Habenaria carnea

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

It's a species.

Likes lots of calcium. Comes from limestone hills.

[Paul]

Lovely flowers!

Originally Posted by glengary54

JPMC - it is lovely and not as common as one might think which is surprising considering how beautiful both the flower and foliage is.

Not too surprising, Glen. I have rarely come across folks who can grow them. This implies that they aren't the easiest of plants to grow.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

They aren't easy to grow, but they aren't super difficult either.

Habenaria carnea is not as common in the trade as one would think...

There are a few problems associated with growing Habenaria spp.

1. You must find a way to get the existing plant to grow big strong daughter tubers or they will dwindle out over time.

2. Pulling them through dormancy can be tricky. I have never had any success pulling them through dormancy growing them "bone dry". They still need a tiny amount of moisture. But the moisture you provide must be highly infrequent.

3. They ideally should not be disturbed while in active growth.

4. Once a tuber is damaged, that's it, it's not going to create another offshoot.

5. Keeping the roots intact and healthy is important, because that's where some of the tubers will form.

6. They form delicate root tubers not the sturdier stem tubers.

[quiltingwacko]

Lovely thing! Carol

[greenbean]

Very nice! I especiall like the foliage!

[Tindomul]

Great info!!

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

They aren't easy to grow, but they aren't super difficult either.

Habenaria carnea is not as common in the trade as one would think...

There are a few problems associated with growing Habenaria spp.

1. You must find a way to get the existing plant to grow big strong daughter tubers or the they will dwindle out over time.

2. Pulling them through dormancy can be tricky. I have never had any success pulling them through dormancy growing them "bone dry". They still need a tiny amount of moisture. But the moisture you provide must be highly infrequent.

3. They ideally should not be disturbed while in active growth.

4. Once a tuber is damaged, that's it, it's not going to create another offshoot.

5. Keeping the roots intact and healthy is important, because that's where some of the tubers will form.

6. They form delicate root tubers not the sturdier stem tubers.

[Bayard]

Thanks again for your comments! The Habenaria carnea is still in flower in the greenhouse. I recently received an AM/AOS on the Habenaria Regnieri at the Mid-Atlantic judging center in Philadelphia.

[Paul]

Thanks for the info, Philip! Don't know that I'll ever get brave enough to try Habenarias though unless I come across some inexpensive ones to "experiment" with first.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Paul

Thanks for the info, Philip! Don't know that I'll ever get brave enough to try Habenarias though unless I come across some inexpensive ones to "experiment" with first.

Habenaria rhodocheila (usually red or orange), Habenaria xanthocheila (usually yellow), or Habenaria erichmichaelii (usually hot pink with a white oval on the tip of the lip) are relatively more common in cultivation here in the US than Habenaria carnea (usually a white with a slight pink flush or light pink). You could try these out instead of the rarer Habenaria carnea.

Cultivation of these 4 species are pretty much the same because they come from similar habitats and environments - moderately humid and seasonally wet, tropical low - midland limestone hills; growing lithophytically with top soil, leaf litter, small broken twigs, and live moss covering the tuberoids.

Habenaria spp. are in the Orchidoideae subfamily not the Epidendroideae subfamily.

If anyone wants to know how to pollinate these just ask and I'll answer. They're pollinated differently from the orchids in the subfamily Epidendroideae.

Finding someone who can successfully flask these species from seed is a whole different story...

---------- Post added at 07:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:06 PM ----------

Btw, forgot to mention...

Habenaria spp. are plentiful and varied in their culture.

The only species that I dare mention follow the above cultural guidelines are the 4 species I mentioned so far.

All other Habenaria spp. should be regarded separately.