(Psychopsis) Onc. 'Kalihi', my "Ugliest Orchid That Still Booms"

[Rivka]

I just really wanted to brag about my little orchid that could.

This is my entry into the "Ugliest Orchid That Still Booms" contest, and it's a shoe in for a Blue Ribbon.

I got it in the summer of '09 and it had 3 tiny spikes that many many months later ended up nearly 3 feet tall and bloomed one after another to my constant oooing and aahhhhing. i would get 3 flowers one right after the other and then a short pause and then it would go again, about 3 times a year. ALso in that time i moved it to S/H and it managed to deal with that and even give me one new bulb & leaf

Then we moved....
in the hecticness of our final move day, this plant and many others that were sitting in the shade outside, got left too long and the shade moved. it got badly sunburned and let me tell you, this thing does not like to get sunburned at all. it lost all or part of every leaf it had. but somehow kept the bud it was working on and then sat in m mothers house for 2 months falling apart from the sunburn, but blooming in the meanwhile!

Finally the move was done (cross country military move, while 6 months preggo with twins, dont get me started how long it took up to settle) and i flew back to dry root all the orchids and fly them out to the east coast.

it then survived that, and a harsh cold winter sitting on a table with barely enough light and hardly any water while i had my twins and was consumed with that for months.

meanwhile it kept putting out new growths, but the hard water and dry air and s/h was a horrible combo and each and every shoot turned black and died from mineral buildup. i must have killed 15 growths, it was devastating each time.
but it bloomed all the while!

it is now outside in the humid air of DC and loving it, getting way better watering then it ever has. and under an over hang that keeps the sun off it, but everything is bright and fresh.

it rewarded me with 3 new growths all at once that are doing wonderful, and for the first time ever, all three spikes bloomed in rapid succession, just a few days after each other.

so for the first time ever, i get to show off my plant with the never say die attitude and the most wonderful blooms.




pictures by my husband that has a hobby studio in the house.

[Susie11]

It's a beauty alright! I have one that had a short 10 inch spike when it arrived. I watered it with tap water and after about four months it turned black and died. Is that what caused it -the tap water? I thought that it was something that I had done but now I wonder if it is the tap water? It has since started on a new growth and the lead is fatter than last years growth. The leaf is just beginning to grow. I hope that it doesn't blast when it spikes.

[bellini girl]

Kudos for not giving up. I personally think these 'chids have a mind of their own and will do whatever necessary to survive....inspite of our mishandling them at times