came to me with them somewhat above the media like this so I repotted it the same. I wonder too how standing it upright will affect the current upright growth of the spiked new growth. I assume you're not suggesting any repotting until after these spikes are done...?

Thank you for the link, I will check it out.

Originally Posted by judith_arquette

Yay! Great job!

Thanks Judith, I'm stoked!

[My Green Pets]

Great job...and I can't resist saying be very careful with your hands near those spikes...they break off very easily and that would be sad times!

[lotis146]

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

Great job...and I can't resist saying be very careful with your hands near those spikes...they break off very easily and that would be sad times!

Thank you! I think I'm not going to do too much until after it blooms. I might go ahead with standing/staking it upright but I don't want to compromise its spikes. I feel just as nervous around the spikes, especially since I have a tendency to break little new growths every so often.

Thanks again,

[lotis146]

Quick update:

I did wind up repotting this after I had to cut the pod off (sent to lab). It was not the easiest to repot b/c I needed to find something big enough to upgrade, fit all the roots (TONS! ), AND position it so the last (new) growth that sort of grew up and out, will fit closer to the medium.

Once I made that happen - in a clear plastic air cone pot, about 6" - using more water retentive medium than before, there were no complaints from the plant. The newest growth, that was a stalled new growth from last spring, continued to take off and THEN grew two spikes! Yeah! Now the two spikes are in bud with three buds each.

If you're keeping track: I got this plant last March, it came in bud (3 buds but 2 died in transit). Three new growths started, 1 stalled, 2 grew of which only one spiked. That growth grew double spike two flowers each in the fall. Then the stalled growth started back up and now it's in bud again, for March. So even as an under-waterer I've got this plant to bloom twice a year. Perhaps with improved care next time I can get more growths to grow and spike.

I will be putting it outside again this summer.

[lotis146]

Really wish I was posting happy news & lovely pictures but this is not the case.

Over a month, maybe two, ago I discovered this plant had two spikes with at least 4 buds each, an improvement on the last spike with 3 buds, spikes before that had two. I was stoked not long after these were several inches high to discover a THIRD spike, all on the same growth. And then...several weeks ago I found them turning yellow, as were the fast developing buds on my Ianclarkara (another Zygo hybrid). Soon all the spikes blast completely, the buds turned black and could be picked off like ripe berries. I believe this to be a result of high temps & really high humidity. This plant has been outside all summer, as it was last year, and was obviously happy enough to grow three spikes on one growth. I am so so bummed, kicking myself for not thinking to bring it in when the temps spiked but then I didn't want to upset it and cause it to do well, what it did. Seems I should have intervened...

But I think it's implanted in my brain now that this guy doesn't like high heat & I've got to find a way to manage air circulation better even if they are all outside. These two weren't the only ones to suffer, I've got a laeliocattleya hybrid that was in bud, got back from family reunion & BAM bud rotted off.

[snowflake311]

How high did the temp get? I left mine out all summer bit the temps never were too hot for too long. 80f was no big deal but at night it would cool way down.

I did something similar to my Sherry baby onc. I got it too spike and bloom but the blooms fell soon after opening. I feel it was due to be stressing the plant out. I moved it inside and onside too many times I should have just left it alone. Also it bloomed during summer and keeping it from drying out too fast was hard.

That sucks I am so sorry to hear the sad news. My temps drops too low at night so I took mine inside. I hope that does not stress them out and cause bud blast.