Haraella retrocallus lost bud :(
 

So this little thing arrived Thurs. and I've placed it in a terrarium above water. It arrived in bud and every day I thought it would drop but the purple just became deeper but just within the last few hours the bud fell. It's possible one of my frogs knocked it off but it probably wouldn't have come to rest right there on the leaves if that happened. At least I'll tell myself that so I won't be mad at them :roll:

One pic is what I saw a few minutes ago, the other was Thursday or Friday. The plant looks healthy to me, so I've got my fingers crossed it will do well. Maybe I should put a cage around it though :scratchhead:

If the frogs don't eat it, you are likely to get another presently... it can bloom successively several times on an inflorescence. It is also very likely that the frog is innocent, that it was just stress from shipping. (Buds are less robust than plants, changes in environment can make them blast, on any kind of orchid) So be patient... remember, orchids teach patience. With any luck, you'll still get blooms from that inflorescence. And if not, it also can bloom several times a year so you won't have a long wait.

Shipping during hot weather is always a gamble.

this is another species that we have fits with!! we have one plant that lived a year in our terrarium and was doing the best out of any in there, consitently growing full new leaves. it put on a spike, which sequentially grew buds to near opening, then they would fall off. then that spike died, and a couple weeks later another spike came out....which did the exact same thing. so we have had 6 buds blast and never seen the thing bloom.

point is, when you get it to bloom, post a pic for us so we can send some internet envy your way!!!! and we hope you have better luck than us.

edit to add: our terrarium was a failed experiment, so yours is probly a much better habitat. but methinks these little guys can be frustrating, regardless of how easy the internet says they are to grow

Maybe you're trying too hard to give it "perfect" conditions. I grow it on my patio so it gets chilly winter nights (above freezing but not by a lot) and warm summers and everything in between. An amazingly hardy little plant. Try not pampering it so much, you may have better luck. (I know it can't go outside in winter where you live, but it doesn't need a whole lot of tender loving care either) FL_Orchid_Collector could grow it outside easily and should consider it. Just grow on the shady side.

hmmm, well, you haven't steered us wrong before, roberta, so we'll give it a shot! also, when we cleaned out the terrarium and potted this up a few weeks back we noticed yet another spike growing! so, we will throw it outside and hopefully make it bloom. otherwise, anyone in europe want a phal mini mark and a haraella retrocalla?! :waving

I'll have 90 deg in a day or two! Would that really be ok? I'm only trying it with my Bulbophyllum because they mislabeled it and I got two plants in a basket together rather than the stick-mounted one I ordered.

Sure. Grow on the shady side. If it doesn't rain then water it (daily for mounted plants) Where you live, Mother Nature will do most of the work of watering. (Where I live, sprinkler system lets me take a vacation) But the air movement is much better outside, the light is what plants have evolved to expect... If shaded, leaf temperature is ambient which is fine. You certainly have plenty of humidity.

---------- Post added at 10:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:44 PM ----------

It the temps are a lot above 90 or 95 deg F (32-35 deg C) then it may be wise to bring it inside, but orchids acclimate and it's not that far above its ideal range. If it goes outside now, before the full heat of summer, there is still time to get it on that acclimation path.

The whole place is the shady side - northern exposure for most of the unit with a stairwell and several palm trees blocking the sun most of the day. Highs above 90 yesterday :fire: At least humidity stays 70 or greater most of the day. The association does nothing to maintain the area under the stairwell and it gets decent rain when it does rain and I've been wondering if there are some terrestrials (or epiphytes if it wouldn't wreck them to hit soil eventually - I mean what if the tree they're in dies and they end up feet down in leaf litter? Would that be the end?) which would enjoy a couple inches of old mulch and rabbit poo on top of maybe some fill dirt and a fine shell gravel bed underneath but I'm going off topic - anyway I'll post in more appropriate forums before i go on a terrestrial shopping spree - I don't want another oops like my poor Drac.

As far as stairwell terrestrials, look at Phaius hybrids. I've seen them sold as landscape plants at Florida Home Depots.