My newest orchid: Phal mannii 'chocolate'
 

Here is my newest orchid, Phal mannii 'chocolate'. I love it! :love: I just recieved it this morning, and I'm pleased at how well packed it was. I won it 2 weeks ago on ebay from a german grower (lepantes, aka Popow Orchids), but with the extreme cold he waited to ship. Lots of shredded paper and layer after layer of bubblewrap, and a heat pack. Absolutely no signs of cold damage despite -5°C temps and the blooms are a bit beat up, but they held up surprisingly well. And there's 3 fat buds still to open. :)

That's really nice, Camille!

That is one awesome mannii!

Kim

Very cute.

I love it when vendors put in the effort to make sure we are satisfied.

Very cute indeed. Nice and dark.

Camille it's a heart stopper! I love it!

Very nice Camille! How is the rest of the plant and the roots? Great to hear he packed the plant well and to know I happily can buy from him.

Nicole

The plant is perfect, not a thing wrong with it! The pot is filled with nice happy green roots, not a single rotten one. I'll take a pic of the plant this weekend. I'll repot though since it's in a mix of bark and coir and I'm not sure how to water that. Did I mention that there's a second spike starting on it? :biggrin: Too bad I won't be able to enjoy the blooms.

One thing though, if you do buy, go to ebay preferably because he sells plants much cheaper there than on his website. He also has a greater variety of orchids on ebay. Shipping is really low too, only 8,50€ (for up to 4-5 medium plants) which is nothing compared to the 20-30€ that most german growers charge! I'm addicted to this grower, this must be my 4th-5th purchase from them.

Wow, that's a nice Phal Camille. I've made a note of the grower, I'll have to see if he ships over here. Shipping does look good, I usually have to pay 20€ shipping from germany to here... I will have to look how much this grower charges for the UK.

Shipping within Germany is 6,50€, and anywhere in the EU is 8,50€. I was thinking of you the other day when I was looking at what he had for sale of on ebay because he had a 5 spiked Phal equestris for 15€. I know you really want one of those!

Nice choice Camille. Rich beautiful colour on this one :clap:

Excellent color on this one Camille! I really like it.

Camille, that's a beautiful bloom. Are the flowers fragrant? Since I've read that this species can handle (or, perhaps, actually prefers) cool to intermediate temperatures in the winter, it's probably one of the only phalaenopsis species that I can grow. Would you mind providing a picture of the entire plant whenever you have an opportunity, please? Thank you.

Steve

Sorry for the long delay in answering, I'm just so incredibly busy lately. The blooms aren't fragrant as far as I can tell. And the fact that it needs a cool-intermediate winter is one of the reasons I got this phal. Normally it should adapt well to my conditions.
Here's a photo of the entire plant. I've been meaning to repot since I got it, but just can't find the time. The roots are starting to push the plant up and out of the pot!

She's a beauty, Camille. Thank you for the picture!

Steve