Project 2023 Spring Sarcochilus

[Keysguy]

My climate is sub-tropical which they don't like.
Hence the refrigerator trick.

[Blueszz]

Originally Posted by Keysguy

My climate is sub-tropical which they don't like.
Hence the refrigerator trick.

Must be very disappointing if you can’t get it to flower, despite all the effort.
Could it be day length during November|December. Less daylight hours because it was in your fridge? Thinking out loud.

[Roberta]

Possible suggesion... try for somewhat drier in fall/winter. I don't dry mine out and they bloom anyway, but I know a grower in my area who claimed that the ones that didn't get hit by the sprinklers bloomed better than the ones that did.

[Keysguy]

Possible suggesion... try for somewhat drier in fall/winter.

Yup, well Mother Nature did not cooperate this year. We had a wet and cool (for us) fall and winter this year. I grow in a shade house so it's tough to avoid the negatives when they happen. Normally the only water they see from Nov to April is my occasional watering. My plants that prefer a dry season were sorely disappointed this year. Many never bloomed, were subpar or were very late.

C'est la vie. Maybe next year.

[Blueszz]

Now flowering:

Sarcochilus Kulnura Roundup 'Multi Spot' x Kulnura Secure 'Shapely'

[qbie]

Originally Posted by Blueszz

I have the 2 original Sarcochilus I bought this summer flowering. How are yours performing?

Showing you the flowers from Sarcochilus fitzgeraldi. The Kulnura cultivar needs a bit more time to fully open its flowers. Photo's from that one soon.

But today the fitzgeraldii.

My hartmannii alba "rescue" had a new growth that I thought was a basal growth at end of last year but has turned out to be a definite flower spike. Buds forming but still way immature. Hoping they make it all the way!

[Blueszz]

Originally Posted by qbie

My hartmannii alba "rescue" had a new growth that I thought was a basal growth at end of last year but has turned out to be a definite flower spike. Buds forming but still way immature. Hoping they make it all the way!

That’s awesome! I’m looking forward to see the hartmanii next to the fitzgeraldii.

[PuiPuiMolcar]

I gave mine a lot of light, but only have one spike on a big plant this year, lame.

[qbie]

Originally Posted by Blueszz

That’s awesome! I’m looking forward to see the hartmanii next to the fitzgeraldii.

I had to toss that fitzgeraldii because of persistent pests. But I got another pot with the same label which has appeared to remain pest-free so far (fingers crossed). I tried keeping it indoors til end of last year when I moved it outside where all the plants seemed to be doing better. I don't think it got the optimal growing conditions and it's smaller so no spike. Maybe another year?

Your plants look so healthy. Foliage on my hartmannii doesn't look so pretty. I thought by putting it in a planter it wouldn't be in way of the workers but it still got a little rough-handled and caught some spray paint too. But if it was still happy enough to try to flower, I'll take it!

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by qbie

I had to toss that fitzgeraldii because of persistent pests. But I got another pot with the same label which has appeared to remain pest-free so far (fingers crossed). I tried keeping it indoors til end of last year when I moved it outside where all the plants seemed to be doing better. I don't think it got the optimal growing conditions and it's smaller so no spike. Maybe another year?

Your plants look so healthy. Foliage on my hartmannii doesn't look so pretty. I thought by putting it in a planter it wouldn't be in way of the workers but it still got a little rough-handled and caught some spray paint too. But if it was still happy enough to try to flower, I'll take it!

In the SF Bay area, Sarcos should do fine outside. They can even tolerate light frost for a few hours. It'll likely be much happier that way. (It likely didn't much like the warm, even temperatures of indoors) For the record, mine are running late - I'm just now seeing spikes with tight buds so it will be close to another month, I think. I had just 1, a Sarco hartmannii, that gave me one spike about a month ago. So they have found the weather pretty confusing, I think.