Phalaenopsis Lueddemanniana Culture
 

I just recently acquired a really nice Phal. Lueddemanniana Coerulea and want to give it whatever it needs to grow and flower as soon as it can. I've read very little on cultivation of this particular species other than "it's super finicky" and "it regularly stalls spikes / doesn't bloom."

I have it with my other phals in my heated terrarium, most of them have already grown spikes and some are actively blooming. My Phal. Violacea Alba has been blooming a few weeks now, Phal Hieroglyphica and Phal KS Ludde are in spike, Phal KS Ocean Ludde is in bud and should open any day now. Point being all of those phals seem to do well in the conditions I give - all of those plants were received without active spikes / blooms and all spikes and flowers happenned in my care. So, I think, in general my care is good - the only Phal I have that's been stubborn is my Phal Mini Mark, but I've heard they like cold temps for flower spikes to set - so that may just happen later.

Is there anything special about Lueddemanniana? I haven't found much on their care other than they like warm temps and lower light levels - no tips on whether they like to be on the dry side, etc. Just curious to hear from people who've had good success with it.

Phal hieroglyphica and luedde are very, very similar species. If you have success with one, growing the other should be a formality.

I grow both of mine in S/H, they appreciate very humid conditions, and this method works really well to compensate for low RH in the house.

I've also read that they like low light levels; which I do not find to be true. Strong indirect light made them grow more and faster.

Phal. lueddemanniana was the first orchid I flowered as an ignorant, mindless teenager, so it can't be that difficult. I think you just need to wait a little.

In my experience and conditions, Phal lueddemanniana is an easy, forgiving and adaptable species. It is perfectly happy in my intermediate-warm conditions (mid-high 60s in the winter, mid-high 70s and higher in the summer), and does not mind ambient humidity (for me that's 30-60% range).

As with Mr.Fakename, I also grow it in rather bright indirect light.

Some observations about blooming (at least for my plant!):

• I've had spikes form in the fall and in the spring.
• New spikes often don't bloom right away once they've finished developing, they will 'stall' and then bloom the following blooming season (spring).
• A spike will remain viable for several years. Every year it wakes up and puts out some new buds.

My plant is also is a prolific keiki machine, after blooming all the older spikes produce keikis. However, I think this may be an effect of the form of the species that I have. The petals are narrower than what is typically seen, I've added a photo of my plant:

https://shutterbug.ponzio.net/_data/...c27d93a-me.jpg

At the back of the photo you can see a new spike that grew last winter/spring, it will likely flower next year. The spike in the forground has been blooming every season for at least 3-4 years.

Thanks for all of the replies.

That's great to hear because my Hieroglyphica has been growing like a weed, I repotted as soon as I got it because I wanted it in a pot wth more aeration and the moss was looking pretty old. It's since packed the container with new roots, grew two new leaves and a spike (got it back in April / May). My care for hieroglyphica is a bit different than my other phals in that it seems to love being constantly moist and hates ever drying out. I keep it in very loosely packed sphagnum (lots of air pockets) in an aircone pot. If that's what Lueddemanniana likes, I can match it for sure. For some reason, I thought Leueddemanniana liked being on the drier side.

This makes a lot of sense given the likening of it's care to Hieroglyphica. The spike on my Hieroglyphica stretched out, looked like it was ready to bloom and seems to have slowed down to a crawl - I'm thinking it will stall, which I thought was odd because this plant just doesn't stop growing. It's good to know that spike stalling is (or at least can be) just a normal and routine part of a given plants growth habit (I assumed it was some of the conditions I gave which weren't to the plants liking).