Ponerorchis graminifolia

[stonedragonfarms]

This little guy is hard to get a "proper" photo of; the angle that the flowers are on the stem makes the shot hard to get. I have a couple of these in bloom right now, one is mostly white with a pink picotee, this one is an even light cherry blossom pink. I got these last year as tiny BB-sized tubers; they didn't bloom last year, but are looking great this summer. Pretty easy to grow provided you follow their cultural requirements.
Enjoy,
Adam

[WhiteRabbit]

Nice!

[samarak]

Very cute, Adam. May I ask how you grow them? I like terrestrials and have come across this one both in the orchid and alpine plant vortices.

Steve

[pleuro3]

yes, please share with us. It's beautiful!

[stonedragonfarms]

These need ample water while in active growth and an absolute cool dry rest after the vegetation dries down; the few Japanese/Taiwanese sites that offered cultural advice on them suggested that they be grown in either fine pumice or fine Akadama (which looks a little like pulverized shale to me). I grow in deep plastic pots in pure Turface (calcined clay); plants are watered with a mixture of distilled water and spring water (20-40ppm dissolved solids) 3-5x per week; I fertilize 2x weekly with a 5-1-1 fish emulsion fertilizer used at full strength; the plants are on the south side of the greenhouse, but are shaded from mid-day on thanks to overhead oak branches; temps are up into the low 80's during the height of summer and down into the upper 30's at night in winter. These start growth for me in late March and will die back around mid October. After the foliage is dead, I remove it and don't give the pots any water at all over the resting period; the pots will get an occasional bit of moisture if I mist everybody on the benches during the odd warm/sunny day over our Oregon winter, but nothing that saturates the pot. I've not noticed the plants being bothered by pests, aside from the odd slug, though I'm not sure that they like crossing the Turface to get to the plant... If you have any other questions, please ask away.
Adam

[samarak]

Thanks! I have some Cynorkis and Habenarias that sound similar in their requirements.

Steve

[pleuro3]

Thank you. I would like to get into growing more terrestrials. I will have to keep a lookout for these guys

[kentaki]

Not to hijack this thread, but wasn't sure if I should start a new one. Anyway, here are some of my P. graminifolia. Sorry for the quality of pics.

[samarak]

Wow - are those clones selected for those colors and patterns, or is that kind of variation typical of the species?

Steve

[stonedragonfarms]

Very very nice Kentaki! How long have you been growing these plants?