Dendrophylax fawcettii, Dendrochilum wenzelii, Epi porpax, Cirr curtsii

[PlumCrazy]

Hello Everyone,

Sorry I disappeared for awhile. I wrongly assumed once school started, I would have more free time. Not the case at all! Anyway, it's a snow day today, so I'm taking the day off and doing what I want to do

Dendrophylax fawcettii - I bought this at Hausermann's the first time I went there in August of 2021. It was the first thing I picked out. I remember holding up a little piece of wood with nothing but a few roots on it and telling my friend, "Yes, this is why we drove all of the way to Chicago." Well, worth the trip I suppose! I'm not a Ghost Orchid fanatic, but I do find leafless orchids fascinating, so I thought I'd give this one a try since it supposed to be way easier. I really thought there was a good chance this would never bloom. It has gained quite a few roots since I've had it, and doubled in size.

Dendrochilum wenzelii (red) This came from Andy's last January. I actually bought it for my husband because he had seen a picture of one and thought it looked cool. It started fading a little bit when it was first settling in. There was another stalk, I guess you would call it, last week as well. It only lasted about 10 days. The plant looks like thick grass, and the flower stalks look like bright red wheat.

Epidendrum (Nanodes) porpax Another survivor of the early days. I bought this in my first batch of plants in summer of 2020. Andy recommended it because he thought it would do well and bloom prolifically in a setup like I was going for, which hopefully it will do now that everything is running as it should be. It started with quite a few leaves, then went down to just two at one point. It sat like until for a couple of years until one day it decided it would live after all and suddenly went crazy. It had two flowers about a month ago, and there are two flowers right now.

Cirrhopetalum curtsii 'Purple Leaves' aka Bulbophyllum corolliferum aka Bulbophyllum pulchellum. This came as a bonus plant in an order from Tropical Orchid Farm in June of 2021. It is not one I would have picked on my own, but I am really glad that they knew I would like it The blooms are super cute! These pictures are from early Dec 2022, and it just bloomed again last week. The blooms only last a week, but they are spectacular!

[Roberta]

Thanks for sharing! I'm particularly impressed with that Dendrophylax! Well done! And the color saturation on the Bulbophyllum is gorgeous.

[Louis_W]

Same! People who can grow the leafless orchids get my respect in a major way!

[tmoney]

wow, nice!

[DeaC]

Nice variety. I'm growing my first leafless orchid, Chilochista nakompanomensis (a mouthful) which is actually 2 plants mounted on a perforated plastic mount and spiking-woopee. Love the Dendrochilum too. I've got red and yellow. More folks should try them!

[PlumCrazy]

Thanks guys, but this is literally how I grew the Dendrophylax: Step 1. Bought it. Step 2. Hung it in my orchidarium. Step 3. Oh wait, that's it...

It's only bloomed once, but based on what I've seen so far, if you have a terrarium, you should be able to grow it. Again, I chose it because it doesn't have any crazy requirements of wet/dry or hot/warm seasons like the Ghost Orchid. It's native to the Cayman Islands. Mine does get watered daily, is up near the lights, has fans that dry it off, and it stays over 80% humidity.

---------- Post added at 02:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 PM ----------

Originally Posted by DeaC

Nice variety. I'm growing my first leafless orchid, Chilochista nakompanomensis (a mouthful) which is actually 2 plants mounted on a perforated plastic mount and spiking-woopee. Love the Dendrochilum too. I've got red and yellow. More folks should try them!

I've been wanting some Chilochista's too. I figured I'd see how this one did first, but now that it has passed the test, I can get some more leafless plants

Please post pics once yours blooms!