Ophrys speculum

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by SteveC

Hello all. I have just joined having watched this section for a while. I live in England and grow nothing but what we call "hardy terrestrials". I have many different Ophrys, but Ophrys speculum was the the first I purchased, drawn to the wonderful mirror. I am never sure if I see an alien or a samurai in the flower!
Just some comments about your comments!
I have seen these growing wild in Spain, twenty yards from the sea, in the most arid, hostile conditions that you can imagine. They flower in March, are dormant by April and quite possibly get no rain again until September. I give mine no water at all whilst dormant and whilst we don't have much of a summer to worry about here, I doubt that you killed yours by over drying them.
Being in the EU we have little problem buying Ophrys but many are sold as "flowering size" tubers when in truth they are not big enough. If your plants are growing well but not flowering the tuber probably just wasn't big enough.
Getting the biggest tuber for next year is the trick and so after flowering cut off the old flowers, unless you want the seed, and then try to keep the plant growing for as long as possible.

Seeing the tuberoids of the ones shipped in, I have to agree. While the plants are not really big to begin with, the tuberoids may have to be a tad bigger to really be considered blooming sized.

[JPMC]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

JPMC:

A friend on another forum is interested in growing Ophrys species. If you don't mind me asking, I was wondering where you got yours?

www.myorchids.de

[SteveC]

One of my O. speculum opened today (I cannot post pictures as not enough posts completed yet) which is a good two months earlier than usual, I think due to a cool August which started a lot of my plants into growth early. The plant is far shorter than those pictured earlier, more like the wild ones that I have seen, which may be because our winter so far has been quite mild meaning that I have no insulation on the greenhouse at all, leading to higher light levels and so the plants have not stretched up.
It always puzzles me that my friends who grow terrestrials in with their tropicals end up with taller plants, leggy to my eyes, but somehow the judges like them.

[JPMC]

Originally Posted by SteveC

One of my O. speculum opened today (I cannot post pictures as not enough posts completed yet) which is a good two months earlier than usual, I think due to a cool August which started a lot of my plants into growth early. The plant is far shorter than those pictured earlier, more like the wild ones that I have seen, which may be because our winter so far has been quite mild meaning that I have no insulation on the greenhouse at all, leading to higher light levels and so the plants have not stretched up.
It always puzzles me that my friends who grow terrestrials in with their tropicals end up with taller plants, leggy to my eyes, but somehow the judges like them.

Interesting observation. It may be because, in my case, I grow exclusively indoors with central heating that causes it to grow too tall.

[SteveC]

This explains why I took one look at your Diuris on another thread and thought, "Wow! Early! How tall?" Just hope mine look so good in a few months time.

[WhiteRabbit]

Awesome!

[SteveC]

As I mentioned earlier I have seen O. speculum growing on Majorca, just a few yards from the sea, in such numbers that it was a case of watch where you step. From that moment on I decided that I would never overwater these plants!

[JPMC]

Originally Posted by SteveC

As I mentioned earlier I have seen O. speculum growing on Majorca, just a few yards from the sea, in such numbers that it was a case of watch where you step. From that moment on I decided that I would never overwater these plants!

Thanks for these images! This makes me feel a bit better because I see the leaves browning as the plants bloom. This had worried me in the past when I saw it in my own plants.

[SteveC]

It is nothing to worry about. I believe that the plant has finished with the leaves by then and all the goodness is being sucked out of them as happens with deciduous trees in the autumn.

[orchidsworld]

One of the most beautiful Ophrys for me...