Psychopsiella limminghei

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by euplusia

I keep my fingers crossed that you succeed in raising seedlings. This species is very pretty and hard to get by, the bulbs are snugged to the bark, the foliage is decorative, the plant doesn't take much space and flowers are big compared to the plant size. But I don't have one.

How about I send you the seeds? Just pay for postage. I'll notify you when they're ready. All you have to do is find a lab or a fellow hobbyist in Europe that can sow it for you.

Let me know if this sounds good.

[euplusia]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

How about I send you the seeds? Just pay for postage. I'll notify you when they're ready. All you have to do is find a lab or a fellow hobbyist in Europe that can sow it for you.

Let me know if this sounds good.

I would gladly take your generous offer with pleasure. I have already phoned with an experienced hobbyist. We agreed to raise a larger number (if possible) and offer plants to professional nurseries to make this species more available. Sometimes seedlings of this species are on the market, but sold out pretty soon. I hope that suits to you.
Just send me a private message when the time has come.

[Leafmite]

Pretty cool little orchid. Thanks for sharing pictures!

[lotis146]

Interesting little orchid for sure, and I thought so after the first couple of very insect-like pictures. But then you shared the rest of the plant, something different for sure. I can see why it could be challenging. Well done!

[terracotta7]

Very impressive! Congratulations!

[Kevinator]

This one seems like an extremely interesting orchid to take care of. King, I have heard that this one shouldn't bloom once every 2 years. In the right conditions, it can bloom once per year. Also, your plant looks a lot more beaten up and wrinkled then other plants I've seen grown by other hobbyists. I'm still waiting for a cross of this and Psychopsis. I heard that someone successfully cross pollinated them and the seedlings have already been sent back to the grower.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The new pseudobulbs are not wrinkled. They're hidden inside the tree fern fibers, and if I peeled all that off, those pseudobulbs are nice and smooth. The wrinkled pseudobulbs are the older ones. Some of those pseudobulbs have been around since 2011. The newest leaf had to push through the tree fern fibers, that's why that one's bent, (this growth came out in 2014). The other new shoot in the second photo with the seed pod that didn't push through anything is nice and flat, the way it's supposed to be, (grew out 2014 as well). I water this orchid a lot, it's not dehydrated otherwise both growths would be stunted, both pseudobulbs would be very wrinkly, and both leaves would look gnarled. That leaf you see in the bottom right-hand corner of the flowering pics from back in 2012, that leaf just fell off this year, and that's not wrinkled or bent, and that is a growth I grew out. These grow slow, and they only bloom from mature sized new growths. Old growths don't bloom at all. It's very possible for it to skip a year in blooming. One year will produce anywhere from 2 - 3 new growths. 2015's growths will look more like what you've seen in other people's photos.

Grow one, you'll see what I mean.

This orchid's rare in the trade for a reason. Ever wonder why they're not more prevalent in the hobby? After all, if you compare their availability in the trade with their cousins, Psychopsis are more abundantly available than this species is. Plus, you just saw how large the seed pod on this orchid is. That's a lot of seed per pod. But why is this orchid so scarce in our hobby? In theory it shouldn't really be…right? I mean, the flower's not really all that tiny, so pollinating it is not really that difficult. The column and the stigmatic opening are right there for everybody to see. It's no mystery where the reproductive organs on the flower are. In fact, the stigmatic opening's pretty large, getting the pollinia in there's not a challenge at all. Pollination's pretty straight forward, there's no trapdoor lip to worry about; there's no twisted column to mess you up; the stigmatic opening isn't in some inaccessible area of the flower that requires you to do yoga while you pollinate the flower; there're no flower parts to remove to successfully pollinate the orchid; the flowers are very open, (not bell shaped), and allows easy access to the pollinia and stigmatic opening. I pollinated this orchid in just seconds without any fancy equipment, so hand pollination's not a problem. The viscidium adheres well to a toothpick, so dropping pollinia and losing them is not really an issue. They're also self fertile. Probability of fruit set after pollination is also pretty high, (this is my second pollination attempt, not my first, and both times I pollinated, it set fruit). So, why so rare? Seedlings do pop up every-now-and-then. Why don't more seedlings show up more often/regularly? Why aren't a lot of people selling divisions of this plant?

[Paul]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

So, why so rare? Seedlings do pop up every-now-and-then. Why don't more seedlings show up more often/regularly?

It is curious. But then, many of the really mini's and micro minis don't seem to be terribly common. Suspect because most folks like larger more flamboyant plants and flowers. (Silly people!!!) Personally, I would have not hesitated to pick up one of these at a show were they available ... but then I tend to go for the tiny and the weird.

[MrHappyRotter]

Thanks for the foliage pics. Very beautiful plant. Glad to hear that there's some interest in propagating it.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The fact that some of the pseudobulbs are buried in there kinda worried me a bit. It kept bugging me, so I removed part of the mount and exposed the hidden pseudobulbs.